Jump Gymnastics.

So my good friend Rachael was a gymnastics instructor for years. And since Babe was born she has been a great "auntie" and always very encouraging of Babe's physical development.

One of the first times that Babe stood alone while holding onto a stool was with Rachael. Rachael helped Babe practice her first steps in the early days of walking and recently she taught Babe how to do a somersault (front roll).

So of course it was Rachael who, wanting to share her love of gymnastics, took Babe and I to a drop-in class at Jump Gymnastics in Yaletown, Vancouver.

Rachael helping Babe do a front roll.

The place is pretty cool. It's a full-on gymnastics gym with pint-sized equipment. There's fun trampolines, bars, rings, balance beams and foam everything. Babe of course loves it, although she may not be the Olympic hopeful that Rachael wants her to be and she certainly doesn't like to perform on command.

Owner/director Jennifer Hood was a gymnastics coach for over twenty years and has an education degree. After her middle child was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis she realized that her nine to five job wasn't going to fit her family's needs. "I'd get phone calls on Thursday for her to be admitted for two weeks on Monday morning and what kind of an employer is ever going to go for that arrangement?" said Hood.

So she quit her job and built Jump.

"It was born because I really believe in what developmental gymnastics can bring to kids for the lifetime of being elite athletes or just generally participating in sport and the foundation that we can create for them."

Hood said that despite originally planning on opening Jump in East Vancouver the Yaletown location has been a blessing in disguise. "It's been a great location that has been filled with incredibly supportive and engaged parents."

All of Jump's coaches have a degree in a related field such as education or kinesiology and a sports background. Hood bragged that one coach is a Canadian women's wrestling champion and others have been dancers, soccer players and swimmers. "We've had almost every sport represented over the last five years," said Hood.

Hood's experience and training has told her that the early age of Jump students is the perfect starting point for learning important physical skills. She said studies show that between the ages of zero and six is when kids learn language and number skills, but it is also the time when children learn physical literacy.

"That idea that there is a discrete set of movement pathways, whether it be; skipping, running, climbing, jumping, rolling. There's a whole bunch of them. If kids are taught those and allowed to explore them in an environment that is liberating and excites them...they acquire what's called physical literacy."

When kids later combine those fundamental movement skills with sports skills, "they can go on to explore any sport that interests them," said Hood.

Hood knows that only about one per cent of children enrolled in gymnastics will go on to be an elite athlete in the sport but she says there is so much more that the training and equipment can provide.

The equipment at jump is the real stuff that you would see in a gymnastics centre - just smaller. "It provides them with an interesting playground to work on those movement skills," said Hood.

Kids can jump, climb, balance and hang. Hood said she really enjoys that with the smaller equipment she never has to say, "'Don't touch that. That's too dangerous. Don't go near that."

Babe, of course, was an instant Jump fan. She immediately preferred the trampolines, the ball pit and the balance beams, but being a good sport she tried it all.

She's 17 months old now and just starting to really climb and explore the playground equipment. To help keep her busy on indoor days I scoured the city and finally found a toddler-sized slide for her bedroom. The first night she had it she must've gone up and down that thing 30 times.

Then it was bedtime and she passed out cold.

On the way home from a Jump drop-in class.

For more information on Jump's classes and drop in times visit the www.jumpgymnastics.ca