History

In the summer of 1976 St. Louis County Gymnastics Club opened in St. John’s Church gymnasium.  Rod's initial investment bought a vault, two sets of bars, two beams and a floor exercise mat that could be folded up if necessary.  The coaches and gymnasts had to set the equipment up and take it down daily.  Classes ran in the afternoon for four hours, while Rod continued to teach physical education at Bernard Elementary School. 

By the fall of 1976, Rod moved the gym moved to 872 Horan in the Fenton industrial area across from the Chrysler/Daimler plant and very close to what is now Riverchase Recreational Complex.  This gym was 6,000 square feet, lacked air-conditioning and had very low ceilings.  When the gymnasts started learning giants on bars, Rod had to cut one of the support beams out of the ceiling so the kids wouldn’t hit their feet on the ceiling!  He taught his first giants in this building on one of his two sets of Nissen bars (almost all of the equipment was made by Nissen back then).  The set of Nissen bars that the instructional gymnasts use today is one of the two original sets.

By 1979, St. Louis County Gymnastics Club became St. Louis Spirits Gymnastics Club and adopted the logo still in use today.  Also in 1979, Rod moved the gym onto Larkin Williams Road in Fenton,  just a couple of blocks from the Horan location.  Although this location did not have air-conditioning, it was a much larger facility at 9,000 square feet.  Despite having more room, the gymnasts still had to practice under less than ideal conditions-they had to vault by running diagonally across the floor exercise mat.  And the gym did not have a foam block floor, which was becoming a standard for the industry, so Rod made his own tumbling strip.  The bounce came from the flex of 2X4 pieces of wood.  It was about this time that the Class II team won its first state championship team trophy.  Rod also developed a couple of individual Class II Regional Champions.

In the early 1980’s Spirits moved to Truman Junior High.  The club hosted numerous competitions, camps and clinics in this awesome facility.  Two of Rod’s most memorable clinicians were Bela Karoyli and Kelly Garrison.  It was in this facility that Rod was able to purchase a 40-foot by 40-foot foam block floor.  He still recalls how tedious it was to glue all of the foam blocks to the plywood panels.  For this gym, Rod also purchased two new high beams, which are the high beams still used at the gym today.  He purchased these from a Regional Competition he attended in Omaha, Nebraska, and he drove back to St. Louis with the beams in the back of his pick-up truck.

It was during this time that Rod developed his elite athletes.  Kris Merlo and Gretchen Schmidt made it to the Elite National Level. They attended Elite Nationals in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Tucson.  They were competing against future Olympians Kathy Johnson and Mary Lou Retton.  Rod trained his elite gymnasts more than 30 hours a week.  Alison Barber, who had won vault at Class I Nationals, was training elite with Krista Kapps and Heidi Markle. 

In 1985, Spirits hosted the AAU National Championships at Washington University just after the university's field house had been completed.  Alison won the All-around competition at that meet.  Rod became the Elite Development Director for Region IV and hosted an Elite Zone meet at University of Missouri-St. Louis.  This was their last zone meet as Heidi had competed in three zone meets and missed qualifying for Elite Nationals by .10.  Overall, Rod had two Elite National gymnasts and three Elite Regional gymnasts.

Truman Junior High School was reopened as an elementary school in 1992, so Spirits was on the move to a new home again.  The gym relocated to the Biltmore Industrial Complex, another Fenton location, off of Highway 30 near Chuck's Boots in Jefferson County.  (This location still lacked air-conditioning.)

In 1996, Rod committed to a new gym location, its current home on Maurer Industrial Drive in Sunset Hills.  Rod rented the space before the building was constructed, and he was able to have a say in the gym's design.  Spirits' current 10,000-square-foot facility has an owner’s office with a full private bathroom, a front office with restroom facilities and parent viewing windows, a pre-school room, and a balcony with bleachers for parent observation and with a large two-stall bathroom and changing area.  All of the equipment is state-of-the-art and includes two vaults, one of which lands in an in-ground loose foam pit; wide-spread bars and a single bar over the loose foam pit; high and low beams; an Elite-size spring floor and spring tumbling strip that allows the gymnast to land in the pit; and two in-ground trampolines.  Best of all, the gym is air-conditioned!

In 1999, Kris Cline (Kris Rogers as of November 2000), moved to St. Louis to become the business manager and pre-school program director.  Rod and Kris attended Gym Club Owner’s Boot Camp with the goal of creating a stronger and more diverse program maintaining the “mom and pop” relationships they had developed with their gymnasts and the gymnasts' parents.  Together they have put systems into place, reworked programming and hired outstanding staff, all of which have enabled the business to grow. 

In the summer of 2006, Spirits celebrated its 30th Anniversary.  This is an amazing milestone for any small business.  Considering the fact that Spirits has been owned by one person, Rod, for its entire history, it is the oldest gymnastics club under the same management in the St. Louis area.  Spirits has always been and will continue to be dedicated to nurturing “HealthEsteem” in each and every child.

Rod Rogers-Founder and Owner Since 1976

Rod Rogers started St. Louis Spirits Gymnastics Club in 1976. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Southwest Missouri State University and a Master in Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Rod taught physical education at a local elementary school for eight years before opening the gym.

Two gymnasts have made it to the Elite National Level and three gymnasts have made it to the Elite Regional Level under Rod’s guidance. He also has had a Class I National Vault Champion. Furthermore, Rod and his coaching staff have produced numerous state and regional champions.

Rod has served on the Missouri State Board of USA Gymnastics (USAG) for three terms. Missouri is one of seven states that makes up Region IV of USAG.  He was appointed to the Regional Board for part of a term, then was elected to serve as Region IV Elite Development Director for the subsequent term.   In various venues, Rod has hosted or co-hosted AAU National Championships, an Elite Zone Meet and Region IV Championships.

Professional development is key to Rod’s success. He continues to seek out knowledge about the sport of gymnastics. Rod personally has attended and taken gymnasts and/or coaches to clinics taught by professionals such as Bill Sands (when Mr. Sands was just beginning to earn a reputation for being on the cutting edge of gymnastics research and development), Bela Karoyli, Gary Goodson, Jerry George, John Tobler and Al Fong.  In the summer of 2001, Rod brought guest speaker, Mark Gibson to the gym.  Mark wrote an inspirational book for gymnasts, which Rod coordinated into the team curriculum for the summer.

In addition to gymnastics, Rod’s passions and pastimes include spending time with his sons and daughters, water skiing, weight lifting, golfing and reading.

Staff

Rod Rogers

Kris Rogers

Morgan Boonma

Erika Bibas

Randy Caress

Kristen Click

Linda Frederick

Crystal Greer

Mary Hartmann

Katlin Heinzer

Angie Karandjeff

Dylan Karg

Alexa Kunz

Leah Lucas

Diane Marchiando

Megan McQuillen

Taylor Morgan

Felicia Ostrom

Kate Palmer

Dana Scott

Madi Sparrow

Krista Staub

Diana Stone

Jeni Streck

Colleen Sullivan

Kaylyn Weber

Tasha Weiss

Bianca Wyatt

Krista Yetter

Heather Young

Lesley Zerr