MARCHING TO THE BEAT OF A DIFFERENT DRUM

Sam and Diana Shima are flexible people whose lives are well choreographed. Their daily routine requires enormous energy, and they have a great ability to perform under pressure - all characteristics that are a prerequisite to being successful in business.  And considering they are both owners and instructors in their own gymnastics facility, it makes them the perfect candidates. Their runaway success of their business, Gymnastics Beat, is a product of not only their tremendous physical ability, but their business acumen.

Gymnastics Beat is a great example of a traditional business that has been fused with ingenuity.
When setting up their state-of-the-art 10,000 square-foot facility, they consulted with a world champion gymnast. Not only does it have ample room for their standard regulation competition gymnastic equipment, two trampolines, tumble track and other equipment, but also a pro shop, offices, kitchen, preschool play area, parent lounge and workout center. 

Not only does the facility offer all the standard gymnastics equipment, they also offer a separate area for toddlers and preschool kids to play while their siblings run and tumble, and a semi-private workout area for parents to use while children attend classes.

The Shima’s decision to include the play area for the younger children and the adult workout area was born out of their own desire for inclusion of all their family members; they wanted their facility to be a place where families could come as a unit and interact , while getting physical exercise.

Diana knows firsthand what it is like for a family to be so busy with work, daycare, and extracurricular activities that they feel like they’re not spending much time together.  While Sam works at the facility during the day, Diana works full-time for the County, and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Danielle is in daycare. 

“Basically I get off from work. I run down and pick up my daughter. I run home and pick up food…we unpack here (at the gym), and we cook dinner,” Diana said. “We live here because I know that’s what it’s going to take.”

Their 12 employees, consisting of four office staff and eight coaches, are on hand to provide an enjoyable experience for parent and child alike and are disciples of the Shima’s mission of “excellent customer service.”

The coaches are experienced and certified gymnasts who work with students from toddler-age to adults, and all levels of competency. Classes such as Mommy/Daddy & Me are offered to children 12 months and older, and preschool classes that include early education elements combined with recreational gymnastics. Coaches work with no more than seven children to ensure that all participants get enough one-on-one time. For grade-school and high-school-aged students, recreational gymnastics classes and sports and cheer conditioning fare offered.

“We’re just all about fun,” Diana explained. “We’re just encouraging kids to have a great time doing physical activity and that’s all were doing.”

“People don’t realize that gymnastics is probably the most total body sport that you can get into it because when you do a handstand, you’re using every muscle from your fingertips to your toes in a way that you never would normally,” said Diana. “You’ll be using muscles that you didn’t even know existed when you’re doing gymnastics.”

Gymnastics Beat also offers adult gymnastics classes from beginner to advanced, as well as, exercise classes for adults who want to shed some extra pounds or maintain their physique while having fun at the same time for a cost of $5 per night, and offer yoga classes, a masseuse, as well as competitive gymnastics. They are even planning on installing cameras so parents can log onto to the Internet and monitor their child’s progress, when they can’t be there.

Gymnastics Beat is available for birthdays, private parties or other special occasions.  Two coaches are provided for each party to make sure the physical activity is safe for the kids and sane for the parents.  They also provided supervised childcare for smaller children for a small extra charge.

For the Shima’s, owning gymnastic facility seems a matter of destiny.  Both Sam and Diana were competitive in gymnastics as children and throughout high school. They met on a blind date and once Sam heard that Diana was gymnastics fan, he was hooked and proposed after dating for two months.  And after eight years of marriage, “we’re still doing handstands together,” quips Sam.

For many years, Sam’s career focused on opening and running large recreational facilities. He spent several years working for Discovery Zone, a play facility for children which was started originally by gymnasts, and most recently served as Executive Director of Rotary Storyland/Playland. As the successful restoration and reopening of these facilities were realized, Sam felt it was time to move on to something new.

Years before, Diana had attended the Central Valley Business Incubator’ Entrepreneurial Training Program and learned the skills of writing a business plan and how to start a business from the ground up.  So in 2003, with her entrepreneurial training, Sam’s work experience and desire for something new, and their combined passion for gymnastics, Gymnastics Beat was born. 

“Entrepreneurship is a really scary thing,” Diana explained. “I think what [the Entrepreneurial Training Program] helped me do is to see there was a lot of support out there for people who wanted to start their own business, there were a lot of resources available, and it helped me get comfortable with the idea and understand what the risks were and what the cost was going to be to us as a family.” 

With over 200 students currently enjoying their facility, the Shima’s plan to have 300 students enrolled by the end of the year. In addition, they have a goal is to break even on their initial investment by the Spring and to begin showing a profit by June 2004, exactly one-year after opening. A lofty goal for a new business venture, but the Shima’s have every confidence they can achieve it.

“We are bucking the trend,” Sam admitted. “It’s a hard goal to reach, but it’s attainable if you have the right plan in place.”