IT may not have the high profile of soccer and cricket - but when it comes to the medal count, Bermuda's gymnasts are streets ahead of all the other sports.

At each Island Games the girls do Bermuda proud ¿ in 2003 they grabbed second overall in the team competition.

Two years later in Shetland they won five gold, nine silver and four bronze medals - elevating the island from tenth to fourth place overall in the medal standings.

And naturally enough when gymnastics was not recognized as one of the sports at the Rhodes games last year Bermuda slid down the national rankings.

But it's not been an overnight success. Indeed the Bermuda Gymnastics Association has been around for well over 20 years.

The origins were a group of young athletes and their parents who met in the evenings at the Whitney Institute where they had to set up and then take down and store the equipment every night. Eventually a dedicated gym was created at the old US Base, a coach was hired and international meets were planned and hosted at the Southampton Princess Hotel and the Bermuda College.

Now current enrollment in the recreational and competitive programs varies between 600 and 900 young athletes depending on the season.

Bermuda Gymnastics Association (BGA) coach Michelle Strenk said plenty of hard work at an early age went into getting the team competition ready.

Talented kids are spotted at the Whitney Saturday morning session at the age of six and then encouraged to train at the BGA base at St. David's.

By the age of seven the kids can be traveling overseas and training three times a week for two hours at a time.

A parent will travel with their child for their first overseas trip to keep the focused.

"They are really good, they are with all of their teammates who they trust. We have never had any problem."

The girls average three trips a year ¿ some of the seniors go six times.

Next up is the USAIGC nationals in Fort Lauderdale Florida later this month while an overseas invitational is on the cards for November.

Getting the girls competition ready takes patience and dedication from coaches and athletes alike.

"You have to keep the programme balanced while increasing their skill level," says Strenk, an American who has been with the programme ten years.

"You have to keep their confidence level up ¿ that yes they are good enough to deal with these new skills."

The sport requires some courage as things can go awry. But Injured kids are given physio but are then brought back quickly.

"They are normally chomping at the bit, they are not really scared.

"If they have an injured ankle they still do their bar routines and their floor routines, minus the tumbling, they can do all their dance moves. We keep them doing as much as they can."

It's safer than you might imagine, said Strenk.

"More people get injured walking down the bleachers than in the sport of gymnastics.

"When you are young you are kind of invincible ¿ you just do it. It is very progressive. You start out on the floor, then a low beam, then a high beam with mats with a spotter (personal helper). Then when the child feels confident the mats go away and the spotter goes away."

It appealed to hyper kids. "The kind of kid who is always rolling, jumping, throwing themselves off of things and climbing up trees.

"It's such a great sport ¿ you can fly through the air, you can twist and flip. It's such an exhilarating feeling to do gymnastics. "And it's such a good team atmosphere ¿ we have so many fun kids. They come and work hard and its very rewarding and they have short term goals they meet and long term."

She believes the programme could be even more popular if it was run at a central location but getting a site is not easy.

It doesn't get the recognition of soccer and cricket. "Maybe it's because we are a girls' sport. We had one boy but he was the only one ¿ he lasted as long as he could but got a bit outnumbered.

"It's hard to start from zero and we don't have a male coach, which would help, and we have so many male sports to compete with," said Strenk who works alongside English coach Tina Williams and American Mandi Baughman.

There are also sessions at pre-school morning classes and after school classes at primary schools while there are recreation gym session on Saturday's and Mondays at Whitney.

Now the team is gearing up for the Island games in Aaland next year and the Commonwealth Games with the hopes of bringing home another big batch of medals.

But Strenk is not one to boast when asked about the team's record on the road.

"It's kind of skewed though. We had three days of competition and we have so many kids and they have more events. We might win more events but we have more chances."