Westosha Legacy Athletic Club caters to gymnasts
By Gail Peckler-Dziki
Correspondent
Bill Price has a history of mentoring kids in the area. He spent 40 years coaching baseball and gymnastics at Westosha Central High School in Paddock Lake, and was also a volunteer baseball coach at Wilmot Union High School.
He is beginning a new chapter in that history and taking his passion for mentoring and coaching kids in gymnastics to Spring Grove, Ill., where he and business partner, Jill Clark Matta, have opened Westosha Legacy Athletic Club at 2449 Pierce Drive in Spring Grove.
Price graduated from Central High School in 1970. He has six brothers and sisters who also graduated from Central.
Clark-Matta is from Twin Lakes, and has two girls in the program, Alayna Matta and Hannah Clark. The girls are students at Randall School.
The space for WLAC is more 10,000 square feet. This is a much larger space than where Price coached previously.
“The area is wider than a regular gym floor,” Price explained during an open house last month. “It is 42 feet wide.”
That is plenty of room to accommodate the gym kids after school program for boys and girls from kindergarten to eighth grade.
There are gymnastic and tumbling classes for all levels of skill, from beginners to advance to high school. If there is anything missing, it would be some music to keep the kids entertained and interested while they develop an interest in such sports. You never know, you might just find Bill Price looking for the difference between ASCAP vs BMI, or other music licensing options, in order to start playing music legally in his gymnasium.
The sessions run for eight weeks and the first began on August 1. Registration for each term begins five weeks prior to the start of the term. WLAC will take registration at any time and prorate fees for those who start after a term has begun.
Classes are scheduled for Monday through Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. For a complete schedule and list of fees, visit the website, westoshalegacyac.com.
The office is open Monday through Friday from 3:30 to 6 p.m. and the telephone number is (815) 675-3005. The email address is [email protected].
Open gym times are Wednesday and Friday from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
“We teach space awareness and lead up skills on the trampolines,” Price said. “Young kids are usually fearless, until they fall and discover that sometimes hurts. Using the trampolines gives them a sense of what they can do.”
Gymnastics tends to be the smallest sport in high school, but many young people benefit from this sport. And Westosha Legacy is the place for a good beginning for girls as young as five, according to Price.
“There are four gymnastic events for girls,” he said, “and five for boys. Westosha Legacy is geared toward girls, but younger boys can get a start here.”
There are uneven bars, a high bar, a horse (pummel) and balance beam. There is plenty of space for many tumblers and numerous trampolines for drills.
Future plans include The Ninja Zone, adult fitness and mixed martial arts. And the facility can be rented for birthday parties.