Aerial Gym Stars

As a former coach at Aerial Gym Stars I cannot speak highly enough about the program! (I worked there many years ago)
I am a former gymnast and life-​long athlete. I have coached many sports, for kids of all ages, and was/​am blown away by the consideration that goes into the curriculum.
The training Aerial Gym Stars provides its coaches is above an beyond anything I have seen, both at other private gyms and also other Park District Programs. This coach training leads directly to better education/​instruction for your kids.
I recommend them to all of my family and friends, currently I am trying to talk my sister into driving my niece 3 towns over for instruction (she is 2)!
This family run business is well worth supporting! There is a shortage of good coaching out there — thank goodness for Gym Stars!

Do you want your kids to be Olympic gymnasts one day? Do you want them to get a gymnastics scholarship to college? Go somewhere else. Do you want your kids to learn basic fitness, safe tumbling, and have fun running around, climbing, walking a beam or swinging from a bar? This class is perfect for you!
Aerial Gym Stars is a program offered at various suburban park districts like Elmwood Park, Lombard, Addison and including my hometown of Park Ridge. My older son knows it as «Baby Gym» and «Big Boy Gym.» We attend class by Devon & Cumberland at South Park.
Kids as little as 18 months can join «Gym Stars,» with a parent assisting in class until they turn 3 years old. For the 3 – 4 age group, they can go alone to the «Rising Stars» class and do more advanced tricks like forward rolls, backward somersaults, handstands, and increasingly challenging obstacles. There’s a class for ages 5 – 6 as well.
The classes have good continuity, building basic skills from things like touching your toes, donkey kicks, «pizza hands», pike position, star position and other fundamental moves that later facilitate more advanced maneuvers. It teaches body awareness, balance, self-​confidence in an enjoyable, non-​competitive environment emphasizing fun and learning.
My oldest son started at 18 months old and has been going for 3 years. It has become a Saturday morning tradition ever since. Now my nearly 20-​month old son is starting on «Baby Gym» while the oldest observes in a separate room above.
The classes we attend are taught by «Mr. Joe» and «Mr. Ray» with others occasionally coming to assist. For a class of about 15 – 20 kids, there’s 2 – 3 instructors. Joe is awesome and really does a phenomenal job at getting even the shyest, most clingy kids to participate in activities and have fun doing it. The kids just adore him. After each class, the kids get hand stamps with stars for their participation.
Joe has been teaching every class my sons have attended and really is the life of the party when he’s there. After class the kids all want to say goodbye to him and high-​five him.
My only negative is that the classes last 30 minute long, making me wish they were 45 – 60 minutes instead.