“Gymfinity has changed our children’s lives” - Andy & Gemma in Cambridge

The communities across our Gymfinity clubs have so many stories, which we’re delving into through our Member’s Stories series. It’s both inspiring and heart-warming to hear directly from the parents about their Gymfinity Kids experience and what it means to their children.

We speak to Andy and Gemma who have three of their children attending Gymfinity Kids in Cambridge Beehive Centre. They have seen exponential growth in their children’s development and skills, and in their own words: ‘Gymfinity has changed our children’s lives’.

Read on to find out more about their time at our Cambridge club and what their children have achieved!

Member Stories: Andy & Gemma in Gymfinity Kids, Cambridge

Hi Andy and Gemma! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us about your Gymfinity Kids experience in our Cambridge club. We’re so excited to hear about your children’s journey and how they’ve developed over their time with us!

Let’s start from the very beginning – how many of your children attend Gymfinity Kids Cambridge and what classes do they do?

Andy and Gemma: We have three children who attend classes at the Cambridge club. Aaron is in the Mini Ninja Squad (age 9), Aiden is in Advanced Ninja (age 11) and Autumn-Rose attends both gymnastics and Ninja (age 4).

With Aaron, we had been looking for something that would allow him to express himself in a safe environment as he has autism and is sensory seeking and stims by flipping and spinning.

He wanted to join a club where he would have the opportunity to make new friends and of course, it was so important that he could express himself. His first session went amazingly (he even earned himself a Star of the Week!) – we knew we were onto a good thing.

What made the other children follow in Aaron’s footsteps?

Autumn-Rose had been watching Aaron in class and expressed an interest in trying gymnastics. She fell in love with it after her first session! She is doing so well – she’s currently working towards achieving her level 5 in preschool gymnastics, with only 4 skills left to gain before completion, and is on level 3 of Ninja!

Autumn-Rose and Aaron are very close. She is his biggest supporter, so she soon was keen to try Ninja just like her big brother. She loved her first session and was hooked. And it’s so heart-warming to see Aaron teaching her Ninja moves at home on the trampoline – he loves to teach her.

Aidan’s Gymfinity journey has been great. He is currently working towards completion of his level 5 award. Five weeks ago, he moved up to the Advanced Ninja group and has settled in smoothly, thanks to Coach Ben for integrating him well into the older group.

Tell us more about Aaron’s journey from Ninja classes to Ninja Squad!

As Aaron has autism and complex learning difficulties, he can find new environments very overwhelming. But honestly, from the first session, he felt at home in the club.

I explained his needs to his coach, who was Connor at the time, and he really took his time to work with Aaron to build his confidence and ensure he was comfortable.

When Aaron advanced to Squad, Coach Ben got to know us as a family and over time, understood how to get the best out of Aaron. Ben knows Aaron needs a little more explanation around a skill and builds in time for this during the training session.

Was there a turning point during your children’s time at Gymfinity? When did they realise that they had a true passion for the activities we offer?

We have noticed the changes in Aaron and Autumn-Rose the most. Aaron was a shy little boy who struggled to ‘fit’ into the usual kid’s sports, such as football, due to the rules and his learning difficulties.

He found making friends hard and intimidating. However, with Gymfinity, he has grown in confidence and has found a whole new set of friends through the club!

Aaron makes the Ninja skills look so easy but it’s all from the hard work he invests into it. He trains outside the club in places such as parks and the beach. He gets a lot of attention from the public who are in awe of his ability for someone so young – he loves it when people watch! He even has an Instagram which he updates with his progress. He’s got quite a few Parkour-based followers!

Aaron’s best achievement by far is being asked to be in the Ninja squad. He was so proud and is thrilled to represent Gymfinity Kids doing something that he truly loves.

Autumn-Rose was born just before lockdown (2020) so has always been a bit nervous and shy. She’s so happy to mix with her peers at Gymfinity and talk with the coaches. She even likes to ‘hang out’ with the oldest gymnastics squad before their training session – the Squad girls are so kind to her!

What do your children love about Gymfinity?

Genuinely, the children love Gymfinity Kids. It is such a family-orientated gym. It is so nice that all the coaches know the children, even if they don’t teach them in their classes. The coaches always celebrate the kids’ achievements and celebrate their successes with things like a ‘high five’ to the lovely sound of the bell ringing and a round of applause from everyone in the gym.

The coaches are a great bunch of people. They work so hard with the children and you can tell that they are invested in helping the children reach their full potential. This doesn’t just happen in the classes, but also at holiday camps where the kids always have the best time. As parents you know that they are being well looked after.

We recently had Aaron’s birthday party at the Cambridge club where Coach Ben gave him a great party. There were plenty of chances for Aaron to show off his skills to his school friends. It was a great weight off our minds to know that the party would be fun and well run.

How have the children found our competitions?

The children absolutely love the competitions! The events are very well organised by the coaches and it’s great to watch as a parent. Autumn- Rose recently achieved TWO gold medals in the Spring Competition, which are her first-ever medals. She was thrilled to bits and left feeling incredibly motivated. When receiving her medal, she also received the loudest cheer in the gym due to being an absolute legend in the gym!!

Aidan achieved a Gold and Silver in his first competition in December 2023 and his next comp is in May – he is determined and hopeful for more success.

Aaron found the first ‘off-site’ competition in Farnborough in June 2023 very overwhelming. We didn’t really know what to expect and unfortunately, his competition didn’t quite go as he had expected. When talking to Coach Ben about it afterwards, we realised that we just needed to talk about the competition in more depth before the event to prepare Aaron better.

We have found that showing pictures of the gym to Aaron ahead of time allows him to understand the layout of the gym and the format in which the competition may take. After understanding the next competition format, Aaron went on to achieve gold, of which he is immensely proud, and he has now medalled in every competition since.

Do the children have a favourite coach?

All of the children adore Henry and Emily in particular. Henry is a fantastic coach and takes Autumn-Rose for Ninja. He is always smiling, and his little dance moves on the air track during warm-up help the children forget any pre-class nerves, and also cheer the parents up too! He is very supportive and knows how to get the best out of the children in his class.

Special praise goes to Ben, Josh and Connor. Ben is an incredible coach and we are grateful for his ongoing support of Aaron, for sharing his love for parkour, for listening to us as a family, for his endless patience and his fun sense of humour. Josh has been a big support for Aaron and is a genuinely nice person, his lessons are always full of cool tricks.

And we will always be grateful to Connor for seeing Aaron’s potential and putting enough faith in him to invite him to be in the Squad. Although Connor isn’t directly involved in the squad now, it’s nice to see that Connor is always checking in with the boys and celebrating their successes.

As a parent, how have you found Gymfinity Kids?

Gymfinity Kids really is our life!! WE LOVE IT!!! It has changed the children’s lives. It’s given Aaron something that he can be proud to be part of and a space to be himself without fear of ridicule.

To see the children achieving fantastic things is such a joy. We believe that lifelong friendships have been formed and that the skills they are learning within their fields will enable them to continue for a long time to come. Choosing to sign up for Gymfinity Kids is the best thing we have done for our children.

A huge thank you to both Gemma and Andy for sharing their Gymfinity story.  

If you’d also like to share your child’s journey with us, please get in touch!

Fill in this form and a member of the team will get back to you. If your story is published, you’ll be gifted a free month of your Gymfinity membership as a thank-you.