Photo by Jeremiah McWright
Photo by Jeremiah McWright
BY ROBYN EIFERTSEN
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz
A new, competitive-level gym could set the stage for a future Olympic gymnast from Natomas.
That’s according to longtime Sacramento-area gymnastics coach Gabriel De Leon who now works at the Rodina Elite Gymnastics Academy.
Former international and Russian gymnastics champion Yulia Rodina and her husband former Russian coach Eduard Rizvanov opened their elite gym four months ago in north Natomas.
“To have something like that (knowledge) here in our very own Natomas, is a very big deal,” said De Leon, who’s been coaching gymnastics for more than 20 years.
Gymnasts from the former Soviet Union and Russia have been long known for setting records and producing individual and team champions throughout the sport’s history, said De Leon, and the husband-and-wife team have the record to prove it.
Rodina is the 1990 and 1991 International Russian Champion. As well as the 1991 Open Cup of China Champion. She was a member of the USSR national gymnastics team from 1987 to 1992.
Yulia Rodina, Eduard Rizvanov with their daughters. / Photo by Jeremiah McWright
Rodina and Rizvanov both coached on Russia’s national gymnastics team from 2002 to 2004.
Before the Rodina Elite Gymnastics Academy opened, area gymnasts had to train at in Carmichael, Elk Grove or West Sacramento. There are about 100 gymnasts training at the new facility, said Rodina, including athletes from as far as North Highlands and Roseville.
The gym is in a 11,240 square-foot warehouse complete with gymnastics apparatus and acrobatic floors. Rodina said it is the first elite, competitive gymnastics studio in the area. It is located at 930 Striker Avenue.
Rodina always dreamed of opening her own gym and chose to live and locate the business and in Natomas on the advice of a friend. Rodina and Rizvanov live not far from their gym, with their two daughters, in the Natomas Crossing area.
“We have a lot of good, talented kids, interested in gymnastics, in Natomas,” said Rodina.
The couple moved from Russia to Hawaii in 2006 where they taught junior Olympic and elite programs. Their students included now-Penn State gymnast Randi Lau. Lau is a former Level 10 junior international elite gymnast who now competes in the NCAA. (In gymnastics, Level 10 is the highest rank a gymnast can achieve before becoming elite or qualifying for the Olympics.)
Rodina and Rizvanov next moved to Idaho, where they coached national competitors at Danik Gymnastics for nearly two years. They relocated to California a year ago, in July 2012.
Rodina said she wants to help athletes reach their dreams at her gym by fostering a family-like environment. Gymnastics, she said, can be a very taxing sport.
“Number one: You have to love this sport,” she said. “It isn’t always the easy sport. Everyday you have to come back and repeat, and repeat, and repeat your routine.”
Students from the Rodina Elite Gymnastics Academy are set to compete next at an inter-club competition set for Sept. 6-7 in Sacramento. Rodina hopes to soon have students qualify for state- and national-level competitions, including daughter 15-year-old daughter Viktoriya, a Level 9 gymnast.
Said Rodina, “Who knows maybe from Natomas will be a future Olympic champion.”
Photo by Jeremiah McWright
Photo by Jeremiah McWright
This is a great place. My daughter loves it. Yulia is a really nice coach.