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The Polarettes Gymnastic Club鈥檚 doors are locked due to mounting concern over the COVID-19 pandemic. However, just because the gym is closed until further notice, it does not mean training has ceased.

Spearheaded by Stephanie Caron, the developmental coordinator, the Polarettes coaches have been delivering live training videos using Zoom.

There have been four sessions done at the time of writing and Caron said they鈥檝e had around 25 kids login.

鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely motivating,鈥� said Caron over Zoom. We really weren鈥檛 sure what was going to happen on the first one. The first one we did we had 16 kids plus a few siblings. The feedback we got from parents and kids was great.

鈥淭he more that they want it the more it makes us want to make it better and make it more worth their while.鈥�

Caron, who has plenty of content on the slate, said they will be working on as much as they can.

鈥淎 little bit of everything really,鈥� said Caron. 鈥淲e鈥檝e gone back to our basics which is conditioning, strength and flexibility. Flexibility is a big one. It鈥檚 one of the first things to go when the kids aren鈥檛 in the gym. It鈥檚 one of the hardest things to get them to do on their own.

鈥淓very day is a little bit different. The first day we focused on flexibility and getting them back into a mindset that we can still do this even if we don鈥檛 have access to the gym.鈥�

Although the athletes are unable to train with their usual equipment, beam, bars or vault, Caron said they can work on their form.

鈥淎 lot of our skills come down to basic shapes,鈥� said Caron. 鈥淲e can work on those shapes without working on the skills. That is something that will allow us to get back into the grove of it a bit easier if we weren鈥檛 doing any of that.

鈥淲e work on things like handstand shape and shape we use on bars and those kinds of things to keep their bodies working on those same patterns.鈥�

Polarettes head coach Kimberly Jones said the training sessions are a way to keep the team mentality together.

鈥淭hese kids are used to spending 20 hours a week together,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淣ow they have essentially, without school or gym, 50-60 hours where they can longer see themselves together.

鈥淲e are a really close connected team. To not do anything would be really detrimental to our program and we don鈥檛 want that.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more than the workout. It鈥檚 a time to laugh with your friends and just hang out and vent about how we are feeling about this. It鈥檚 a time to get silly and let some of that cooped up energy out.鈥�

Caron said it also a time for her to be social.

鈥淚t鈥檚 also a bit of a social thing for me,鈥� said Caron. 鈥淚 was saying to Kim the other day that I felt like I hadn鈥檛 talked to anybody. I hadn鈥檛 done anything, I鈥檝e just been sitting here.

鈥淕etting to spend time with the kids, kids that we also spend 25 hours a week with, they become part of your routine and your life. It was nice to see the kids and be able to be part of a conversation with them - even if it鈥檚 silly and pointless, it adds value.鈥�

Although the training sessions have focused on physical fitness, Jones said she thinks it is helping the gymnasts mentally.

鈥淎 lot of the reason we are doing it really is for the mental training,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淓ven though we are doing physical workouts I think just giving the kids a schedule and a routine and ourselves a routine, it鈥檇 be easy to stay in your pyjamas all day 鈥� we don鈥檛 want that for our athletes and our coaches. We don鈥檛鈥� want them to derail.鈥�

Jones said when the season can restart she expects there to be some regression, but in the interim, the workouts will keep the team from completely falling back.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e put a lot of training into their gymnastics and we can keep on that and take a little back peddle from this when the season restarts or we can completely derail from that,鈥� said Jones.

鈥淭here will be some of that because it鈥檚 going to be hard to replicate 20 hours of training even if we are doing seven to 10 Zoom sessions a week. But, it鈥檚 still not going to amount to the same level of fitness that they used to be doing.

鈥淚f they can keep up on the shaping, like Steph said, and we can keep them working on posture and they can keep positive then next season everyone will be in the same boat.

鈥淓veryone we competed against will be in the same boat and I think it will be OK for everybody.鈥�

The workouts right now are open to the competitive team members but Jones said they are working on a model to be more community involved.

鈥淲e are working on a more public system to reach all of our members,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淪ome of the content we do for our competitive members would probably be pretty challenging for our general rec membership.

鈥淲e are trying to figure out what content is appropriate for the rest of the population.鈥�

The workouts are free for members of the gym.

鈥淲e understand a lot of people have been laid off,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淲e get it. We are not-for-profit, we are here for the community and that鈥檚 why we are putting this out there.鈥�