Like every other gymnast heading to Wenatchee this week, Gigi Gernhart would love to earn a medal at the Washington State Xcel Gymnastics Championships.
But Gernhart is not just another competitor. For one thing, she figures to be smiling no matter how her first gymnastics state meet experience unfolds.
Sheri Bousquet figures to be emotional, too. Bousquet coaches the Naydenov Gymnastics Special Abilities program for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, which she started six years ago. It was Bousquet who suggested that Gernhart, who is 27 years old and has Down syndrome, join the competitive Xcel team.
Bousquet described as “monumental” the day that Gernhart joined the Xcel team coached by Bousquet’s friend Melissa Dougherty. Xcel is a USA Gymnastics program open to all ages for athletes who want to compete but don’t want to train daily.
Equally emotional, Bousquet said, was being the floor exercise judge at Gernhart’s first Xcel meet in January in Hillsboro, Ore. In fact, Bousquet said she had to hide tears as she scored Gernhart’s routine and heard the warm ovation.
Gernhart called that experience exciting. But what she most likes about joining the Xcel program is the support she gets from new friends on the team, and the new skills she has learned.
Gernhart barely missed qualifying for state at her first meet in January. She later achieved the needed 32.00 all-around score that was judged at Naydenov.
Her favorite event is the uneven parallel bars. Her coaches lovingly call her “Bar Monkey” because of her enthusiasm for the event and the way she swings on the bars.
Dougherty said that Gernhart does the same drills as everyone else on the team, w ith one significant difference.
“She’s just more smiley than everybody else doing theirs,” Dougherty said.
Gernhart faces some physical challenges that her teammates don’t, such as lower muscle tone. But Gernhart gives it her best and isn’t out of place on any of the four apparatus. And, Dougherty said, she is coachable.
“It doesn’t take her that long to make corrections” to a skill, the coach said.
Perhaps the biggest adjustment in stepping up to the Xcel team is the hours involved. The Special Abilities team trains once a week for 90 minutes. The Xcel team trains for three hours every Monday and Wednesday.
More time in the gym seems fine with Gernhart, who is also at Naydenov on Tuesdays to help Bousquet coach the Special Abilities team.
Gernhart’s mother, Sandy Gernhart, said she has talked with her daughter about tempering her expectations, reminding her daughter to keep the Special Olympics oath.
“I’ve just told her to go there and do what you do and have fun,” Sandy Gernhart said.
Adding to the fun, this weekend will be a homecoming. Gigi was born in Wenatchee and attended elementary school there before the Gernharts moved to Vancouver in 1999.
Wenatchee was also where Gernhart won gold medals for skiing and snowboarding several years in a row at the Special Olympics Washington Winter Games.
For Bousquet, who started the Special Abilities team ay Naydenov six years ago and has a brother with Down syndrome, seeing Gernhart train and compete with a mainstream team is heartwarming.
“We don’t see a person with a disability,” Bousquet said. “We see an athlete. We see a person in front of us, and we want to see how far they can go.”
