Gymnastics Team

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Rising Stars Gymnastics Team

Gymnastics Team

Team History

team_320x188 The Rising Stars Gymnastics Team was started in 1991 by head coach and owner, Julie Willmott. At the time, the team worked out of a mini-gymnasium at the old Pompano Beach High School. In 1996, Julie and her then partner, Julie Borghi, incorporated as All-American Academy. They opened the first gym in a tiny warehouse in Pompano in 1996 and the team worked out there for three years. Julie Borghi moved to Colorado in 1997, and Julie Willmott continued the running of the gym and team. About this time Nataly Parkinson joined the gym as Julie's assistant. In 1999, the gym was moved to the Pompano Fashion Square Mall. Declining mall traffic and construction coupled with Julie's expanding family made it impossible to keep the independent program going. Julie closed the gym in mid 2001 and spent the next four years renting space from other gyms in the Boca Raton area so that the Rising Stars Gymnastics team could continue to thrive. During all of this time, Julie continued to run the City of Boca Raton gymnastics program, where many of the present team members started their training. In 2005, Julie partnered with two other coaches/gym owners and opened Rising Stars Gymnastics in east Boca Raton. Once again, the team has its own gym!

The team participates in both USAG and AAU leagues in south Florida. Generally, the team competes in USAG competitions in the fall, and in AAU competitions in the spring. Levels 2 and 3 compete only AAU routines; however levels 4 and up compete in both USAG and AAU competitions.

For more information regarding our competitive team, please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us at (561) 998-4225.

League Competition

There are many leagues out there for gyms to choose from. Each league sets its own rules and policies and anyone participating in a league event must be a member of that league.

usag_logo The main gymnastics league is USA Gymnastics or USAG. This is the main governing body for all of gymnastics in the USA. They create all of the rules, policies, and routines we use for levels 4 and up. They also offer training, safety course and more for coaches. Rising Stars Gymnastics competes in USAG sanctioned meets for the level 4 and up gymnasts at local meets. We also make available to the level 4 and ups several larger USAG meets around the state.

AAU_logo The other league we participate in is the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). This league mainly follows the USAG rules, policies and routines for levels 4 and higher; however, they use different routines for levels 2 and 3. The Rising Stars Gymnastics Team participates in the AAU Gymnastics Age Group National Championship each year for levels 2 thorugh 8. Consequently, we do not compete USAG for levels 2 and 3 (very few gyms do). Therefore, levels 2 and 3 compete AAU all year; whereas the level 4 and up generally compete USAG in the fall and AAU in the spring.

Rising Stars Gymnastics hosts two competitive meets each year. Our "Fall Festival" is in Sept/Oct each year and is USAG sanctioned for level 4 and up, and AAU sanctioned for levels 2 and 3. Our "Spring Spectacular" in March/April each year is AAU sanctioned for all levels. This spring meet is a qualifier for the Florida Gold AAU Championship meet held each May -- a required meet for all southeast Florida athletes who compete at the AAU Gymnastics Age Group National Championship held in June.

Team Mission Statement

It is the mission of the Rising Stars Gymnastics team to promote and encourage participation in the sport of competitive gymnastics by any individual who has the interest, desire, and ability to participate. The Rising Stars Gymnastics team is based upon building self-esteem, self-discipline, and a well-rounded individual. At Rising Stars Gymnastics, we believe that the entire child needs to be developed, not just the athlete, and we believe that family and school should be the most important things in any athlete's life. We believe in structuring our teaching to compensate for the obligations of family life and school functions. We strive to build our athletes' self-esteem by searching out ways for them to succeed through meet choices and our developmental approach to competing.

Gymnastics is a developmental sport. We start our competitive levels at Level 2, and progress through Level 9. The coaches determine when an athlete is ready to move to the next level, based upon a variety of factors. We do not move an athlete up based upon parent/athlete request, nor based upon other athletes' mobility. We believe that each athlete should progress at her own speed. Generally, this means the athlete will spend at least one year at each competitive level, sometimes two. For levels of 5 and above, mobility is also contingent upon achievement of a USAG mobility score at a USAG sanctioned meet; however, this achievement does not mean the athlete will immediately move up to the next level as it is only one factor in the coaches' decision.

Coach Julie