Coming to the rescue

It wasn’t as if Sheri House had a lot of free time.

Her new gym, Mountain View Gymnastics in Airway Heights, is just up and running and, between children and grandchildren, there were six teenagers living at her home in Spokane Valley.

But when Lewis and Clark High School called the week before the high school gymnastics season was due to start and asked if House and her daughter, Katy, were interested in taking over the program, she didn’t feel she could say no. Not when it meant life or death for the program.

“It was basically a case where either we took the job or they shut down the program,” Sheri said. “That’s the last thing I wanted to see. Once they shut the program down, it would be almost impossible to bring it back.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help keep gymnastics in the school and give those girls a chance to enjoy it and grow in the sport.”

At first, Katy agreed to take over as head coach.

A 2005 University High graduate, Katy competed for the Titans and, after graduation, stayed on to help coach the team’s junior varsity last year. She already was registered with a 22-credit load at Eastern Washington University, but vowed to make time if it meant keeping the LC program alive.

“Katy was going to do it and I agreed to help her out as much as I could with the paperwork,” Sheri said. “Then on Wednesday, the school came back and said that, because of her age, they couldn’t go with her as a head coach.

“We just sat there and looked at each other. What else could we do?”

So, when practice started at LC, the Houses were there to greet a dozen Tigers gymnasts.

“Our goal is for these girls to grow, to learn and to have fun this season,” Sheri said. “If we can accomplish those goals, we can grow the program.”

The pair has been hard at work preparing their team.

“Coming out of the U-Hi program, Katy has a strong understanding about what it takes to choreograph a routine,” Sheri said. “(Coach) Tracy Duncan does a great job teaching her girls about building a routine. I think anyone coming out of that program could go on to take over and coach themselves.”

In fact, Katy is a “third generation” Greater Spokane League coach. Duncan, a Central Valley graduate, competed for coach Kim Brunelle, now in her 24th season leading the Bears.

As luck would have it, the Tigers open the GSL season at home. That means that the first time the mother-daughter team leads their squad in a gymnastics meet, they also will be running the meet.

“And of course, it would have to be with the defending league champions,” Sheri laughed. “We have Mead, University and Rogers coming here.

“People told us that we wouldn’t find a lot of help from the rest of the gymnastics community. We haven’t found that to be true at all. Everyone I’ve talked to has offered to help us with whatever we need.”

“You have to help each other out in this sport,” Duncan said. “This is a unique sport. Your kids go out and do their very best routine and their kids go out and do the very best routine. The decision is in the hands of a panel of judges. I can’t design a defense to keep their kids from doing what they do.”