ASHLAND — It was a head-over-heels return to his old school.

Matt Bartram visited Oakview Elementary with the rest of the Asbury College tumbling team to put on a demonstration for students there Friday.

The Asbury tumblers spend their spring break traveling to elementary schools for exhibitions, and Bartram, 19, persuaded his coaches to make a stop in Ashland.

“It was exciting. I was walking the halls and visiting some of my old teachers,” said Bartram, who attended Oakview from first through sixth grades.

What was exciting to the students was the performance of the tumblers. They travel with a truckload of mats, trampolines and springboards that covered the Oakview gym floor.

Flips, handstands and human pyramids drew cheers from the children. Showmanship was just part of the performance, however. The tumblers wove a lesson of inclusiveness and acceptance in with their fancy footwork.

The tumblers could be spending their break on the beach, but they consider the school tours a ministry, said Bartram, a biology and premedical major.

This spring, their route took them to schools mostly in Ohio, but Bartram, in his first year on the team, wanted to bring the message to students at his old school.

“It’s amazing to hear the kids cheer. It gives you so much energy,” he said.

Asbury is a Christian liberal arts college of about 1,300 students in Wilmore, near Lexington.

The visit, which didn’t cost the school a dime, meshed with its arts and humanities goals and physical education, which includes some elementary tumbling, said principal Nancy McHenry. “They get to see it in action,” she said.

For any of the Oakview students bitten by the tumbling bug, they’ll see that colleges have teams they can aspire to, McHenry said.

“Every second today was worth it,” Oakview physical education teacher Jack Harris said. “The kids got a lesson here today.”

Harris, who remembers Bartram from his high school football days, was pleased to see the former Ashland athlete show his moves to the students.

“We’re watching eve11ry move he’s making because he’s one of ours, he said.”

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.