Olympian coach picks Millstone for new school
Figure skater Michelle Kwan sends letter of support for facility
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - A gymnastics academy run by a world-renowned coach and staffed by top competitors will soon open in the township.

The township's Zoning Board voted 6-1 at its June 27 meeting for a use variance to allow 14,000 square feet of a building in the Moto Industrial Park off Rike Drive to be used for the school.

Board member Frank Curcio voted against the measure.

Kenneth Pape, attorney for the applicant, Pavel Kapouler, said the existing building measures 21,000 square feet, of which 14,000 square feet is presently vacant. With a clear span interior and no columns, the space is suitable for Kapouler's Rising Star Gymnastics Academy, he said.

Kapouler received the title of USSR Master of Sport in 1959 and received his doctorate in pedagogical sciences from Moscow's National Research Institute of Physical Culture and Sport in 1974. He served as the senior coach of the USSR National Gymnastics Team from 1974 to 1991, according to his résumé.

Besides coaching dozens of gold medal winners in world championships, world cups and European championships, Kapouler produced, directed and staged mass gymnastic blocks for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow; the opening ceremony for the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow; and the 1987 opening ceremony for the International Festival of Youth in Moscow, among others, according to his résumé.

Other instructors at the academy would include Viktor Mytnik, a member of the USSR National Team from 1983 to 1991, and a 2006 world champion silver medalist. Mytnik is currently a principal in the Champions on Ice show, in which Vladimir Besedin, who was also a member of the USSR National Team from 1988 to 1991, is currently appearing.

Pape introduced letters of recommendation for Kapouler to the board from top athletes, including figure skater Michelle Kwan. Curcio objected, saying that letters of recommendation had never been admitted to the board before.

Board Attorney Gregory Vella said the letters are not site-specific, so they do not set a precedent, but Chairman Michael Novellino said he did not see

any need to have the letters in the record, so they were redacted.

Kapouler said the academy would hold four classes for a total of 32 students.

The academy will operate on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will also be open on Saturday mornings for make-up lessons for students who missed classes.

Kapouler said the academy would have a 15-minute interval between classes, which are one hour long.

The academy would not be used for competitive events, he said.

The facility would have six employees, including five instructors and an administrative assistant, he said.

"This is gymnastics for kids who like serious gymnastics," Kapouler said.

He said Rising Star is not just a nice name, but a goal for the academy.

"We want to train a new generation of championship kids," he said.

Pape said the proposed use would require only minor modifications to the site, such as striping the parking lot.

Last summer, the township's Zoning Board rejected a use variance for an Extra Innings franchise, an indoor baseball training center, in the same building. At that time, the board said that the township does not permit retail and/or commercial recreational uses in its business/industrial park zone.

When asked about the difference between the two applications, Township Planner Cindy Coppola said the gymnastics academy is a school and does not have a retail component. Extra Innings had proposed to open a pro shop for the public in the building, she said.

Coppola said the Extra Innings proposal also included lessons, clinics, baseball camps, league practices and the rental of the facility for birthday parties. She said the public at large would have had the ability to use the facility, which had proposed hours of operation from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Coppola said that she sees Rising Star Gymnastics Academy as more of an instructional facility than a commercial recreational use.

Coppola said she agrees with the applicant's planner, Peter Tolischus, who testified before the board that the facility would not create negative impacts, such as noise or odor, on the surrounding area.

Tolischus also said the academy would not require any changes to be made to the building.

Curcio said he believes there is a better place for the academy than the business park.

"I'd love to have it in town, but I don't think it fits here," he said.

Board member Stephen Barthelmes disagreed.

"The master plan can't encompass everything," Barthelmes said. "I'm sure they didn't think of this."

Resident Matt Deiner said he was "blown away" by the applicant's credentials. He said his youngest son is a state champion in gymnastics and added that the sport involves a lot of discipline.

"This is a great opportunity for Millstone," Deiner said. "It's not mass market, it's unique."

Deiner said a class of this caliber, with only eight students, is like an Ivy League education for gymnasts.

Yevgeny Platov, a two-time Olympian figure skater, who is Kapouler's friend and an instructor, said, "Imagine an Olympic champion coming from Millstone."