First Competition Ever - Level 5 boys Gymnastics 2010

Only ONE year after walking into a gymnastics gym he was flipping and swinging all over the place.   He never participated in any kind of gymnastics prior to this.   It's amazing to me how far this little boy came in just 12 months.  (and to think the first 6 months he was just doing casual 1.5 to 2.5 hour classes before he was invited to be a member of the boys level 5 team.

The Handstand Handspring Kid

Travis took to the gym like a monkey to the vine!  He was a natural.   After only 4 months, he had learned how to do tons of stuff (a back handspring being one of them)  Learning Back handsprings took a few weeks of practice, before we knew it, he was springing all over the front lawn!  Check out his progression in just a matter of a few weeks.

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#3 WOOOO HOOOO  ! 

The Beginning - Oct 2000 to Nov 2009

First - let us thank you for visiting Trav's page!   THANK YOU  :)

 Last weekend he qualified for the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic Nationals Competition.  (this year being held in Portland Oregon)  He Placed 10th in his region (MA,  CT,  RI, VT, NH, ME )  It was at that moment it became a reality that he would not be able to continue in his dream without the help of many.  We are a typical middle american family. It was a struggle to send Travis to regular gym... never mind after he was invited to be on the Team.  The costs have exploded over the past few years with the hours of coaching the team must have.  He's very dedicated, and works out with his team about 14 hours per week.  As he progresses through the Levels (he's on level 8 right now)  the time commitment and money goes up.  All competition entrance fees and traveling expenses are extra on top of the gym team tuition, so this adds over $1000 EXTRA every year to the already high gym tuition... as if that's not bad enough...  When a gymnast qualifies for the Nationals,  they must pay their own airfare to where ever it is being held (this year Portland Oregon)  and also pay for all hotel/food expenses while there (usually a week) This adds on Thousands and thousands more...   The average investment of money for all gym related things at Level 8 and making it to Nationals is about $7500 - $8000   It's OVERWHELMING to say the least.  We had NO IDEA how far our son would take this Gymnastics thing!  It started as a nice "1 day a week" hobby which helped his self esteem and has blossomed into this amazing life challenge and dream.

Travis started out his life as a tiny baby only about 7 pounds. He didn't crawl until he was a year old and never tried to walk until he was 16 months old.  We were concerned that he may have some physical set-backs but were not sure.   He even was part of the Early Intervention physical therapy program for about 2 . 5 years.... As the years went by we watched him.  Little by little  he grew he started to accelerate at his school and his physical activities.  One day when he was about 8 years old, he was jumping all over the couch and doing his wobbly handstands (which to us back then were AMAZING )  We saw that he had some kind of raw talent and definitely an interest in doing gymnastic type tricks so we signed him up for his first gym class in November 2009.  Here is his first handstands... the amazing Travis D Gymnast  ;)