When Al Fong opened the Great American Gymnastic Express 30 years ago, he had a dream.
“I wanted to open a gym that would produce world class gymnasts, and also serve as an international training ground, where gymnasts from other countries could come and work and learn,” said Fong, who was working with four GAGE gymnasts who leave next week for the VISA World Championships in Dallas.
“We realized our dream when Terin (Humphrey) and Courtney (McCool) were part of the 2004 silver medal team that competed in Greece. And as you look at the gym today, you see the Swedish team here, watching our young ladies get ready for one of the biggest meets of their lives.
“It's just as I envisioned it – and it's very exciting.”
Simona Baechli, 22, one of the coaches of the Swedish team that has spent the past week at GAGE, said the whole encounter came about because of Fong's great international success and the internet.
“We saw Al's girls at the Summer Games in 2004 and then saw Ivana Hong (an alternate member of the women's gymnastics team) at the last Olympics and I thought that he would be someone our team could learn from,” Baechli said, before boarding a bus and heading off to Worlds of Fun for an afternoon of fun away from the gym.
“We knew that GAGE was one of the top gyms in the world, so I Googled Al Fong and GAGE and found out the e-mail address and sent an e-mail. I never really dreamed we would wind up her – but here we are – and it has been a fabulous experience.”
While Al and his wife Armine, work with the elite gymnasts who are heading off to Dallas – Becca Clark, Claire Boyce, Brenna Dowell and Katelyn O'Hashi – Baechli and two other Swedish coaches are wrapping up their morning practice session.
“It's really amazing that after six or eight e-mails, we would up in America watching and working with someone like Al Fong,” Baechli said.
When asked about the e-mails, Fong grinned and said, “I can't take any credit for that. It turned it over to our staff and they did the rest. But I was thrilled that the team from Sweden showed an interest.
“You might remember doing the story on the Israeli team that visited last year and we have hopes of having teams from China, Japan and Russia visit in the near future. I think their girls have learned a lot this week, and it's been good for our girls who are going the championships to have some new faces watch them practice this week.”
And it hasn't just been a learning experience for the coaches and gymnasts.
The Swedish gymnasts have been staying with GAGE parents and gymnasts and the language barrier has provided some interesting moments.
“I have three little girls – 9, 10 and 12 – staying at our home,” said Bridgett Plude, who runs the pro shop at GAGE and has a 12-year-old daughter named Kennedy who is a member of the GAGE team.
“The other day, I was trying to ask them what they wanted for lunch. I was making a face like I was chewing food and going “gobble, gobble” and “oink, oink” trying to find out if they wanted turkey or ham sandwiches.”
The youngsters looked back at Plude and started making their own animal noises.
“They were making horse and donkey noises, and just laughing,” said Plude, who set up the Swedish team's trip and was responsible for the internet communication between Blue Springs and Sweden. “I was thinking, 'I don't think they have any idea what I'm doing.'”
They finally called a teammate who spoke some English and they decided on ham sandwiches.
“What's amazing is that when they're around my daughter, they communicate just fine – without really saying a thing,” Plude added. “It's been a great experience for all of us.”
Many of the gymnasts attended Wednesday night's Kansas City Royals game that was stopped for a few minutes when a stray cat created havoc on the field.
“I've never seen kids laugh so hard,” Plude said. “I told them that this might be the only game they ever see – and they see something I've never seen in all the year's I've been going to games.”
Fong said the Swedish team, which is from a little town outside of Zurich called Buechlach, held a three-day Christmas dinner even to raise funds for their trip.
“I'm hoping we can go over to their gym, and let our girls experience the same thing these young ladies have experienced the past week,” Fong said. “This has been quite a week with the (GAGE) 30th birthday celebration Saturday, our guests from Sweden and preparing for the VISA Championships.”
Like Fong has said many times over the past week, he's living the American Dream – even when it has a Swedish accent.
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When Al Fong opened the Great American Gymnastic Express 30 years ago, he had a dream.
“I wanted to open a gym that would produce world class gymnasts, and also serve as an international training ground, where gymnasts from other countries could come and work and learn,” said Fong, who was working with four GAGE gymnasts who leave next week for the VISA World Championships in Dallas.
“We realized our dream when Terin (Humphrey) and Courtney (McCool) were part of the 2004 silver medal team that competed in Greece. And as you look at the gym today, you see the Swedish team here, watching our young ladies get ready for one of the biggest meets of their lives.
“It's just as I envisioned it – and it's very exciting.”
Simona Baechli, 22, one of the coaches of the Swedish team that has spent the past week at GAGE, said the whole encounter came about because of Fong's great international success and the internet.
“We saw Al's girls at the Summer Games in 2004 and then saw Ivana Hong (an alternate member of the women's gymnastics team) at the last Olympics and I thought that he would be someone our team could learn from,” Baechli said, before boarding a bus and heading off to Worlds of Fun for an afternoon of fun away from the gym.
“We knew that GAGE was one of the top gyms in the world, so I Googled Al Fong and GAGE and found out the e-mail address and sent an e-mail. I never really dreamed we would wind up her – but here we are – and it has been a fabulous experience.”
While Al and his wife Armine, work with the elite gymnasts who are heading off to Dallas – Becca Clark, Claire Boyce, Brenna Dowell and Katelyn O'Hashi – Baechli and two other Swedish coaches are wrapping up their morning practice session.
“It's really amazing that after six or eight e-mails, we would up in America watching and working with someone like Al Fong,” Baechli said.
When asked about the e-mails, Fong grinned and said, “I can't take any credit for that. It turned it over to our staff and they did the rest. But I was thrilled that the team from Sweden showed an interest.
“You might remember doing the story on the Israeli team that visited last year and we have hopes of having teams from China, Japan and Russia visit in the near future. I think their girls have learned a lot this week, and it's been good for our girls who are going the championships to have some new faces watch them practice this week.”
And it hasn't just been a learning experience for the coaches and gymnasts.
The Swedish gymnasts have been staying with GAGE parents and gymnasts and the language barrier has provided some interesting moments.
“I have three little girls – 9, 10 and 12 – staying at our home,” said Bridgett Plude, who runs the pro shop at GAGE and has a 12-year-old daughter named Kennedy who is a member of the GAGE team.
“The other day, I was trying to ask them what they wanted for lunch. I was making a face like I was chewing food and going “gobble, gobble” and “oink, oink” trying to find out if they wanted turkey or ham sandwiches.”
The youngsters looked back at Plude and started making their own animal noises.
“They were making horse and donkey noises, and just laughing,” said Plude, who set up the Swedish team's trip and was responsible for the internet communication between Blue Springs and Sweden. “I was thinking, 'I don't think they have any idea what I'm doing.'”
They finally called a teammate who spoke some English and they decided on ham sandwiches.
“What's amazing is that when they're around my daughter, they communicate just fine – without really saying a thing,” Plude added. “It's been a great experience for all of us.”
Many of the gymnasts attended Wednesday night's Kansas City Royals game that was stopped for a few minutes when a stray cat created havoc on the field.
“I've never seen kids laugh so hard,” Plude said. “I told them that this might be the only game they ever see – and they see something I've never seen in all the year's I've been going to games.”
Fong said the Swedish team, which is from a little town outside of Zurich called Buechlach, held a three-day Christmas dinner even to raise funds for their trip.
“I'm hoping we can go over to their gym, and let our girls experience the same thing these young ladies have experienced the past week,” Fong said. “This has been quite a week with the (GAGE) 30th birthday celebration Saturday, our guests from Sweden and preparing for the VISA Championships.”
Like Fong has said many times over the past week, he's living the American Dream – even when it has a Swedish accent.
