AUGUSTA — Maine gymnasts hit the mats on Saturday for a great cause.
Decal Gymnastics of Augusta and Oakland hosted its sixth annual invitational meet at the Augusta Armory.
It’s also the sixth straight year Decal has used the proceeds of the event — titled “Never Give Up, Never Quit” — to help the Travis Mills Foundation, which supports wounded veterans through various programs, including a retreat in Belgrade Lakes. All proceeds from the event — the gate, concessions, 50/50 raffle money — goes toward the foundation.
“We used to host a bunch of meets, and the 50/50 (raffles) at the meets started getting into the hundreds (of dollars),” Decal co-owner Delani Sher said. “We never kept it. We always donated it to a family (in need), a family’s family, whoever. My mom (Decal owner Carol Brewer-Hamilton) wanted to do a non-profit meet. The idea was like, ‘What do you do it for?’ And at the same time, we had just met Travis and this is what it turned into.”
Decal even managed to host the event during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, holding a virtual meet with teams from Michigan, Nebraska and California, which Sher said raised $15,000 for the foundation.
“It’s been great,” Sher said. “We have a lot of families with either prior military (service), or (members) currently serving. It just felt like the right (partnership). And it’s local. It felt right for us.”
This year, teams throughout Maine — as far south as Biddeford and as far north as Old Town — took part in the three-day event, which included gymnasts of elementary school age through high school. For Skowhegan Area High School senior Leanna Breard, it made for a long weekend. Breard coaches and competes for Decal.
Skowhegan senior Leanna Breard performs her floor exercise routine during the Never Give Up, Never Quit Gymnastics Invitational on Saturday in Augusta. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal
“It’s honestly a good way to motivate yourself to go out and compete,” Breard said. “It’s an easy way to know I have to give (the younger gymnasts) motivation, and it just gives me more motivation to want to go out there and do (well).”
The best example of the “Never Give Up, Never Quit” title of the weekend may have been Decal gymnast Erin Fontaine. A senior at Erskine Academy, the weekend was the end of a career that started at the age of 6.
“It’s been a roller-coaster of a week,” Fontaine said. “When I was little, I planned to go to college gymnastics. I was pretty good, but I had to take a lot of steps back for my health.”
Fontaine has fought through six concussions and post-concussion symptoms. She injured her left foot by accidentally dropping a 45-pound plate on it days before, but was still determined to perform one last time.
Erskine Academy senior Erin Fontaine performs her floor exercise routine during the Never Give Up, Never Quit Gymnastics Invitational on Saturday in Augusta. Dave Dyer/Kennebec Journal
“I had to cut back from 20-30 hours a week (of training) to four or five, I had to cut back a lot,” Fontaine said. “Just from the dizziness, headaches, everything. It’s been going on for two or three years.
“It’s rough, it’s exciting but it’s definitely going to be weird (to no longer compete),” Fontaine continued. “Gymnastics has always been a part of my life. These coaches, this place. I’ll always stop in, it’s part of my family… It’s more than just a sport, it’s really like a family.”
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