Medfield Gymnastics coach returns from Olympic Games in Rio and opens MEGA Gym in Millis!!

Several images supplied by Cathy Chung or on the MEGA facebook page and website.

As the Olympics in Rio are winding down and some of the athletes and coaches have come back home, we welcome back Medfield resident and Gymnastic Coach, Levon Karakhanyan who spent 10 days in Rio. He walked in the Opening Ceremonies with the Armenian contingent and he went to Rio to coach female Armenian gymnast, Houry Gebeshian. Although she didn’t make the finals, qualifying and competing in Rio was quite an accomplishment for both her and her coach.

Levon, his wife, young son and mother-in-law live in Medfield , but Levon’s coaching career began in Armenia and he has ties to gymnasts in that country as well as Brazil and here in Medfield. He is so very proud of being a gymnastics coach to all his students, but having been able to be a coach in the Olympics was something he will have forever.

Levon was born in Armenia but he and his wife became United States citizens in 2012. He has been coaching in the United States since 2000. Since coming to this country he has coached many state, regional and national caliber gymnasts. He coached for 12 years at NESA (New England Sports Academy) in Westwood, but back in November everything changed. The Westwood building in which the gym was located was having some renovations done, and after removing some floor tile, they stumbled upon asbestos. The building owner chose to close the building, leaving Levon and his students without a gym.

Medfield resident, Cathy Chung, whose son is one of Levon’s students said the team, became “gymnastic nomads”! The good news is the gymnastics community is a tight-knit group and they rallied around Levon and his students coming to their rescue by offering time and space at their facilities for these students to practice. The boys team and most of the girls team stayed together through these past 10 months and traveled greatly to use other gyms. The team trained in Tewsksbury, Marlborough, Stoughton, Canton and Ashland at gyms that gave them time to practice in their space. The group of girls that stayed together won the Region 6 club of the year.

Being nomads has a shelf-life. Levon as well as the gymnasts and parents needed to have their own home.

Chung explained that she and the other parents wanted to do whatever they could to help Levon because he is much more than just a coach. He is a role model to her son and to others and he has influenced these athlete’s character, work ethic and integrity. His connection to these students goes way beyond coaching gymnastics.

MEGA (Massachusetts Elite Gymnastics Academy) in Millis, is the new home for Levon and his students. It is located in the Clicquot Club Building on Rt 109 just near Ann & Hope.

If the Cliquot building could talk, there would be many stories about when the “Clicquot Club WAS Millis in its heyday….Clicquot Club’s signature product was ginger ale and from 1910 to 1940…it was the largest ginger ale manufacturer in the world.”

….great historical info found on Boston.com http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2011/09/15/remembering_clicquot_club_soda_in_millis/

The smokestack with the word, CLICQUOT, spelled down the front is still visible from the road but inside that space looks very different. The Cliquot Club closed its Soda business in 1980, and a large section of the first floor has been converted to a state of the art gym filling this vast space and all pieces of equipment including:

· Vault

· Balance Beam

· Rings

· Pommel Horse

· Uneven Bars

· Parallel Bars

· Horizontal Bar

· Floor

For more information, check out the MEGA face book page: https://www.facebook.com/MEGAMassachusettsEliteGymnasticsAcademy/?fref=ts

And their website:

http://masselitegymnastics.com/coaches/

Watch for their Grand Opening in early September and make sure you stop by and check out this area’s newest amazing gymnastics facility!