Vaulting Over the Goat

Today I got up the nerve to assemble the gymnastics equipment in the small gym. Jozko, our Department Chair and I both teach zero hour classes on Monday, so he agreed to show me how to set things up before school, and my yoga students helped. Between the five of us, it took 30 minutes and we didn't even put everything out, not that there was much. The equipment reminds me of the circa 1930's ladder system we used to have at The Lab Schools in old Lower Sunny Gym. We have wooden stall bars along one wall, a solitary rope in the corner and a set of unusable rings hanging from the ceiling. But it was the other stuff that had me mystified and maybe even terrified. Diane Taylor, donde esta?

Two wooden ladders store vertically against the opposite wall along with two wooden balance beams, also vertical and reaching almost to the ceiling. One beam and ladder can't be moved so Jozko showed me how to pull the second beam out away from its anchored side, and support the other end with a metal contraption that weighed at least 50 pounds. (The beam stays attached as it slides down a pole, me pulling out the free end and Jozko pushing down on the anchored end.) I think if the pulley worked it's a one-man operation, but of course the pulley is long gone and we left the ladder for another day. The remainder of the equipment is a series of floor to ceiling heavy metal bars that hang from ceiling supports, like curtain hooks from a rod. To move these poles you lift up and then try to move the pole along the support, stopping at the floor plate and dropping it in where it locks in place. Take out a metal bar (also stored vertically) and place that horizontally at the desired height. Push a curved metal bolt through the holes to secure the bar and cross your fingers that it's the right height because you need to almost completely disassemble before you re-assemble. It's actually very clever and maybe even state of the art at one time. All the bars are metal, no laminated wood over fiberglas, no chalk, although I thought about "borrowing" some from school because it's almost the same consistency and breaks all the time. I made a few high bars and a low bar, but couldn't work out how I would get parallel bars or uneven bars and suspect I never will. We pulled out six heavy mats and rolled out one long canvas mat that was as thin as a blanket. And voila! This was our gymnastics gym; no wonder nobody ever set this stuff up.

I had an additional substitution today; one of the PE teachers got clocked with a soccer ball last December and hasn't been back since. Between us other teachers we fill in for her, which unfortunately gives her classes little consistency. With Danka's class and my own schedule I'd be in the gym for 6 lessons following yoga so I figured it was worth the effort to set up the equipment. My classes went OK but the HS class I subbed for wasn't prepared for me, and had a rash of "Sorry, Joan, I forgot my clothes." I felt like saying no problems ladies, what you really need are sailor tops and bloomers anyway, the better to toss around those indian clubs with. (Which by the way we do NOT have.)

In my own HS class, Ivona said she had forgotten her clothes, and so did Martina. But when Martina appeared in Ivona's pants (the same "forgotten" ones she always wears) I had to use the old, "C'mon, guys, born at night but not last night." Surprisingly, they got it. My students seemed to have little experience with equipment, swinging, and moving upside down and were very timid about trying stunts. And they wanted to keep on their shoes, or trainers as they call them. It's difficult to sell girls on "just trying" when the emphasis has been on succeeding. But they were game to try which felt like a small victory; I don't think I could have pulled this off last fall. We had lots of laughs, everyone was safe and a few girls actually learned something.

Next lesson I add the GOAT! In the States years ago and long before anyone ever heard of adjustable cables, a small version of the vaulting horse was called the buck. I think this was used because it was easier but I haven't seen one in many years. Here in BA we have not one, but two and the equipment is known as the goat not the buck, which I think is odd but that's just me. So soon we "vault the goat" with our antique beat board. If you've been around gymnastics as long as I you recall when beat boards were called reuther boards (like calling tissue kneenex). Well, we have our very own made-in-Holland Reuther board, and none of that sissy padded carpet stuff with springs - it's a springless wooden board that looks brand new. We also have a mini-tramp in the equipment room where even I think it should remain. Still, I'm tempted to haul it out for a good round of Shipwreck...