Gymkana's Got Talent

University of Maryland’s own Gymkana troupe displays their fierce acrobatic skills on live television tonight on America’s Got Talent (on NBC at 9 PM EST). Vaulting through rings of fire, balancing from ladders several stories high, and other circus-like feats are second nature for the gymnastics troupe, but it will be the first time in Gymkana’s 65-year history that they compete in a television talent competition.

Gymkana was selected to be one of 12 finalists in the America’s Got Talent YouTube competition, edging out almost 10,000 other acts who submitted audition videos. If chosen by viewers to continue on in the competition, the University of Maryland School of Public Health troupe will face 24 other hopeful stars, including singers, dancers, comedians, magicians, and assorted daredevils, in the show’s semi-final competition and have a chance at winning the one million dollar prize.

University of Maryland students, alumni, and friends should recognize Gymkana for their impressive half-time shows at basketball games and campus events like Maryland Day in which student-athletes perform crowd-pleasing gymnastic routines infused with extreme acrobatics. But Gymkana is perhaps best known and loved by the thousands of children who they have inspired with their performances and messages about healthy living brought to area schools.

Based in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, the group acts as “ambassadors of healthy living” to young people and models healthy behaviors by pledging to remain drug, alcohol, and tobacco free and cooperating to accomplish challenging physical feats. They regularly perform shows for elementary, middle, and high schools in the Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia region and mentor kids ages 5-16 through gymnastics classes and a six-week camp each summer.

“We’re very proud of our Gymkana troupe for their positive outreach to kids,” says Dean Robert S. Gold of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. “Some of the students who have participated in Gymkana were first introduced to them as elementary school children. Their act leaves a lasting impression and fits with the School of Public Health’s commitment to promoting – and modeling – health throughout the lifespan."

Gymkana director and head coach Scott Welsh, himself a Gymkana alumnus, is proud that the troupe offers a great sense of community for its University of Maryland student-athletes and sees how their hard work pays off in increased confidence.

“Gymkana's philosophy is that anyone can learn gymnastics regardless of experience or abilities, so membership is open to students of all abilities and backgrounds,” Welsh says. “Some in our troupe have previous gymnastics training, but we are proud to have students of diverse body types. You don’t have to look like a stereotypical gymnast to do this.”

“Flipping in a leotard in front of thousands of people has a way of erasing insecurities about physical appearance,” says Warren Hull, a recent electrical engineering graduate from Hyde, Md., of the way that his membership in Gymkana has changed how he feels about himself.

Make that millions of people. No matter the outcome of the America’s Got Talent competition, Gymkana may reach and inspire more young people than they ever thought possible. And as Orsam “Sami” Ahmed, a 21-year old Kinesiology major and Gymkana member from Glenn Dale, MD, says of their influence on elementary school kids, “Even if I were to mess up and fall doing a flip, they still think it’s so cool and go home with the message of living healthy. That’s what I like most about being in Gymkana.”

Watch America’s Got Talent tonight (8/9) on NBC from 9-11 p.m. Visit nbc.com and vote for Gymkana (up to 10 times) between 10:55 p.m. and 1 a.m. EST. (8/9). Learn more about Gymkana.

Contact Kelly Blake, School of Public Health Communications Director, kellyb@umd.edu, 301-405-9418 for more information or for media interviews.