EXPECT some spills and tumbles at this year’s 69th Bermuda Annual Exhibition, as the famed Jesse White Tumbling Team make their debut in Bermuda.The annual three-day event, which started yesterday at the Botanical Gardens in Paget, features the usual attractions, including school exhibitions, floral shows, animal exhibits and equestrian events. However the performance by the Jesse White Tumbling Team, is sure to be one of the greatest attractions.

Their acrobatic performances can frequently be seen during half-time shows for the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and Major League Baseball games. A number of the Jesse White Tumblers, some as young as six years old, are residents of Chicago’s Cabrini Green and Henry Horner housing developments, while other members of the team are residents from ten communities within the Chicago metropolitan area.>Jesse White, founder and coach, created the team in 1959 to provide a recreational, athletic, educational and cultural enrichment experience for the team members. His key to success is “tough love” and he serves as coach, teacher, friend, mentor, confident and surrogate father to the members of this juvenile delinquency prevention programme, designed to help youngsters grow “tall and straight”.

Members are required to abide by Jesse White’s strict rules - which include staying in school, maintaining a “C” average in academic coursework and staying away from gangs and drugs.

Since the team’s inception, over 10,000 young men and women have benefited from the programme.