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Going for more than the gold

by Steel Brooks
Tammy Lockridge, 44, comforts Gracyn Traylor, 6, during practice at TK's Gymnastics. Tammy has been teaching gymnastics since she was a teenager and has been running TK's for 16 years. "She loves these kids so much," says Erin Donaldson, a coach at TK's. "She tells 'em she loves 'em all the time."

Ten years ago Tammy Lockridge drew plans for her dream gymnastics gym on the back of a Texas Roadhouse placemat. Today some 300 students jump, flip and tumble in a gym that is a living, loving and caring space.

Tammy, 44, owner of TK’s Gymnastics, stands in front of a wall-size mirror in the gym’s cheerleading room. “Do we want to win that first place trophy?” she says. “Heck yes! But it’s about more than that.”

On the mirror is written “4 days,” struck with a quick underline. Tammy’s Level 1 cheerleading team is making its last adjustments before an upcoming tournament in Lexington. Trophies line almost every available shelf in the building and more are piled on the floor.  But Tammy tries to instill something beyond winning.

“Tammy has been special all her life,” says Geraldine Martin, Tammy’s mother. “She’s a hard worker. She’s very loving and kind.”

People around Tammy echo these sentiments: kind, caring, hands-on, helpful. These qualities guide her every move, from coaching to holding her annual toy drive, Arms of Love.  Kidz 1st Bingo, a new business Tammy is opening downtown, will fund gymnastics scholarships and hold fundraisers for area youth sports.

Tammy’s caring attitude is embedded in the culture of the gym, says coach Erin Donaldson. “We make sure that they know they’re loved,” she says. “We treat them like they’re our own babies.”

Tammy started gymnastics when she was 9, after seeing Mary Lou Retton compete in the 1984 Olympics, “She was my idol when I was a little girl,” Tammy says. At 13, her former coach, Julie Gomes, offered her a job coaching at her gym in Mt. Sterling. When Julie retired in 2002, she convinced Tammy to start her own gym.

Running the gym isn’t all Tammy does for her community. On one afternoon she drove to Camargo to pick up Abbi Faulx, 9, the daughter of a neighbor, from school. Abbi’s mother was tied up taking care of family and needed an extra hand. On another morning, Tammy got up at 3:30 a.m. to drive her brother to a dental appointment in Lexington.

Tammy often stops by her parents’ house in Apperson Heights.  She helps out her grandmother, Emily Moore, 95, as the two crack jokes.

“Are we gonna go out and get you a boyfriend today, mamaw?” she asks, as she applies her grandmother’s eyebrow makeup.

But for Tammy it’s just another day of doing what she loves. “I’m not special,” she says.  “I put on my pants the same way as everybody else.”

Cali Lykins, 6, holds up a teammate during cheerleading practice at TK's Gymnastics. The Level 1 girls from TK's competition cheerleading team, Explosion Cheer Starz, are preparing for an upcoming cheerleading competition in Lexington. "I think the difference between us and a lot of gyms is the personal relationship outside the gym," says Tammy. "And how we, you know, we try to be a positive atmosphere."
Tammy watches her cheerleaders perfect their routine. She knows that not every family can pay the tuition and is working to create a program to fund scholarships. "I'm not gonna leave a child out if they want to do it," she says. "Let's just say, where there's a will there's a way."
Kaliyah Dawson, 7, practices for the upcoming cheer competition. "I had mentors with my coaches, and they're not just a coach," Tammy says. "And I don't feel like I am either."
Chalk footprints pepper the mat underneath the uneven bars. Tammy's path started in Mt. Sterling when she was nine, but she eventually outgrew the program and moved to a gym in Lexington. At 13, she returned to teach at Julie's gym in Mt. Sterling where she started offering competitive programs.
Tammy's students' trophies line the walls in the cheerleading room at TK's Gymnastics. "I was that child one day," says Tammy. "I did hear my dad say I was gonna have to quit cause they couldn't afford it." A few weeks later while Tammy was practicing flips in her front yard, Julie pulled into the driveway and offered her a job.
Jasmine Stalker, 8, jumps on a trampoline at TK's Gymnastics. Jasmine and her sister Cierra, 10, have been attending classes at TK's for just over a year. "You never know what's gonna happen with a child," says Tammy. "One person can say or do something to change their life."
Tammy Lockridge poses for a portrait in the doorway at TK's Gymnastics. "You can't say everything in my life is coincidental," she says. "It has to be a God thing. Just every single step of everything in my life."