Artistry in motion

Grace and power. Focus and finesse.

These are the combinations found on the mats, the bars, the beams during practice at Island Tumblers Gymnastics. It’s artistry in motion with perfection in mind as the state meet approaches with the speed of a McKayla Maroney sprint down the runway on a vault attempt.

Sunday’s meet is a culmination of hours, days, weeks, months of practice. For some, it is just the beginning as it serves as the qualifier for next month’s Region 2 Championships in Washington.

Nearly 100 gymnasts from a dozen clubs statewide will compete at the Levels 10 and lower at Mililani High School gym. The top from Levels 8 through 10 move on through the process that leads to the national meet.

For Kari Covington, co-founder and coach at Island Tumblers Gymnastics, Sunday is about how well her two dozen athletes can hit their routines that were being tweaked and perfected earlier this week.

"We’ve performed well all-around," said Covington who opened ITG 10 years ago with her husband, Utah. "I’d like to say that every one of our girls will qualify but it all depends on the scores. I definitely see the potential in some of them to go on to compete in college. That is our ultimate goal."

Covington, a competitive gymnast in New York through age 16, was on staff at Bela and Marta Karolyi’s training center in Texas. She and Utah, a former cheerleader, moved here with the idea of opening the school.

Enrollment traditionally ebbs and flows with the Olympics, with a surge after the London Summer Games. But the interest for boys has waned, so much so that ITG has taken a break from offering classes for boys and "It’s kind of a dying sport for men," coach Zach Giano said. "I competed in high school (in New Jersey) but then I looked around to compete in college and ended up at Hawaii Pacific (for cheerleading).

"I was able to transition to that sport, was offered a full ride, and we did win nationals."

Giano said the concentration this week was on polishing the routines with attention to the minor details.

"The fingers, the toes, everything that makes gymnastics so regal," Giano said. "A bystander could look at a tumbling pass and say, ‘That is really good.’ I’ll say, ‘This is what you need to work on.’

"Winning is always nice but we’re looking for consistency, for them to replicate the routines they’ve done in the gym. It’s so subjective but if they do what we ask them to do, we’ll have done our jobs and we’ll be happy."

Judging is not easy but enjoyable. Gail Godenzi, one of two nationally rated judges in the state, has been doing it for 20 years.

"I’m an engineer, I’ve always liked numbers," said Godenzi, a former high school gymnast in Seattle who was first certified while living in Australia. "In Hawaii, it’s such a small pool of girls competing but, considering how small that pool is, many have gone to do well at the collegiate level.

"What we do have here are very good coaches, Joe Rapp (Hawaii Island Twisters), Kari (Covington) … these are all top-level coaches."