Terminator Pumps New Life into Broadway Gymnastics

By Jorge Casuso

The new home of the Broadway Gymnastics School feels so vast under the high vaulted ceiling with the clouds drifting in the skylight that it makes Mary Cates want to take flight and her husband, Michael, pray.

"I'm so energized, I just want to leap across the floor," said Mary, who co-owns the school with Michael.

"It's almost Biblical," said Michael. "The only thing prettier is a church."

Unlike the squat brick structure in Santa Monica's industrial corridor that burned to the ground on January 28, the new site on Main Street and Abbott Kinney (formerly home to the relocated World Gym) offers constant ocean breezes and even a view of a piece of the Pacific.

The school, which has been operating out of temporary facilities throughout the Westside for the past two months, serves approximately 1,000 students per week in gymnastic classes, school physical education programs, competitive teams, after school programs for special needs children, camps and birthday parties.

"Broadway Gymnastic School has had an on-going commitment to the physical fitness needs of children in our community," Schwarzenegger and Shriver said in a prepared statement. "Our family has been an active participant in their programs for many years.

"They have served so many families in our community; we are truly pleased to be able to help them in locating a wonderful new home for their programs. We look forward to seeing our building teeming with happy and fit children and their families."

The couple noted that the school also had "gone out into the community to extend their programs to inner city youth, financially disadvantaged families, physical education programs for schools, at risk youth, and physically and mentally challenged children, including Special Olympians.

After the fire, the 21-yearold Santa Monica institution operated out of four locations, including the YWCA and Crossroads High School.

"I can't thank them enough, they've been absolutely wonderful for us," said Mary Cates. "It's been amazing; there's a lot of students that have stuck with us through thick and thin."

"We were pleased to find such an outstanding facility in the same Westside community where we have 'helped children grow' for more than 20 years," said Michael Cates

The Cates want to take advantage of the beach, which is a two-block stroll away.

"It's an ideal place as far as location," Mary said. "Our physical fitness programs can condition on the beach in the fresh air. I think this is really going to be a healthy environment."

The gym also is equipped with plenty of parking, big locker rooms and showers and a balcony where parents can catch a breeze while their children sweat it out inside.

"This is so positive," Mary Cates said. "We're so happy to have a home and stay here."

So are the parents who started streaming into the gymnasium on Friday, climbing the stairs to the gallery to look down as their children tumbled, balanced, swung, rolled and leapt through the cavernous space down below.

"Our children are young, and they've established relationships with their coaches," said Cathy Nofri, whose five-year-old daughter, Eva, attends the gym. "It's good for them to see that life goes on."

"I like this one the most," said Eva of her new play space, "because it has a great big trampoline."

Broadway Gymnastics' spring camp will be held April 17-28, and plans are already underway for our popular summer camp and class programs, as well, Mary Cates said.

For more information, please call BGS at (310) 450-0012.

More on the Gym