New Gymnastics Facility Scores a 10

Niles West High School welcomed its favorite son, Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Bart Conner, as well as the man who could be called the father of Niles West gymnastics, former coach John Burkel, to its new state-of-the-art athletic training center Friday morning.

The pair, who first met when Conner was 10 years old, officially dedicated the $3 million, 15,000-square-foot gymnastics center, which Burkel described as the finest high school facility in the U.S.

For more: Photo gallery of Conner, Burkel, ceremony

He should know, having remained active in the gymnastics world after coaching at Niles West from 1963-1994. He now lives in South Carolina.

Niles West laid foundation

Conner, a 1976 Niles West graduate who directed his remarks to the student-athletes in the audience, said the new gym offered opportunities for them to further improve at their sport. His success was not due to being the most talented athlete, he said, but due to seizing the opportunities given him.

That included being invited to visit the Niles West High School gymnastics team with his elementary school gym teacher, who had noticed his talent.

“I walked into that balcony [where the gymnastics team practiced] and saw all that wonderful equipment, and I knew I was home,” Conner said.

He recalled that he proceeded to get on the parallel bars and swing up into a handstand, impressing the high school athletes and setting in motion a gymnastics career that left him the only male American gymnast to win gold medals in every national and international competition. That would eventually lead to a perfect score of 10 on the parallel bars to win gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Now 53, Conner showed the crowd that he can still do a handstand.

“I am truly fortunate to enjoy the life I have considering I only have one discernable skill: I can walk on my hands,” said Conner. “I have a skill set that basically has no marketable value.”

But he has used his athletic skills to build several gymnastics-based businesses and gives back to the community by working with the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Special Olympics, which provides competition for people with disabilities.

He and his wife, former Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who in 1976 became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 in an Olympic event, have a 5-year-old son, Dylan. They run the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, OK.

Sage words from coach 

Burkel also has a longtime association with the Special Olympics, where he served as director of judges at the World Games from 1987-2003.

His advice to the students was simple: “Do the best you can. That’s all anybody can expect from you, and that’s all you can expect from yourself.”

His lifelong love of gymnastics started around age 10, when his father figured he was not going to follow in the basketball shoes of his 6-foot-8 tall older brother, but noticed that his younger son was always climbing and swinging on things. So his father put up a metal bar between the garage and a tree, and Burkel climbed up and hung from his knees.

“The world looked so much better upside down,” he said.

Burkel said he was attracted to coaching gymnastics because of the emphasis and pressure put on individual athletes.

“It’s the fear,” he said, and the process of overcoming it, especially with students who had little or no exposure to gymnastics before high school.

Partnerships expand access

Niles Township children interested or participating in gymnastics will have the opportunity to use the new gym, through agreements with the local park districts and other organizations, said Kaine Osburn, Niles West’s principal. The gym also will be used by other athletes, including those on the cheerleading squads and the pompon and diving teams.

The facility has space for the baseball and softball teams and a cardio exercise lab, Osburn said, and will eliminate the need to spend hours setting up and dismantling equipment for meets. The gym will make it possible for the school to host regional and sectional competitions.

The gym features an L-shaped put filled with foam blocks on top of a trampoline that has been maximizes safety for vaulting, tumbling, rings, the high bar and parallel bars.

That will give the gymnasts more confidence to try difficult routines, said Niles West sophomore gymnast Valerie Fung.

“People will be able to see we really are a good team,” she said.

“I’m really glad we have this gym,” said senior gymnast Jenny Marin. “Finally, we’ll be able to show off our full potential.”

Designed by Legat Architects, the gym has been registered with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Schools certification. It features large windows on the north wall and indirect skylights that will fill the area with daylight while minimizing shadows. The artificial lighting also is indirect to minimize shadows.