It’s no secret that Jersey City is a great place to raise a family. This is one of the main reasons I moved here almost a decade ago; the beautiful parks, delicious restaurants, easy commute to the city, but most importantly, the amazing community we have here. As a parent, having options and things to do with your kid after school/camp is so important! I didn’t realize how much energy these little beings have until I became a mom!
The Little Gym in Jersey City recently opened, and me and my mini were invited to try out a class. I had the chance to sit down with owners and parents Danielle and Tim.
After class, Mia and I were EXHAUSTED.
Mission accomplished.
What are your names?
Tim Sporcic and Danielle Sporcic.
What do you guys do?
Danielle: We own The Little Gym in Jersey City! We offer a three-dimensional gymnastics program where children are not only working on their physical ability, but also their cognitive and social abilities. Every single class, the children are learning so many different things. The goal is to help children build up their self-esteem and self-confidence (among other things) through gymnastics. Tim helps out when he can because he still has his full-time job in the city.
That’s awesome. How did you get into it?
Danielle: I was working in Securities Regulation and never thought in a million years that I would not have a desk job. We both went to law school and spent years in an office setting. When our son was born and I was on maternity leave, I would take him around to different places and was surprised at the lack of extracurricular options for families in our area that incorporate fun with serious learning. After attending a local class, a lightbulb went off in my head and I immediately went home and got to work.
So, now how did we get into The Little Gym specifically? I was a competitive cheerleader and gymnast most of my young life and the family of one of my old teammates owns The Little Gym of Wayne so I was familiar with the brand and program. After attending classes with our son, we felt that it was exactly what was missing in Jersey City.
Starting a business is very stressful, but we have so much fun every day and it truly feels right. The kids come in and they may be shy or apprehensive the first time – it happens all the time. Our favorite thing is, kids will come in the first time and be afraid to try something or say “I can’t do this,” and then by the next class, they’re like, “I did it!” I get goosebumps thinking about it because it happens so often and feels so good.
Tim: It’s a great feeling to see little ones always achieve something and push themselves forward.
It’s so much better. It’s stressful dealing with kids, but it’s a more of positive environment than dealing with adults who are serious all the time, especially in the business world.
Danielle: Right. It’s super positive, and then obviously the other reason for opening this is wanting to spend more time with my son. Even though now with starting a new business, we’re working crazy hours, he loves being here and he’s here as much as we can have him. It’s proof of concept to us because we’ve seen him flourish in this environment, which is amazing to see.
Can you tell me a little but more about the different classes and programs?
Danielle: We offer age appropriate 3-dimensional gymnastics programs for children 4 months old to 12 years old – so your children can grow with us for over a decade! Our 4 to 10-month olds are grouped together, 10 to 19 months, 19 months to 2 years old; then we have our Super Beasts, and those are 2 1/2 to 3, 3 to 4… We keep them within their age groups because we find that there’s so many developments happening at each stage that it just creates a better learning environment for the kids when they’re with their own age group. We also have practice times for the kids where they get to spend additional time in the gym with an instructor to practice and reinforce the skills they’re learning in their weekly class.
Another awesome thing about our curriculum is that every week is a different theme and our curriculum is split up into learning units, so every 3-4 weeks is a different learning unit. We’re covering something specific each time and, within each learning unit, we have a different theme. The theme this week is Pajama Party and kids are getting creative while working on their gymnastics skills. In our grade school program, for example, we’re working on our lower body this week, so every week is a different experience. We like to keep it fresh; we change the setup of our equipment every single week. We also pride ourselves on cleanliness; we deep clean everything every single day.
Which is so important because in the kid world, there are so many germs passed around.
When the babies use the shakers, they’re getting disinfected even in between class. If they use the shakers in the beginning of class and need them again at the end of class, they’re cleaned. Cleanliness is a big deal to me and it’s something most places don’t do.
Tim: Everything’s green-oriented, so we use plant-based cleaning products. For birthday parties, we provide biodegradable utensils. We compost. We try to make a limited impact on the environment with everything we do.
You guys do birthday parties, too?
Danielle: Yes. Our birthday parties have been really popular so far. We can tailor the experience, depending on the theme of the child’s birthday party. It’s super fun, from a first birthday to a 12th birthday.
That’s awesome. Do you guys live in Jersey City?
Yes.
How long have you guys been here?
7 years.
Where did you guys live before?
Danielle: Union City. Tim is from Nebraska, we met in college.
How long have you guys been together?
Tim: 10 years in May 2020.
How’s it been for you, do you help out a lot?
Tim: Yeah, I teach a class on Thursdays.
Danielle: It’s actually sold out!
Tim: I have the heart of a kid on the inside. I go a little crazy in there, especially after working my desk job. It helps blow some steam off. Then when you see the kids achieve things, it’s rewarding.
Do you guys have a favorite hangout spot in Jersey City?
Danielle: In terms of food, we love Roman Nose.
Tim: Tacoria is pretty good.
Danielle: We’re not really bar people, especially now that we have a kid.
How is it raising your son here in Jersey City? How do you feel the city is with families?
We’ve been here long enough so we’ve seen quite a bit of a transformation. We love it here. The fact that there is so much culture and that we can walk anywhere and there’s so many families, food, activities. So much to do.
Tim: It’s a diverse group of people, so your kids are exposed to so many more things about the world. Living in other parts of the state or the country, they may not be able to get that experience.
[to Danielle] Oh, she should probably do her closing remarks.
[to Lynn] Sorry, after each class, we do an ending announcement to tell parents what we’ve worked on and why we’re working on it.
Danielle: Yeah, for the pre-K and grade school classes, since the parents are outside, we swap and someone comes outside to tell the parents exactly what we worked on. If you’re just looking through the glass, you might just see kids running around and not understand what the lesson is, and the parents really appreciate that.
It’s funny, they’re all sitting there, chilling. Do you guys do drop offs?
We don’t do drop offs. We get a lot of questions about that. We don’t do drop offs because there’s no real benefit to dropping off your kid somewhere. We’re Serious Fun at The Little Gym. The kids come here to have fun, but there’s a serious aspect to it, too, because they come to learn and grow skills. What we find is that if someone just drops in, the kids are so overwhelmed by the experience that it’s a distraction to the class and also doesn’t give them the opportunity to grow. During the first visit, we’re assessing the child’s skill level. Our instruction is individualized for each child because not every 4-year-old or every 5-year-old is going to be at the same level. Everyone develops at different rates. When the child comes in, we’re getting to know them and assessing their skills. Every week, they’re coming in and becoming more confident and building their self-esteem. That’s really the goal of The Little Gym – we’re non-competitive, the kids come in here and it’s a safe place for them to make mistakes. We want them to grow and be their best selves.
Tim: And it’s not just physical; as we said, it’s three-dimensional. Physical, social, and cognitive.
Danielle: Our 3-D learning is Get Moving, which is physical; Brain Boost, which is cognitive; and Citizen Kid, which is the social aspect of it. They all make friends and get comfortable with us.
That’s good, they also get to meet other kids who aren’t in their classes. Is there anything else you want people to know about the Little Gym?
The three-dimensional aspect is so important. The other thing that’s great about us is that we’re extremely selective in terms of hiring. We bring in professionals, so everyone who works with us is either a child expert, has a background in education, or has worked with children in the past. We really take it seriously; this isn’t the type of place where no one knows what they’re talking about. And also the training they have to go through. It’s a really professional environment, but it’s also super fun and we really are trying to establish ourselves as the best in Hudson County (and abroad).
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