Gymnastics club makes Mapunapuna new home
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — After frantically searching for a new home for the past month, the Hawaiian Island Twisters were able to rent a warehouse in Mapunapuna, preventing disruption of the successful gymnastics program.
The Hawaiian Island Twisters still need donations of plywood and lumber to complete their gym. To donate call 235-4487.
The nonprofit gymnastics club has been scrambling since mid-October, when it was given notice to vacate, to find a new site that would be big enough, safe and affordable for its 300 members, including national competitors at the highest level of gymnastics.
Plywood needed
The club will meet in a warehouse behind 99 Ranch Market, 1151 Mapunapuna St. Access to the new gym will be through the food court at the market, said Joe Rapp, executive director and coach for the group.
The club was trying to negotiate for a space on Lagoon Drive with a landlord who would not budge on the rent when a parent learned about the Mapunapuna warehouse, Rapp said.
"We'd been checking warehouses and everything was expensive, terrible buildings, terrible locations with all kinds of heavy equipment around," Rapp said. "You can't have kids going in and out in those areas."
With three weeks to go before having to move out of their Kahuhipa Street location in Kane'ohe, the club found a home that is mutually beneficial to the surrounding community and the members, said Susan Horowitz, a mother of one of the gymnasts.
"We're so excited to have a place, and it's a wonderful spot," Horowitz said. "There's lots of people there. There's lots of families in and out. I think it will be good to be part of the community there."
For 10 days members of the organization and coaches have been preparing the new site and clearing out the old one. More than 100 people have donated time to prepare the new gym, move equipment and clean the old gym, she said.
Donors have given money and material to install pits, safe areas for students to fall when practicing, and separate areas for each activity, Horowitz said. There will be an air-conditioned room for preschool children, she said.
The 8,500-square-feet site is larger than the Kane'ohe location, but will cost more. It also has parking, which was not available at the old site, she said, adding that with a larger gym, the club can grow.
"Our challenge will be to make the space work for us," Horowitz said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com. or 234-5266.
