Tag Archives: Viking Gymnastics and Dance

Join the Snowflake Challenge at Viking Gymnastics & Dance!

viking gymnastics and dance snowflake challenge Viking Gymnastics & Dance is having a little bit of fun with all this snow — and our gymnasts and dancers are invited to join in!

We have — creatively — hung snowflakes throughout the facility. Be sure to look everywhere, since snowflakes can be found in the hallways, the gym, the parent room, and dance studio windows.

Kids are invited to guess how many snowflakes we have throughout the building. There’s a sheet at the front desk for kids to write their name (first & last) and their guess. They may also include their class day and time.

Guesses will be accepted through the end of this week at Viking Gymnastics & Dance. You are also invited to follow along on our social media for the results — Viking Instagram and Viking Facebook.

Summer Gymnastics: Why You Should Still be in the Gym over Break!

As school lets out and the weather warms up, many gymnasts choose to take a break from their sport. This can seem like a good idea, to give the body a break and focus time on more classic “summer activities.” However, for a sport like gymnastics that is so dependent on progression (building up from one skill to the next, more difficult skill) and constant maintenance of strength and flexibility, taking a long break in the summer can really hurt a gymnast’s development in the sport. Gymnastics, like many sports, requires regular practice to maintain and improve your skills and fitness level. However, unlike most sports, gymnastics is more dependent on actually going to a gymnastics-specific facility to get that practice in. Therefore, simply staying active over the summer does not quite do the trick. This is for a couple of reasons:

1. Muscle Memory

A silly picture of a brain with arms and legs lifting a barbell as if to work out.

This brain is working out its memory muscles!

Gymnastics relies on muscle memory, the learning method wherein the brain starts to memorize movements in a particular pattern, allowing a gymnast to perform skills without having to think about them. For instance, a roundoff back handspring would be impossibly difficult if you had to think about every single step of performing the series. Instead, your brain knows how to do the roundoff and can start preparing for the back handspring from the time you start your hurdle. Muscle memory is reliant on regular practice, or else the brain begins to forget the patterns it has learned. A long break from gymnastics can therefore cause the brain to forget much of what it has worked so hard all year to learn, making the process of relearning these skills much harder come fall. Having to spend time relearning what you had mastered previously means you will have less time to spend learning new things!

2. Equipment

A panoramic photo of a gymnastic facility, showcasing the different kinds of equipment important to the sport.

All of this equipment in the gym is crucial for safely practicing.

Another reason to remain in the gym over summer break is that gymnastics, unlike many sports, requires very specific equipment and safety measures (coaches who know how to spot, for instance), which makes it very difficult to practice it at home. While kids can practice many skills for a sport like baseball in their backyard, unless you have proper matting and expensive equipment set up in your house, practicing gymnastics is not really a possibility. Even if you do have some equipment in your home, doing gymnastics safely and correctly often requires the presence of a coach who can correct your form and technique. Practicing a skill at home incorrectly can lead to difficulties in relearning the skill properly when back in the gym, making the progression to the next skill much slower.

Ways to stay involved this summer

A photograph of children running around a floor; a pile of gymnastics mats is stacked in the middle of the floor as part of a game the children are playing.

These young campers participate in a group game of natural disaster.

Viking Gymnastics & Dance makes every effort to provide opportunities for all of our Viking students to continue to improve during the summer months. We have plenty to choose from, whether it be in classes, camps or clinics. Participating in summer camps can really help gymnasts concentrate on specific skills or hone their form, as camps are longer than a normal class period. Camps also include games, crafts, and team building challenges. They are a great way to spend a week (or weeks!) while parents are busy and children are sure to have a blast while maintaining all the skills they have worked hard to learn all year.

Summer training is not only important for gymnasts, which is why Viking’s dance program also has a number of exciting camps and clinics scheduled. Camps range from musical theatre to breakdancing and may be full or half day. Clinics are concentrated lessons in a particular genre and are a great opportunity to try something new or to improve skills in a favorite kind of dance. These opportunities are educational and fun ways of passing those long summer days, and they will help your child stay active and in shape during their time away from school.

A group of children pose for a silly picture after a day of gymnastics camp.

This group of summer campers poses for a silly picture after a day of fun at Viking.

For more information, please check out our website, call our front desk at 847-965-2700, or email us at info@vikinggymnastics.com!

Thanks, and have a lovely, fun-filled summer, from the Viking Gymnastics & Dance family!

Inaugural Dance Recitals

Viking’s Dancers Dazzle in Inaugural Recitals!

by Ms. Lynn

On May 20, 2018, Viking Dance held two inaugural recitals at the Niles North High School Auditorium. The shows were titled Debut, which felt appropriate as it was a hallmark of many “firsts.” Debut was the first recital for Viking’s budding dance program, as well as the first time many of its dance students had ever performed on a stage. Anyone familiar with Viking’s history will recall that the gymnastics program also developed at Niles North several years ago, so in a way, the recitals brought Viking full circle back to the place of its roots.

Ms. Jessica’s “Breathe Me” lyrical quartet strikes their opening tableau with a graceful intensity.

Each show presented a program of twenty-four routines featuring dancers ages three to fourteen. Audiences were treated to a hearty mix of styles in Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop and Tap. Solos, duets, trios and small group dances were showcased with eclectic music and artfully designed choreography. The spirit and enthusiasm of the audiences were palpable and electric in the air. Thunderous applause was heard after the final movements of each piece were struck, and giggles of adoration were heard when the tiniest dancers captured everyone’s hearts.

It was truly a magical day. Parents and family members beamed with pride over their child’s accomplishments. Teachers teared up when their students took the stage because they know how tough the journey can be, and they know how much growth their students have undergone. Dancers entered the stage fraught with nervous excitement, but exited relieved, elated and stronger than when they first began.

Two dancers strike a pose in character on Photo Day.

These are the things that make dance worth it. It is why being challenged, practicing outside of class, working towards a common goal for months, and overcoming stage fright is worth it. Dance is transformative. It gives us power to shift our perspective and bring us closer into balance with each other and the brightest pieces of ourselves. It is a silent voice that loudly and boldly bursts throughout space. Sometimes it ignites a passion that is so deep

A ballet dancer fluffs the layers of her tutu.

, dance is the only thing that makes real sense in the world. I truly hope our dancers felt a flicker of that passion during their performances.

There were so many positive memories created on and leading up to recital day that we will cherish for many years. Our staff is incredibly proud of each and every dancer’s achievements this season and we are honored to provide such a beautiful experience for our youth. For the first recital, it sure was one for the books! We hope to see all of our wonderful dancers again next season ready to rock the stage!

We hope that our dancers will continue their dance training over the summer to continue improving their technique and heighten their love and passion for their art. We have a variety of fantastic summer offerings including dance camps and clinics!

Ms. Sara’s “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” ballet dancers confidently hold their ending pose for big applause!

Laurie Hernandez visits Viking!

Congratulations, Viking family, on a successful visit by U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist, Laurie Hernandez! Laurie stopped by Viking Gymnastics and Dance on Saturday, May 5, as part of a fundraiser for our new(ish) Special Olympics gymnastics, Rising Stars. She spent the day visiting with Viking students and staff, signing autographs, posing for pictures, and helping lead some mini-clinics for the students! To win these opportunities, students and their families raised money through an online fundraising program, through Lucas Sports Inc., unlocking various prizes based on amount raised.

The day was filled with fun and excitement, from Laurie’s arrival and entrance into the gym to the final dinner held with Laurie and the ten top fundraisers. In between, hundreds of autographs were signed, and even more pictures were taken. Viking’s own amateur photographers took hundreds of pictures and videotaped the entirety of the event for posterity. The photobooth was a big hit, as those who had already snapped a pic with Laurie could continue to have fun posing with friends and family. Viking staff also got in on the fun posing for some humorous photoshoots!

Members of Viking staff pose for a silly picture in the photobooth.

Charlie, Barbara, Jackie, Lucia, and baby Cayden take a fun photobooth picture.

One extra special event was a roundtable with a few of the highest fundraisers where Laurie talked about her experiences in Rio for the 2016 Olympics and even drew diagrams of the Olympic Village and the gymnastics arena to illustrate her stories. We learned what it was like living with the athletes from other sports and how exciting it was to simply see Jamaican sprinter and world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, walking across the village. Laurie also told us about the gymnastics events and how there was a moving camera that would glide along the vault runway keeping time with the gymnasts’ vault runs. Apparently this was very stressful for Laurie, as she tried unsuccessfully to outrun the camera!

Another special event was the Q&A held with Laurie and all of the guests. Certain guests’ questions were chosen in advance, and these guests got to ask Laurie questions about anything they wanted. Laurie’s answers were characteristically funny and wise, ranging from advice about specific skills to dealing with the pressure of representing America at the Olympic Games. Laurie’s mom, Wanda, also got to answer some questions directed at her (mostly by other mothers in the crowd) about what it was like raising a child who became a national icon in her sport at such a young age (Laurie is only 17!).

Laurie Hernandez and her mother, Wanda, answer questions from members of the Viking audience into a microphone.

Laurie and her mom answer questions from members of the audience.

The day concluded with some short clinics, where groups of about fifteen or so children rotated between events and, on floor, got to be coached by Laurie herself. At the end of each floor rotation, Laurie also saved a couple minutes to address questions from the group and just chat a bit before they rotated to the next event. After the clinics, the top ten fundraisers gathered in one of our party rooms for a catered dinner with Laurie.

All told, the day was an incredible success, and everyone involved had a great time and learned a lot. Simply being in the presence of such greatness as Laurie Hernandez was truly inspiring. It was also encouraging to see hundreds of children elated to meet a hero and to see their hero be as excited to meet them. Hosting this event was a delight, and Viking is honored to have had the opportunity, especially to benefit such a wonderful cause! Our Rising Stars adaptive team will certainly be able to grow and develop from the efforts of the fundraisers and from Laurie.

Laurie Hernandez participates in a group hug with members of Viking Gymnastics adaptive team, Rising Stars

Laurie has a group hug with our Rising Stars team after their clinic.

We’d like to thank Lucas Sports Inc. for helping us run this event successfully, from providing the fundraising platform to being present at the event to assist us in making sure everything went smoothly. We’d like to thank our own staff for their help setting up for, running, and cleaning up after Laurie’s visit. We’d also like to thank all those who supported our fundraising efforts (and their families and friends who got to come to the event with them); your generous contributions are truly appreciated, and we hope you had as much fun meeting Laurie as we did! Lastly, we’d like to thank Laurie Hernandez and her mom Wanda Hernandez, from the bottom of our hearts, for taking the time to visit us, raising awareness of our new Special Olympics team, and for being absolutely delightful guests at Viking Gymnastics & Dance. Go Team U.S.A.!

Viking Gymnastics staff poses for a silly picture with Laurie Hernandez in the middle

Viking staff poses with Laurie.

10 Gymnastics Safety Tips

Technique Tuesday:
10 Important Safety Tips for Gymnasts at any Level

By Ashlyn Kershner

Gymnastics is, by no account, the world’s safest sport. There is all sorts of risk involved when you flip and jump and swing several feet off the ground on a bar or beam, or when you run as fast as you can toward a stationary object, or when you do a front skill with a blind landing (when you can’t see the ground as you approach it). This risk comes with the territory of the sport, but it is also part of why the sport can be so rewarding. The sense of accomplishment that comes from conquering a seemingly impossible skill is indescribable. However, because of the risk of injury, safety measures are absolutely paramount in a sport like gymnastics, and we take your safety very seriously here at Viking Gymnastics and Dance. Here are ten crucial safety tips we practice at Viking at every level of gymnastics, from tots to team.

Use correct matting!

Mats are so, so important in gymnastics. They cushion falls and lessen impact on joints like knees and ankles. Without mats, gymnasts would have to land on hard surfaces, and that would be infinitely more dangerous! Whenever practicing any gymnastics skill, make sure you are over a mat or gymnastics carpet.

Mats are super important; they line the floor under all apparatuses!

Always have an instructor present!

Coaches and instructors are here to keep you safe when practicing gymnastics, not just to critique your form and technique. Even when they are not spotting you directly, coaches have an eye out to make sure you are practicing skills safely.

Coach Kerry helps a friend with some leg lifts, so our friend doesn’t fall down!

Never try a new skill without supervision!

In addition to making sure you practice the skills you already know safely, coaches can tell you when it’s time to make a skill harder or work on a new skill. You should never try a new skill by yourself without a coach’s permission. If you attempt a skill that you are not yet prepared to do correctly, you risk hurting yourself or others. Trying new things is of course one of the biggest ways you can improve your gymnastics abilities, but always make sure to do so with the A-Okay from your coach!
Don’t run around the gym!

Obviously, a lot of gymnastics, especially tumbling and vault, requires running. But when you’re not running for a skill or because a coach told you to, running around the gym (from event to event, for instance) can put you and your friends at risk. There are lots of obstacles in the gym, from mats to walls to bar supports. If you are not paying enough attention, it is easy to trip on things and fall or to run in the way of someone who is about to do a skill, causing a collision. Luckily, these are super avoidable issues that we can prevent by simply walking safely around the gym when going from one place to another.

A gymnastics coach leads a line of five young children across a colorful gym.

A class of young friends safely follows Coach Maythe in a nice, straight line to walk across the gym.

Watch out for other gymnasts!

Always, always, always keep your eyes open and stay aware of your surroundings in the gym. There are people everywhere in the gym, and even the most careful of us can sometimes fail to notice someone about to tumble where we’re walking. The best way to prevent this is to be responsible for your own awareness. Always assume that other people do not notice you, so that you always notice them. This stops all sorts of accidents and collisions!

Six young gymnasts sit waiting to take their turn on a tumble trak at Viking Gymnastics & Dance.

This class is waiting patiently for their turn on tumble track!

Listen to your coaches!

Coaches have already been mentioned twice, but it cannot be stated enough that listening to your coaches is one of the most important parts of your gymnastics education. Your coaches are experts in safety and proper technique and are always looking out for their gymnasts’ safety. If they tell you not to jump up and down, it’s to protect you from accidentally jumping on someone. If they tell you to talk more quietly (or not at all), it is so that they (and you!) can pay better attention to their (and your!) surroundings. If they tell you to tuck your head in, it’s so that you do not rest all of your weight on your head.

A gymnastics coach talks to a class of three toddler-aged children.

Some young friends listen as Coach Carly gets ready to explain their stations in the tots area.

Stay off your head!

Speaking of tucking your head in, this is an important safety rule all on its own! Going upside down is a key part of gymnastics, but if you support all your weight on your head, you are putting too much pressure on your neck, and neck injuries are no joke. Even if it is just a bridge where you can’t quite push your head off the floor, it is important to ask a coach for help. That little bit of pressure can make your neck surprisingly sore, which at the very least, is unpleasant and at the most can cause lasting damage. Whether it is bridges, handstands, or even headstands, always make sure you’re supporting the majority of your weight on your hands.

Even when doing headstands, gymnasts use their hands to support the bulk of their weight, protecting their necks.
Stretch before practice, warm-up before stretching!

This seems like a minor one to a lot of people, especially because young children are often so active that they can just jump in and do a cartwheel or a backbend like it’s nothing, but warming up and stretching are super important at the beginning of practice. Without proper stretching, the muscles may be too tight to perform certain skills, which can lead to strains or pulls, and without proper warm-up, the muscles may be too tight even to stretch. Getting our blood flowing through warm-ups allows us to stretch as effectively as possible, which enables us to perform our skills without hurting our muscles!

A group of young gymnasts stretches in a straddle position on a gymnastics floor, overseen by a number of purple-clad Viking coaches.

A group of gymnasts stretches before one of Viking’s day camps..

If something hurts, tell your coach!

One of the easiest ways to turn a minor injury into a major one is to ignore it. If something hurts a little doesn’t mean you should ignore it. Something, like an ankle, that hurts “just a little” is likely in a weakened state. Without realizing it, you could favor one ankle and end up putting too much weight on the other side and injure that one too. Or you could land something like you normally do, but your already-weakened ankle can’t take the pressure, and ends up in an even worse state. I use ankles as an example because this is particularly true for them (a previously-sprained ankle is much more likely to end up sprained in the future), but it’s true about all pain or discomfort. While often, something minor that hurts really isn’t a big deal and your coach will tell you to work through it, sometimes it may warrant more attention or rest. To be safe, always make sure to inform your coach.

A gymnasts's injured elbow and ankle, both braced, shown on a chalky floor.

Injuries can worsen if not treated properly. Braces like these can sometimes help! Always talk to your coaches to figure out how best to deal with an injury.

Have fun!

This may seem like a silly rule for an article about safety, but a positive attitude is actually very critical to safe gymnastics. If you are feeling discouraged or unhappy, it is possible you will not put your whole energy into a skill, which could cause you to fall. While you certainly cannot be expected to be happy all the time, it is important to try to harness all the positivity you can muster when you are doing gymnastics. Having fun will help you to achieve your biggest goals even faster, because it will help you put everything you have into getting better and better!

Coach Angie gives a big thumbs up and a smile alongside her gymnast on the star bars.

Tots Motor Development at Viking

The Importance of Motor Development in Early Childhood

By Ashlyn Kershner

Coach April helps a young friend learn their backward roll.

We at Viking Gymnastics and Dance take great pride in our tots’ programs. With dedicated coaches and tot-oriented spaces and equipment, our commitment to providing a safe, fun, and instructive environment for our smallest friends remains one of our greatest values. These programs are so important because they cultivate the gross motor skills (or, large-scale movements like walking, jumping, and dancing) young children need to develop both physically and mentally.

Why Gross Motor Development is Important:

Coach Fred helps a young friend safely climb the rainbow ladder.

Research shows that early childhood is the most crucial time of development for the brain and body. It is at this time that our neurons are forming the quickest connections, so it is important that we use this time to enable children’s young brains to develop to their best capabilities. The physical and mental development of young children are intimately connected. Physical development of gross motor skills actually helps the brain develop mental, or cognitive, connections as well! For example, walking sideways, especially on a balance beam, can help the brain connect the same neural pathways required to develop stronger reading skills. Without the encouragement to develop their bodies, young children’s minds will not develop as quickly. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance for parents, guardians, and other adults responsible for our young ones to encourage physical activity and play as much as possible, and Viking’s tots’ programs are a great way to do that!

How Viking Can Help!

We offer classes for children as young as 6 months, helping them (and helping their parents help them!) to learn how to maneuver through their environment, strengthening muscles and coordination, learning how to fall and climb and even walk while engaging with a bright, colorful environment designed specifically to help them reach their full potential while also having a blast! Our coaches, led by the inimitable Coach April, are a passionate, energetic bunch who care deeply about the cultivation of active and engaged tots.

Coach Carly and friends work on foot-eye coordination during warm-up time.

At Viking, young children learn how to work together, cooperating with their friends in simple games like pass the beanbag (like hot potato but less competitive!) and communicating with one another during their class, offering each other encouragement and generally having fun making friends while improving their social skills in the process. They also learn how to more confidently move through their environment, climbing, running, jumping, and rolling to improve their coordination, balance, and strength. They even learn some basic counting and color skills based on their environment (“Jump on the red block” or “Do five donkey kicks”), which helps foster stronger connections between their mind and body, their cognitive and physical functions. In addition, these skills help foster stronger academic and general life skills, and gymnastics in particular serves as an excellent springboard to any other athletic endeavors children may pursue, as it cultivates all sorts of muscle groups and mental abilities.

Our Classes:

Coach Emily has some Halloween fun with the little ones!

We have six class levels for our tots in gymnastics, ranging from parent-tot style classes where parents help their infants start to learn how to move more independently to our kinder-tot class, where Kindergarten-aged children learn basic tumbling skills like forward rolls and cartwheels, walk on a balance beam, and learn some pretty fancy jumps on the trampoline, all while beginning to learn how to do these things with proper form and technique to prepare them for the next level of their gymnastics education. In dance, we have eight classes, again ranging from parent-tot classes where parents can help their infants learn to move to music through kinder-tot classes in three dance disciplines (ballet, jazz, and hip hop) as well as combo classes which combine two disciplines in one class. Each discipline teaches a slightly different skill set to the little ones, from the strongly attitude-based hip hop to the more precision-of-form-based ballet. Each introduces children to different kinds of music as well, which further encourages coordination and cognitive ability.

These classes, both in gymnastics and dance, provide a perfect environment to foster physical, mental, social, and emotional growth in our tots preparing them to excel in all aspects of life, from athletics to academics, and we are lucky to have such awesome staff to guide our young friends on new journeys every class. If you know a tot who might benefit from one of our classes, or even who might just have a blast learning new things with us, we encourage you to give Viking a try! We’d love to meet your little ones and help them develop into strong, confident, active youth. You can find more details about all the gymnastics and dance classes we have to offer on our website. Check us out, and sign your child up for tot classes today!

Some of our small friends listening closely to their teacher.

WGN Stops By Viking Gymnastics and Dance!

WGN Stops By!

By Ashlyn Kershner

The WGN van pulls into the parking lot first thing in the morning.

Back in November, WGN Studios dropped by Viking Gymnastics and Dance for their “Around Town” segment. They visited the week of Thanksgiving, when we had many camps and other fun things taking place. Correspondent Ana Belaval spoke to Charlie about her roots and her vision for Viking as well as to April about our thriving tots’ program. Ana was able to observe our gymnastics day camp, team practices, and dance classes, even participating in some!

Why did WGN Choose to Visit Viking?

WGN is a leading news network in Chicago’s, and “Around Town” is one of their more popular segments. In “Around Town”, Ana visits places of interest around the city, reporting on their history, mission, and other fun things about the place. For Viking, that meant talking about our wide variety of programs with lots of fun footage of gymnasts and dancers and Ana having fun with the classes! The segment aired on Tuesday, November 28 during several news hours throughout the day, each covering different bits of footage from the network’s visit.

Ana joins in a hip hop class!

What Happened during the Visit?

The WGN crew hooks Charlie up to a microphone.

In the clips from the segment, you can see Ana in full Viking attire swinging on a high bar and sticking her landing with a big gymnastics stretch, footage of the boys’ and girls’ gymnastics teams practicing on floor, beam, and the boys’ events, Ana’s interview with Charlie about Viking’s story and mission to be inclusive to every possible entry into the worlds of gymnastics aand dance, and her interview with April about the importance of mobility training like our tots’ classes to early childhood development in all areas, not just mobility. We then see Ana participating in a hip-hop class and talking to Charlie about the Viking’s dance program, while Viking Dance director Lynn’s classes practices in the background. Finally, Ana reluctantly climbs into the giant hamster wheel in the gym to be rolled back and forth by Dan and Angie, everyone laughing delightedly, with our gymnastics day camp hard at work and play in the background. It was truly a delightful morning with WGN, and hopefully it’s led more people to check out our facilities and programs. As Charlie says in the clip, we’ve got something for everyone at Viking!

Ana and Charlie pose for a picture after their fun and successful interview.

2. Equipment

Ways to stay involved this summer

Technique Tuesday: 10 Important Safety Tips for Gymnasts at any Level

By Ashlyn Kershner

Use correct matting!

Always have an instructor present!

Never try a new skill without supervision!

Don’t run around the gym!

Watch out for other gymnasts!

Listen to your coaches!

Stay off your head!

Stretch before practice, warm-up before stretching!

If something hurts, tell your coach!

Have fun!

The Importance of Motor Development in Early Childhood

By Ashlyn Kershner

Why Gross Motor Development is Important:

How Viking Can Help!

Our Classes:

WGN Stops By!

By Ashlyn Kershner

What Happened during the Visit?

Check out the full series of clips!

Technique Tuesday:
10 Important Safety Tips for Gymnasts at any Level