Any student of EPHS or home-schooled student in EPHS area who wants to learn to jump, flip and twist with friends in grades 9-12. Athletes interested in the Junior High Training Team are also welcome from grades 5-8. These athletes may train and perform but will not receive recognition in the form of a high school letter from EPHS until they reach the 9^th grade. This is a stipulation of EPHS!

Get in on the ground floor! We are beginning T&T programs in several local high schools during 2005 and into 2006 with several goals. Those goals are both local to each individual high school and global reaching from a Minnesota State Championship to Minnesota State High School League recognition. The EPHS teams will perform for pep fests and at school events as well as at local malls as arranged. The team will also participate in both JV and Varsity competitions against other local high schools and in the State Championship as these other teams come on board. Current negotiations are underway with Edina, Chaska, Hopkins, Bloomington and Blake School. Several other schools are just beginning the discussion phase.

Points are accrued by participating in training sessions for lettering. JV participation will be from beginning skill development to include routines of single backhandsprings in tumbling to single front and back flip routines on trampoline. Varsity participation will equate to those routines including multiple flips and flips with twists and multiple backhandsprings in tumbling. The www.minnesotatwisters.com website has an athlete link which lists each routine for each level. Levels 5-7 are JV and levels 8 and above are varsity.

Eden Prairie’s teams will train at the Minnesota Twisters gym located at 6022 Culligan Way #4, Minnetonka. Phone number is 612-703-7575. The head coach is Pat Henderson, a Master Coach with USA Gymnastics and member of the US Olympic Coaching Staff. There is a printable map located on the Minnesota twisters website. The gym is located one block north of Crosstown Athletic Club just across the Minnetonka border.

Training hours will be as follows: Tuesday and Thursday 5:30-8:00 p.m. and Saturday times vary.

Training season: The training season for lettering is from February 11 through May. If an athlete comes from another sport (i.e., gymnastics or diving) and has an overlap of dates, makeups can be arranged to begin training at a later date. Training year-round will also be available as plans are underway to perform next fall at football and basketball games.

Training cost: $65/month during the high school season. Year-round training with high school teammates or classes will be discussed toward the end of the high school season with Pat Henderson.

T&T is not a clothing-intense sport! The musts include: clean white socks, hair binders (no hair in the face!). Other than these items, you probably already have what everyone wears to train….girls: sports bra, shorts or fitness pants, tshirts or sweatshirts…guys: warmup pants, shorts, tshirts. No-no’s include: no snaps or zippers, bare feet, hair in face.

Well, it depends…nice answer, eh? We will be buying black warmup pants for guys and girls for performing outdoors, black athletic shorts for indoor performances, tshirts and sweatshirts. This is a group decision….get ready to be involved! Everyone buys their own athletic sandals and white socks!

When we transition to the competition phase against other high schools, competition attire will be required. These decisions will be made at a later date and will include team input.