Building Strength and Character in the Gym

When nine-year-old Logan Adams takes a break from his busy schedule of school and sports to watch television, he does it suspended from a set of PVC pipes that have been fashioned into miniature parallel bars. For Logan, it’s just another way he can constantly stay involved in one of his deepest passions.

For two and a half years, Logan and his parents Jennifer and Bo Adams, Mill Creek’s head lacrosse coach and an assistant coach for the football team, have been involved in a sport that all too often does not get mainstream recognition - gymnastics.

But when the Adams family saw how much their older daughter enjoyed spending time at Gymnastix Training Center in Buford, they knew that joining a boys' gymnastics program would be perfect for their son.

“It was pretty impressive that they have such a big facility,” Bo Adams said. “As a coach, it’s nice to see that there’s a good coach to gymnast ratio.”

The coaching aspect of the facility is also what drew Jennifer Adams to Gymnastix as well, instead of other local gyms.

“The thing about the coaches here is they make the kids feel secure and they’re very serious,” she said. “My husband’s a coach, so I know a little something about coaching well. When I looked into other places, it wasn’t the same. It was just not as professional in the coaching.”

The husband and wife team of David and Michelle Pomerantz own and operate the Gymnastix Training Center, which recently celebrated its tenth year of operation. But while the facility does have a full staff of gymnastics and cheerleading instructors, the Pomerantzes also contribute in coaching and training as well.

It was David’s philosophy of being calm and neutral in both coaching and parenting that was another big sell for Jennifer Adams. David’s son Ethan is in the same group as Logan and, at first, Jennifer said she was surprised about the way David never singles out Ethan in his coaching.

“David coaches his own son, but he coaches everybody the same way,” Jennifer Adams said. “He doesn’t push his own son and he doesn’t push anybody. When I saw the way he coaches his own son I thought, oh wow – I like that.”

In addition to the laid-back manner of the coaching staff, Jennifer and Bo were also very impressed with the way gymnastics teaches young children discipline and determination.

“One of the things gymnastics teaches is discipline because it’s a very disciplined sport,” Bo Adams said. “They march to the next station or routine and stay in order.”

Because that is the nature of the sport, Jennifer Adams said that leads to a commonality between the way the majority of gymnasts go about their school work. Logan gets straight A’s, but Jennifer Adams says the rest of the boys in Logan’s group do as well.

“They’re all smart,” she said. “When Logan had his birthday party, we invited some of the boys and we had a reptile party. This guy brought all these snakes and lizards to the house and he was asking all the boys trivia questions and they knew all of the answers. He said he’d never seen a smarter group of boys.”

Another major advantage about the sport according to Bo Adams, is that it provides the benefits of participating in an individual sport and a team sport simultaneously. This is because while a gymnast is in the midst of his or her performance, it’s a solo act. But the scores that are received go to an overall team score.

“With gymnastics it’s a great benefit because it’s an individual sport and you get scored individually which is great because it pushes the kids to get better for themselves,” he said. “Also, it’s also a team total that can come up and you can win as a team. It’s a two in one kind of sport.”

Bo Adams said this differs from lacrosse and football because in those sports, if one player doesn’t do his job correctly, it could end up costing the entire team the game.

A PERFECT ROLE MODEL

In addition to coaching the Hawks in lacrosse and football, Bo Adams also teaches health and physical education at Mill Creek. Through his teaching, he was able to find Logan the perfect gymnastics role model.

When Mill Creek senior Trent Jarrett was a freshman, he took Mr. Adams’ class and the instructor knew right away his new student was an athlete.

“Even as a freshman he was one of those kids that caught your eye because he’s built like a brick house – just one huge muscle,” Bo Adams said. “I had to ask him if he was either a wrestler or a gymnast. I knew he was one of the two.”

As it turns out, Bo Adams was correct and like Logan, Jarrett has been involved in gymnastics since a very young age.

Jarrett’s veteran status in the sport and relationship with the Adams family has shown Logan some of the amazing opportunities boys’ gymnastics can provide. In fact, Logan recently had a chance to compete with Jarrett at the March 12 state meet. Jarrett placed first in his age group and Logan finished third.

Most of Jarrett’s meets are in Georgia, but he frequently travels out of state to California, Houston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami and Pennsylvania. Jarrett said the ability to be able to see so much of the country with his teammates has been an amazing experience.

“It’s a blast,” he said. “We get to hang out with the team and see a bunch of places. I’ve probably been to more places than anybody in my whole entire school. I’ve been to some of these places four of five times.”

After high school, Jarrett will be attending the University of Illinois at Chicago and will be a member of the men’s team there. After college, he sees himself eventually coaching gymnastics.

Jarrett got his start recently teaching in the Gymnastix Training Center and was able to work with Logan in the gym.

“It was kind of weird and a little different,” Jarrett said. “[Logan’s] dad taught me back in freshman year and now I’m helping his son and coaching gymnastics.”

And just like Bo Adams knew right away that Jarrett was a gymnast, Jarrett said he knows Logan can have a strong future in the sport if he sticks with it.

“Logan’s a good kid,” Jarrett said. “He’s definitely got a future in the sport – I can see it.”

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