OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Fifteen year-old Cabe Mellender swings himself over the high bar over and over again. He's had a love for the sport for some time.
"My sister and I were doing flips. And it was getting to the point where my mom was getting mad, so she put us in gymnastics so we didn't get hurt," Mellender said.
He said social media has helped the sport.
"I think through social media, it's grown a lot more, and a lot more people recognize the sport," Mellender said.
Now he's one of hundreds of new tumblers training at ZnZ Gymnastics Center in West Omaha.
"It's helped me mentally and physically," Kejuan Pettis said. "It's kept me out of trouble. I don't know where I would be without gymnastics."
The Zymball family opened there West Omaha gym in February 2023, the realization of a dream.
Owner Scott has been involved with the sport for decades. His son, Andrew, competed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln until 2019.
"It means everything to me," Scott said. "It's what I enjoy doing. It's my life. It's what I get up to do every day."
The gym started with about 70 kids when they opened in 2023. Now, they reached a goal of training over 500 people.
"It makes me ecstatic. It just really gives me confidence and joy that we're able to build a program and a level of gymnastics that people want to be a part of," Andrew said.
The sport and these coaches, building up athletes inside and out, one roll, flip, and leap at a time.
The Zymball's tell me they hope some of their students will someday become the teachers to help bring the sport to a new generation of gymnasts.
