Last month, six athletes from the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation (WHGF) in Harlem competed in the USA Gymnastics Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota, including 18-year-old BJ Mensah, the son of the foundation’s founder and CEO Wendy Hilliard. Mensah earned a spot on the senior national tumbling team as well as a No. 4 ranking among the eight members on the men’s senior national squad.
Seventeen year-old ZaQuae Carter of the WHGF, an alternate on the 2023 World Championships Team, captured a gold medal in the 17-and-up Double Mini in the USA Gymnastics Championships. Meanwhile, WHGF’s Phoenix Britt, 17, earned a silver medal in the women’s open double mini trampoline competition. The Stony Point, New York, native will begin her freshman year at Arizona State University this fall as a member of the school’s stunt team.
Future champions are now gaining hands-on instruction at the WHGF annual summer camp in Harlem at the HCZ Armory, located at 40 West 143rd Street. The camp began on July 8 and runs through August 2, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for boys and girls ages 7 to 17. Students will train in various disciplines, and experience cultural trips and other activities in line with the foundation’s mission of empowering the lives of young people from underserved communities by improving physical and emotional health through the sport of gymnastics.
“Whether athletes and their families decide to take our single-, two-, three-, or four-week options for summer camp, it is sure to be a positive and beneficial experience,” said Hilliard.For more information, visit the following website: https://wendyhilliard.org/what-we-do/summer-camp/. You can also email: jocelyn@wendyhilliardfoundation.org or call 212-316-0315.