See World Talent At Aloha Gymfest

The Kokokahi Gymnastics Team (above), striking a local beachside pose, will host its 38th annual Aloha Gymfest this weekend at Le Jardin Academy gymnasium, welcoming hundreds of aspiring young athletes from as far away as Japan and Great Britain. Photo from Kokokahi Gymnastics Team.

There’s a real talent to producing the exciting, gravity-defying moves generated at a gymnastics meet, and the Kokokahi Gymnastics Team will host some of the sport’s best competitors this weekend in Kailua.

The team’s 38th annual Aloha Gymfest, a sanctioned USAG meet, runs from Friday through Sunday at Le Jardin Academy’s Charles B. Wang Gymnasium. The event has attracted 320 young athletes from Japan, Australia, Canada, England, Hawaii and the Mainland.

Coordinated entirely by the nonprofit team’s parents and volunteers with help from local sponsors, the event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend is one of the longest continuously held meets in the country – and it’s run by Hawaii’s oldest gymnastics club. Kokokahi Gymnastics Team celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2014.

Events begin at 3 p.m. Friday, and 8:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Top-level gymnasts go on at 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission varies from $5 to $10 per person per session; all-day passes cost $15-$20. For more information, call 235-6866.