GTCR receives Luncheon Outstanding Acheivment Award

Gymnastics Training Center of Rochester Recipient of 1999-2000 Luncheon Outstanding Achievement Award

The Luncheon's Outstanding Achievement Award is presented annually to a local sports group which has distinguished itself during either the previous calendar year or over an extended period of time

SARAH JANE CLIFFORD
GTCR President

By Steve Bradley: Sports Writer, Democrat and Chronicle.

One detail remained uncovered when Sarah Jane Clifford presented her dream to the Penfield Town Planning Board late in the Fall of 1994.

"Well, what's it going to look like?" a board member asked. Stunned, Clifford paused for a moment before turning to the Socratic method to offer a reply.

"What do you want it to look like?" she said. "You tell me and I'll get my architect to draw it up."

The response fits the Gymnastics Training Center of Rochester perfectly because, as beautiful as its sparkling 22,000 square-foot one million dollar facility just north of the intersection of routes 441 and 250 is, it has never been about external appearances. It's all about what's on the inside.

For the last 13 years Clifford and her staff have trained athletes of all ages and abilities. Some of their students are state and regional champions. Others are Special Olympians and athletes with epilepsy. Multiple sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, blindness, and heart conditions. All receive equal amounts of attention, instruction, and affection.

"We are touching more and more kids in the Rochester area, which is all I wanted to do...offer a sport to any kids that wanted to participate" said Clifford, the center's Owner and President.

It is for this sustaining commitment, to its students and its sport, that the Gymnastics Training Center of Rochester is being honored this afternoon.

The center has come a long way since it first opened in the old Perkins Swim Club across from Panorama Plaza in 1987. It already had nearly 1,000 students and a waiting list of 700 when Clifford, a 1973 Pittsford High School grad who majored in Counseling and Human Relations and minored in Dance as a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Ithaca College in 1976, decided to borrow money from her parents and go for the gust to build her dream.

Her new center opened its doors in June of 1995 and it now serves 2,000 students with a staff of about 50, including 44 coaches. The fully equipped facility includes all of the Olympic apparatus, a 60-foot tumble track, and two sunken trampolines. The motto is: "Safety First, Last, and Always."

The name on the door is also a bit misleading. The Gymnastics Training Center of Rochester isn't just for gymnastics any more. It is also buzzing morning, noon, and night as home to the Fit by Five Preschool, a ballet studio and...coming this summer...United Cheerleading Association camps.

"Basically we've been able to touch any kid in the Rochester area who wants to participate," Clifford a Perinton resident, said. "About the only problem we've ever had is transportation."

And that's been minor. One student rides his bicycle all the way from Brockport and other students, including 50 Monroe County Special Olympians, arrive by vans or bus.

"It's the highlight of their week," said Marian Turner, the Director of Development and Public Relations for Monroe County Special Olympics.

And it has been for a long time. The special Olympians have trained at the center every Friday for 12 years and last December it hosted the State Meet. Last month, they received a special surprise when Olympic legends Nadia Comaneci and her husband Bart Conner visited the Center to teach and spot them.

"It really takes a special training center and some special coaches like Sarah Jane has because gymnastics is not a sport you can just pick up," said Turner, who has seen gymnasts from her program participate in the 1991, '95, and '99 Special Olympics World Games. Clifford, an elite judge who awarded the first perfect 10 in Special Olympics history last July at the World Games in North Carolina, politely disagrees.

" Gymnastics is a sport that doesn't end," she said. " There's no beginning and no end. You can begin anywhere and end anywhere.

For some it's a forward roll, for other's it's a difficult dismount. Regardless, we are all winners.

"Everything we teach is success-oriented, you can't do anything wrong here," Clifford said.

One of Clifford's goals when she opened her gym was to bring the United States Olympic team to her facility. It happened in January of 1997 when the "Magnificent Seven," including Kerri Strug, Shannon Miller, and Dominique Moceanu, came to Rochester for a performance at the War Memorial. They also stopped at the Gymnastics Training Center, where their autographs are prominently displayed on a "Wall of Fame," and performed alongside 25 students.

It hosts competitions including state and regional meets for different levels, AAU regional meets, the Maccabi Games, and testing for the USA Gymnastics National Talent Opportunity Program. The GTCR also assisted with the Monroe County Girls Sports Festival at Frontier Field the past two summers.

But those all pale in comparison to its biggest undertaking...the U.S. Classic Gymnastics Festival last August. The event brought 120 of the nations top-ranked gymnasts to Rochester to position themselves to qualify for a spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team that will compete in Sydney Australia, this September.

"Sarah Jane is absolutely tireless and tenacious when it comes to something she wants to do," said Jim LeBeau, President of Beau Productions, which helped host the meet that exposed the Rochester area to the highest level of the sport's competition. The event was a smash, selling out the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial both nights and earning rave reviews from sponsors, coaches and competitors.

"It was the most work and the most reward because everything worked perfectly," Clifford said. "It was the high of a lifetime."

It also allowed Clifford to show her students first-hand what it takes to reach the same level. She said the GTCR has students with that kind of ability who are unaware of the commitment it takes to make it to the top.

"If you want to train hard, if you want to put forth the devotion, then that could be you," she said. "They're no different than you."

And the GTCR is willing to help them get there. Unlike some places where gymnasts are required to follow a strict practice schedule, the Gymnastics Training Center offers 12 different practice times per week, so its students can choose when and how many workouts they are willing to attend.

They'll also get top-notch instruction from the likes of Clifford, Filotova, a member of the 1976 and '80 Soviet Union Olympic teams, and Sasha Kourbatov, Filotova's husband and former member of the Russian international team. The boys program is headed by former Arizona State gymnasts and NCAA national team members Eric Fossum and E.G. Hathaway.

"I don't know what else the GTCR can do in this community," LeBeau says. "Being a part of a sport is one thing, but the commitment is amazing."

"It's just so wonderful to be recognized for all of the accomplishments that all of us have done," Clifford said. "I'm just the boss here. My girls do all of the work and my coaches do all of the training. Everybody's getting recognized and it's totally a team effort...that's the greatest accomplishment of all."