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Gymnastics is known to be a thrilling sport to watch, and right now, the whole country is watching. With just 11 months until the 2024 Paris Olympics, all eyes are on which gymnasts will represent Team USA.
At the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Simone Biles made history after earning first place in the all-around, claiming her eighth U.S. all-around title. Shilese Jones took home the silver medal.
Kansas City holds a special appreciation for bronze medalist Leanne Wong, an Overland Park native who trained at Great American Gymnastics Express (GAGE). Now a junior studying pre-med and competing at the University of Florida, Wong is training hard to make her Olympic debut.
These medalists and the rest of the big-name gymnasts in the U.S. are inspiring gymnasts in Kansas City…on a bus!
It’s hard to miss the Gym Bus driving through Kansas City. It’s a school bus filled with gymnastics equipment. Owner and operator Michelle Mazel parks the bus outside of various daycares and pre-schools, where kids hop right on and learn gymnastics.
“I was a competitive gymnast under my father, Jeff Conner, who also owns the Gym Bus in Columbia, Missouri, and was actually a gymnastics coach at Mizzou,” Mazel said.
Mazel is doing more than just teaching gymnastics. She’s shaping futures by looking up to today’s role models, like Biles and Wong.
“These little, tiny gymnasts aspire and look up to the beautiful role models standing on the podiums,” she said. “We are huge fans, and we watched (the Championships) all day, amazing.”
Could Mazel be teaching the next gymnastics legend? Maybe. But she’s focused on the work that comes before the gold medals.
“It gives you the discipline, the responsibility in life, the grit that it takes that some may not have, and maybe they can find that in here,” she said.
Mazel said it was her dad’s dream to teach gymnastics out of a school bus. When she graduated from Mizzou, where she was a cheerleader, and earned her degree in physical education, she said she knew what she wanted next.
“Normally kids say, ‘I want money for graduating college, I want a trip’,” she said. “Well, they had a fleet of buses, and I wanted one of their buses.”
Mazel said giving young children this opportunity of getting active provides more than just a physical benefit.
“It’s very conducive to learning,” she said. “They’re contained, as you saw in class, they’re focused, they’re paying attention.”
The Gym Bus has five buses across Kansas City, and currently teaches 800 students. You can learn more at its website.
As for the big-name athletes, the World Championships/Pan American Games Selection Camp is in Katy, Texas, from Sept. 18-21. This is where the gymnasts who will represent Team USA at the World Championships will be finalized.
