Storm damage forces Murraylands Gymnastics Academy to seek a new home

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One of the Murraylands’ biggest sporting organisations is in crisis after recent rain rendered its Murray Bridge premises unfit for use.

The first thing Murraylands Gymnastics Academy coach Jemma Tilley noticed was the smell.

“(Last) Friday I’d gone under a trampoline to retrieve a box, because that’s where we store all our equipment,” she said.

“I came out and my knees were damp.

“I didn’t think a lot of it because it had rained (last) Thursday and moisture does build up in the shed.

“But on Monday morning we walked in the entrance and there was a sickening, musty smell.”

The academy’s coaches soon realised that water had pooled along the walls of their rented premises on Thomas Street, then seeped up through the floor and into the carpet, causing a mould problem that had worsened significantly in this week’s humidity.

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They cancelled a Monday morning Fitter for Life class, for participants aged 55-plus; then a class for home-school families, which several young babies would normally attend.

By Monday afternoon, though, they realised that the problem was too widespread – this wasn’t a quick cleaning job, it was an insurance claim.

They contacted their 383 regular participants to let them know that the year’s classes would have to finish two weeks early.

President Jess Morgan didn’t blame the academy’s landlords, Bridge Evangelical Christian Church, for its predicament.

The gymnastics group had already outgrown the shed out the back of the church, as participation numbers had quadrupled over the past five years or so.

If needed, the academy will clear out its equipment, get everything professionally cleaned, and squeeze back into the space, hopefully in time for classes to resume in the second week of term one as usual.

But the gymnasts would prefer to find a new venue.

What sort of venue does a gymnastics academy need?

For a start, the gymnasts will need floor space – ideally more than the 600 or so square metres they have occupied in recent years.

They will also need height – apparatus like high bars and rings do not mesh well with low ceilings.

A less finished venue, like a shed, would work better than a building with neatly rendered walls, as they will need to fix some of their equipment in place with hooks and cables.

It would be best for any venue to be in or near Murray Bridge, as participants come from every corner of the region: Lameroo, Meningie, Swan Reach and beyond.

It will need to have toilets and access to car parking, and to be available from morning until evening, five days a week.

The academy can’t access enough finance to build its own venue.

Its leaders have already thought about some of the vacant retail or industrial spaces around Murray Bridge, most of which would be too expensive.

But could another space suit – even a shed on a private rural property or an aircraft hangar?

They are open to anyone with a good idea.

“We don’t know how long it’s going to take,” Ms Tilley said.

“But we’re stuck now, until we can fix it or we can find another venue.”

• Contact the Murraylands Gymnastics Academy: Call 0466 674 849, email murraylandsgym@yahoo.com.au or message Murraylands Gymnastics Academy on Facebook.
• Read more: Come and try … gymnastics at the Murraylands Gymnastics Academy

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