Lakeshore Academy

We’ve just taken our daughter out of class at their Mt. Prospect facility after two incidents made us question their commitment to safety.
#1 — they held a team tryout that was supposed to last from 5 – 6. They kept little girls (ages 7 – 8) until almost 8PM — doing split jumps on the beam and other advanced moves on an empty stomach.
#2 — in the tumbling class, the coach let girls practice back handsprings with no supervision while he helped other girls do something else. My daughter had not tried a back handspring until that day (the coach knew this) but had her working with an octogon support thing. She jumped too hard, the support flew out from under her and she took the full impact on her HEAD — on a sprung floor, NOT A MAT! Five days later, she still has headaches and we’re monitoring her for a concussion.

Great place to help your children develop their inner gymnast. There are classes, teams, rock climbing and they even host birthday parties.

This is an excellent facility if you have a child with real gymnastics potential and want her to be trained in a competitive manner at the earliest possible age. Otherwise, I think that there are better avenues for recreational gymnastics. My daughter was actually recommended to try out for the competitive class – much to my surprise because she couldn’t even do a cartwheel. Still, I was excited for her to experience the discipline of working with a coach as well as being part of a team. As I watched her audition through the closed circuit tv, my olympic hopes were dashed. So, I wasn’t surprised when I got the rejection email. Unfortunately, about a week later her teacher informed her that she was actually selected. I was super happy, yet again, imagining that she would learn skills I never had as a klutzy kid. My glory was short-​lived, however, when two days later the head coach called and left a curt message that my daughter actually had not made the team, that her teacher had been misinformed. No apology, no encouragement to keep trying. No thought to the effect this could have on a little girls psyche… not to mention her mom’s!
So, we won’t be returning. I have to emphasize though, that the coaching program for serious gymnasts seemed excellent, and it was very entertaining, and a lot awe inspiring, to watch the kids practice. Yet, if your child does not fit into that future Olympian category there is no reason to go to this somewhat dirty and smelly facility.

Just went to this place for the first time! We used the rock climbing wall and it was so rad. It’s «bouldering» which I’ve never heard of, but it’s really fun. The place is pretty low key, everyone is super friendly and helpful. The prices are really good as well. The only reason I’m rating this place a four is because it was kind of crowded from team practice (I want to be on a climbing team!!), but it was worth it. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun activity!

A few months back I had the pleasure of attending a Bday party here. On weekends they have party rentals.
The place is large, plenty of parking, very friendly staff and tons for the kids to do. My daughter had so much we decided to recently have my daughters 2^nd Bday party at their Mount Prospect location.
Only downfall was my daughter apparently learned how to use her muscles in more ways and climbed out of her crib for the first time that night. :)
Great place for a Bday party and looking forward to signing my daughters up for some Gymnastics lessons soon.

The rudest most awful people I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I accidentally called the Mt Prospect location. I will not be calling the Chicago location, I have zero desire in anything these people have to offer.

My daughter is currently 4.5 and started taking classes when she was 3. We were lucky to have Miss Gretchen as her teacher. The classes really teach team cheering and are designed to hep progress to the next level. A benefit of the class is my daughter has gained confidence, better listening skillls and amazing coordination. I feel so lucky to have this gym in my neighborhood. What an incredible resource!

I am removing my daughter from lakeshore gymnastics academy. I was made aware by my daughter last week that one of the students threatened bodily harm to another. My daughter felt uncomfortable and this week she decided not to go to class because of it. It’s a shame that they tolerate that kind of behavior. Even though my daughter wasn’t the one threatened, she felt unsafe to be in that environment. I hope the child who was being threatened, spoke up to her parents and told them about the incident. I will never know because we won’t be back.

I had my son enrolled for a year here. Not impressed. They have no program for boys to advance through. Basically, they just said my son’s only option was to be in the beginners class. And repeat it. Again. And again. And again. Each session I was told the coach would work with him at a more advanced level, but that didn’t happen. My son was stuck doing sommersaults with total beginners after a year.
When I finally pushed on this issue, I was THEN told that if he was in the program between ages 4 – 6, and pulled and slated for a more advanced class, he was basically stuck where he was. I’m not sure why they don’t tell you this when you sign up that there are no opportunities to move ahead here, but I guess they just wanted our money.
The «coach» there also spent 30 minutes playing dodgeball with the kids. When I asked why they weren’t doing gymnastics, he claimed they were working on conditioning. Whatever… he was just lazy and didn’t interact with the kids.
I did take my complaint about my son’s lack of opportunity at Lakeshore to the owner. Who promised to follow up with me, but of course did not. If the owner doesn’t care about his customers, that speaks volumes about the business.
I recently looked at IK, and we are enrolling there. The facility is far nicer and cleaner than Lakeshore, and you can really see your kids doing their thing through lots of windows that run along the side of the floor.
Honestly, I would avoid Lakeshore and try somewhere else.

My daughter has been wanting to do gymnastics, so we enrolled her this year. They had a class for PreK kids that overlapped so I decided to enroll my son as well.
They both enjoy the activity and my daughter enjoys her coach, but hear he is one of the nicer ones…, the PreK coach is demeaning and have witnessed first hand with my son being belittled by this coach, asking him in class if he can speak or talk… and I had to have words with him about his approach and attitude when he asked me if my son was deaf or if he could hear. Which he has perfect hearing, but does have a speech delay, however, that should not impact the way this coach handles and treats my son.
Before my encounter, I was talking to a group of moms about this coach and how he yelled at a girl to not come back for going to her mom for something. The other girls in the class got scared and they all had to convince their girls to go back to class last week.
In fact the more of us that have begun talking about this particular coach, the more I have learned their many of their coaching staff is tough on kids, especially those who have special needs. One girl being pushed off the balance beam, she is dyspraxic, which is delayed motor skills. I’ve also heard many leaving this academy and heading over to IK gymnastics where many are pleased with their coaching and style.
If you want a tough, strict style of teaching and don’t mind if they treat your kids with such aggressive behaviors, then go for it. But don’t be surprised at the way some treat your child.

I love this place! I don’t have any kids so I can’t comment on the children’s classes (which is I’m sure the primary focus of interest for most people) but I take the adult classes. I have had no prior gymnastics experience beyond chucking cartwheels in my backyard, so I’m really starting from square one here. The class is formatted with about half the time as a structured cardio warm-​up, stretch and tumbling pass drills. You begin with very simple things (cartwheels, roundoffs, hurdle-​cartwheel/​roundoff, handstands, handstands with forward rolls) and build toward more difficult passes (roundoff + back handspring + back tuck). The instructor will spot you for things you haven’t trained yet and if you aren’t comfortable doing something (or want to do something harder) you are free to try other passes. The second half of the class is an open gym where you can work on any apparatus (floor, trampoline, the tumbltrak, rings, bars, beam, etc). The level/​intensity of instruction you receive is entirely dependent on your personality — if you want to do it alone, then you are more than welcome to, but the teacher/​coach is also happy to step in and help (and offers some really great pointers).
Classes are twice a week in the summer and three times a week in the fall. Prices are adjusted accordingly and quite reasonable (you get instruction, someone to spot you, and equipment that would otherwise not be easily accessible — seems like a good deal to me). The gym is also easily accessible by the 66.

I had been a part of Lakeshore academy for many years. It was started as a small business and is still run as such. I believe it to be the best place for gymnastics and rock climbing and I would recommended it to anyone.

Great place if you child is interested in competing. They do a good job of teaching them the skills necessary. They have a large boys team here — amazing to watch. Their girls are equally good. They also have a lot of children participating in their recreational competitive team — GIJO. I only wish they would: move to a larger space, this place is crowded; and offer some xtra gym time to members.

The adult gymnastics class is very fun, and that is the sole thing I am commenting on. Being a total beginnner, as opposed to an ex-​gymnast, I was interested in learning some flips, handsprings etc. but wanted to do so with some supervision. Being in my 20’s I thought I may have been over the proverbial «hill» in the gymnastics realm, but it’s not like I am looking to compete. I just want to learn some stuff, get a better sense of my body, balance etc. and push myself and this is a fun, low-​key environment with very friendly adults of various skill levels. People are always happy to help out. Prices are reasonable, but realistically, I have nothing to compare to. My colleagues at work think I am crazy learning this stuff, but unique interests, are what make you… well… interesting.

My daughter is now 5 years old, and they seem to have straightened out the revolving door problem with weekend teachers.
So I’m much happier with them now and would recommend for anyone whose kid needs a bit more than Little Gym.