Julie and Dan Witenstein know something about teamwork. Not only have they been married for 29 years, but they have also been running Arizona Sunrays Gymnastics and Dance Center for the last 25.
As newlyweds, they had the opportunity to start a new business at a facility where Dan had been coaching gymnastics. His goal was to develop elite-level gymnasts in a way that he thought it could be done. They decided that they would give it a try for five years and see how it worked. That was 25 years and thousands of students ago, and they are still going strong.
Dan shares some of his tips for a successful business/marriage combination, “Being supportive of each other and the different aspects that we are both trying to accomplish. Originally it was me exclusively on the floor, coaching, and I had my blinders on to the rest. Julie was doing a great job at marketing and finding ways to get the business going. We’ve both grown so much through it all and the business has grown so much. We have grown together through the successes and struggles of running a business together.” Julie adds to this, “It’s exciting to have a project to work on together. We keep trying to be better in every aspect of our lives and in our business. Our professionalism continues to grow in training our staff and growing the programs that we offer our customers.”
Their staff is one of the reasons why both Julie and Dan enjoy coming to work every day and taking care of them is very important to the couple. They have office staff that have been with them for 25 years called “The Legends,” whose children, and now grandchildren, are in programs at the gym. “People see the same faces when they walk in the door,” says Julie.
Julie also enjoys when she sees her staff post on social media with “#ilovemyjob” or “#bestjobever.” She says, “We focus on our employee’s growth and security, and we have a great management team. We send them (and ourselves) to training and business development programs. We are working hard to make Arizona Sunrays one of the best places to work and an innovator in the industry.” They also try to grow with technology. Julie remembers when they got their first computer; now everything is online and they even have their own app.
Another source of joy in the workplace for the Arizona Sunrays staff is the kids. They currently have 1,800 kids participating in gymnastics, dance, afterschool, kid’s night out and camp programs. Julie says, “We’ve created a place where kids can come and experience childhood in the best physical way they can.” The youngest participants are only 6 months old and attend the baby gym and baby dance classes.
A new program offering is the Ninja Zone for boys ages 4-11, which combines gymnastics, martial arts and breakdancing. Also new is the preschool, bringing all the benefits of movement and education together. There are adult gym and dance classes too, including ballet and tap. And they have 150 students that are at the competitive gymnastics level.
Have they ever coached a gymnast that went on to the Olympics? “That is ‘the’ question that people always want to ask,” says Julie. The answer is no, but when you think of the odds, you understand why. “When you consider the Olympics come every four years, and there are five girls and five guys on the team, and more than 70,000 (just girls) are competing in gymnastics in the U.S. alone,” Dan explains, “We have had athletes competing for years on the U.S. National Team. This team represents the United States, competing around the world in international competitions.” Dan personally has coached, and traveled with, athletes competing in Japan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Sweden, Israel, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. The weekly practice schedule for the kids preparing for these national competitions include five to seven hours a day, five to six days a week; depending on how close they are to the competition.
Arizona Sunrays also hosts their own gymnastics invitational annually. In the beginning, it was small, held in their own gym, but over the years it has grown. For the past several years the Arizona Sunrays Classic Rock Gymnastics Invitational has been held at the Phoenix Convention Center with 1,500 competitors. Rock bands play all week and awards for this competition include electric guitars and leather jackets.
Arizona Sunrays hosts another popular event along with their neighbor, Hubbard Family Swim School. The Swim and Gym Festival offers free gymnastics and dance classes along with free family swim time. Other activities include food, bounce houses, a DJ and local vendors. All the donations accepted that day go to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Their goal is $10,000 in donations at this event and they have reached it the last several years. Another way that Julie and Dan have given back to the community is in the form of hundreds of thousands of dollars in free classes they have donated over the years. “We are happy to provide that opportunity to the community,” says Julie.
They are long-time members of Beth El Congregation, where Julie serves on the board. Dan also served on the board for a short time. Their son and two daughters had their b’nai mitzvah ceremonies there. They provide silent auction items to many Jewish organizations in the Valley and the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center camp takes field trips to their facilities. Dan has also represented the United States as the head coach at the Maccabi Games in Israel in 1989 and the Pan Am Maccabi Games in Chile in 2004.
Even though Arizona Sunrays just celebrated its 25th anniversary, the Witensteins have no plans to slow down. “We are going to be around for a long time, developing, growing and striving to be the best we can be in all the programs that we offer,” says Julie. They are starting to see the second generation of students coming to their gym. “It’s fun, especially when the kids look like their parents. We have that memory of their mom or dad running about the gym,” reflects Julie.
The impact that Arizona Sunrays has had on the community is evident by a recent chance meeting that Julie had at the bank. She was wearing an Arizona Sunrays T-shirt and the woman asked her if that was “the place up the street?” When Julie said yes, the woman thanked her for still being there and went on to explain that her daughter had taken lessons 20 years ago and is still involved in dance. She explained that because of what her daughter learned at Arizona Sunrays, she loved it and wanted to keep that movement in her life, so she became a fitness instructor.
That’s just one story of the many positive impacts the Arizona Sunrays staff makes every day. “We continue to be grateful to the community for trusting Arizona Sunrays with their most valuable possessions,” says Julie. As their mission statement says, “We are families serving families!” With the team of Julie and Dan leading the way.
