WHO IS THE WMGF?
The Washington Men’s Gymnastics Foundation began in 1994 when then head coach Mark Russo recognized a financial and structural need that the University of Washington men’s gymnastics team was lacking. In 1980, the UW athletic department abruptly discontinued funding the men’s gymnastics program citing “budget cuts”. In reality, money was needed to increase spending on the football program to bring it to national prominence and to spend on increasing women’s sports opportunities (Title IX legislation).
Tremendous effort was spent on saving the program by a group of 8 gymnasts and their coach Jim Holt. The team began to fund itself by doing assorted jobs for the UW athletic department but only to a tune of about $25,000 per year which barely covered travel expenses. Much of the funds raised during the years from 1980 to 1994 were deposited into the Intramural department of the UW which governed the team during its beginning years as a self-funded entity. Often the team would have difficulty getting an accounting of the funds they raised and then to use the funds, much paperwork and bureaucracy was used to slow down our retrieval of the funds we ourselves had raised. Coach Mark Russo had much higher ambitions than the Intramural department would allow and also saw a need for the men’s program to raise significantly more funds so that the program could grow and be sustainable beyond his involvement. Both coaches Jim Holt (volunteered 9 years) and Mark Russo ( volunteered for 5 years) gave their time to keep the program alive and growing.
In 1994, Russo founded the Washington Men’s Gymnastics Foundation, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation. Russo formed the initial Board of officers with former gymnasts from the team and friends who wanted to see the program continue. Russo felt it was important to bring the founder of the original men’s team at the UW, Dr. Eric Hughes, into the fold of the WMGF. Hughes became a vital member of the WMGF bringing continuity and unification to the efforts to involve alumni from his coaching era with the current team.
During these beginning years of the WMGF, members identified important needs of the program such as paying a head coach and an assistant, funding equipment purchases, providing enough funds to cover practice facility rent, funds for team travel, recruiting and scholarships. Through the volunteered work of about 50 people over the years, all these funds have been raised yearly and the team has grown considerably. Currently, our efforts center on hosting age group competitions ( 2 to 3 per year), researching and planning for the organizational structure of the team and board of the WMGF and also renting out a gymnastics meet scoring system complete with the skilled labor to make it work.
We are valued member of the Pacific Northwest gymnastics community and look to enhance gymnastics here at the collegiate level for men but also to provide a rich gymnastics experience for all levels, boys and girls, at the age group level in all the competitions we host as well as the clinics and events we are involved with.