Local coach organizes largest gymnastics festival in country

Saturday, Feb. 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Now, he's the man responsible for bringing more than 1,800 gymnasts to Las Vegas this week for the largest gymnastics festival in the country.

"This is my dream," the 35-year-old said while surveying the leotard-clad competitors and equipment filling part of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Friday night.

The Las Vegas Go For It Classic, which features beginners to elite gymnasts who compete in artistic, rhythmic and trampoline tumbling, has attracted 1,844 competitors from 33 states and four countries. The meet began Thursday and ends on Saturday.

Spencer, a former national team coach, came to Las Vegas in 1994 from Canyon City, Colo., where the anxious coach organized the annual Spence Spring Special. The meet hosted 150 gymnasts, but Spencer was hungry for bigger venues and more elite gymnasts.

He found what he was looking for in this gaming capital, more known for computer and technology conventions than gymnastics.

With 1,000 students, Spence Gymnastics has the largest enrollment in Las Vegas. Spencer coaches beginning and intermediate gymnasts, who he hopes will achieve elite status in the future. He still has his tumble bus that his students enjoy dancing and flipping in.

Last year's Go For It Classic at UNLV, Spencer's first try at organizing a meet in Las Vegas, attracted more than 1,000 gymnasts. This year, the meet grew larger than Spencer expected.

"We could have a 2000 Olympian in the room with us," he said as girls as young as 7 bounced and soared through their warm-up routines.

"I just feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing," he said.

During session breaks, the gymnasts were spending time riding rides at the MGM Grand Theme Park and getting an eyeful of Las Vegas' bright lights and glamour.

"Some clubs come with more adults than kids," Spencer joked, referring to the lure of the casinos.

"I like it a lot," Michigan gymnast Ashley Postell, 10, said of the city while dusting white chalk from her hands after her bar routine. "It's good."