By Carolyn Snyder
Oh, to be a kid again and have a place like The Little Gym of Los Altos-Mountain View in which to tumble, bounce, somersault and just have fun.
Looking through the front windows of the new gym, which opened March 5 next to Cost Plus in Mountain View, you can watch children learning skills that promote coordination, balance, rhythm and flexibility. At the same time, they are enjoying themselves and don’t even realize they’re learning.
“Motor-skill development that’s fun helps children build confidence that leads to a lifetime of success,” said Debbie Villarreal, co-owner with her husband, Vince, of The Little Gym, one of more than 100 franchises around the globe.
“The kids learn in a noncompetitive environment,” she said. “We celebrate when they try something new.”
Programs include movement, gymnastics, sports, exercise, games, listening and cooperation. Music with fun themes, such as pirates or dinosaurs, is used to teach various skills.
“Each child receives individual attention and progresses at his or her own pace,” said program director Sarah Roberts. “Self-confidence develops along with physical skills.”
According to Villarreal, children “don’t have to be the best - just try their best.”
The gym’s atmosphere stimulates activity and creativity. The mats, vaults, parallel bars and balance beams are bright, primary colors. The walls are decorated with colorful photos of children.
The interior is open and airy with glass dividers separating the gym from the reception area and party/crafts room. Parents can watch as their children learn gymnastics skills or bounce on the air mat (a safe substitute for a trampoline).
“Parents can observe their kids in a quiet atmosphere without the noise of the gym,” Villarreal said. There is even a place for siblings to watch TV or play games.
The Little Gym caters to children from four months to 12 years.
Parent/child classes are 45 minutes in length and focus on motor development activities, including elementary gymnastics skills, stretching, rhythm, songs, group activities and ball play. There are classes for Bugs (4-10 months), Birds (10-19 months), Beasts (19 months-2.5 years) and Super Beasts (2.5-3 years).
The preschool/kindergarten gymnastics classes are for 3- to 6-year-olds. In these hour-long classes, developmental progress continues with age-appropriate activities such as gymnastics apparatus skills, tumbling and group games.
Grade school classes, also one hour, are open to children 6 to 12. Beginning, intermediate and advanced tumbling and apparatus skills are taught in a “noncompetitive, fun environment,” according to Villarreal.
She plans to add karate, sports skills development and dance to the curriculum.
The winter/spring semester runs through June 16.
The gym also hosts parties.
“There’s no better place to celebrate a birthday than here at the gym,” Villarreal said. “We handle all the details from setup to cleanup. We even send the invitations.”
Two instructors are on hand to lead games and supervise activities in the gym for an hour. The final half hour is spent in the specially decorated party room. The birthday child gets a T-shirt and the party guests take home Little Gym water bottles and balloons.
“It’s a no-stress party,” said Roberts, assistant director at the KinderCare Learning Center in Santa Clara before joining The Little Gym staff. She has worked as after-school site director for the El Camino YMCA and has taught gymnastics and aqua fitness.
Villarreal comes from a sports background and was involved with Little League for many years. For the past 17 years, she has been doing the bookkeeping for Kimbert Sheet Metal in Los Gatos, owned by her father, Gary Cuthbert.
The Little Gym is a “family business,” she said. Her older son, James, 20, is a lead instructor and her younger son, David, 18, may join the staff in the future. Daughter Kamryn, 5, is a client and could be a “poster child” for the program.
In fact, it was because of Kamryn that Villarreal became involved in The Little Gym. She had enrolled her daughter in a Little Gym class in San Jose and became hooked, subsequently exploring the idea of buying a franchise.
An open house is scheduled 2-5 p.m. March 31 at The Little Gym of Los Altos-Mountain View, 1910-F W. El Camino Real, Mountain View. For more information or a schedule of classes, call 961-8100 or visit www.tlglosaltosmtviewca.com.
