Olympia Gymnastic Sports is a community-focused gymnastics club in Wigram, Christchurch, offering competition, fundamental movement and recreation programmes for all ages, from pre-school through to adults. The club was formed in 2003 through the amalgamation of three Canterbury clubs — Avon City Gymnastics, Kudos Rhythmic Academy and Aerials Trampoline — and the Wigram gym at 29 Springs Road has been its home ever since.
Olympia combines coaching expertise across four gymnastics sports: Women's Artistic (WAG), Men's Artistic (MAG), Rhythmic (RG) and Trampoline (TRA), and is the only club in Christchurch offering all four competitive codes. Affiliated to Gymnastics New Zealand, the club provides recreational and competitive pathways so there is a place and pathway for everyone in gymnastics.
Classes are designed to develop movement skills while increasing agility, strength and flexibility — brilliant for body awareness and self-confidence — in a safe, positive environment where participants also build listening, thinking and social skills. Beyond weekly terms, the club runs Move Ability classes for tamariki with impairments, school groups, holiday programmes and birthday parties, with a second base at the Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre in Somerfield.
Tucked away in Wigram, with its entrance off Corsair Drive, Olympia Gymnastic Sports has been part of Christchurch gymnastics since 2003, when three Canterbury clubs — Avon City Gymnastics, Kudos Rhythmic Academy and Aerials Trampoline — amalgamated to form a single club. That heritage explains the breadth on offer today. Olympia combines coaching expertise across Women's Artistic (WAG), Men's Artistic (MAG), Rhythmic (RG) and Trampoline (TRA), and is proud to be the only club in Christchurch offering all four competitive gymnastics codes.
The club's objective is simple: to enrich people's lives through gymnastics. Classes are designed to develop movement skills while increasing agility, strength and flexibility — brilliant for body awareness and self-confidence — and coaches give equal attention to the less visible gains: listening, thinking and social skills, nurtured in a safe and fun environment. Affiliated to Gymnastics New Zealand, Olympia aligns its programmes with the national body's strategic vision, and a second base at the Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre in Somerfield extends that reach across the city.
Programmes span pre-school through to adults. General Recreation is the backbone: a ten-level programme open to all genders aged five and up, starting from the fundamental movements that underpin gymnastics and an active lifestyle and progressing through to advanced skills on beam, bars, floor and vault, with strength conditioning built in. Boys Recreation follows the same foundations before shifting towards traditional boys' apparatus and fitness. Rhythmic Recreation develops apparatus handling and flexibility with ropes, ribbons, balls and hoops, alongside dance.
Trampoline Recreation caters for kids aged six and over who love to bounce, teaching aerial rotation awareness along with correct bounce and landing techniques. Move Ability offers gymnastics for Christchurch tamariki with physical or mental impairments in a fun, supportive and social setting. Beginners aiming for Boys Recreation or Trampoline Skills classes are encouraged to complete the club's Moveskills Programme first, mastering fundamental body movement patterns before specialising. And for those who can't commit to a full term, Casual Classes offer a flexible way to try something new or enjoy an extra session of active fun.
On the competitive side, squads train across all four codes plus a Regional (GFA) pathway, supported by specialist staff including dedicated programme managers for artistic and rhythmic gymnastics and lead trampoline coach Alex Nilov. WAG and RG assessment days help place gymnasts in the right squad, and mid-term progress checks let families follow their gymnast's development. Olympia's trampoline programme has carried athletes onto world stages: club gymnasts Maddie and Reegan were part of the 2022 Trampoline Worlds team, and an Olympia squad competed at the 2022 Portugal Trampoline World Cup.
The Wigram gym is a busy community hub. School groups visit through the week, school holiday programmes keep kids active in the breaks, and birthday parties turn the facility into an active celebration venue. Terms follow the school calendar — typically ten weeks, nine for Sunday classes — with priority enrolment for current families before public enrolment opens, and the gym occasionally closes for events such as the Canterbury Elementary Championships, so it pays to check the calendar. Prize-giving displays — from junior rhythmic groups to GFA and beam performers — round out the year, a reminder that community celebration sits alongside competition at Olympia.
Behind the scenes sits a dedicated team handling programmes, finance, competitions, bookings and marketing — among them rhythmic programme manager Kathryn Holdsworth and artistic programme manager Angharad (AJ) Wintle — supported by partners including the Christchurch City Council, Sport Canterbury and NZCT. General enquiries go to admin@olympia.org.nz, and term dates, policies and registration links live on the club's website.
Whether it's a toddler's first taste of movement, a school-age gymnast climbing the recreation levels, or a trampoline athlete with world championship ambitions, the promise is the same: a safe, positive environment with a place and pathway for everyone in gymnastics.