Ortona Gymnastics Club

Ortona Gymnastics Club is a gymnastics club located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They first opened in 1976 under the name Gym-Fit until 1980 when the name was changed to Ortona Gymnastics Club.^[1]

History

Twelve years after their opening, in 1978 Ortona had produced the first Albertan selected to a Canadian Junior Men's Team. This caused Ortona to increase rapidly in popularity leading to their 1979 move into the historical Ortona Armory in the river valley. In 1981 Ortona's popularity experienced another surge when Canada's 1976 Olympic male gymnastics coach John Herb joined Ortona as head coach. Three years later John Herb managed to qualify one of Ortona's athletes for the 1984 Summer Olympics. As a result, two elite women's coaches from China named Ming and Feng-Hua Qui began negotiations with Ortona, which led to their eventual move onto the Ortona coaching team. Two years later Ortona moved into their current home, a 24,000 sq ft (2,200 m²). facility on 50th Avenue and 87th Street.^[2]

The future

Ortona has plans for another move to a larger facility still in construction in which they will be partnered with many other sports organizations called the GO Community Centre.^[3]

References

1. ^ The history of "Ortona Gymnastics Club."
2. ^ Ortona's location on "Google Maps"
3. ^ GO Community Centre "list of partners."