THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508090182
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Remember the race to the coveted back seat of the school bus where everyone wanted to sit to savor the trampoline-like bounces every time the wheels rolled over the bumps in the road?
How about the uncontrollable urge to climb and jump over the big vinyl seats only to have the bus driver, who obviously had eyes in the back of her head, scold your acrobatics?
Now, youngsters in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake hoping to be the next Bart Conner or Shannon Miller can have all that and more in Miss Nancy's Mobile Gym Tumble Bus.
The Tumble Bus is a full-sized school bus that travels to day-care centers and neighborhoods to promote physical fitness and well being through gymnastics. It's been painted blue and white outside. Inside, the seats have been removed and padding and a balance beam, vault, monkey bars and more have been installed.
Currently, Nancy and Mark Cronce offer the only type of this service locally, but the mobile gimmick seems to be catching on.
Virginia Beach's Sandra Wetzel has the same kind of program in the works, and soon will be offering lessons in tumbling, the balance beam and coordination on her own converted bus.
While this program may be new to South Hampton Roads, it's been in place around the country for quite some time.
``I didn't know teaching gymnastics could be so busy,'' said ``Miss Nancy,'' 36, who used to haul her equipment to schools in her Jeep, making five or six trips carrying it in and out. ``Then we went to a workshop in Indianapolis and heard about the Tumble Bus from Brenda Sharlow who started the program about seven years ago and sold buses nationwide.
``Gymnastics in a bus? I wasn't quite sure it would stand up to my expectations. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my teaching. But then I thought, `Hey, this would work.' ''
And from there, Miss Nancy - as she prefers to be called - took her first business loan from her husband and Tumble Bus partner, Mark.
With the energy of a teenager, the personality of a favorite elementary school teacher and lots of love, she keeps the 3-month-old Tumble Bus trucking along. The flexibility of the bus, which services children 18 months through 9 years, is part of its appeal.
MISS NANCY HAS 18 YEARS of gymnastics experience, including training on the international level with the United States, Russian and Swedish Federation teams. And the kids, despite their ages, are in for some heavy instruction once they climb aboard her ``funmobile.''
Those 18 months through 2 years, get the basics - motor skill exploration, eye, hand and foot coordination and balance skills. The older group - ages 3 through 9 - learn cartwheels, forward rolls, handstands and beginner vaulting.
The inside of the bus, which is covered with vibrant blue, red and yellow mats, is equipped with rings that attach to the roof, a high and low balance beam, detachable monkey bars, a small trampoline and a zip line that sends the kids yelling with delight the length of the bus. It can handle up to 12 children at a time.
``They're not coming on board and just playing,'' Miss Nancy said. ``They know their tucks and their terminology and can take what they learn into further instruction.''
Her husband, who works nights at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, has caught Tumble Bus fever.
``I'm really excited,'' Mark Cronce said. ``It's something I'd like to do full time. It makes you feel so good inside when they can do something on the bars or the beam and you've really taught them something.''
But sometimes it takes a little time for the children to warm up to the air-conditioned bus.
``At one school, the kids were really taken aback,'' Miss Nancy said. ``They asked, `When are we going for a ride?' We asked them, `What's missing from this bus? Seats! We can't drive away.' After 10 or 15 minutes, they realized they weren't going anywhere. They were overwhelmed. There's so much to do.''
The Cronces like their bus so much they argue over who's going to get to drive. And they love the looks of awe when they're driving down the road or pull up to a gas station.
``People are chuckling in their cars and their kids are staring, asking, `What is that?' '' Miss Nancy said. ``And the parents, they try to explain it, but they just can't.''
Added Mark Cronce, ``The concept isn't there for a lot of people. They just can't visualize gymnastics in a bus.''
BUT, THAT'S ALL CHANGING. The Tumble Bus travels to 10 day-care centers and schools in the area and even offers birthday packages.
Though it seems that only kids can enjoy the thrill of the Tumble Bus, area day-care center administrators seem to be enjoying it, too. For one thing, it's more convenient because they don't have to find space in their buildings for the classes.
``I think it's fabulous,'' said Joan Helm, director of Sunnybrook preschool. ``They're positive, enthusiastic and always encouraging. They're providing activities and making it interesting. The kids thoroughly enjoy it. They're able to conduct a program with minimal intrusion to the school. It's a very clever concept. Everyone wants to participate.''
And Miss Nancy, who also teaches in Kings Grant at Music and Motion, goes out of her way to make sure that happens. ``Being a mother of three,'' she said, ``I try to make it as reasonable as possible.'' The cost per student is $24 a month, with discounts offered to parents with more than one child enrolled in the program. She also offers one scholarship per term and allows the entire student body to take a run through the obstacle course.
``That way they can say they've been on the tumble bus,'' she said.
The children look forward to romping on Miss Nancy's bus.
``It's a nice thing to see them get on board and go back inside with a smile. It means so much to a child to have positive reenforcement. It can make all the difference,'' she said.
``They know they don't have to be perfect. As long as we've tried, we've succeeded.'' MEMO: Miss Nancy's Mobile Gym Tumble Bus may be reached at 486-7145.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by VICKI CRONIS
Evan Rosen receives a push along a zip line from Nancy Cronce during
a gymnastics session in Norfolk.
Austin Kridler swings on the monkey bars aboard Miss Nancy's Mobile
Gym Tumble Bus.
As instructor and co-owner Nancy Cronce of Virginia Beach looks on,
Hunter Barnes does a forward roll.
by CNB