HELENA — HELENA — When you think of sports in the Treasure State you might think of the Montana Grizzlies or Montana State Bobcats. But there’s another sport on the rise for the guys who may not grow to become 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. You can easily find it at Gym406 of Helena.
Montana has a legacy of boys and men’s gymnastics that has languished in the past couple of decades. Nevertheless, as athletes and parents look for sports that are alternatives to football, basketball or baseball, the men’s high performance gymnastics camp at Gym406 is an opportunity in the Capital City.
Over the past few years boys gymnastics is making a resurgence across the country, and Dean Roberts has recognized that as his son, Deano, continues to make strides towards becoming a member of the USA Junior Nationals team.
“I can’t think of a better place to support these athletes, than here in (Helena),” said Dean Roberts, who has helped sponsor this camp for the previous two years.
Casey Hammond and his wife Kari are the new owners of Gym406, and they look forward to hosting these gymnastics camps for the kids living in Montana.
The Hammonds have been able to bring in USA Gymnastics coaches such as Jared Noyman from The College of William & Mary. Deano Roberts and another competitor, Zach Green, are both affiliated with Stanford Gymnastics.
“He’s been a coach, he coached the boy’s competitive team for a long time, he’s done an amazing job and he’s always been getting involved. Casey’s doing a great thing for the state here (at Gym 406),” added 20-year-old Elite men’s gymnast, Gabe “Ironman” Stark, who leaves Missoula at the end of next month to compete for the Evo Athletics men’s gymnastic program in Sarasota, Florida.
“You will have more bad days than good, and the talented gymnasts are the ones who show up and work through the bad days,” says USA All-American Peter Doyle, who’s been coaching this camp in Helena for the past two years as well.
Gym406 plans to host the State meet in February of next year.
