The Union College Gymnaires have been nothing if not resilient. Under the leadership of interim coach Rick Schwarz this past academic year, the acrosport gymnastics team hosted the national Acrofest event in the fall and put on an entertaining homeshow performance at the end of the school year.
But after transitioning through three different head coaches over the past four years, the team needed stable leadership. Union believes they have found that leadership in Gymnaire alumnus Matt Teller.
Teller first experienced acrosport gymnastics as a 10-year-old at summer camp. When he entered high school, Dakota Adventist Academy had just started a new gymnastics team. “I was very small and everyone else seemed a lot bigger than me,” he remembered. “I was intimidated, but Coach Tedd Webster was an awesome teacher and mentor.”
As his skills grew, so did his stature, and Teller developed into a muscular six-foot-two-inch base — supporting many hundreds of pounds of people stacked into pyramids. His specialty became the sport acrobatics men’s pair. “You try to do as many different high-end hand balancing, tumbling and aerial skills as you can with just two guys,” he explained.
But Teller’s true love proved to be coaching. While growing his athletic and coaching skills under Frank Martinez and Cindy Spaulding at Union and also with Rick Schwarz at Southern Adventist University, he ultimately earned a degree in math education. In his first teaching job, Thunderbird Adventist Academy asked him to draw on his 10 years of team experience to restart their acrosport gymnastics team, which he coached for several years.
“Even though I left the acro world for a while, I’ve always wanted to coach at a college,” he said. “God brought me into this situation that was mutually beneficial for me and Union. The team needs growing and there is no limit to what we can accomplish together.”
Why does gymnastics matter?
According to Teller, the acrosport gymnastics taught at Seventh-day Adventist schools evolved from a unique blend of artistic gymnastics, sport acrobatics, cheerleading, and even circus disciplines. “As far as I know, no one else does this style of athletics using all these different disciplines in one show with anywhere from one to 50 people working together,” he said. “It has become an exhibition sport where we use athletic skills and pursuits to bring joy to audiences.”
Both as an acrosport gymnast and coach, Teller has experienced the value of an Adventist gymnastics team firsthand. “It’s a great way for students to get involved in athletic pursuits, especially if they don’t excel at traditional team sports,” he explained. “I’ve seen many students join a school gymnastics team and develop a love for fitness that stayed with them the rest of their lives.”
He also sees the Gymnaires as a community that can be a positive force within the larger Union community. As the team builds strong relationships and learns to support each other both on and off the performance mats, they can do the same for the rest of their friends and classmates.
The influence of athletes can reach far beyond Union’s campus and the places they perform. “I would love to start a tumbling and acrobatics school on campus for kids and teens in the community,” he said. And Teller has already started connecting with other gymnasts in the region. “What if we could become a hub for the gymnastics community and create a healthy, loving environment for people to learn?”
Come join the team!
Teller encourages any student to try out for the Gymnaires team. “It’s fun to push yourself to be your best individually and collectively as a team,” he explained. “Over and over again I’ve seen students start out without much experience or confidence. But by the time they are seniors, they are doing double backflips or holding handstands for a minute or whatever. It may take four years to get there, but that is really a very short time to learn those types of elite skills. And now it brings them a joy they can share with others through teaching or performing.”
Teller already has tours scheduled for the coming academic year with plans to expand. “I’ve traveled all over North America performing shows and making friends,” he said. “It’s great to be a part of this international community of athletes.”
He encourages all students who are planning to try out to begin preparing now using the workouts he has posted on the Union Gymnaires webpage. Tryouts begin on August 21.