Our Staff

Meet Our Professionals

Stephanie Dowling: When I was 5, I saw a gymnastics demonstration at the mall. Kids were running, jumping, flipping, walking on their hands - to this day, I’ve never asked my mother for something so desperately. “PLEASE, mommy, PLEASE can I go?” That was the beginning.

I trained at Kennett School of Gymnastics in Goshen, NY until I was sixteen years old. Choosing a social life over the rigors of becoming a seriously competitive gymnast, I needed a job so I could buy cool clothes and go to the movies with my friends.

So I did what I knew how to do - I taught gymnastics. My coach and my mom pointed out to me that I had a gift for teaching right from the start. I guess that was because I loved it so much. No matter where I was in my life, or in the country, I taught gymnastics to support myself.

Ten years later, I landed at Chelsea Piers. I loved that place. I came to appreciate the intense value of teaching the sport to babies and wanted more responsibility and more say in the process of creating a curriculum for them.

That’s when the Eastern Athletic Club in Brooklyn tracked me down and asked me to come and direct their gymnastics program. I was thrilled, and again, learned very valuable lessons about the value of quality care and instruction for very young children.

I opened Gym Kids in November of 1999. We started out at The Soundings, in Battery Park City.  After a brief hiatus from 2003 - 2005 (found my husband, made a baby :) we re-opened with a bigger location in the West Village, NYC and gleefully changed our name to "ABC Gym Kids".

This is my heart and soul work. I have always thrown my whole self in. I have always gotten more in return from the looks on children’s faces when they have accomplished something they didn’t think they could do. What I set out to do in every class, with every child, is to see that look.

 

Viola Demneri: As the first child of two gymnasts, my love for gymnastics was only natural (if not genetics). My first visit to my dad’s gym was at the age of 4. I was simply there to visit, but that day was only the first day of a long and joyous journey. Watching the older girls perform gymnastics spurred in me a great desire to learn and follow them as well.

My father wanted me to perform gymnastics as an activity that allowed me to spend my time, but I got so involved and in love with the sport, that I wanted more than spending my time. I wanted to learn and compete professionally. After a few years, I found myself competing locally and then nationally in Albania. Throughout the years, gymnastics became even more important to me. 

After graduating from the Academy of Physical Education in Tirana, most of my internships were related to jobs as a fitness instructor. I realized immediately that I would much rather be a gymnastics instructor because I felt gymnastics still occupied an enormous place in my heart. I started coaching a team of 3-10 year old girls. There was nothing to make me happier than seeing those girls exude the same passion and love for gymnastics that I had and still have to this day.

I am truly lucky to work with children and teach them what I love most. Gym Kids allows me to be around people who share the same love for gymnastics as I do. I am honored to work with Stephanie and her team. Everyday I look forward to learning new things and watch children thrive and grow.

 

 

 

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