The Story of Winstars

Winstars Gymnastics & Fitness Centre got its start as Windsor "Flippers" Gymnastics Club, established by Melanie Rose and her parents, Paul and Rosemary, in the summer of 1996.

Paul and Rosemary were instrumental in starting recreational and competitive gymnastics in the city of Windsor many years ago.  Paul, a gymnastics competitor in the 1960's and Rose, a women's artistic judge for over 25 years, were well known in the gymnastics circle.

The Windsor "Flippers" worked out of two physical locations, St. Peter's Elementary School and Villanova High School in the early stages.  Along with the usual recreational program, the Windsor "Flippers" offered a women's artistic and sport aerobics competitive program.  In September 1999, Windsor "Flippers" moved in a permanent location on Tecumseh Road at Parent Avenue.  In the summer of 1999, Melanie moved to Toronto after accepting a teaching position with the Scarborough Board of Education.  At this point her father, Paul, took over managing the gymnastics club.

In October 1999, Carey Vigneux started training some of his competitive male gymnasts at the Windsor "Flippers" location.  During this time purchase negotiations started between Carey and Melanie.  After a few months of negotiations and paper work, ownership changed hands to Carey Vigneux in January 2000.  At this time a name change took place and Winstars Gymnastics was created.

Winstars Moves into Sandcastle

Winstars Gymnastics moved to a 12,000 square foot facility inside the Sandcastle Recreation Facility in September 2000 with the help of long time friend and business partner, Jeff Coulter.  Winstars was only a gymnastics club until March 2001, when it opened a full service fitness centre in the Sandcastle facility.  The fitness centre provided an outlet for gymnastics parents and the general public to stay healthy by participating in a fitness regimen.

In 2009, Winstars was forced to move location due to the expropriation of the land for the Parkway project.  Winstars moved into a light industrial building on the 6th Concession in Lasalle until April 2013.  After this building was up for sale for three years, it finally sold.  Again, forcing us to find another Winstars home. 

Carey Vigneux approached Windsor Vistas Gymnastics owner, Melynda Outram, in regards to sharing facilities for a short period of time.  During this facility sharing talks started as to merging their organizations.  This way both organizations would move into the former Ice Park facility.

Clubs Merge

With the combined organizations, Winstars Gymnastics and Vistas Gymnastics now known only as Winstars Gymnastics moved into the former Ice Park in September 2013.  Before the move even happened, the enrolment began to exceed everyone's expectations.  Winstars will be the largest and well maintained gymnastics club in southwestern Ontario.

Winstars Gymnastics was developed with years of professional experience by Carey Vigneux and his team.  Many of its current staff have well over 20 years of experience in the gymnastics field.  Winstars Gymnastics is here to stay for many, many years to come!

COVID Hit!

During the COVID pandemic, Winstars Gymnastics was forced to moved to its new location on Twin Oaks Drive. It's so nice to be in our facility and be able to do the many things this business was created to do. We have rebounded from the global pandemic and are striving even greater than before.