Articles

TURNER MEMORIES

    When our gymnastics coach, Gene Keller, and his family left for North Carolina in 1984 we knew we would have a hard time finding an instructor to take his place and I offered to “run” the program.  Little did I know that I was going to be heading this activity for over 15 years.  In the beginning, I had a small group – maybe 12-15 kids.  Sometimes it seemed we had more class leaders than kids, but that was okay.  I was feeling my way into this job.  Jim Goetz asked if I wanted more children to participate and when I said sure, he visited the various activities at Bayside High School (and other places) and recruited!  Soon after that we had almost 50 participants, but generally we kept the class to between 30-40 kids. 
   Mostly, we taught little girls between the ages of 4 to 14 and I taught a small group of boys.  The boys’ group did grow and we had a strong team in the late 1980’s.  Several South American boys came to our class.  I taught them for a while and they were just the most charming young men!  Always polite, always eager to learn and dying to compete!  They came from Colombia, Chile and Ecuador.  (Hector, Carlos, Mauricio, Jose – just to name a few).  They were with us for several years, getting stronger and also a lot taller than I was.  We were then lucky to have the experience of an instructor, Alex (I forgot his last name) who taught these boys and did a great job. After Alex left to take a job upstate, most of these young men went back to South America and some families moved away.  They were a great group of boys and they won many awards at the District Gymnastic Championship.  I hope they have fond memories of their time with the Long Island Turners.
    We would generally lose the girls when they got to High School and/or when they discovered boys.  When we still had a clubhouse, we could have kept them by having a place to “hang out” – but this was just not possible at Bayside High School.  But, on occasion, we were thrilled when they returned from College and helped us to teach.  Those were gratifying times.
    Of course, we had a lot of fun in these classes.  We ran “spotting” clinics (teaching our young assistants how to spot a child on any given apparatus), we had Christmas parties and Exhibitions!   Our kids were also active competitors in the District Cultural competition.  Many could sing, dance, play musical instruments, create beautiful crafts and artworks!  We may not have been big, but we had a wealth of talent!  Our kids were a great help to Long Island in winning the District Cultural Award.
    We competed in the District Gymnastics competition regularly and although we did not have the numbers to win as a team, individually, our kids shone!  Many of our girls and boys won medals and ribbons and our team always made a respectable showing!  Of course, we also have to thank all the class leaders who inspired and helped our kids to do so well. 

INSTRUCTORS AND CLASS LEADERS 

Marion Oppelt

        "AHHH "  GYMNASTICS

           The single best sport for developing the Human Body

No other activity encompasses such a comprehensive emphasis on strength, power, muscular endurance, balance, coordination, agility, speed and flexibility.

This was especially evident at the Long Island Turners in the late Sixties and Seventies, when Annette & Holger moved to Queens and transferred from the New York Turners to the Long Island Turners. Our active women & men's teams competed with top honors in local, district, regional and national competitions.  We were awesome and looked good, and were many times asked to put on exhibitions. People actually thought we were a professional team touring the country.  Our annual exhibitions at the Long Island City Turnhall were show stoppers.  They included Swinging Rings where Inge & Annette performed daring tricks upside down over people's dinner tables,  and Holger & Co.'s High-bar clowneries, that proved to be Broadway bound.
Women's Team: Annette Asmus, Evelyn Mesagno, Gisela Mildt, Inge Trampler & Terry Westing.
Men's Team: Holger Asmus, Dennis Bastian, Paul Bastian, Gene Keller, Steven Keller, Karl Knoll, Tony Mesagno, Herbert Mildt, Albert (Moose) Oppelt, Gerd Trampler, Bob Westing & Don Westing.  

When Gene Keller Sr. decided to move to Mount Vernon, Holger was asked to take his place as our instructor.  A post he held for approx. 13 years. Together with Annette and many Active Turners as class leaders he taught our kid's classes.  Not an easy task with an enrollment of over 100 (in 1975-76 enrollment was 130), and setting up the equipment several times a week.  It was in a tiny little storage room, where the Balance Beam had to be taken apart and put in upright, etc.  This was part of our kid's cool-down exercises at the end of each day.
He and Annette coached our talented junior girls to take part in AAU & USGF competitions. The team brought home many medals & trophies and qualified for USGF State Championships.  In August of 1975 they were asked to participate in an exhibition at Lincoln Center as part of the Women's Sports Day.
Junior Girls Team:  Diane Eichert, Tracy Grumann, Susie Mailaender, Susanne Mildt, Debra Reckert, Laura Schauer, Linda Trampler, Patrice Vasey, Donna Wall & Barbara Whittle.
Junior Boys Team: Renee Mailaender, Thomas Mildt, Bobby Reckert, Gary Reckert, Glen Trampler & Donald Wall.

                                                                                                    Annette Asmus