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FilE: mATThEw ThoRsEn
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Katherine Reeves, Erika Reeves and Delaney Miller-Bottoms
SEVENDAYSVt.com
Queen of Fun
Regal Gym founder Erika Reeves reigns over Vermont’s royal play palace BY K E N P ic A r D
reign: her daughter Laura. The girl was just getting interested in gymnastics eight years ago when the University of Vermont closed its gymnastics facility and turned its collegiate program into a club sport. So Reeves and her husband, Tom, a vice president at IBM in Essex Junction, bought UVM’s gymnastics equipment and opened Regal in a rented Winooski warehouse. When the entire Reeves clan relocated to Connecticut for Tom’s job, Laura and her sister, Katherine, received a level of coaching unavailable in Vermont. In 2010, Laura was Connecticut state champion; Katherine ranked second in her level. qUEEn oF FUn
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The keeper of the castle is Regal’s ultra-high-energy owner and founder, Erika Reeves. The 53-year-old mother of seven — her children range in age from 11 to 35 — says she channels all her energy into the gym, which occupies her seven days a week. In addition to having a Type-A personality, Reeves admits that running Regal is a form of therapy. Reeves’ son, Mark, died of cancer in June 1998, just three days before his eighth birthday. “You have two choices in life,” she says. “I could have stayed home and been bitter for the rest of my life, or I can use him to be a positive force that drives me.” There’s another reason for Regal’s
SEVEN DAYS
Regal Gymnastics Academy, 2 Corporate Drive, Essex, 655-3300, regalgym.com.
“They love it here,” says Katie, the group’s pony-tailed, twentysomething nanny. “This place is a dream!” And not just for preschoolers. Regal’s new multimillion-dollar athletics and recreational center, which opened in May, boasts top-of-the-line gymnastics equipment and an ambitious new coach determined to send a Vermonter to the Olympics. There’s also a preschool, adult workout room, lounge, locker rooms and bistro. The kid party area features a stone castle made from five tons of Vermont-quarried granite and a $1200 hand-carved mahogany throne. Regal eschews paper products for real glassware, china and linen napkins.
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he toddlers at Regal Gymnastics Academy in Essex are in a fullthrottle energy burn during a Tuesday morning open-gym hour, scampering over colorful foam blocks, teetering on balance beams and dangling from parallel bars. In another part of the brightly lit gym, several 4-year-olds “work out” on miniature exercise benches —with foam-rubber barbells — and pint-size treadmills, while others swing on nearby climbing ropes.