Airborne Gymnastics opened in 1999 with 80 competitive male and female gymnasts. Airborne, was a recognised high performance centre for male gymnasts and ran competitive programmes throughout the 1st year with outstanding results at State & National competitions. This culminated in three senior male gymnasts representing Australia at the Peter Vidmir International in the US.
Recreational based programmes were gradually introduced with Kooringal High School and St Joesph's Primary School students the first to join the programme. Staff number were small, but all were highly skilled and motivated. Hayden Appleton-Seymour coached the Junior & Senior Men's Artistic and Senior Women's Artistic gymnasts. Belinda Reardon coached the Junior Women's Artistic gymnasts and Lyndal Appleton-Seymour coached Kindergym and the other recreational programmes.
They combined with a group of part-time staff, usually volunteers, to cater for around 120 gymnasts.
The 800m2 gym was a great starting base and included all the Olympic apparatus required for a full training regime. However, the overhead costs and distance from the CBD meant we were forced to look for alternative accommodation.
