Katie Yoder is a few short, but extraordinarily busy, weeks from crossing a mighty to-do item from her bucket list.
Yoder seeks to open 620 Athletics in Iola by mid-April, fulfilling her lifelong dream of having a full-scale gymnastics facility.
The new center, at 224 S. Jefferson, occupies the building that formerly housed Copy Products, Inc., which recently moved to a smaller venue on Madison Avenue.
Yoder, a Colorado native who moved to southeast Kansas about five years ago, has since 2018 ran All-Star Gymnastics in downtown Garnett, instructing 65 youngsters ranging from 2 to 15 years.
“The problem is we’ve well outgrown that (Garnett) building,” Yoder explained. “I think it took us about three years to find a building, which is harder than you think. The big issue is you need ceiling height and expansive space.”
Since mid-January, Yoder has worked feverishly to convert the old copier sales office into a fully functioning gymnasium. (The building originally was a garage and auto sales building).
At 6,800 square feet, her new gym is spacious enough to have dedicated areas for each of the four types of classes.
“I’ve got boxes of equipment here, I have boxes at my parents’, I have a trailer at my house, all just waiting to be unloaded here,” she chuckled.
Her building is much more than a simple gymnasium, however.
The front will include a dedicated pro shop, selling such things as leotards and other accessories, a waiting area for students, an office and a viewing area for parents, including closed-circuit televisions to watch such things as the uneven bars practices.
Roughly three-quarters of the building will be the workout area.
“Right now, it’s full of junk, but honestly, we don’t have a ton more to do,” she said. 
Most of the work now consists of painting, adding a second fire exit door and then setting up furniture and the work stations.
“I had scheduled a grand opening for March 25, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” she said. “It’ll probably be closer to mid-April.”
On top of spending pretty much every spare moment getting her building in place, Yoder still is holding regular classes daily for her students, while preparing them for their regular weekend competitions scattered across the state.
On Saturday, they were in Olathe. They were in Wichita in mid-January, then Tulsa and Bartlesville. In the coming weeks, her gymnasts will be in Wamego, Great Bend and then in Garden City for the state competition. A regional meet in Gardner is later this spring, and qualifiers will be headed to nationals in Orlando in late June.
