Crew Bold, 14, practices at Twisters Gymnastics in Boca Raton. He placed sixth all-around
in his group in May at the Junior Olympics nationals.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Pike
The lean frame, tan and flowing blond hair give Crew Bold the ideal South Florida “surfer boy’’ look. Indeed, the 14-year-old Delray Beach resident does spend some time on the long boards, short boards and boogie boards on the area’s beaches. But if you want to find him, you’d best look inside — at the Boca Twisters practice facility on Northwest Boca Raton Boulevard, where Bold is developing into one of the nation’s top junior gymnasts.
This past May, Bold, a freshman at Boca Raton High School, used a second-place finish on the rings and fifth-place finish in the floor exercise to tie for sixth place all-around among Level 9 13-year olds at the Junior Olympics National Championships in Daytona Beach. For Bold, that success was just another step — or perhaps vault — in an already seven-year career that started with flips in his front yard.
“My parents didn’t want me getting hurt, so they put me in gymnastics when I was 7,’’ said Bold, who has two older brothers and a younger sister. “I ended up being pretty good at it.’’
So good, in fact, that the sport basically has taken over his life outside of school. Bold, who is 5-feet-4 and weighs 118 pounds, spends the better part of five hours a night, five days per week working on his six routines — rings, floor exercise, pommel horse, high bar, vault and parallel bars.
“I think I’m very good at the high bar, but I’m an all-around gymnast,’’ Bold said.
He’s also a leader in the Boca Twisters gym, a reflection of his talent, dedication and maturity — on and off the mats.
“I was a gymnast and people told me I was mature for my age,” said Shane Cummings, a coach at Boca Twisters who has judged many of Bold’s state competitions. “With Crew, it’s the same thing. He’s always kind of been a leader of the group, even if he wasn’t the oldest.
He doesn’t fool around in practice. He has his goals — he wants to be in the Olympics. He wants to be great and he knows what it takes and he knows he has to work hard. He definitely shows that in practice.”
From a judge’s perspective, Cummings said, Bold is toward the top tier of gymnasts his age in the country.
“The skills (routines) that he does are difficult for kids his age,” he said. “You normally see them for kids who have more body strength and with kids whose bodies are more developed.”
Bold’s movements and confidence in the gym show that he likely could be an outstanding athlete in any sport — he played soccer in his younger days and did flips after each time he scored a goal — but gymnastics is the sport that calls his soul.
While many boys his age look up to the likes of NBA stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Bold’s heroes include U.S. Gymnastics team members Jake Dalton and Danell Leyva, the latter of whom lives in Homestead.
“I think I’d be good at other sports, but gymnastics has taken over my life,’’ Bold said. “I don’t really have any interest to do other things. When I was 9 or 10 years old, people told me I was a freak of nature.’’
Most kids that age would take the remark as an insult, but to Bold, it was — and remains — a badge of honor.
“It’s something you have to be born with,’’ he said. “Gymnastics is a crazy experience. It takes a lot of training and focus. I guess I was born to be an athlete and chose to be a gymnast.’’
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