By JAMES BESSETTE

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

WEST WARWICK — When he started the boys’ gymnastics program at Miller Gymnastics two years ago, owner and coach Tom Miller wanted to give the kids within the area another option, especially in a sports-dominated town.

But, to Miller’s pleasant surprise, he received more than just a slight return on his investment two weeks ago in Willmington, Mass.

It was there at the Legends Boys Holiday Invitational – one of the premier youth competitions in the region – where three local prodigies, who train four nights a week at the facility located at 770 Main St., reached elite status.

With only a team of three up against squads of 20-plus from all around New England, Miller Gymnastics shocked everyone at Legends Gymnastics at the two-day long tournament by clinching first overall with a score of 269.300, almost 10 points better than runner-up New England Gymnastics Training Center of Hudson, N.H. (259.850).

“This was by far, for New England competition, very, very good,” Miller, who was a seven-time Regional gymnastics champion and coach at Brown University, said of his boys’ program. “This is very rare that you would see something of this nature.”

The highlight of Miller’s success two weekends ago was the stellar performance of nine-year old Nicholas Gessner. The Coventry native was a la Michael Phelps at the Holiday Invitational, taking home a Gold medal from every event – Floor, Pommel, Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, High Bar and All-Around – a feat that included Gessner recording a perfect score of 16.00 on the Parallel Bars.

“It was awesome,” Gessner said with a smile. “I never thought I would do anything like that.”

Eight-year old Andrew Salisbury of Cranston was a close second in all seven events, including the All-Around. So close that he finished tied with his fellow teammate in the Rings with a score of 15.40.

“I’ve never won this many medals before,” Salisbury said, while looking down at his seven Silver medals around his neck. “This is cool.”

Nine-year old Brennon Huff of Hope rounded out the winning performance for Miller Gymnastics when he took home a pair of Bronze medals in the Vault (14.90) and in the High Bar (15.00) and finished tied for fourth in the All-Around at 84.30 with Ian Christiansen of NEGTC.

At first, according to Gessner, Salisbury and Huff, there were quite a bit of nerves heading into the event because of the size of the event, itself, as well as the size of the crowd that was present.

But, once they began their routines, and also began having medals draped around their necks, all of the nerves became obsolete.

“We couldn’t believe how many people were there,” Huff said in describing the event. “There were so many. But, once we started, nothing bothered us. We now feel we can do anything.”

All three boys received an abundance of tutelage from both Miller, as well as fellow coach Yuri Allakhverdov, who, in his 45 years of experience, was a coach for the former Soviet Union squad and also gave pointers to gymnasts during the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games.

At first, trying to sell gymnastics to boys in a town where basketball, football and baseball are king was a bit challenging for Miller. He also added that the biggest hit that he takes in dealing with boys is the conflict of schedules with baseball.

However, Miller believes that gymnastics is “the perfect cross-training sport” where one can develop strength throughout the body, as well as flexibility and agility that are required to either dive for a ground ball at shortstop or make a cross-over dribble in order to penetrate the paint for a lay-up.

“We encourage those boys to come down here and get their strength, their flexibility and coordination, as well as endurance,” Miller said. “All those things are involved with gymnastics and if they want to get back into doing their sports (basketball, football, etc.), that’s fine. This is great for the off-season.

“But, we have to somehow show the boys that gymnastics is not a girl sport, but actually a boys and girls sport. From there, when they see what these boys can do, they’re amazed.”

Miller also said that there were a couple of instances where kids have come down to train in gymnastics and liked the sport to the point where they’ve given up the soccer cleats or the basketball shoes and opted to swing around on rings and bars suspended in the air.

Plus, with the recent success that Gessner, Salisbury and Huff achieved in Massachusetts, as well as parents and other locals spreading the word, Miller hopes that a turnout for boys at the gym will increase even more.

“People are starting to see them now,” Miller said, “and seeing how good these boys are doing and they’re spreading the word. Family members and club members are saying ‘hey, they have boys gymnastics here.’ Because they’re saying that, they’re getting more people interested in it.”