December Spotlight: Dynamic Gymnastics (a New Facility in Arlington, Virginia)

If you live in Arlington (Virginia), you may notice that it’s pretty competitive to register your children for many of the recreational classes available to them. Gymnastics is one of the top three most sought after classes. After sharing my frustration with numerous attempts to find a class for my 3 and 5 year olds with a fellow frustrated mom, I was delighted to learn that one of her best friends in life, Kelly Bingel had just opened up a brand new gymnastics facility and that classes were going to begin within weeks! Site unseen, I took this total stranger’s word that this facility, Dynamic Gymnastics was going to be great. I called Dynamic Gymnastics within an hour of hearing about it and promptly registered my kids for literally the last two spots available. That isn’t typical for someone like me. I’m a comprehensive researcher when it comes to pretty much everything, but especially extracurriculars involving my kids. I’m so happy that I trusted this fellow mommy’s advice and called Dynamic Gymnastics. I promise, you’ll be happy to do the same!

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Kelly Bingel, who owns Dynamic Gymnastics along with her husband and business partner Thad Bingel. Kelly Bingel not only owns Dynamic Gymnastics, she is a mother of two pre-teens and has a full-time job as one of the partners of the top government affairs company in Washington D.C. She is truly an inspiration! Despite the many busy hats Kelly Bingel wears, she took a moment out of her busy schedule to grant me this wonderful interview.

Clarendon Moms:  Hi Kelly! First of all, Thank-you very much for opening this gymnastics facility! What inspired you to open up a gymnastics facility here in Arlington?

Kelly Bengel: Our daughter has been enjoying gymnastics for years. Like many Arlington families, we’ve been waitlisted for classes at other great facilities and talked about the need for more capacity here in Arlington County. So we decided to stop complaining and do something about it.

Clarendon Moms: Are you a previous or current gymnast yourself?

Kelly Bingel:  Neither my husband Thad nor I are gymnasts. He’s a runner and rowed and played football. I played high school tennis and was a cheerleader. We both realize so many important values for life came from what we learned in sports. The value of hard work, setting a goal and working with a team. We have an amazing staff that shares these values and, of course, all our coaches were former competitive gymnastics. Our Acting Director Quentin O’Bryan was a State Champion!

Clarendon Moms: What does Dynamic Gymnastics offer that may set it apart from other gymnastics facilities in the area?

Kelly Bingel:  Our central focus is inspiring you to achieve your personal best. Some kids just want to learn a forward roll while others want to compete on a team. Every child’s goal is important to us. Our core values are central to everything we do at Dynamic Gymnastics: respect for oneself, teammates, coaches and opponents; honesty with compassion; courage; and standing with and by our team. We believe gymnastics is about more than learning to complete a hip circle or back tuck. It’s about setting goals and training the mind to overcome fear, fatigue and peer pressure to soar to new heights.

Clarendon Moms: I’m in awe of the actual space for Dynamic Gymnastics. How did you find the space for the Dynamic Gymnastics?

Kelly Bingel: Isn’t the space perfect for gymnastics? The former tenant was the US Postal Service. They processed mail here. Our real estate broker George Stewart found the place for us and we thought it was perfect the moment we walked in.

Clarendon Moms: And how did you come up with the name for it?

Kelly Bingel: Our business consultant Jen Gamboa came up with the name. She built the Falls Church physical therapy practice Body Dynamics.

Clarendon Moms: Do you offer Open Play? What other events can we look forward to in the next few months or the upcoming year?

Kelly Bingel: Yes! Every Friday from 6-8 pm we offer Open Gym. I’ve gotten a real kick out of being in the gym at that time. It reminds me of my childhood and going to the skating rink on Friday nights. It’s a great place for kids to celebrate the end of a week of school and the beginning of the weekend. Our coaches set up stations for gymnasts to work on the skills of their choice so it’s well supervised structured fun.

Clarendon Moms: Thanks so much for your time!

For more information about Classes, Open Gym and Birthday Parties at Dynamic Gymnastics, please click here. Classes begin January 6th, 2014.

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