Red River Valley Gymnastics

Red River Valley Gymnastics was founded in 1978 by Steve Synhorst, a former women's gymnastics coach at the University of North Dakota. Originally, the group was self-supporting, but in 1986, they began campaigning for the sanctioning of gymnastics by the Grand Forks School Board. This sanctioning occurred in 1989, following a federal requirement to make school sports offerings more equal between boys and girls. From this point on, the Grand Forks School District would pay coaches' salaries for four months of the year, and gymnasts from Red River would represent Grand Forks schools at competitions. In 1988, Red River Valley Gymnastics became a fully sanctioned member of the United States Gymnastics Federation (USGF). USGF membership provided standards for gymnastic training, as well as competitive opportunities. Gymnasts travel to invitational and qualifying meets, which are judged by fully accredited USGF judges. Red River Valley Gymnastics has grown in other ways. Rhythmic, acro and show teams were added, with yearly try-outs held for each team. Coalition '92 brought the Club together with the softball association to raise funds for new facilities. The facilities were obtained when the Grand Forks Racquetball and Tennis Center build an 18,000 foot addition to their building. In 1993, Dakota Gold Gymnastics, another Grands Forks-area gymnastics club, merged with Red River Valley Gymnastics as one consolidated organization that maintained the Red River Valley Gymnastics name (The Dakota Gold name was retired). The merger was arranged in the hopes of providing a broader spectrum and higher quality of gymnastics than either one could have offered individually.