President's Remarks:

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Welcome to the 5th annual GymACT National Championships.  This is our first trip to Nationals in the Great State of Utah and beautiful Salt Lake City. Those of us involved with GymACT are thrilled to be able to bring another exciting version of GymACT Nationals to the same floor as the 2025 USAG JD Nationals. We hope our continued existence and continued growth will provide not only a level of inspiration to the aspiring junior gymnasts competing this weekend but also provide some enthusiasm and added motivation for these young men to continue to strive for excellence and one day possibly grace the rosters of all 16 GymACT programs scattered across the country.

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That’s right, we are very excited to announce the creation of our 16th GymACT program in the great state of North Carolina. The NC Airmen have been approved and voted in as our newest GymACT Program. While their official capacity doesn’t commence until June 1st, they have been approved to compete at Nationals with one spot on all six events. Our continued growth is sparked by passionate coaches who see a need and find a way to fill that need. The leadership team of the North Carolina Airmen filled that need and now will continue adding to their roster as time marches on. Best of luck to Coach Don Brown and his NC Airmen. It certainly is an exciting time for GymACT! 

Many thanks to USA Gymnastics for partnering with us to bring our National Championships to this competition. I truly believe the exposure GymACT receives here at JD Nationals has created rapid growth in the number of gymnasts who have found their new homes in any one of our current GymACT programs. Young men with a burning desire to continue their gymnastics careers in the college ranks are the lifeblood of the GymACT program and many future GymACT team members are among the hundreds of juniors who will be competing this weekend. Best of luck to all of you!

This season we have registered close to 300 GymACT athletes as members of the various GymACT teams. That’s close to 300 gymnasts who would not be here competing today without the vision of the founders of GymACT. Only in existence since 2018, the GymACT concept has been around for many years. Because of the hard work, perseverance, and determination of the leaders of these programs, opportunities to continue competing in our great sport are plentiful. I hope that after watching our teams compete this evening, you’ll be motivated to seek out a spot on one of our teams.

 

We’ll also be hosting our fourth annual GymACT College Bound Summer Camp in two locations this summer. One at Xtreme Altitude in Lafayette, CO on July 11-13, 2025, and one at Kids First Sports Center in Cincinnati, OH on June 27-29, 2025. Please consider attending either of these camps (or both!) as coaches from all 16 programs will be on hand to work with all the campers throughout each 3-day camp. Information on the camp can be found here:   https://www.gymact.org/college. 
 

Register now to secure a spot in this summer camp. You won’t regret it for one minute.

 

Tonight’s meet will be live-streamed at no cost to the public because of another great partnership agreement between GymACT and USAG. You can watch all the action on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GymACT. If you can’t make it to the meet in person, you can watch from the comfort of your own home!

 

A special shoutout to USAG's Lisa Mendel and Jason Woodnick for helping us make this night a reality. Five years ago we had our first GymACT Nationals in partnership with the USAG JD Nationals and the relationship continues to blossom and evolve. To showcase our teams on a National Stage has been a real game-changer as our league continues to expand and improve.  

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At the end of the competition we will crown our sixth N2 Award winner, given to the top senior GymACT athlete. Five worthy candidates have given their hearts and souls to their respective programs and one of them will walk away with the award. All five of them are now ready to pass the baton on to those who will soon be  continuing on the trail that they have blazed before them.

 

Every GymACT Team is a self-funded organization that must meet certain requirements to become part of our league. One of those requirements is an operational budget with plans in place to finance it. Fundraising is the daily bread of every GymACT Team, and it takes a lot of work for these teams to stay viable and travel to competitions like this one. The support we receive from the gymnastics community is amazing as we continue to provide more opportunities for young gymnasts to have the experiences we can afford to them.
 

Please consider adopting a team and helping GymACT to keep the great tradition of men's college gymnastics alive well into the future.  
 

Thank you all and I hope the competition can provide some excitement and drama like any good sporting event should!
 

Sincerely,
Mike Burns
GymACT President

Mike@minnesotagymnastics.org​​