POULSBO — Lila Smith’s dream is to coach gymnasts who may someday be the shining stars in their sport.

Or, ones who may simply get a twinkle in their eye from being able to take part.

That’s the idea behind Silver Stars Gymnastics, which Smith started in February at Breidablik Hall in Poulsbo. Smith, a two-year East Bremerton resident, has participated in gymnastics since she was 2, danced since she was 6 and coached since she was 16. At Silver Stars, individuals ages 1 to adult are welcomed to a place where athletes of all ability levels can perform on the same mats.

Silver Stars has about 30 students at the moment but Smith said there is always room for more. Starting with her youngest students, Smith teaches a “mommy (or daddy) and me” class. At age 3, parents move to the sidelines to watch but the classes are kept at a fun pace. Crab walks, Mickey Mouse ears, pancake hands, candlesticks, strong arms and even soccer goals are incorporated into a playful atmosphere where kids learn the fundamentals.

“It’s just that I’m giving something to them and it’s really rewarding,” Smith said of what she enjoys about her young students.

But a big passion of Smith’s, and an area she hopes to grow at Silver Stars, is teaching gymnastics to mentally and physically disabled students. She first started working with special needs children about 10 years ago as a camp counselor and through her mother, who is a deaf/hard of hearing specialist in Montana. After working with a disabled child in a gymnastics setting, Smith decided she wanted to someday incorporate children of all abilities into a coaching career.

“These kinds of kids, they don’t have these kinds of opportunities, so when they get to come in and learn gymnastics, their eyes light up,” she said.

Workouts and teaching have to be modified to meet the needs of mentally and physically disabled people but every student Smith has encountered has been able to take part. Though she has no formal degree in working with disabled individuals, Smith has a variety of hands-on training as well as the proper medical and safety training needed to work with any child. Smith said she may someday go back to school for a certification but she feels the on-the-job training she’s had is much more valuable when it comes to working with disabled children.

“You have to know what to do on a case by case basis because everyone is so different,” Smith said.

At the moment, Smith has only a handful of disabled children who attend Silver Stars, so her instruction is on an individual level. But she’d eventually like to have enough disabled students to be able to offer a full class, which is much less costly for parents. And judging by how far parents travel to have their special needs children enrolled in Silver Stars, Smith believes that dream may soon come true.

“I have an autistic boy who all he really needs is exercise and he lives in Port Orchard but his parents bring him here because there’s really nowhere else for him to go right now,” Smith said.

No matter their ability, all new students get their first two weeks of class free. Smith also tries to charge bare minimum prices to allow a wide variety of individuals access to the sport.

“I try to keep it low because I know there’s families out there that would like to do this but things are so expensive these days,” she said.

Smith hopes by early 2006 to be able to start building both a competitive gymnastics team and a Special Olympics team.