MONROE — After two years of planning, Wisconsin is about to host the YMCA Nationals gymnastics tournament. The meet, scheduled for June 19-23 at Woodside Sports Complex in Wisconsin Dells, is being hosted by Green County YMCA and Stateline YMCA in Beloit.

“I’ve been so busy the last four months — and the last two months has just been unbelievable,” said Dawn Lederman, Green County YMCA Gems Gymnastics coach. “I’ve been working on it for over two years — the bid process started two years ago this summer.”

In 2017, Lederman began the process of winning the bid for the major event. After securing the bid, the bigger process of figuring it all out came next.

“We took a 1,000-piece puzzle, dumped it all on the table, threw away the lid and didn’t know what the picture looked like on top of the box,” Lederman said. “It was way more than I expected. I knew it would be a lot, but I didn’t realize just how many layers there were to it all. It’s been quite an adventure, to say the least.”

Registrations, equipment rental, securing judges, lodging and venues all needed to be figured out, as well as “the smallest things like ‘how many boxes of paper will I need,’ to coming up with a design; signage; banners; trophies — the list just goes on,” Lederman said.

One of the more interesting ideas she had to come up with was the logo for the meet. Lederman decided to have a silhouette of a gymnast jumping from one bluff to another, while a male gymnast holds the rings connected to each rock.

“As a kid I went to the Dells and the two rocks, the dog leaped over that — and he still does that to this day. That’s how I came up with the two rocks on the logo,” Lederman said.

Volunteers and team members will spend June 19 setting up the gymnasium, with an expected 1,700 competitors from nearly 100 teams from around the nation set to descend upon the Waterpark Capital of the World.

Lederman said that when putting in a bid, figuring out the location and venue was a huge part. Past national meets have taken place throughout the country, including Wichita, Kansas, and Toledo, Ohio, but the difference of the non-competition portion was night and day between different cities.

“I’ve been to nationals’ events where there was absolutely nothing to do but gymnastics. But then we went to Long Beach, where there was a ton of stuff to do. I just think the destination really is going to make it special — especially for those people that have never been to the Dells,” Lederman said. “We have 93 YMCAs coming in from all over the country, so we want to make it the best experience for them for what we and what the Dells can offer.”

The afternoon of Friday, June 21 will be the “Celebration of Champions” at the Tommy Bartlett Show & Exploratory. All the competitors will march into the stadium at 2:30 p.m., which will be followed by keynote speaker Marvin Kimble at 3:30 p.m.

“Dalton (Struebin), who is the head gymnastics coach at Stateline, is good friends with Marvin Kimball and they actually train together out of Milwaukee. Marvin is hoping to be on the Olympic team for the United States that will be traveling to Japan (in 2020),” Lederman said.

Kimble, a 23-year-old Milwaukee native, was an alternate in the 2018 World Championships Team. He was the 2015 Pan American Games pommel horse champion, and has medals on rings, high bar and parallel bars at various national events since 2015.

The Gems team has continued training throughout the spring after the state meet took place in March, but that doesn’t mean the young gymnasts aren’t ready to move on.

“We’re trying to take it as a normal meet, but this is the time of year where we are normally training for next season already. They are getting bored with the old routines. So now we are trying to do old routines and new routines, and that’s been challenging — working on level-up skills as well as old skills,” Lederman said.

In years past, the Gems have sent a dozen or so gymnasts to nationals, which meant most of the approximately 70 kids in the program could begin training for leveling up after the state meet.

“There are a lot of kids on our team that can’t afford to travel out of state for nationals — it’s not an option. So, this is a great opportunity for those families who can spend an hour and a half to drive up. They don’t have to spend the night, they don’t have to fly anywhere or drive 6-8 hours away,” Lederman said. “It’s a great opportunity not just for our team, but the state of Wisconsin. There’s over 600 kids alone from the state of Wisconsin going to the Celebration of Champions. It’s going to be really exciting for them.”

Lederman is the event director, which means while her students are competing, she might not be able to watch and coach. She said thankfully that she has a strong staff to pick up if she gets pulled away.

“I have a really good staff, so I have them spread out as a head coach for each level, so that way if I have to step away to do something for the event, I can,” Lederman said.

The Gems/Stateline group came up with committees for much of the preparation — from securing volunteers to sponsors, venues and the senior scholarship award reception, which we be June 23 at the conclusion of the weekend. 

Sponsors have helped with much of the costs. “Colony Brands is a big sponsor, Klondike, Campion’s Champions, Ho-Chunk sponsored well. Also, we have Noah’s Ark and offsite businesses created a really good price for the water park price for the kids that are coming in,” Lederman said.

Lederman said the volunteer situation is in good standing between parents of Green County and Stateline gymnasts. However, she also said that if there is interest from the public in volunteering at the event, she can be contacted at the Green County Family YMCA by calling 325-2003.