Name: Gymnastics school owner selling family home to try to keep gym open amid pandemic
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Gymnastics school owner selling family home to try to keep gym open amid pandemic

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Michelle Klimesh said that Diablo Gymnastics had its best financial year ever in 2019.2020 couldn’t look more different.Instead, the business owner is doing everything she can to keep the San Ramon business running, including selling her great-grandfather’s house in Iowa, which has been in her family for generations.“Thank God I was so financially conservative,” Klimesh said. “Most gymnastic schools are like restaurants, and if I had to guess they aren’t going to make it through the pandemic. Many were already in debt before this started.”Klimesh said she was lucky to have money in the bank when the pandemic hit, as well as a line of credit reserved for emergencies. She received a PPP loan in April, but since the gym hasn’t been able to reopen fully she’s not able to spend the allotted amount on payroll for it to be forgiven.She’s been able to use some of it on rent and keeping health care coverage for her employees, but she’s waiting to use the rest of it. Klimesh said she’s also negotiating with her landlord to delay a few rent payments, something she said she feels fortunate to be able to do since she has such a kind landlord.But now, she’s in debt, which she said she hates and has never experienced since she took over the gym in 1979. She began to look at her assets and knew it was time to sell the family house. She’s currently in Iowa fixing up the house, which was built in 1920, to put it on the market, and even if it doesn’t sell, she’ll start renting it.More for youThere’s also a running to benefit the gym, which she said her daughter encouraged her to start months ago, but she resisted. Her daughter, who also works for her, continued to pressure her and Klimesh said she finally decided that if things didn’t look like they were getting better by July 31, she’d relent.Her daughter set up the fundraiser on Aug. 1 and as of publishing, it had raised more than $30,000 of it’s $90,000 goal.“I finally gave up thinking I could fix this myself,” Klimesh said. “At some point, you have to ask for help. It’s not above me. Now I know I can already cover rent and healthcare for August.”She said she’s been overwhelmed by the support, receiving money from students she taught more than 30 years ago. “Kids I haven’t seen in 35 years are sending me money,” she said. “And they aren’t kids anymore they’re 50-year-old women. But they’re still teenagers in my mind. It’s been emotional to get back in touch with people.”Tessa McLean is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her at tessa.mclean@sfgate.com or follow her on Twitter @mcleantessa.

Michelle Klimesh said that Diablo Gymnastics had its best financial year ever in 2019.2020 couldn’t look more different.Instead, the business owner is doing everything she can to keep the San Ramon business running, including selling her great-grandfather’s house in Iowa, which has been in her family for generations.“Thank God I was so financially conservative,” Klimesh said. “Most gymnastic schools are like restaurants, and if I had to guess they aren’t going to make it through the pandemic. Many were already in debt before this started.”Klimesh said she was lucky to have money in the bank...

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Tessa McLean

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Gymnastics school owner selling family home to try to keep gym open amid pandemic

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