KipstersGymnastics.com
The website for KipstersGymnastics.com began with a blogging site that owner Casilda Figueroa built herself. It was adequate in the beginning, but she sought out someone to help her build a site that represented her business in the best way possible. We're happy that Casilda chose us for her fun and polished website, and also happy that her fabulous fitness programs are a part of our local community here in Western Oregon.
Casilda Figueroa saw first-hand how much young people enjoy running, tumbling and dancing. And she was in the best position to evaluate their changing needs and to go after her own dreams at the same time.
Casilda is owner, manager, gymnastics instructor and team coach at Kipsters Gymnastics, Dance & Fitness in Eugene, Oregon. She has more than 17 years of instruction in gymnastics, dance and music within the community, helping children and adults improve their fitness, compete in gymnastics and dance, learn to play and appreciate music, and have fun while getting strong and staying strong. She has lived in the Eugene-area all of her life, and worked at many of the community centers around town. She created the gymnastics program at Eugene’s Amazon Community Center, building the popular program from the ground up. Within a couple of years, her gymnastics program was reaching 150 children each year. "We had quite a few kids on the waiting list each year," Casilda says, "but since it was a community rec center we just weren’t able to expand there, and that was the jump for me to want to create my own thing."
Casilda spent a few years planning how to make her program the best it could be, and trying to find the right building. She secured a spacious building in September 2010 and Kipsters Gymnastics, Dance & Fitness moved in the following December. The building, though it needed some work and improvements, allowed Casilda to realize the all-encompassing programs she had in mind. "The building is separated into different spaces," she says, "so it is easy to have a family fitness atmosphere and allow everyone from babies up to adults to be able to have fitness classes in the same building at the same time."
Though Casilda knows the ins and outs of gymnastics, dance and fitness, this is the first time she has owned her own business, though her previous experience prepared her. "I did take some classes," she says, "but for the most part I jumped into it. With my background working a managerial role at the other facilities, I did have that sort of experience already, but I did need to learn the financial side of business."
Choosing the website company to work with was, fortunately, not a difficult decision for Casilda. Her decision to work with HEROweb was made easy by the fact that she preferred to work with someone local, and she was able to come into our office and speak with us. "I also looked for people who had created some very professional but kid-friendly websites," she explains, "and I saw some that HEROweb had done already that I liked. The site that I had before I built myself, so it was more of a blogging site. In the beginning it was OK but it was hard to work with and the look of the site was not what I wanted it to be. It didn’t represent our business in the best way, that’s why I searched out someone to build a site."
Owning and running a small business is never easy, but for Casilda and her staff, they are truly driven by the successes they have seen with the children and adults they have worked with. Her passion for sports, physical fitness, kids and adults shows in every class she teaches and the variety of classes she offers. "We are a fully functioning facility for all the different age groups. We have gymnastics, dance, open gyms, camps, no-school day classes and birthday party rentals," Casilda says proudly. "We are a local family and a local company trying to create a really good program so that kids and adults can stay fit and healthy and active. With the budget cuts in the schools there’s less activity in the schools and we’re trying to keep those opportunities for them, get them moving, making new friends and learning new skills."
So far, Casilda has heard only positive responses to her programs, from both kids and their parents. "Some of the parents tell us that their kids have never done any physical activity and now the kids are doing flips and they’re using that skill in other activities," says Casilda. "We are large and clean and centrally located, which works for most people. We have some kids that have setbacks or disabilities and to be able to physically move and be in a safe place, this really helps them to be stronger people. Our programs are built on progression—many other programs don’t do that and the parents say that the kids do the same things over and over again. That’s not how we do things, and they are having so much fun."
Casilda is owner, manager, gymnastics instructor and team coach at Kipsters Gymnastics, Dance & Fitness in Eugene, Oregon. She has more than 17 years of instruction in gymnastics, dance and music within the community, helping children and adults improve their fitness, compete in gymnastics and dance, learn to play and appreciate music, and have fun while getting strong and staying strong. She has lived in the Eugene-area all of her life, and worked at many of the community centers around town. She created the gymnastics program at Eugene’s Amazon Community Center, building the popular program from the ground up. Within a couple of years, her gymnastics program was reaching 150 children each year. "We had quite a few kids on the waiting list each year," Casilda says, "but since it was a community rec center we just weren’t able to expand there, and that was the jump for me to want to create my own thing."
Casilda spent a few years planning how to make her program the best it could be, and trying to find the right building. She secured a spacious building in September 2010 and Kipsters Gymnastics, Dance & Fitness moved in the following December. The building, though it needed some work and improvements, allowed Casilda to realize the all-encompassing programs she had in mind. "The building is separated into different spaces," she says, "so it is easy to have a family fitness atmosphere and allow everyone from babies up to adults to be able to have fitness classes in the same building at the same time."
Though Casilda knows the ins and outs of gymnastics, dance and fitness, this is the first time she has owned her own business, though her previous experience prepared her. "I did take some classes," she says, "but for the most part I jumped into it. With my background working a managerial role at the other facilities, I did have that sort of experience already, but I did need to learn the financial side of business."
Choosing the website company to work with was, fortunately, not a difficult decision for Casilda. Her decision to work with HEROweb was made easy by the fact that she preferred to work with someone local, and she was able to come into our office and speak with us. "I also looked for people who had created some very professional but kid-friendly websites," she explains, "and I saw some that HEROweb had done already that I liked. The site that I had before I built myself, so it was more of a blogging site. In the beginning it was OK but it was hard to work with and the look of the site was not what I wanted it to be. It didn’t represent our business in the best way, that’s why I searched out someone to build a site."
Owning and running a small business is never easy, but for Casilda and her staff, they are truly driven by the successes they have seen with the children and adults they have worked with. Her passion for sports, physical fitness, kids and adults shows in every class she teaches and the variety of classes she offers. "We are a fully functioning facility for all the different age groups. We have gymnastics, dance, open gyms, camps, no-school day classes and birthday party rentals," Casilda says proudly. "We are a local family and a local company trying to create a really good program so that kids and adults can stay fit and healthy and active. With the budget cuts in the schools there’s less activity in the schools and we’re trying to keep those opportunities for them, get them moving, making new friends and learning new skills."
So far, Casilda has heard only positive responses to her programs, from both kids and their parents. "Some of the parents tell us that their kids have never done any physical activity and now the kids are doing flips and they’re using that skill in other activities," says Casilda. "We are large and clean and centrally located, which works for most people. We have some kids that have setbacks or disabilities and to be able to physically move and be in a safe place, this really helps them to be stronger people. Our programs are built on progression—many other programs don’t do that and the parents say that the kids do the same things over and over again. That’s not how we do things, and they are having so much fun."
