Sometimes dreams do come true

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 9, 2005

CHESAPEAKE - Jill Riley is proof that dreams do come true - as her dream became reality when Jill's Tumble World celebrated the grand opening of its new facility on Sunday.

&#8220It's a dream come true for me and the kids,” Riley said.

The new facility is 8,000 square-feet with a 54-foot-by-42-foot spring floor, a 42-by-42 cheer floor, 20-foot-by-20-foot foam block pits, two in-ground trampolines and a 40-foot running trampoline. Riley also plans to add a cheer store and tanning beds to the facility soon.

Email newsletter signup

Another interesting addition to the new facility is the huge &#8220Dream Screen” Riley has installed where the Tumble World Dreams can watch videos of themselves. Riley said the videos allow performers to see how they look, what they can improve on and what they can do as a team.

&#8220We saw our team in its last competition in Columbus,” Jenna Fulks, Dream Cheerleader said.

Fulks said the screen was much bigger than she expected and she enjoyed watching her team's performance on it. She was very excited about being in the new facility and the new equipment.

&#8220It's awesome,” she said. &#8220It's got more stuff than it did last time and it is huge.”

Riley decided to build the new facility after they outgrew the previous location in the Chesapeake Plaza. Before moving they had close to 400 tumbling students and 170 all star cheerleaders who occupied the previous 2,700 square-foot building.

Both cheerleaders and tumblers at Jill's are enjoying the new facility and all it has to offer them, but among all the new and exciting features, students still share the same feelings about Riley and the coaching staff as before.

&#8220Jill and the coaches are really nice,” tumbler Jordan Taylor said.

Taylor said she is enjoying taking classes in the new building and she thinks it is really big which gives the students more room to tumble.

It is evident how Riley feels about the completion of the new facility as she shared her feelings in a poem which she read at the grand opening ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

&#8220The frame on which you stand is so strong outside,” Riley writes in literature for the business. &#8220But the heart is the children that hold the walls inside. … Just a large open space to many you may seem, but you are so much more to those with a dream.”