MILLERSVILLE, Md. (WMAR) — Some of the most talented young gymnasts in the country have descended upon Baltimore for some holiday competition.
“We’re all pretty good. Pretty high level,” said 17-year-old gymnast Ronni Binstock.
“It’s a really big deal,” added 18-year-old gymnast Hannah Munnelly. “It’s one of the biggest meets on the East Coast.”
It’s called Christmas on the Chesapeake. It’s an annual meet, at the Baltimore Convention Center, hosted by Docksiders Gymnastics.
“It’s a fun meet that goes on all weekend, all levels of gymnastics,” said Binstock. “We just have fun, spread Christmas cheer and compete.”
Over 2,000 gymnasts are taking part. They range in age from 6 to 18 and are from New Hampshire to North Carolina and all over Maryland.
This is the 30th year for the event which put on by the gymnastics club based in Millersville.
“There are definitely some very skilled athletes out there, but I think we’re also a very skilled team and we’ll be able to handle the competition really well,” said Munnelly.
So if you mosey on into the Convention Center, what can you expect?
“Just a bunch of flipping and it’s a lot of fun,” said Binstock. “You see things that you’ll never see anywhere else, pretty much. You watch the Olympics and we basically do a lot of the stuff that they do there.”
“We do vault, bars, beam and floor,” said 16-year-old gymnast Anaya Smith. “Just a lot of different tricks and it’s really cool to watch and really different than any other sport.”
Since it is the holiday season you know one of the biggest parts of the weekend is that giving spirit.
“We do a big fundraiser for Toys for Tots as well there,” said coach Jay Barrows. “The Marine Corps will have people collecting toys that are donated for children in the area.”
Events wrap up Friday around 9:00 p.m. and run 8:00am - 9:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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