Guam Gymnastics Federation

So very proud of Deren Perez and his Sindalu Siha family on the grand opening of their Sindalu Siha ninja warrior (and parkour!) gym in Tamuning on Saturday Oct. 11th. Biba warrior!

Happening NOW: Sindalu Siha’s Grand Opening! Guam’s first ninja warrior/parkour gym. Located in Tamuning behind ITE. Congratulations Deren Perez and your Sindalu Siha crew!!!

Congratulations to Deren Perez, Guam’s own super Ninja Warrior, on the grand opening of your gym this Saturday!!! 🙌🏼💪🏼⭐️

At the Guam Gymnastics Federation Annual General Meeting on Sept. 21 at 2 pm at Island Twisters Gymnastics Club in Tamuning, the following financial statement was reported:

The Guam Gymnastics Board of Directors will hold a board meeting on Sunday Feb. 9, 2025 at 2 pm at Island Twisters Gymnastics Club. For information please call GGF President Jayne Flores at 671-483-6409 or email [email protected].

Congratulations to GGF Board Member and veteran Deren Perez for being named Veteran of the Year by US Coast Guard Guam during today’s Veterans ceremony at Ypao. Deren si Yu’os ma’ase for your service! We are so proud and honored to have you on our GGF board. 🇬🇺🇺🇸

GREAT FIG Congress in Doha, Qatar. The Qatar Gymnastics Federation were amazing hosts. GGF was proud to represent Guam. Look for us to promote Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, Parkour, Aerobic Gymnastics, and Gymnastics for All on Guam. After all, gymnastics is the basis for ALl sports!
Photos are of the Oceania Gymnastics Union delegation (of which GGF is a member), and GGF President Jayne Flores, FIG President Mori Watanabe, and American Samoa President Leilani Tilo. Biba!

Honored to represent the Guam Gymnastics Federation and Guam at the 25th FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) Congress in Doha, Qatar.
Making connections to promote not only Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, but the more inclusive disciplines of Aerobic Gymnastics, Gymnastics for All, and Parkour on Guam! Opportunities to grow👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼! Si Yu’os Ma’ase to the FIG and our Oceania Gymnastics Union for making GGF attendance at the conference possible.

The Guam Gymnastics Federation will hold a GGF Board meeting at 12:45 pm on Sunday, September 22, 2024, at 12:45 pm at Island Twisters Gymnastics Club in Tamuning.

The GGF Annual General Meeting, at which we will elect GGF board members to serve for the 2024-2028 Olympic Quadrennial, will take place at 1:30 pm on Sunday, Sept. 22, also at Island Twisters.

The agendas for both meetings will be posted here prior to Sunday. Should you have any questions or concerns or items that your club wishes to be added to the agenda, please call GGF President Jayne Flores at 671-483-6409, or email [email protected].

We hope to see club members on Sunday!

Jordan Chiles is a champion - medal or no medal.

Jordan Chiles released a statement after the lOC stripped her of bronze medal.

(h/t )

We are so fortunate to have Simone Biles as a champion of gymnastics, women, friendship, mental health - so many things.

I'm going to revisit this Simone Biles comment from the other day, because the video got muted.

I thought it was important because it is yet another example of why we're so lucky to have her occupying the space that she does.

She was asked about the younger gymnasts from her gym back home, who have been seen often in clips cheering on Simone and the other women gymnasts, which gets her talking about how she doesn't train "alone" like some people think.
She trains with all of these young girls, day in and day out, and the way she articulates this one point about those younger girls is so important:
"So to just check in, make sure they're good--mentally, physically. If they're ever having a bad day, one of the older girls will try to go and talk to them, cheer them up."

I've seen this in action and can attest to how magical it can be.

I teach music to kids as a side gig.
It's one of the best things I do.
In that capacity I am the assistant director of the rock band camp at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Illinois Summer Youth Music (ISYM) program, which brings kids 6th-12th grade from all around the state and country to campus for a week where we basically do a thing.

I have seen moments at this camp that would restore anyone's faith in humanity.

6th-12th is a pretty big age swing, plus we see kids from all backgrounds, but we don't ever really have any major fights or personality clashes. They're all there with a common interest.
It's a testament to how much one thread of commonality can smooth many wrinkles.

One of the best things is seeing the older campers watch out for the younger campers. There are so many examples of kids whose first time away from home for a week was a little less anxious because an older kid made the effort to check on them.

The one example that reference all the time is the day I came in to the first day of camp, after the kids had slept in the dorms for the first time, and I saw across the room one of our new campers, a 6th grader, red-faced like she'd been crying. In protective mode I headed that way, but literally before I could get there, two of our older campers had already descended and I could hear them saying "we're going to make sure you have a great week" and "being away from home for the first time is always hard" and "you can sit with us at lunch."

So now I'm like a puddle of emotion trying not to then MYSELF be red-faced from crying.
They didn't know her.
They weren't from the same town.
This was just a new student who loved music like they did.

By the end of the week she was crushing it in her band, playing multiple instruments and singing lead on a song. She came back the next year and kept getting better and better. Year three? She brought her little sister with her.

That student just finished her first year of college, and she knows that I tell that story all the time, and when she came back to see this year's end-of-camp concert she told me that that moment was like a lightning rod for her. Which, I knew, because I watched her turn into the supportive camp veteran, herself. But it was so cool to hear her talk about it.

So much of society pits women (and MaGes, too) against each other in so many different ways, so I definitely got a little misty watching Simone talk about this and remembering seeing my own students do this very thing. Every single hand reaching back to help opens up another.

Quoth Simone: "We were once in their position, and one day they're gonna be in our position."

Thanks to the GOAT for saying that out loud so these girls (and ALL kids) can hear it.

Come out and watch Guam’s ninja warriors!