Loui Janecky, left, with members of her 2018 LASG Diamond Competitive Gymnastics Team. Courtesy/LASG 

By MILES BEAUX
President
LASG Board

After 50 years of service to the children and families of Northern New Mexico, Los Alamos School of Gymnastics has closed. 

The organization began in the late 1970s. Maureen Hudson (a Los Alamos Public Schools PE teacher) ran a tumbling class in her backyard with a strip of mats, inspiring the love of gymnastics. After a year and significant growth in her program, Myrna McDonald joined her. As the enthusiasm grew, some of the gymnasts’ parents created a support organization. They called themselves Los Alamos Gymnastics Club (LAGC) and in the fall of 1977, incorporated as a 501 nonprofit entity. 

Under the leadership of then president of their board, Dick Kruger, the parent board worked hard to find a venue for their club. The LAHS coach, Judy Mast, agreed to coach the 10-girl team. For a short period of time in 1979 LAGC affiliated with the YMCA. 

Chris Trujillo and Hank Blackwell were also hired as coaches and the LAGC team, then called the “Sunbursts”, began to compete in Albuquerque. In the fall of 1980 Elaine Dropesky (a former Los Alamos High School competitor) was hired as an assistant coach upon the departure of Trujillo. In 1981, Blackwell resigned from the club. With the closing of Mesa Elementary School and the campus being leased to UNM-LA, the LAGC board obtained a lease for use of the gymnasium. The board began a nationwide search for someone to direct the growing gymnastics club.

Louise Anderson (Loui) answered the call, having just finished graduate school in North Carolina, earning an MA in Education Administration. Loui had been admitted to a graduate program at Texas Women’s University. With enough coursework in three different fields (sports physiology, sports psychology, and care prevention of athletic injuries), she needed time and experience to choose a concentration. Loui decided to take a year off from school to help her make the decision and moved to Los Alamos.

She took over as director of LAGC in August of 1981, supplementing her income by teaching courses at UNM-LA. At the urging of Jim Straight (the spouse of one of the gym’s supportive board members and then President of the Los Alamos Mountaineers), Loui took the annual Los Alamos climbing class. One year became two, and Loui joined the board of the Los Alamos Mountaineers. At the gym, Loui hired staff and increased the scope of the gymnastics program to include recreational and preschool classes. At the urging of board member Margaret Flaugh and her husband Harry, (not to mention 35 gymnasts), Loui spent a winter on Pajarito Mountain, learning to ski. Two years became 3.

As an investment in the community, she also became a Red Cross volunteer, teaching First Aid and CPR regularly. In 1984 Dave Janecky (also a mountaineer) moved to Los Alamos to do a post doc for INC-7 at LANL. He married Loui, and the gym, in Dec of 1986. Converting to LANL staff after a year, he cemented the Janecky’s long commitment to Los Alamos.

In 1984, UNM-LA terminated the gym lease to LAGC. The gymnastics club moved into one of Roger Waterman’s buildings on DP Road.  Then treasurer of the board, Bobbye (Roberta) Straight, became more than board treasurer.  With her help and financial savvy, and Loui’s education degrees, the club applied one more time for a Charitable (501c 3) designation with the IRS. With a name change, to reflect an educational purpose, it was granted, and Los Alamos Gymnastics Club became Los Alamos School of Gymnastics.

In 1985, the gym applied for rental property from Los Alamos County. After a year of county staff and county council meetings to work out the particulars, they were granted a 20-year lease on the piece of land on North Mesa next to the ball fields. Los Alamos National Bank granted the gym a loan. With an incredible group of very dedicated volunteers and volunteer board members, under the direction of President Thad (Stretch) Cole, vice president David Murphy, treasurer Bobbye Straight, and maintenance chair David Lee, Rainbow Construction erected the 100’x60’ building that became LASG in the spring of 1987. 

Loui increased enrollment, and added a competitive boys’ program to the offerings, changing the team’s name from “Sunbursts” to “Atomic Tumblers” to reflect the new era and the addition of the boys’ competitive program.

By 1996 Loui had added a summer sports camp to the school, which had already outgrown their facility. Los Alamos National Bank was willing to loan LASG the money to expand the building. Once again LASG addressed Los Alamos County for help. The organization was granted a 20-year extension on their lease and permitted to expand the building, on the condition that Loui, with her proven track record, sign as the LASG signatory on the loan and promise to stay until it was paid off. With that, a 60’x75’ extension to the building was added.  

Loui began an after-school program, doubled the number of children in the summer all day sports camp, and began camps on other LAPS closures to increase income. The partnerships she formed with LA bus (now Atomic City Transit), the local pools, museums, Reel Deal Theater  and other activities countywide made LASG camps a huge success. Though there were rough times for several years after both the Cerro Grande Fire and COVID, LASG has prevailed for 50 years, both because of the work and generosity of the entire Janecky family for 44 years, and the incredible sense of community and support elicited by the gymnasts and their families for 5 decades.

The ability to sufficiently staff these programs over the past 44 years is credited in large part to Loui’s training and mentoring of gymnasts, retaining them as recreational coaches and members of the LASG family until college and beyond. This family culture enabled LASG programs to flourish, being supported by current and former college, high school, and middle school gymnasts.

Throughout Loui Janecky’s 44 years of service to our community, delivering top-notch competitive and recreational gymnastics and sports programs, her focus has always been on the children and their well-being over “winning” or hasty skill advancement. Her philosophy ingrained into the fabric of LASG reads: “We teach children, not a sport or activity. The sport of gymnastics is the key activity through which we teach them, promoting a competitive gymnastics program & gymnastics progression. There is so much more to this than teaching skills.” Large banners in her gym reflect her priorities as “Safety 1st”, “Fun 2nd”, and “Skills 3rd”.

In addition to her service to our community, Loui’s contributions as a coauthor of the National Xcel program have breathed new life into USA Gymnastics and brought it back from the brink as an organization. In the face of so many challenges in the past 50 years, it is Loui’s commitment, philosophy, and example that has inspired so many in our community, athletes and volunteers alike, to stay involved and committed resulting in LASG’s longevity in the lives of multiple generations within our community.

This year LASG was able to pay off the building loan, 2 years early. Loui completed her obligation to Los Alamos County and LANB/Enterprise Bank. After over 50 years of coaching and 44 years as director and head coach of LASG, she decided to retire. The LASG board of directors conducted a nationwide search for a new director. With the credentials and requirements and time it takes to fulfill all of the responsibilities and duties that the Janecky’s and LASG’s volunteer board and membership performed for LASG, the organization found that a replacement – whether it was one person or multiple people, was not financially feasible. They understood that almost all gymnastics schools in the country are director/coach-owned for financial and liability reasons.

If you see the Janeckys (Loui, Dave, Gregg, and Grant) or any staff or volunteer board members from LASG, please take the time to thank them for all that they have done for generations of Los Alamos kids.

Other Volunteer positions Loui Janecky has held over her 4.5 decades in Los Alamos, from which you may have worked with or know her, include:

• Los Alamos Mountaineers – board member, 1982-1886
• Barranca Pool – employment chair, 1991- 2003
• First United Methodist Church – Sunday School admin, 1992- 2003
• Los Alamos Little League – manager/coach, then board, 1995 – 2004
• Los Alamos Youth Soccer League – manager/coach, then board, 1996 – 2004
• JVee Baseball League (A mid high school organization) – president, 2002 – 2004
• Los Alamos Public Schools Board member – board president, 2003 – 2007
• Juvenile Justice Advisory Board – bylaws committee, first vice president 2004-2007

Professional Volunteer Boards and positions:

• USAGymnastics NC State board 1976-1981 (State Chair 1979-80)
• USAGymnastics NM State board 1985-2025 (elected)
• USAGymnastics Committee Authors of National Xcel program 2013 (invited)
• USAGymnastics Regional Xcel chair & National committee 2013 – 2028 (elected)