We are celebrating 19 years of Flair Gymnastics this month as we first opened the doors to Flair back in 1998! What a journey we have been on and it gets more fun each year as we evolve and improve our gymnastics clubs in Surrey.
RICHARD DWYER – FOUNDER & CEO
My name is Richard Dwyer and I am the Founder & CEO of Flair Gymnastics. I opened the first club at Kenyngton Manor School in Sunbury on Thames when I was 21 years old. I had no business background then, but I was full of drive, ambition and determination. My mission is and always has been to build children’s confidence through gymnastics and to offer the sport to EVERY child at a grass roots level, as I personally benefitted hugely from learning gymnastics as a child and I wanted to share this knowledge with everyone. My background as a South East gymnastics champion and my love of the sport from the age of 4 really spurred me on as well as the support of my mum who was a former gymnastics coach.
MY MUM KATHY
I started my first club with very little gym equipment, a few mats and a couple of vaults. My mum was one of the first gym coaches in those early days. I created and printed my first flyers using a neighbour’s computer since I didn’t have a computer and didn’t even know how to use one back then. Going door to door dropping them in the letterboxes of homes in the local area. My, how times have changed! Nick Ruddock, (Former National Coach) was also one of the very first Flair coaches when he was in his teens. We have remained firm friends and Nick is still very involved with our coaching development programme.
KENYNGTON MANOR SCHOOL
From humble beginnings it has been with great excitement that I have opened each subsequent gym club. One memorable gymnastics club opening was Club Spectrum. On the launch day we were all taken by surprise as we woke up to the biggest snowfall in years. We were determined that the launch would go ahead anyway and endeavoured to give gymnastics classes in the snow to our new members!
GUILDFORD SPECTRUM LAUNCH DAY
We love competition days at Flair and feel they are an important part of your child’s learning as win or lose they help to develop vital life skills including confidence and self esteem and make for a fun, learning experience. At our Invitational Events we invite all the clubs in the surrounding area to come to our club for a fun and friendly competition. Our very first Invitational Event was in 2005. It was circus themed and held in a Big Top! It was a huge event with juggling, trapeze and a ring master as the compere. There was candy floss and popcorn too. It was also the hottest day of the year at 94 degrees in a non air conditioned tent! Phew!!
BIG TOP INVITATIONAL EVENT
We now host the UK’s largest invitational gymnastics and trampolining competitions for grass roots gymnastics, making competition an opportunity for ALL children to shine, grow and learn. This year we are looking forward to The Flair Championships which is an Inter-Flair-Club competition in December. We are also gearing up and starting to get ready for next year’s super duper 20th Birthday Flair Invitational Event. Watch this space!!
Freddie Flair Bear, the club mascot, has also been with us from the start and he is celebrating his 19th Birthday whilst his fantastic friends The Tumble Teddies – Safety Samuel Bear, Courteous Claire Bear, Peter Bear the Performer and Efficient Ellie Bear are celebrating their 1st Birthday this month.
FREDDIE FLAIR BEAR
As we say ‘Happy Birthday to Flair and the Tumble Teddies’ I’d like to thank all of our Flair families for their support and for helping us to achieve 19 years of service. We are looking forward to continuing our service to you on the journey of building your children’s confidence through gymnastics.
EXCITING NEWS…as we continue to expand, we have a few COACHING ROLES available at our gymnastics clubs in Surrey for the right candidates. The right attitude is waaay more important to us than loads of coaching experience so if you think that you have what it takes and would like to be part of our vibrant, forward thinking gym clubs we’d LOVE to hear from you.
CONTACT US AT >> www.GymnasticsJobs.co.uk
We’d love to get to know you and welcome you to the Flair family.
Best wishes,
Richard
Founder & CEO
P.S. TO FIND OUT MORE >> www.GymnasticsJobs.co.uk