Smelter City Gymnastics vaults onto Anaconda's youth sports scene
Top: Smelter City Gymnastics coach Jake Schroeder assists his sister Audrey as she swings while her teammates cheer her on. Middle: Schroeder spots for the girls on the balance beam. Above: Coach Megan Hiruko works with the girls on the floor. See the online version of this story at anacondaleader.com for more gymnastics photos. Leader photos: James S. Rosien
Humble beginnings: Smelter City Gymnastics opened in the basement of the Elks Lodge and then moved to the Ancient Order of Hibernians Hall, above, before finding a home at 124 E. Commercial Ave. Photos courtesy of Kylie Dee.
And here is a series of photos from our visit to Smelter City Gymnastics that we weren't able to fit into today's print edition, but wanted to include anyway. Enjoy!
There's a new youth sport in town and it's attracting plenty of attention, not only in Anaconda but statewide, as Smelter City Gymnastics has vaulted onto the scene with a whopping 85 kids in the program – six of whom competed at the Montana Gymnastics Championships in March and four earning several medals, and that's all in its first year of operation.
And the program, located at 124 E. Commercial Ave. where they have a sizable gym complete with uneven bars, balance beams and more, came from humble beginnings: The basement of the Elks Lodge was their first home, a home they very quickly outgrew.
"We had 30 families on our first day," said Rachelle Schroeder with Smelter City Gymnastics, whose son Jake was an All-American gymnast at Arizona State University.
Jake is the program's owner and he and his fiancee Megan Hiruko, herself a former world championship gymnastics competitor, are its coaches as well.
Once it became clear that they would need more space, the Ancient Order of Hibernians opened up part of their building to the program.
"They were very helpful," Rachelle said.
But with more and more kids signing up, Smelter City Gymnastics soon outgrew that as well, and since September of last year have been in the more spacious venue at the corner of Oak and Commercial. And it all started when Jake moved to Montana to be closer to his mom, who had relocated to Anaconda.
"Word got out that I used to do gymnastics, and that Megan used to do gymnastics," he said. "And more and more kids started showing up."
What was most important to the former All-American, though, was that the program be competitive.
"I didn't want to do it if they weren't going to compete," he said.
And compete they are. At those aforementioned championships in Bozeman last month, Jake's sister Audrey took first place in all-around, uneven bars and balance beam and second in vault; Calley Collins was second in balance beam and third in all-around; Kirra Dee was second in uneven bars and fourth in balance beam; and Mikaela Corr was third in uneven bars. That was at a meet with roughly 150 kids competing across all divisions.
"They held their own at state. They did very well," Rachelle said.
They recently moved 12 more girls up to the competitive team, plus eight boys, so the future is looking very bright for Smelter City Gymnastics, which has 85 kids ranging in age from 2 to 12 years old.
There's also a nonprofit support group that has formed to help raise funds for parents to be able to purchase uniforms and to help with fees. Dee Motor Co. has a donation jar for Smelter City Gymnastics, and on Thursday, April 17 Smelter City Brewing will host a Pint Night for the program.
For more information, check out Smelter City Gymnastics on Facebook and Instagram, or you can email tumbletimemt@gmail.com.
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