Athletics are a notable part of the college experience, but for those who don’t have the time to commit to a team, there are several options that students can choose from to get active.
The Tumbling Club is an organization that offers inclusive, low-commitment activity for students with any level of experience in any sport. It was founded by junior nursing major Andrea Stirling. Formation was in the works in the fall of 2019 before officially beginning in the spring of 2020.
Stirling is co-president of the club along with fellow junior nursing major Maia Lee. New to their board is sophomore computer science major Marcus Watson, who serves as treasurer.
Stirling got the idea to start the club after realizing that she wanted to continue activities she’d grown up doing, but in a low-pressure environment.
“I wanted to join something, and there was nothing to join besides [committing] to a cheer team,” Stirling said. “I did cheerleading, and that’s [similar to] tumbling, and I was doing that since seventh grade. I just missed [it], so I posted on Facebook, and then I found out Maia wanted to do the same thing.”
The club meets for an open gym every other Sunday at the Peoria Elite Gymnastics Academy (PEGA), a gymnastics facility about 15 minutes from campus. The space is available from 4:30 to 6 p.m., and students in need of transportation are able to meet with other club members at the student center for a ride.
Open gyms for non-PEGA members in Tumbling Club were $10 but are now $5.
Starting this semester, on Sundays when the club isn’t meeting off-campus, they reserve space at the performance court in Markin for two-hour practices.
Lee sees the club’s low commitment as a positive for students.
“What I think is unique about our club is that [Stirling] came in with cheer experience, I came in with gymnastics experience, and we wanted this to be a club for everyone to join,” Lee said. “So that’s why we called it tumbling. It’s not just gymnastics and it’s not just cheer.”
Members of the board voiced previous struggles with recruitment, citing the pandemic as a barrier in bringing in new participants when the club initially began.
“[Recruitment] was one thing that we struggled with a lot during COVID when no one was on campus or anything,” Lee said. “We didn’t really know how to put ourselves out there, especially since we were such a new club.”
Despite such conflicts, the club’s board attests to having around 15 consistent members at the open gyms and around 40 students signed up in Presence.
The Tumbling Club’s first open gym of the semester is this Sunday, Jan. 30.
