From The Tribune Staff Reports
TRUSSVILLE — The future expansion of Trussville Academy of Gymnastics will be added to the Trussville Civic Center.
Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat announced the future expansion at Thursday’s State of the City Address and showed off renderings of the site.
“With this facility, the sky’s the limit,” Choat said. “This design could hold up to 1000 people during the course of the day with the events going on.”
Choat said the building exterior would be designed by Davis Architects and flow with the original design of the civic center. It will also incorporate the stone inspired by the gazebo into the building. In addition, the interior of the building is inspired by other gymnastics programs, such as the University of Alabama gymnastics facility and the University of Florida gymnastics facility.
The new facility will have a balcony that can be used for events and for parents or staff to use to enjoy their time while the gymnasts are training.
“With the numbers that are here now, that number exceeds any other program that we have, whether it be an athletic program or another program and parks and rec is involved,” Choat said. “That’s baseball, football, soccer. Soccer will have 800 kids in the fall season, but here with the gymnastics program, we’re talking about a year-round program.”
Choat explained they wanted to be unique in what they had to offer to those participating in the gymnastics program. Partnering with Davis Architects creates an opportunity to have a world-class facility in the state of Alabama and on the national level. With the help of Lauren Beers Stanton, Director of Gymnastics, Preschool, Recreation, and Team Coach, Choat said that goal is within reach.
Lauren Beers Stanton brings over sixteen years of competitive gymnastics experience and more than five years of combined coaching experience. As a competitive gymnast, she reached the highest level possible of Senior International Elite, where she competed at the US National Championship twice in her career.
After High School, Lauren attended the University of Alabama, where she received a full athletic scholarship to compete on the University of Alabama’s Gymnastics Team. During her time on the team, she was a part of the 2014 and 2015 SEC Championships. She holds a total of seven NCAA All-American honors, three Academic All-American honors, and three-time winner of the Elite 90 Award.
Lauren knows what it takes to be an athlete, and she knows the importance of a quality facility that gives participants a chance to grow their skills and be the best they can be.
“Currently, we’re serving around 420 students each week between cheer and gymnastics, so with the new facility; it would be cool to at least double that to the 2000 kids range per week,” Stanton said.
Lauren explained that the Trussville Academy of Gymnastics has six optional level gymnasts who are level six and up. They also have two level nine gymnasts, which is the second-highest level beyond elite. With the gymnastics academy, they will have a foam pit to train and perfect their skills.
“It’s honestly going to give the people of Trussville and surrounding communities because we serve not only residence of Trussville but surrounding communities of like Moody, Leeds, Pinson, even some Birmingham people so really it’s truly an area of we can really impact a lot of people with it,” Stanton said. “We can basically double plus our numbers and offer not only gymnastics, cheerleading, and tumbling, but also we have plans for some additional spaces in there for some of the newer things like ninja and ariel art.”