Editing YMCA (section)

==== Gymnastics ====
[[Gymnastics]] came to be at the YMCA in 1869. Three YMCAs, those in [[Boston]], [[San Francisco]], and the 23rd Street Branch in [[New York City]], each constructed buildings with gyms inside. These gyms then allowed men to train on the sport of gymnastics. Most of the men who knew gymnastics, however, were circus performers and did not fit the ideas and values of the YMCA. [[Robert J. Roberts]] was one of the original circus performers at the Boston YMCA in the 1870s and 1880s, but he was hurt in a fall and could not perform or teach gymnastics. This led him to start the group exercises that exist currently at YMCAs.<ref>{{cite web|title=YMCA and Early Gymnastics|url=http://ynationals.weebly.com/ymca-and-early-gymnastics.html|access-date=2021-11-15|website=History of YMCA National Gymnastics Championships|language=en}}</ref> Even though Robert stopped teaching gymnastics in Boston, the YMCA in [[Salem, Massachusetts]] was creating the sport of gymnastics, holding boy/men classes as far back as 1895, where they learned [[Parallel bars|parallel]] and horizontal bars, [[Pommel horse|German horse]], mat exercises, [[juggling]], and [[Weight training|weight lifting]]. They would then train to perform for an audience.

A few years later, gymnastics began to filter out of the YMCA as other group sports, such as [[basketball]] and [[volleyball]], became more popular. Gymnastics as we know it today started at the Marblehead/Swampscott YMCA in [[Massachusetts]]. Compared to the other YMCAs who were stopping the sport of gymnastics held group classes in their basketball gym. They had to break down their equipment each day until their program was moved to the [[Salem State College]] in 1990. Salem State had recently dropped their college team, and the youth director at the YMCA went to see about expanding their program by renting the colleges space. Since then, two of the Marblehead/Swampscott gymnasts have gone on to be named all-American gymnasts and placed in the top five at the National Championships. The team has also placed in the top 10 at several National Championships.<ref name=":6">{{cite web|last=Lyons|first=Stephanie|title=Gymnastics, an Olympic favorite, evolves with YMCA|url=https://www.salemnews.com/archives/gymnastics-an-olympic-favorite-evolves-with-ymca/article_559adf31-652c-5034-a828-e30deaad14c6.html|access-date=2021-11-15|website=Salem News|date=18 July 2008 |language=en}}</ref>

YMCAs around the world now offer gymnastics to boys and girls of a variety of ages. Equipment now ranges from the men's events of pommel horses, parallel bars and the men's high rail to the [[uneven bars]], [[balance beam]]s, [[vault (gymnastics)|vault systems]] and [[trampoline]]s. These YMCAs now offer camps, lessons and teams in gymnastics and [[cheerleading]] and [[tumbling (gymnastics)|tumbling]].<ref name=":6" />