In the upcoming school year, gymnastics will no longer be a WPIAL sport.
This decision was announced in a WPIAL email, Athletic Director Anthony Cherico said.
“Acquiring gymnasiums to host the championships and equipment have been issues over the past several seasons,” the WPIAL email said. “Also, the PIAA does not sponsor gymnastics, and that is why we as a district exist – to send qualifiers to the PIAA to compete for a PIAA championship.”
Gymnastics programs mostly have been run by each participating high school, with some assistance from WPIAL, so Cherico does not see this having a major impact on the program.
“Really, the only difference was that WPIAL provided a section schedule just like they do for their other sports, and then they hosted the championship,” Cherico said.
Given the lack of future WPIAL involvement, there is a group of local coaches looking at creating a new league, Cherico said.
“They plan on creating their own championship,” Cherico said. “It just won’t be called a WPIAL championship. Then the (teams and gymnasts) that meet the expectations there will move on to that state meet,” he said, referring to the PA State Classic Gymnastics program that teams have been participating in.
But junior Charlotte Fauls believes that the WPIAL decision might deter future involvement in Baldwin’s gymnastics program.
“People might not want to compete anymore because it’s not for any WPIAL championship, and they don’t want to do it if it’s not for anything,” Fauls said.
