“When people ask me when I started doing gymnastics, I don’t have an answer; it’s something I’ve always done,” said Michael Winburn, founder/owner of Win Kids Sports and Learning Center in Flower Mound.
Even though his father was a military pilot, he and Mike’s mom would offer free classes in the backyard with trampolines and other equipment to neighborhood kids before opening their
gymnastics and dance center in Del Rio, Texas in the 70`s.
Winburn, and his four sisters were very involved and he started competing by age five, then began coaching professionally at 15. His competitive career included Silver Medals at the Junior Olympics. Working with children became his joy and career more than 37 years ago.
Prior to “giving-in” to his love of teaching children, he graduated with top honors for his degree in Finance allowing him to create a highly-successful consulting career, working with hundreds of gymnastics programs and coaches throughout the U.S., Italy and Malaysia.
“It took many years of investigating children’s centers all over the country, before I came up with Win Kids,” said Winburn. “There was really no similar model to copy, or benchmark to use.
“As a young child experiencing the raw, negative results of divorce and hardship, I developed this strong desire to create an extremely wonderful place for children to thrive,” he said. “I envisioned Win Kids from the beginning and saw a very strong need in Flower Mound for children to be exposed to sports in an extremely kid-friendly way, that would help them find themselves and want to latch-on.”
He disliked that most programs were focused mainly on finding the best natural athletes to win competitions, rather than helping all children realize what it means to be an athlete.
“In a tough world, our children need praise to build a strong foundation of self-worth and healthy attitudes,” he said.
“Coach Mike” founded the Win Kids program, known back then as Gym Kids, in 1998, with a trailer full of colorful mats and his guitar in empty rental spaces. One day he’d be holding classes on a racquetball court, or the next day it would be in an aerobic studio.
Eventually, other great coaches joined Coach Mike to help Win Kids grow and just about every year and half, they outgrew their gym and moved in to a new space, adding a new children`s sports to their list each time.
“I’m very proud I’ve been able to attract so many great people like Coach Jack and Coach Cammie to help implement this caring philosophy for children,” said Winburn. “These are pure role models who parents can trust.
“What has also kept me going over the 20 years has been the absolute pure joy of seeing children make incredible progress and transform into happy and healthy, confident people. Many of them now coming back to work here!”
Today, thousands of children and families each year come to Win Kids for classes. Each week, approximately 2,500 children participate in programs like Gym Kids, Dance Kids, Sports Kids, WK Ninja Warriors, WK Martial Arts, Music Kids, birthday parties and camps.
“We teach all-around Olympic-style gymnastics to children ages three and up,” said Winburn. “Our gymnastics curriculums have been carefully developed for each age group, to provide the perfect balance of fun, challenge, risk taking, skill acquisition and success.”
Each of the students are monitored and evaluated for progress and placed in a class that will keep them challenged and feeling confident about their participation as a gymnast. The skill-levels range from early beginners to advanced competition.
“We teach children the joy of what it means to be an athlete, regardless of their athletic ability,” said Winburn. “Win Kids is all about building successful children.”
In its 20 years, more than 22,000 participants have enjoyed Win Kids programs, including: Award-winning Gymnastics Program; Competitive Gymnastics Teams; Parent & Child Classes starting at six-months-old; full Martial Arts Program; WK Ninja Warriors; full Dance Program with Gymnastics Combos; Sports Skills; Tumbling; Swimming; Tennis; Trampoline; The Campus academic preschool; Private Gymnastics and Ninja Warrior Birthday Parties; Parent`s Night-Out; plus, Holiday and Summer Camps.
For information on classes, affordable tuition rates with multiple discounts, and 2018 Summer Camps, visit: www.winkids.net or call 972-355-9988.
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