Excitement among local gymnasts is extremely high as the fifth Annual Atlantis Crown Invitational gets underway this evening inside the Imperial Ballroom of the Atlantis Resort. Approximately 95 Bahamian gymnasts, male and female, are expected to be a part of the 870 registered competitors in the five-day meet that wraps up on Monday. Local athletes will come from Nassau 'Nastics, Bahamas Star Gymnastics and the BDT Flyers. Once again, Al and Cindy Scharns, owners of Branch Gymnastics and Kids Sports USA out of Battle Creek and Kalamazo
o, Michigan, will direct this year's crown invitational. Honorary guests include three-time Olympian Svetlana Boginskaya; 2012 Olympian Sam Mikulak; and the Region 5 Elite Ambassador Team of Nia Dennis, Gabby Perea, Shilese Jones and Amelia Hundley. The opening ceremony will get started at 7 p.m. today, and competition will start tomorrow morning.
"We started this event with just 300 athletes and now we've grown tremendously and will feature both male and female gymnasts, so we're really excited about this," said Cindy Sharns.
"The event has grown to the point that we are actually running two gyms side by side, so it'll be two competitions going on at the same time, instead of just one. One of the things that excites us most about this event is the growth for the future. We are very excited about the fact that we've signed contracts to bring this event to The Bahamas through 2020 and we are in the process, and will get confirmation on the ceiling heights tomorrow, to add spring trampoline and tumbling to the event for next year. We also have a few college connections who have asked to become a part of this event next year."
The event continues to grow, and this year Dr. George Drew, head coach of the United States 2003 Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships Team will be visiting with a view to adding a tumbling and trampoline component to the event schedule for next year. This component is expected to attract not only regional athletes, but athletes from Europe as well.
Just 20 local athletes participated in the event in its inaugural edition, and Scharns credits National Head Coach Trevor Ramsey for the consistent growth in local participation. According to the organizers and local booster clubs, the sport of gymnastics here in The Bahamas has seen considerable growth in the past few years. Kianna Dean was the first competitor to represent The Bahamas in a major international competition, at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.
"We are excited with the growth we've seen so far, particularly in men's gymnastics, because it isn't as popular as the women's," said Ramsey. "We are also excited to have the U.S. women's gymnastics team here and all of these things help give our kids visions of where they can be in the sport if they continue to work."
The Scharns expressed special thanks to the Ministry of Tourism; the Ministry of Transport and Aviation; the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; the Gymnastics Federation of the Bahamas (GFB) and Atlantis for their continued support.
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