Brantford Gymnastics Academy closing due to pandemic

Brantford gymnastics club closes for good From CTV Kitchener's Stephanie Villella: A gymnastics club in Brantford has closed for good due to the pandemic.

BRANTFORD — The Brantford Gymnastics Academy (BGA) is closing its doors due to the pandemic.

In a email sent to its members on Monday, the academy said “unfortunately due to all the lockdowns/red zone restrictions, etc., we have reached the decision that the BGA will no longer operate after the lockdown. We are very thankful for your support over the years and very sorry for the inconvenience!”

In a statement to CTV Kitchener, the gym's owner said they decided to sell the building "due to all COVID ongoing restrictions." However, they "still have the BGA" and may open in another locaion if they "can downsize and start from there."

Gymnastics Ontario is also selling the BGA’s equipment on its website.

Aimee Devereux’s five-year-old daughter, Amaya McPherson, has been a student at the BGA for two years. She calls the closure shocking and upsetting.

“It was not fun telling her," Devereux said. "We’re trying to find something fun to do and we tell her ‘yay’ gets all excited to go and then ‘oh sorry we’re not doing that anymore, it’s closed’.”

McPherson said she is going to miss seeing her teachers and learning new tricks.

“All of the fun times I had, just running around and having fun. Now I’ll never get to see my teachers again,” she said.

Devereux said the BGA will be refunding her money.

This isn’t the first time the BGA was faced with a loss. In 2016, a fire ripped through the building, destroying the facility and all of its equipment.