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| The coaches talk and they listen, answering only by nodding their heads. Seventy-four wide eyed girls search the coaches' faces eager to be taught, hungry for the corrective criticism that may one day help them achieve their greatest aspiration - becoming part of the United States Olympic Gymnastics Team.
They are the best 9 to 11 year olds in the sport of gymnastics in the nation. The prestige of being selected out of 400 others vying to take part in the National TOP Training Camp can be felt through their silence and discipline. After all, the top coaches and choreographers in the world, such as Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci's choreographer Gheza Pozsar and 9-time world tumbling champion Steve Elliot are on hand to teach the young gymnasts what they have learned through years of experience. For the fourth year in a row, the bid to host the prestigious TOP's camp has been awarded to Linda Bradshaw, 21-year owner of the Tulsa World of Gymnastics. "We will have to come back to Tulsa every year because they set such high standards. They (Tulsa World of Gymnastics) have superior organizational skills, the atmosphere is great, and the facility is phenomenal. The TOP's program is important to the future of the sport and serves as our building block," said Kathy Kelly, USA Gymnastics women's program director. The phenomenal facility Kelly speaks of was built with Bradshaw's hard work, determination, and love for the sport of gymnastics and the children that participate. Sometimes hanging onto the business by a thread, other times getting warm fuzzies from parents and students thanking her for their improvement, Bradshaw has overcome many obstacles to be recognized by the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce as the Small Business Person Of The Year. "My husband and I did not start this to be business, but to give our kids an opportunity," Bradshaw said. In the early 70's, when their daughters were four and six years old, Tulsa was limited as far as gymnastics training facilities go, so the girls enrolled in a program at Reed Park Recreational Facility. The gymnastics lessons turned into more than just recreation. Linda and her husband, Wayne, found the first site for Tulsa World Of Gymnastics and filled it with training equipment. "When you rent a building and have a note on the equipment, all of the suddenƒyou're in business" she said. Bradshaw retired from her career as a musician, leaving her degree in music education behind to become a secretary at the new facility. "There was no stimulation for creativity in the public schools as far as teaching music was concerned," she said. She is a former pianist who had her own piano studio in her home and taught private piano lessons to as many as 50 children a week. She had no idea at that time that Tulsa World of Gymnastics would be what it is today, nor did she think that her career would be as interesting as it is today. "The girls got to the age where they were involved with activities and I wanted to be involved with them," she said. The gym started in 1976, the year Nadia Comaneci stunned the world by scoring a "perfect 10" on the floor exercise at the Olympic Games. Twenty-two children from the recreation center started taking classes at the gym and the center's coach came along with them. "I made so many bad business mistakes. I bought something from everyone who walked through the door," Bradshaw said adding that she had absolutely no experience in marketing or public relations. Her first obstacle came when her coach decided to take advantage of other opportunities, and the Bradshaw's were left "as parents with a five-year lease on a building and a $25,000 note on the equipment," she said. My husband said "its either sink or swim", and her thought was "I've always been a good swimmer". And swim she did, into books teaching herself everything she needed to know about being a gymnastics coach, and reaching to her music background to build upon rhythm and coordination skills. She ran a one-woman show and marketed the business by starting a pre-school gymnastics program. "I figured I was smarter than they were," Bradshaw said. The business grew from 22 students to 60, and kept on doubling until she approached the summer of 1978. The summer months posed a problem, a the facility she worked out of for 17 years was not air-conditioned. "It was shake-and-bake in the summer months. From June to August we had low enrollment because of the heat and we had to close at noon," she said. The boycott of the 1980 Olympics also hurt the business as there was no national exposure to foster interest in the sport. Word of mouth was keeping it alive. Bradshaw struggled to catch up financially from the lack of students in the summer months with her husband's income supporting the gym. Linda was tired, hot, over-worked, and was seriously considering getting out of the business. Bela Karolyi, Nadia Comaneci's coach at the 1976 Olympics and now the coach of America's National Champion, Dominique Moceanu, changed her mind. Bradshaw took some of her students to Karolyi's camp in 1986 and got to know him on a personal level. When she took some students again in 1991, he convinced her not to give up. "Bela's enthusiasm at the camp showed me how special gymnastics is and how it molds lives and gives direction," she noted. She returned home with a purpose and a new found love and respect for the sport. The answer to all of her problems was finding a new air-conditioned facility, which she did. She opened the current site at 7020 E. 38th Street, on December 1, 1993, after waiting for months on the Small Business Administration 504 Loan approval. She hired a coaching staff which now consists of seven full time and nine part time employees. "The hard part for me is delegating authority because I was used to doing everything myself." The musician who started with no business experience, through hard work and a soft heart, turned herself into a nationally renowned player in the sport of gymnastics. She was able to get Bela Karolyi and Kim Zmeskal to take part in the grand opening of the new facility. Bradshaw noted "Our pre-school and competitive programs are solid as a rock in Oklahoma." Tulsa World's competitive teams in the last four years have not lost a state championship at any level. Tulsa World of Gymnastics now has over 1,300 students, and the ability to draw an Olympic qualifying event to Tulsa. The USA Gymnastics American Classic and Individual Event World Trials that you are witnessing this weekend is projected to provide Tulsa with an economic impact of over $500,000. "I love what I do now because I can do anything I want to do. I am limited only by the amount of hours in the day," she said. After she finishes her duties to the American Classic, Bradshaw plans to focus her efforts on programs for individuals with developmental disabilities; her interest in this stems from her experience at the Special Olympics last summer in Connecticut which she said was "the most incredible experience of her life." Bradshaw also received a bonus at the Special Olympics, Tulsa World student Amber Lins won a gold medal, plus two silver medals. In the city of Tulsa, so many doors could be opened if they had a place to come as a group and be stimulated - and movement is stimulation," Bradshaw explains. In the next three years, she plans to develop the disability programs just as she developed the pre-school program, gradually and with a lot of book study. As far as the business goes, Bradshaw says she is not in it to make a lot of money. "You will never be able to read my profits on paper. However, the profit can be seen in the faces of thousand of Tulsa children who have come through her gym and learned the value of hard work, determination and competition. Tulsa World of Gymnastics is a Cinderella story. The horse and carriage have pulled it from the old, un-airconditioned facility into the castle which has become one of the leading gymnastics facilities in the nation. One of Tulsa World's students may just catch her dream....that dream of Olympic competition, and maybe even a gold medal. |
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