James Jones fell in love with the art of gymnastics while watching the sport on TV. In his hometown of Columbus, Georgia, he often watched the boys in his neighborhood use concrete and grass as springboards, flipping and flying along the pavements. But the idea of competing wasn’t something he’d imagined for himself. Because no gym existed in his community, his dreams of flying were confined to screens and the books he’d check out in the library.
It wasn’t until his elementary school assistant principal saw his talent on the playground that his dreams led to him earning a gymnastics scholarship at a gym across town. When he requested an extension to that scholarship, Jones discovered that the assistant principal had been paying his tuition the whole time.
That act of kindness, faith, and nurturing of his abilities stayed with Jones. He vowed to pay it forward for younger boys who looked like him.
“It stuck with me because I told everybody that I wanted to do gymnastics. They knew I had this great love for it, but nobody in my community actually ever tried to put me in gymnastics; it was this lady who wasn’t in the community who did so. And so when I got older, I didn’t want the kids in my community to have to look to someone outside of the community for assistance,” Jones said. “When I realized there wasn’t a competitive boys gymnastics program in our area, I decided to go ahead and start one, because I knew there was a need, and I knew that the boys would need to see someone who looked like them and who could relate to them spearheading it.”
Now, Jones is helping other kids fly and is the coach and founder of the James Jones Gymnastics Academy, home to the only all-Black boys’ competitive gymnastics team in the United States.
However, that home is now in jeopardy. In July, news broke online that the gym was in danger of closing down after zoning laws wouldn’t allow the team to relocate to a new building after outgrowing their old one. Jones had until Aug. 1 to resolve the situation, which he was unable to do due to rejection after rejection, forcing the gym to close down. Now, Jones and his students are looking for a new home suitable for gymnastics, but he shared that all of the zoning verification applications for every building they’ve looked at so far have been denied. When he looked at warehouse-type buildings needed for a gym in the commercial districts of Clayton County, the amount to lease the buildings increased to three to four times the rent.
“It got to the point where I had submitted so many applications and they were denied, even though other people were operating similar or general commercial buildings in the area. And that’s what led to my frustration. I believe I was probably eight denials in, and I was like, OK, something crazy is going on. I applied for a couple of more spaces, and they were denied. And I’m so confused.”
However, that denial from the county led to the news going viral, resulting in widespread attention, a GoFundMe that has now raised over $50,000, and support from people across the U.S., including celebrities and other gymnasts. People have reached out to him with contacts for securing a new location and offers to house the boys in temporary spaces until they find a new home. One coach confided in Jones that he’d gone through a similar situation with zoning and ended up having to build his own gym.
For Jones, the community’s support has shown him just how much gymnastics is valued in the Black community and further revealed why that value is limited.
“I think that the community loves to see go-getters, and the boys are go-getters for one. I’m going to tell you the truth — Black people love gymnastics. I don’t care what anybody says. But for some reason, it doesn’t translate to Black kids being in gymnastics. And I think with our situation, you can kind of see why: the cost, the access, the location. But I feel like the community has spoken. They would love to see programs like this in our community that are sustainable.
But the dream is still alive, and Jones doesn’t plan on letting it die.
The seeds of James Jones Gymnastics Academy began to grow when Jones became a volunteer gymnastics coach for a recreation center in 2019. After six months on the job, he noted that many of the boys wanted to further their athletic careers in gymnastics by competing; however, opportunity was limited at the particular rec center; they only let the girls compete. When the city rejected his request to start another gymnastics program for the boys, he ventured out on his own. A lawyer by trade, he began coaching gymnastics in the lobby of his law office, which he humorously admitted wasn’t the best solution. After a few days on a hot summer playground and 16 months in a building suggested by someone he knew, they soon moved into their own building in Clayton County.
For six years, the gymnastics academy has been a safe space for young Black boys to nurture their talents in a sport and world that doesn’t often celebrate and recognize them. Jones has witnessed how gymnastics has transformed the boys, developing their skills and personalities and giving them the opportunity to see parts of the world at a young age as they travel to competitions across the country.
The team, named the Skywalkers, has won first place in the Judges Cup, the entry competition for each season. One of his students made the future stars team for their region, the precursor for boys training for the U.S. Olympic team. He also had several boys who were in the National Gymnastics Association’s training program, and four of them were invited to the national training camp for the summer.
Jones is a Georgia state representative for the National Gymnastics Association, and one of his goals is to use that organization to grow men’s gymnastics. As the Skywalkers make their mark with their footprints, they’re also breaking glass ceilings.
“To have boys in our community who are kind of at the forefront of not only pioneering Black gymnastics, but assisting in saving men’s gymnastics is great. When we’re looking for videos or looking at examples, I remember one boy said, ‘Well, why don’t you ever show us any examples of Black boys doing gymnastics?’ And I say, ‘You are the Black boys doing gymnastics.
“So I don’t think that at their age right now, they understand that they’re part of history, that they have ushered in this movement of black boys and gymnastics. Now, I’m not saying that they’re the first Black boys that have ever done gymnastics, but this is the first time that the United States has seen, in one centralized location, an all- Black competitive boys gymnastics team in a community that’s pushing and supporting it. And I think that that’s wonderful. I think that there are other movements that can come from this in other sports where Black kids may not be at the forefront, or they may not be the premier athletes in that sport.”
James Jones Gymnastics Academy is a small program compared to others, which means Jones pulls together and exhausts all the resources he can for the up to 60 kids he teaches a period. Tuition for the program is income-based, and those who can’t afford the tuition train for free.
He and his students have had to make do, relying on donations and fundraisers and building needed equipment out of existing things in the gym. Jones shared that the resi-pit — a safety mat and padding system — they used was taken from another gym after they threw it out and gave it to him after request; he took a box cutter, sawed the $5,000 it into tiny pieces, stuffed it into his sedan, and drove it from Roswell to Jonesboro.
“That just lets you know the type of things that we’ve had to do over the last six years to ensure that we have the equipment that we need.”
Currently, Jones is taking his time in selecting a new location because when they return, he wants to come back bigger. Jones said the enthusiasm for the return of the program can be seen by the number of people who have signed up for preregistration even though there isn’t a physical location yet.
“Last time, I started a small program, and we didn’t have anything that we needed when we started. This time, when I restart, I want it to be a program that can welcome all levels of gymnastics from our community. That’s the beginners, that’s the recreation, that’s girls, that’s boys, even if adults want to come and take an adult class. And I want to take my time and select a location that would be suitable for all of that.”
