Strengthen the Community

[Alex Douglas]

The Acrobatic Community Spans Several Generations

I have either been a participant or observer of acrobatics for 30 years. For many of the kids, I am an “old timer.” But I am not. The “old timers” still live. Glenn Sundby and George Nissen who founded the United States Sports Acrobatics Federation (later the USSA then became part of the USAG) are the fathers of our sport in the USA and still live. George Nissen invented the trampoline and Glenn was a hand balancer who published International Gymnast, which was later sold to Bart Connor and published by Paul Ziert.

I love this sport. It has been my passion since the first time I saw Igor Ashkinazi and Stacy Tutton on the Mike Douglas show sometime in the late 1970’s. At one time I had a dream of starting a sports acrobatic theater company. A dream that I never realized but was picked up by Cirque du Solei and so many others.

But as I age, the dream has greatly changed. Now I want to see a community in acrobatics that stands by each other. An acrobatic community that, through our industry, will have a positive impact on our nation.

Currently our community is filled with passionate people for our sport. Deep and strong friendships have been created within the various clubs and regions that coaches and athletes live. However, there is also a schism in our community that needs breaching. This schism is created by two main divides.

One is competition. Competition is a two edged sword. On one side it hones performance ability in an amazing way. I have watched acrobats who compete and those who only do shows. Those who compete are always cleaner and better. Those who only do shows (except the pros) settle for a lower standard and tend to be sloppier and more dangerous to watch. This is the positive side of the sword. But the negative side is the side that creates division in our community. It is the “us against them” mentality. The “win at all costs” mentality. The “get ahead” mentality “no matter what harm it does to you”. It is cut throat and destroys our community.

The other schism in our community is generational. The kids who are currently competing know nothing of the athletes who preceded them. They do not have a vision for what the industry can accomplish. And that is the fault of the “old timers.” The vision is there because of the success of Cirque du Solei. More kids see the possibility of making a living after retiring from competition in some show venue. The sport should acknowledge this as a goal of competition, instead of just building the business of competition.

The USAG has a much better handle on this than the cheerleading organizations, I must state. The cheerleading business does not see past their profit margin. They have no vision for the cheerleading industry outside their own sales volume. The USAG still has a hold on several visions for our industry that is to be commended.

One vision is health and athletic achievement that has its roots still in the physical education heritage of our sport. They also see the business industry as another vision. They also know the professional and scholastic goals of athletic training. Gymnasts obtaining college scholarships or performing on stage after their competitive career.

So I am not finding fault with the USAG or even the FIG. My point is the disconnect of communication between the old timers and the youth. The American mentality is still underscored by the peer group mentality. The old timers hang with the old timers and the youth hang with the youth. I am a great believer in the Montesorri philosophy of multi-generational education.

Inherent in Acrobatic Gymnastics is this philosophy by necessity. Older athletes have to work with younger athletes to make the skills possible. To me, this is one of the great benefits of acrobatics. It is a team sport that requires learning to get along with others that are “different” in age. This is the fuel of great communities. But when we look at the athletes as a group, they are still the youth with the youth. They are not interacting with adults and the old folks.

This plea that I am making is to the old folks, not just the youth. The old timers need to reach out to the youth to share their visions with them. To share their mistakes so that the youth can avoid those mistakes. And to set a priority of life to the youth because life is too brief, and regrets are too many.

It is with this reason in mind, that I have set up the Acrobatic Network. We may be geographically separated, but the technology of the internet can join us together in heart and mind when we are not together physically.

This morning, Father gave me a dream. In the dream I was in a basement which had been set up as a gym and community center. I was trying to clean up the mess that was in their by myself and felt overwhelmed. Many people started to come in. After I woke up, I asked Father what that meant. I understood that the basement was symbolic of the grassroots. The work of real change and growth always happens at the bottom, not the top. And the work that makes a difference is by the anonymous, not the figure heads that are famous.

So I ask the acrobatic community to grab a vision that is greater than yourselves. Come join me in this work of rejoing the old timers with the youth. Come join me in working to create unity in our community. United we stand, divided we fall, is a truth that will always remain. We need the confluence of the past with the future. It isn’t just about our sport. It is about life. And life more abundantly.