Three cheers for Kandi Land

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FOCUS: BUSINESS, TRANSPORTATION & REAL ESTATE / SOUTH LAKE PRESS / FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2008
Three cheers
for Kandi Land
t 8 and living in Ohio,
Kandi
Blakeslee,
already could envision
what she wanted to do when
she grew up — to compete as
a gymnast and own a gym for
children.
Blakeslee, a competitive
gymnast as a child, always
had a passion for helping
other kids and, at 13, did so to
support her growth in the
sport.
“I taught classes for free. I
would teach a class to take a
class and started teaching
more to take more,” she said.
Blakeslee never pursued
professional
gymnastics
C M Y K
A
“I saw my cousin doing back flips and thought,
'Hey I want to be able to do that.’ And now I can.”
Tate Givens, 11
because of her height. At 5
feet 7 inches, she became a
cheerleader while earning
her physical education degree
at Ohio University.
While in college, Blakeslee
started a small business that
grew rapidly, teaching tumbling to local cheerleaders.
“It was then I decided God
had given me a gift, a passion
that I had to use. And so I
did,” Blakeslee said.
By 1997, Blakeslee moved
to Clermont and started a
mobile program, lugging
gymnastics equipment in the
back of her truck to gyms and
schools to give lessons.
Her truck let her work with
the little ones with a couple of
differences from what she'd
learned growing up — using a
non-competitive, more “canSee GYM, Page 6
Above: Ashley Olson, 10, practices a hand stand on Tuesday in
Clermont at Kandi Land gym. Blakeslee recently opened the gym to
teach kids gymnastics and cheerleading. Top: Tricia Moles, 10,
watches as instructor Kandi Blakeslee assists Amelina Larson, 9, on
the balance beam on Tuesday in Clermont. Blakeslee recently opened
Kandi Land gym to teach kids gymnastics and cheerleading.