Red River Valley Gymnastics Records

Collection — Box: Scrapbook

Identifier: OGLMC-1368

Scope and Contents

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The Red River Gymnastics Records span the years 1988-1997. The collection consists of two distinct series, each arranged alphabetically by folder title. The Dakota Gold series consists of Dakota Gold Gymnastics records that predate that organization’s merger with Red River Valley Gymnastics. Items in this series date from 1989-1992. Items in the second series, entitled Red River Valley Gymnastics, date from 1978-1997 and document RRVG activities both before and after the Club’s merger with Dakota Gold. Collection materials include meeting minutes, correspondence, newsletters, financial records, membership lists, newspaper clippings, and schedules of events. Class registrations, tryouts, competitions, fundraising activities and policy manuals are also included. A scrapbook containing pictures of students, coaches, and gymnastic facilities and newspaper clippings was placed on the shelves adjacent to the collection. The clippings document major events, including the building of new facilities and the merging of Dakota Gold with Red River Valley Gymnastics. Both Dakota Gold and Red River Valley Gymnastics are represented in the scrapbook. NOTE: Additional documents related to Red River Valley Gymnastics were destroyed as a result of the 1997 Red River Flood.

Dates

created: 1988-1997
Other: Date acquired: 07/14/1998

Conditions Governing Access

Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.

Biographical or Historical Information

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Red River Valley Gymnastics was founded in 1978 by Steve Synhorst, a former women’s gymnastics coach at the University of North Dakota. Originally, the group was self-supporting, but in 1986, they began campaigning for the sanctioning of gymnastics by the Grand Forks School Board. This sanctioning occurred in 1989, following a federal requirement to make school sports offerings more equal between boys and girls. From this point on, the Grand Forks School District would pay coaches’ salaries for four months of the year, and gymnasts from Red River would represent Grand Forks schools at competitions. In 1988, Red River Valley Gymnastics became a fully sanctioned member of the United States Gymnastics Federation (USGF). USGF membership provided standards for gymnastic training, as well as competitive opportunities. Red River Valley Gymnastics has grown in other ways. Rhythmic, acro and show teams were added, and yearly try-outs held for each team. Coalition '92 brought the Club together with the softball association to raise funds for new facilities. The facilities were obtained when the Grand Forks Racquetball and Tennis Center build an 18,000 foot addition to their building. In 1993, Dakota Gold Gymnastics, another Grand Forks-area gymnastics club, merged with Red River Valley Gymnastics as one consolidated organization that maintained the Red River Valley Gymnastics name. The merger was arranged in the hopes of providing a broader spectrum and higher quality of gymnastics than either one could have offered individually.

Note written by