OUR STORY

Sarah and Dan are the Owners and Directors of Twisters Gymnastics. It all began for Sarah at the young age of 2 when she started taking part in the sport herself. Dan, even though he hasn’t done gymnastics himself, was quickly pulled into the world after meeting Sarah in 2000.

Sarah has worked as a coach for many years, working within all aspects of the sport and with all ages. While she was coaching, she completed her Masters of Business (Sports Management) and found a new passion, business. In 2010, the two combined and Twisters was born! Our start was humble, a set-up/pack-up out of Santa Maria College in Melbourne. We were only open on Saturdays, Sarah was the solitary coach and Dan helped our beloved customers and hauling the equipment.

Things started picking up speed, by 2012 we’d expanded to classes on Friday afternoons and Saturdays, our staff had grown to 5 coaches and then we were told that we couldn’t keep jamming Santa Maria’s storeroom with equipment. It was time for us to move to another venue. As you can imagine, this was make or break for our beloved gym – Dan and Sarah decided to make the leap into leasing a facility and to go big!

In April 2013 we opened our doors on Beavers Road, Northcote where we still exist today. Not long after, in September, Dan and Sarah welcomed their first child, Wally to the world and life got really interesting… It wasn’t unusual to see Dan at the front desk helping parents with little Wally strapped to his chest. We also had a cot installed upstairs so that Sarah could coach while taking intermittent breaks to feed or put Wally to sleep. We welcomed a number of new coaches on board and an Office Manager to try and help balance the workload.

By 2015, Twisters had grown to 1,600 children coming through the facility each week and a team of 70 staff members for the Reid’s to lead. Dan and Sarah welcomed their second son, Toby, and needless to say from here, there were a few crazy, busy and fun years of growing for the Reid family.

2018 brought on the next giant step of opening a second facility in Ascot Vale, in the Showgrounds Village Shopping Centre. As locals to the area, Dan and Sarah recognised that there needed to be more access to gymnastics for families within the area.

I think we all know what 2020 and 2021 brought… Even though we had an amazing start to the year, we were shut down in March due to the COVID pandemic and spent much of that year..and the next, unable to even step foot in either gym. A vast majority of our over 90 staff had to be stepped down, while others created an amazing library of programs for all of our gymnasts who were stuck at home. It was a hard to say the least, but we have seen our way through it to flourish again!

2022 started with a bang, we decided to think positive and open our 3rd facility down in Torquay!! Dan and Sarah have had a love for Torquay after spending a number of summers renting out an AirBnB to enjoy the beaches and many things this Surf Coast town has to offer. Naturally this was the perfect place to open a new venue and have an excuse to spend more time there.

This facility is just as fabulous as our first two, displaying the same artist (Andre Bricknell) amazing artwork on the back wall. Twisters Torquay quickly grew to 500 members before disaster struck in October 2022 and the gym was completely flooded in the downpour of Victoria rain. Torquay had to remain closed for the rest of 2022 whilst we replaced all of our very new flooring and redid all of our walls and flooring!

So, where are we now? Well, 2024 has started with Twisters helping over 3,000 kids to Grow Through Movement. The club now employs 120 staff members between the ages of 15 and 50 years old. Both Dan and Sarah are back to working full time within the business [you’ve likely seen Sarah coaching out on the floor in Torquay and said hello to Dan behind the front desk at Showgrounds]. Their kids are not gymnasts and prefer to be seen out on the footy field or basketball courts, but Sarah has forgiven them!

The future is exciting and it certainly doesn’t end here…