Flashback to the past - Kayla,

Haley and Sara Mack

Tori H., Courtney and Taylor Rai

The first of Sunday's four competitions began at 8:00 with competitions of Levels Five and Six.  Competing for Jax Gym Level Six Team were Parker Brock, Tiffani Dooley, Juliet Dunlap, Lily Overholser, Charlee Smith and Brooklyn Theodore.  These gymnasts are coached by Coaches Sara and Jenna.

No, this is not really a baby site but I could not leave without showing this precious baby.  She is the daughter of Kaitlin and Jesus and is also the granddaughter of Ms. Shelly.  Kaitlin also grew up at Huff 'n Puff - she competed gymnastics but danced for her career at HnP.  Kaitlin taught gymnastics at HnP for a number of years and she probably taught some of the gymnasts who are competing now.  Kaitlin is also in the nursing field.

Lily is shown in her competitive floor routine at the Emerald Classic.  Both daughters are also in the JDC, competitive dance company at HnP. 

We feel that the Emerald Classic was a huge success.  We appreciate all the assistance we had from the Jax Gym Coaches and HnP Staff members.  You are such a great group of people.  We also appreciate all the assistance from the parents and gymnasts who helped work the meet.  We especially send our kudos to Coach Laurel and to Mr. Michael York.  Michael also grew us with us (Joey and Ms. Jackie's son) and his computer knowledge insured that the everything would go so well at the meet.  We could never afford to pay you what Cerna does, but we hope appreciation goes a long, long way.  Thank you also to Greg Armstrong for his musical assistance.

Our next competition for Levels Three through Ten will be at State Meet which will be held at Jack Stephens Center at UALR, Little Rock.  The meet will be March 12-13 and 14.  We are officially wishing all our gymnasts the best of luck.  We could not be more proud of you!

This is Haley's baby daughter - another of our special baby girls all born in about a four-month period.

This is Lianna, the youngest daughter of Coach Lois (see below)

This is Ms. Lindsey and Taylor Rai. This picture reminded us of the second generation of little gymnasts.  In about a year, these babies will be ready for Mommy and Me Classes.

Ms. Lindsey arrived at Huff'n Puff with Ms. Lois in 1998 - Lindsey was about seven at the time.  She grew up in dance and gymnastics at HnP and taught both after growing up.  She competed for seven years and she coached Levels Five - Seven for five years.  She also taught dance.  This is her daughter Kimber, who also happens to one of the two new granddaughters of Ms. Shelly!

Taylor Rai was one of our three Level Tens who competed at the same time.  These gymnasts, at a young age,  grew up with us after coming from another gym that had closed down.  Taylor Rai is doing a great job of coaching at Flip Flop in Pine Bluff.  Her daughter is trying to walk already, so we know she is taking after T. Rai.  We were so proud of our Level Ten Gymnasts - not easy to get to Level Ten and a lot of hard work and dedication is required.  Our other two Level Ten gymnasts were the Edgin Sisters - Kayla and Haley.  Kayla continued to coach for us for several years and after competing Level Ten, and Haley went on to achieve her nursing degree.  Kayla is also working in the medical field.  Gymnasts seem to be attracted to nursing - we have at least a half dozen more that I could name who are working as nurses and we are so proud of all of them for going into such a great profession.

Kensley's mom Kelsey was one of our first gymnasts to excel on our team.  Kensley is on the Level Three team, coached by Coach Tori. 

These photos of these two precious little girls and their mothers reminded me of how much of a family business we are and I just had to talk about it.  We seem to have had a run on baby girls lately, and of course, that really excites us, being a sport for girls.  I was going to talk about the babies first and then I realized that it really comes from the top down.  I started this business about 40 years ago and about 25 years ago, Laurel came back to the business.  I give complete credit to her for the business as it is today.  She restarted Jax Gym and started Jax Dance Company.  She has two daughters, Tori and Madi.  Tori was also raised in the business and has coached for several years, both for us and when she was in college, and Madi was raised in the gym and competed through Level Nine before she graduated high school and left for college.

Ms. Lois, at eleven years old, came to Huff 'n Puff for dance and started gymnastics with us.  She was on Coach Laurel's first Level Four Team of eleven gymnasts, most of whom had none or very little gymnastics and the team has grown from that time.  Lois started teaching dance and gymnastics when she was probably about sixteen or seventeen years old and has coached and taught dance and has been Director of Dance for  many years.   Ms. Lois received her nursing degree and worked in NICU and PICU for about ten years, while still working at Huff 'n Puff.

The Jax Gym Level One gymnasts are shown here with Assistant Coach Elizabeth.  This is Coach Elizabeth's senior year so it will be her last year to compete Xcel Diamond and depending on where she goes to school next year, might be her last year to coach gymnasts.  Elizabeth has been at Jax Gym for many years and it is always sad to see our gymnasts graduate.

The final session of the competition began at 6:00 with the Levels Ones competing.  This session had been moved from Friday to accommodate because of the snow and ice.  Competing for Jax Gym Level One were Hannah Brune, Morgan Cantrell, Fallon Madding, Landree Malloy, Marleigh Romes, Da'Ryah Smith, Adaline Trent, McKinley Varner and Conlee Wainscott.  These gymnasts--who are coached by Coaches Lynn and Lois, and assisted by Coach Elizabeth--are ages four to six and they are off to a great start in the gymnastics world! 

Jax Gym Level Four Gymnasts competed in the Sunday morning 11:30 session.  It was a large session with 96 competing gymnasts from twelve teams.  Competing Level Four for Jax Gym were Laila Bullock, Brianna Burrel, Makaelyn Clifton, Jaeden Cooper, Lily Davis, Aubrey Hague, Carsyn Jones, Kiersten Lewis, Joslyn Roberts, Kenzie Tawney, Melaney Wallace, Savanna White and Noelle Zoller.  These gymnasts are also coached by Coaches Sara and Jenna.

Competing in the Sunday 3:00 session were seven more Level Three Teams with 51 gymnasts competing.  Jax Gym Level Three gymnasts who competed were Hayden Joy Black, Presley Burns, Addyson Craven, Danica DeLaMater, Kensley Hayden, Daisy McCuin, Isabella Ortega, Adalyn Palmer and Noah Grace Williams.  These gymnasts are coached by Tori who is often assisted by Coach Lynn.