Photo by Lester Smith
Three young gymnasts practice on the balance beam at Whip City Gymnastics, which was scheduled to move to Ffyler Place on September 1 as the Suffield Gymnastics Academy. From the left, Brooke Sullivan of West Suffield, Caity Daniels of Westfield, and Savannah Price of West Suffield.
Last September the Observer published a photo of a sturdy young member of the Suffield-Windsor Locks Raider’s football team vigorously conditioning himself at Suffield’s Land Warrior Crossfit Gym, which was at that time a newcomer to town. That gym, which focuses on serious effort for fitness and endurance, had moved from Windsor Locks for better quarters in the southern third of the big building at the far end of Ffyler Place.
Now another 10,000 square feet of that building, in its northern third, will be the new location of a very different kind of gym. The Suffield Gymnastics Academy planned to open on September 1. This is a school that began long ago in Westfield as Whip City Gymnastics. Steve Sullivan, a life-long Suffield resident, bought the business 12 years ago and moved it to the College Highway in Southwick. Now he’s expanding to larger quarters in Suffield, with the new name.
In addition to the usual balance beams, bars, pommel horses, rings, trampolines, and what seems like acres of padded flooring, Sullivan has added a feature that was lacking in Southwick. The first thing he did at Ffyler Place was to dig a big pit, line it with sturdy walls, and fill it to overflowing with padded foam blocks. This feature is evidently essential in helping students learn to land correctly.
It may be years before the hoped-for major development of Ffyler Place replaces these two gyms with who-knows-what. In the meantime we look forward to the encouragement of strength, endurance, and gymnastic skill in our citizens of all ages.