Helena gymnastics camp draws more than 70 young athletes

More than 70 young gymnasts from Montana and the Northwest spent the week at Gym406 in Helena, turning the city into a regional stop for a sport that often sends athletes far from home for serious training. The fifth annual Men’s Regional Gymnastic Camp drew boys who normally would have to travel to larger metro areas, or even out of state, to get comparable coaching.

Gym406 said the camp was open only to competitive boys gymnasts in levels 4 through 10, and required campers to have at least one year of Level 3 competition behind them while training toward Level 4 in the 2026-2027 season. Athletes worked through all six men’s events with coaches who came from national and collegiate backgrounds, giving Helena families access to instruction that is usually concentrated in much larger gymnastics markets.

One of the featured coaches was Sergei Pakanich, a former gymnast who now coaches at EVO Gymnastics in Sarasota, Florida, an elite men’s program. Pakanich said he wanted to bring knowledge from a high-level program to young athletes in Montana, and argued that camps like this can help grow the sport by creating more coaches and strengthening the local gymnastics community over time.

The camp also underscored the cost gap that still shadows boys gymnastics in Montana. Dean and Kristi Roberts sponsored the event, helping make it more affordable and accessible for families that might otherwise face airfare, hotel bills and long drives to find similar instruction. In a previous Helena-area interview, Dean Roberts said Montana had a “pretty robust boys and men’s gymnastics program in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” but that it has declined since then, which is part of why low-cost access matters.

That history runs deep at Gym406. The gym says its boys team has been fielded since 1979, making it one of the longest-running boys programs in the Northwest. Gym406 was founded in Helena in 1989 by Denny and Betsy Allen, then purchased by Casey and Cari Hammond in September 2021. Under the Hammonds, the camp has grown through word of mouth and community support into a draw that reaches well beyond Lewis and Clark County.

A 2024 Helena-area camp brought in roughly 75 boys ages 6 to 18 at no cost, showing the demand already exists when barriers come down. With Region 2 stretching from Alaska, Colorado and Iowa to Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming, Helena is increasingly serving as a gathering point for a niche sport that many states struggle to sustain.