Sometimes in life, an unexpected moment can be life-changing. For James Jones, that moment came in 2019 when he made an unanticipated left turn as he was leaving work.
That turn was physically and symbolically significant as he was at a literal intersection in his life, and thanks to the traffic that forced him to turn left, Jones saw a sign that changed the course of his young life.
“There was a sign for a gymnastics club that I had never seen before,” James told me during our interview.
You see, James, an attorney by trade, was an avid fan of gymnastics. It was a sport that he wanted to be involved with in some way, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to completely give up his career in law to pursue it.
“At that time, in 2019, I knew I wanted some type of change. I didn’t know if I wanted to completely leave being a lawyer, but I knew I wanted to do something else, so I asked myself ‘What do you want to do?’ and coaching boys gymnastics immediately came to mind,” he said.
And then he made the literal turn that put him on the road he’s been traveling on for the past six years.
After contacting the club, he became a volunteer coach for the boys rec program. Unfortunately, he realized that only the girls could compete in events.
That’s when the moment he envisioned months ago as he was leaving work materialized.
James spoke with multiple individuals, coaches and even the county about creating a program where boys could train and compete, but they all said no.
Undeterred, James used his own money to secure a space and in 2019, he opened The James Jones Gymnastics Academy, which is the only stand-alone, Black boys gymnastics program in the country.
It was the realization of a dream, but with it came the challenging reality of operating the program.
But this was his dream, so James willingly poured his time and money into the program to secure what was needed, including costly expenses such as equipment and insurance.
It was a personal mission for him as he always wanted to do gymnastics, but it was expensive.
“I always wanted to do gymnastics as a kid, but my family couldn’t afford it and the gym was on the other side of town,” he said. “I always told people, ‘Hey, I would love to do this,’ but nobody cared…or tried.”
Fortunately, someone eventually did care.
An assistant principal saw him flipping around and asked him if he did gymnastics. He said no, but that he watched it on TV, read about it and was self-taught.
Her daughter was in a gymnastics program and got those coaches to come and check him out. They saw his potential and gave him a scholarship to the gym.
He didn’t have anyone to take him to practice, but eventually got help from his teacher’s husband, who drove him to practice for two months.
At the end of those two months, he went to ask how he could extend the scholarship, yet the school told him there was no scholarship.
Turns out, his assistant principal had been paying the tuition for him to attend the program.
Unfortunately, his transportation arrangement faltered, so he couldn’t attend practice anymore.
“That was the last time I did gymnastics,” he said.
Years passed and James graduated from Albany St., eventually earned his JD and became a lawyer in Georgia.
Yet gymnastics always remained in his blood, and in 2019, he was finally able to pursue his passion.
But it wasn’t easy in any sense, especially financially.
“It was a major undertaking. Just getting equipment alone…you know, when I first started, I bought all of this equipment myself out of my own pocket,” said Jones.
He bought used equipment, had some of it donated and was able to purchase some thanks to fundraising from generous audiences on social media. He even cut up a resi-pit, stuffed it into his car, took it to his gym and stitched it back together to save money.
“For the most part, it’s a personal financial effort that I undertook to get this up and running and to sustain it.”
Just how much of a financial effort has it been?
“I would say $100,000. That is what I would estimate it as,” said Jones regarding how much of his own money he’s spent on the program.
But it’s not just a financial commitment for time spent and the commitment by athletes and their families is just as important and taxing.
Jones also had to combat the misperceptions of boys gymnastics held by parents who felt it was a sport for their daughters, not their sons.
This is especially true of Black families.
“I’ve found that Black families normally put their sons in gymnastics later in life because that’s what the son chooses. When the son is 6, 7 or 8, the parents are choosing their activities [football, baseball, basketball, track & field],” said Jones. “It’s normally that when they’re in their late teenage years, they say ‘hey, I really do want to try this,’ that their families listen to them.
“But at that point, it’s too late, because you cannot go back and develop an athlete at that age.”
Gymnastics begins at 4 or 5 years old, and by 6 or 7 years old, those athletes are in the best position to excel at the next level. That’s what makes it so different from other sports that competitors can pick up later in life.
That’s a primary reason why there haven’t been as many Black male star gymnasts as there have been female.
The biggest is probably Jair Lynch, who was a 2x Olympian for Team USA (1992, 1996). Lynch was the first male African-American gymnast to win an Olympic medal. Ironically, he medaled at the 1996 Games in Atlanta (silver, parallel bars), close to where Jones’ program is located.
There are others, such as Louis Smith and Fred Richard, but representation, popularity and success, especially on the world stage, for Black male gymnasts pales in comparison to the success by Black female gymnasts.
Yet despite the misunderstandings, false notions, lack of representation and frustrations, James persevered.
In the program’s six years, roughly 600 athletes have trained at the school, with an estimated 90% of them being boys. This past December, Jones said that he had approximately 50 athletes training at one time, which was the largest in the program’s history.
But this year, the program was told it could no longer use their location, which has left Jones scrambling to find a new facility while still training those who were preparing for upcoming competitions.
When we spoke at the end of July, the program was shutting down as their lease ended on August 1st. As of today, James hasn’t found a new location yet.
But the gymnastics community, the Black community and others have come together to spread the word about Jones’ program and his quest to find a new home so that Black boys can continue to train and compete in gymnastics.
And while he hasn’t found a new location yet, he remains as undeterred in his efforts as he was six years ago.
Hopefully, history repeats itself and James makes another turn that leads him to a new and better home so that Black boys can pursue their passion like Jones did.
And then maybe in the years to come, fans will have the opportunity to celebrate the next Black male Olympic gymnast, one who found success thanks to James Jones.
