GALLERY: Cash and praise for coach at gym’s 30th celebration

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Aspire Kids Sports Center celebrated its 30th birthday with a bang — and a thump, and then another bang.
Those bangs and thumps are the sound of heavy mats being moved around Aspire’s west Chandler facility, or someone landing on one.

The Sept. 13 activity, quite heavy for a Saturday at the gym, was part of the business’s 30th anniversary, having been in the same specially constructed gym for the past 20.

Getting to three decades wasn’t easy, owner Scott Barclay told the hundreds of parents, family members and others who showed up Sept. 13 — but it was the young athletes who made it happen.

And since one of the two-decades-plus coaches on staff has a rare and incurable condition, the event was also a fundraiser and tribute for Rob Survick.

Survick spoke briefly in between performances by student gymnasts.
“I don’t feel sick,” said Survick, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2021.” Survick told the attendees. “All I feel is the love I’ve gotten from this community.”

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Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.