THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608030086
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 147 lines
AS THEY LEAVE Atlanta's Olympic Village, the world's best athletes will pack their memories, their dreams and their medals.
But back home - from Europe to Russia to South Hampton Roads - many who watched the Games from a couch or easy chair have been inspired to stretch toward goals of their own, or even to create new ones.
Locally, parents who watched the Olympics are signing up their children for gymnastics, swimming and horseback riding lessons, sports instructors say.
Making the most significant leap in popularity are activities that aired in prime time and featured American athletes likely to win a medal.
Some adults, already active, are pumping weights a bit harder, pedaling exercycles faster, jogging along treadmills for a few more steps.
A few are trying a sport for the first time, dipping their toes into swimming pools, purchasing bicycles or hoisting their bodies onto balance beams.
``We have seen an increase in our swimming classes,'' said Terri Hankins, fitness director of the downtown Norfolk YMCA. ``With the Olympics, everybody talks about how fit everyone is. They seem to be motivated by it.''
That's also been true at Lynnhaven Dive Center in Virginia Beach, where kids as young as age 4 can take swim lessons.
The Olympics ``make people want to get off the couch and become active,'' said David Bowden, an owner at the center.
At Cherry Point Stables in Suffolk, interest in horseback riding peaks in summer, said owner Sue Cherry. But the Olympics have generated more calls - about three a day from people drawn to ``the beauty of riding,'' she said.
``For a lot of people, this is something they've always wanted to do. Just watching it on TV spurs them to make that call,'' Cherry said.
At several fitness centers, exercise sessions that typically lag in summer are drawing a higher turnout. Lines formed at workout stations not normally crowded.
Often, while exercisers sweated on treadmills and steppers, they could watch the sleek, muscular bodies of Olympians in action.
``We have the Olympics on and everybody is excited about it,'' Scott Bardeen, fitness director of the Downtown Athletic Club in Norfolk, said last week.
James Donaldson, a 26-year old Marine stationed at Dam Neck, was glued to his screen at home, watching swimming, track and field, weightlifting and gymnastics.
Donaldson, a former high-school weightlifter from Washington, D.C., found himself dreaming of the Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in 2000.
He's been training as a body-builder, and placed fifth in the nation among middle-weights in May. But because body-building isn't an Olympic sport, Donaldson is considering a return to weightlifting.
``It inspired me a great deal,'' said Donaldson, a 180-pounder who trains four days a week at Flex Gym in Virginia Beach. ``It makes you desire to be among an elite group, to be out there representing your country.''
Al Walke, a trainer and part-owner of Flex Gym, described Donaldson as strong, flexible and disciplined. ``He's got all the prerequisites that would allow him to be an Olympic lifter,'' Walke said.
During a recent morning workout, Donaldson squatted before a mere 140 pounds of iron - a 60-pound bar flanked by two 40-pound discs - to demonstrate the basic movements.
He pulled the bar from floor to chest in one quick movement. With a grunt, he pushed it skyward, then lowered the bar and dropped it as though it were weightless.
Others around him at the window-lined gym were immersed in their own visions of success.
Andrea Harris, a 24-year-old from Chesapeake, hopes to become Miss Virginia USA when she competes in the November pageant in Bristol.
In gray shorts and fitted black top, she paraded along a rolling treadmill, head high, dark hair pulled taut in a black bow.
``I believe in having a goal and achieving that goal,'' said Harris. Though not a gymnast, she was a devoted viewer of those events.
``The whole American team has inspired me,'' she said, rattling off the names of U.S. gymnasts Shannon Miller, Kerri Strug and ``the Dominiques'' - Dawes and Moceanu.
She wasn't alone in her captivation with the gold-medal team. The performances prompted hundreds of children and their parents to call local gymnastics schools for information or to register.
``Usually, every four years the Olympics will spark more phone calls than normal,'' said Diane Berry, owner of Ocean Tumblers, in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
Berry's torch for gymnastics was lit in 1976, when daughter Erin, then 4, watched Romanian Nadia Comaneci tumble and vault her way to fame.
``We were moving to Romania,'' said Berry, casting a grin toward Erin.
As her daughter pursued gymnastics, Berry, a former special-education teacher, and her husband, Wayne, became caught up in the excitement. They now own and operate two schools, for 1,200 girls and boys, from tots through early adulthood.
Two of the Chesapeake school's team gymnasts - 14-year-old Tami Harris and 12-year-old Whitney Cashwell, both of Virginia Beach - are pointing their talented feet toward Sydney in 2000, one step at a time.
Both have risen to ``elite'' status, which includes only a few hundred gymnasts in the nation. They even perform in some competitions with members of this year's Olympic team.
Harris, her parents and a friend recently returned from Atlanta, where they saw the U.S. team of seven perform.
``I felt really inspired, because it looked fun,'' said the slim, 5-foot-3-inch blonde. ``I want to be there.''
For the elites, the dream is real, Berry said. Though it's a rare athlete who makes that jump.
``There's always the parent out there that thinks they have the next Mary Lou Retton in their living room,'' she said. But most parents just want their kids to have fun.
During a recent free session at the Chesapeake Tumblers, exuberant tots and their parents learned a little of what tumbling is all about.
Four-year-old Rashadee Jones of Chesapeake was already swinging from a nearby balance beam when instructor Debbie Ellis asked her group of preschoolers to form a line.
``He does a lot of tumbling and twisting,'' said Josephine Felder, who was looking after Rashadee for his mother Nina Jones. ``It's just natural for him. But it frightened everybody else.''
During the Olympics, Rashadee was permitted to stay up late to watch the gymnasts perform the cartwheels and handsprings he's so fond of.
``He was so excited about it,'' said Felder.
Now, Rashadee is taking to the mats. And Felder and his mother feel better knowing he'll learn the right techniques in a softer, safer environment.
Linda VanRysdam of Virginia Beach, enrolled granddaughter Becca Jones in Ocean Tumblers' tots program about two years ago.
``It's improved her self-esteem - everything about her,'' said VanRysdam.
Becca, a 5-year-old blue-eyed, blonde, has a low balance beam at home and likes to dangle from the bar above her swingset.
During the Olympics, Becca wanted to stay up at night to watch gymnastics, ``so we taped it for her,'' VanRysdam said.
``I want to be like that girl,'' she told her grandmother, after watching one of the U.S. gymnasts compete,
``We feel if that's what she wants, fine,'' VanRysdam said. ``We'll work with her. If she doesn't, that's fine too. We won't push her.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Becca Jones, 5, walks on a balance beam at Ocean Tumblers in
Chesapeake. She says she wants to be like the Olympic gymnasts on
TV.
[Color Photo]
MORT FRYMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
RIGHT: James Donaldson has the discipline to be an Olympic lifter.
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
ABOVE: Rashadee Jones, 4, works on form at Ocean Tumblers.
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Becca Jones, 5, listens to her instructor during a class at Ocean
Tumblers in Chesapeake. by CNB