PART 2:
COMPETITIVE ACRO BEGINS IN TEXAS
Part 1
By Alexander Douglas
In the fall of 1996 Alex Douglas began a Saturday morning class in acrobatics with three children, Jill McMillan, Chelsea Henretta and Lori Dollar. Jill was a level 5 gymnast who quit the team, Chelsea was a class student, and Lori was a level 9 who had just graduated from High School and was waiting for college. In the fall of ‘96 several other team kids quit gymnastics and joined the class. Sarah Stanton, Melissa Martinkus and Beth Morgeson. In the winter a sports acrobatics team was begun with these kids. As it turned out, the 1997 Nationals were hosted in Houston, so we took a trip to see the Nationals. Sitting in the audience were ATA coaches, Bob and Pam Meir. Somehow Pam recognized Alex and informed him that Tom Burns had just finished coaching for them.
The First Texas Meets
Since Bil Copp failed to lead in acro with his organization the USAF, which trained in acro, tumbling, trampoline and double mini, he dropped the acro, dissolved the USAF and formed the USATT (United States of America Tumbling and Trampoline) which he based in Texas.
Since there was no acro competition in Texas at the time and tumbling and tramp were well established in Texas, the first Acro Team competed in both sports acrobatics and tumbling and trampoline. The team did not bother going to the USATT State or Nationals, but quit with local qualifiers. The goal was the Acro Nationals. At that time, Treviño’s Acro Team consisted of these athletes:
- USATT
- Level 9 Sarah Stanton
- Level 9 Melissa Martinkus
- Level 9 Beth Morgeson
- Level 8 Jill McMillan
- Level 8 Chelsea Henretta
- Level 7 Sarah Sevick
- Level 7 Keely Thomas
- USSAF
- Class III Tumbler: Beth Morgeson
- Class III Women’s Pair: Jill McMillan & Chelsea Henretta
- Class III Women’s Trio: Keely Thomas, Sarah Stanton & Melissa Martinkus
In 1998 judges were hired from out of state and two local meets and a state meet were held in Treviño’s new gym. The sanctions were paid to the USSA, and Linda Ocmand was hired to train parents to be judges. On Saturday, April 4th the first local judges trained were Karen McMillan and Lisa Martinkus. On Sunday April 5th, the first acro meet was held in Texas with Louisiana judges Linda Ocmand, Raymond Beard and Barbara Landry officially judged while Karen and Lisa practiced. To make it more entertaining, Peterson’s Gymnastics sent some exhibitional acrobats to perform, as well.
After that local meet, Jill McMillan injured her back tumbling, which caused her and partner to scratch competition for the second local and the state meet. On the weekend of May 16th and 17th, Mike and Mary McIntosh were flown in from Missouri as Meet Ref/ Arbiter and Difficulty while Karen and Lisa judged on the panel. The second local was held on Saturday, and the State Meet was held on Sunday. Having back to back competition was done to reduce expenses on the parents who paid for all the meet expenses.
At that time Texas was considered a part of the Southwest Region 5 which consisted of the three states of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. The rules allowed a team to compete in any Region to qualify, and since Louisiana had so many high level athletes, the decision was made to go to Missouri for the kids to compete against more lower level athletes. The trio of Keely Thomas, Sarah Stanton, and Melissa Martinkus went to Troy, MO outside St. Louis for the Central Region 6 Championships hosted by MAATT (Mid-America Acro & Tumbling Team) coached by Marilyn Baumann (Marilyn later sold the business to Mindy Blankenship and Dawn Moritz) on the weekend of June 13 & 14. Also at the meet was New Orleans Acrobatic Team from South Central Region 8.
During the Spring Crickett LaPierre offered to help our program and came up to Dallas with Julie Dupree to conduct a clinic to stir up more interest. Then n July 12th Crickett hosted a friendly “international” meet with the Belgium Team visiting New Orleans. She invited Treviño’s Acro Team to participate. Jill McMillan’s back had healed, so she and Chelsea Henretta went. At that meet was also, Hand2Hand athletes coached by Darin and Michelle Caviness, Elmwood Gymnastics Center coached by Raisa Galper, Louisana Acro Team coached by Michelle Mills (now Lavergne), Acrobats in Motion coached by Heather Boucher, and the University of New Orleans the host club, coached by Crickette LaPierre, which later became Crescent City Gymnastics. Keely Thomas groaned about Jill: “ She goes from one local meet to an international meet. What luck!”
A medical petition was sent to Jola Jones in California asking permission for Jill and Chelsea to go to Nationals. Along with the medical statement was scores from the first meet. The score they earned was a qualifying score for Nationals, so permission was granted.
In 1998 we attended our first Nationals in Dayton, OH hosted by Hand2Hand coaches Darin and Michelle Caviness. Texas was represented by the Class III Women’s Pair of Jill McMillan & Chelsea Henretta and the Class III Women’s Trio of Keely Thomas, Sarah Stanton & Melissa Martinkus. As first time competitors they did not place, but they performed admirably. The national committee of judges encouraged the team by granting their coach Alex Douglas with the “Rookie Coach of the Year” award at the National’s Team Banquet. Jill McMillan was honored as the SW Region 5 “Athlete of the Year” award at the Treviño’s annual Team Banquet in 1998.