How Dr. Freddy Behin’s Gymnastics World Empowers Young Gymnasts to Flip with Confidence and Precision

Gymnastics World has grown around founder Dr. Freddy Behin’s belief that athletic development is equal parts mind and body. Shaped by decades of experience, both as a gymnast and a multi-sport athlete, he attributes his own success to the discipline he learned early on. What he brings to his gym today, as he says, is a deep understanding of how young athletes learn and grow. “I’ve done lots of sports,” he says. “And everything I touched, I was really good at. I attribute that completely to the gymnastics mindset, because I didn’t just wait for things to happen. I knew how to cut through.”

Dr. Behin began Gymnastics World with a goal to create a place where athletes could learn the sport the right way. In his view, gymnastics requires a unique kind of neuromuscular connection because many of the movements defy the body’s natural instincts. 

He believes that going upside down, flipping, or landing on one’s arms are motions the brain typically resists. “That connection has to be built correctly first and then reinforced,” he says. It’s why he focuses on what he calls “the right numbers.” As he says in his book, repetition alone is not progress. “If they do 10 turns and nine are wrong, their body can reinforce the wrong connection,” he says. “If they do something five times and all five are perfect, that beats someone who does it a hundred times where 90 are not right.”

Along with precision, Dr. Behin holds awareness and consistency as the pivotal pedestals that carry an athlete through the one opportunity they have on competition floors. “You have to be aware of what you’re doing,” he says. “And that takes time. You only get one chance, and you don’t get to repeat it. It’s important to make your first landing the right one, and that can’t be left to serendipity.” 

Gymnastics World’s environment is built to support that level of training. With high-performance athletes putting significant pressure on equipment, Dr. Behin aims to maintain Olympic-caliber standards. “Most competitions might have brand new equipment,” he notes. “If you’ve trained on something outdated, the feel is different.”

He emphasizes his recent investment in acquiring new bars, springboards, and mats, reinforcing his commitment to reinvesting in the gym to help ensure both safety and performance readiness. The facility, Dr. Behin notes, also features a large foam pit, complete with an integrated trampoline, to create a safe space for younger gymnasts, supporting them to develop movement with confidence.

“Children like to be free and run around, and we allow them the space for that. But that can quickly turn topsy-turvy for when coaches struggle to control them,” he says. To manage that, the gym holds Mommy & Me classes, which begin at the age of two, designed to help toddlers become familiar with equipment and movement. 

At three, he notes that children are introduced to foundational gymnastics skills, and from there they can progress through recreational levels until age seven. While most gyms focus on girls’ programs, Gymnastics World offers boys’ programs as well, where at age seven, they’re split into their respective apparatus. Gymnastics World also offers a competitive team program and a weekly adult class designed with supervision and safety in mind. “We don’t do open gyms,” Dr. Behin says. “Adults can often get hurt more easily, and someone needs to be there to supervise. Safety has to come first.”

While the programs and the gym’s operations focus on technical efficiency, they also bring human-centeredness into the picture. Dr. Behin notes that he teaches his staff to remove the gymnastics component from the equation and focus on the individual standing in front of them. “You’re coaching a human being,” he says. “Every emotion they feel, fear, excitement, frustration, is an opportunity to help them build something in their psyche.” He believes that good coaching begins with understanding that no two children learn the same way. 

“Some absorb skills quickly, while others may need months. Some respond to gentle encouragement, while others thrive when challenged directly,” he adds. His expectation is that coaches adapt, listen, and create an environment where students feel physically and emotionally safe.

“Gymnastics can push you to overcome a lot of your fears, often by facing them,” he says. He sees this as a central part of the sport’s value. “Once you salute at a competition, no one can help you. It’s all you,” he explains, emphasizing that this process can build self-confidence and resilience that carry far beyond the gym walls. 

Gymnastics World, ultimately, operates on the premise that discipline must coexist with joy, and that young athletes should leave each class feeling challenged and empowered. “A coach needs to believe in the kid more than the kid believes in themselves,” Dr. Behin says. It is this perspective that defines the culture at Gymnastics World, giving children a renewed sense of vitality and flexibility, one cartwheel at a time.