American Academy of Gymnastics

The place is very dirty. They have a strict diliniation between children they want on team, and those they don’t. If your child is not the right skill level at the right age, their hopes of ever being on team at this school are nill. At one time I had both my kids going here. We switched to another school last year and are very happy.

My 4 years old daughter goes there for gymnastics classes and we LOVE that place!!! Ms. Jessica is wonderful teacher. She is very patient with the kids, she is very enthusiastic, she gets along with them, she has possitive attidute and she is excellent in what she does. We tried other gymnastic places around but did not like any of them as much as this place! The gym is pretty old but has everything that good gym should have. We are very happy that we found that place by coincidence when we got lost on Palatine rd. I would recommend this place!!!

I’ve been taking the adult classes for a couple sessions and I love it. With a climbing wall, bars, rings, foam pits, trampolines, tumble tracks and plenty of mats I’ve been trying lots of new things.
Our class is free form — everyone is at different levels so we’re free to work at our own pace. The coach is available for help and advice. Ross is a terrific and encouraging teacher. I came in for a free class to try it out and was hooked. I’m improving, having a great time and getting into better shape.

Apparently, the business model calls for a focus on birthday party events. That’s why we showed up, and there were numerous concurrent parties happening. I’m not such an A**hole that I’m going to disparage our friends’ choice of a party venue for their six year old daughter. However, being the commerce focused kind of guy that I am, I will offer a few friendly ideas for improvement:
1) Clean the place occasionally. Upon entering the building, I got the feeling that I was in an Eastern block country whose halcyon days are long past. It’s dirty. It’s dilapidated. It’s in need of a serious capital infusion.
2) Get rid of the dated achievement boards. They add to the Eastern Block feel. I don’t know what a «triple» is, but if it was really last performed at your place in 1995, then either your teaching methods are in need of an over haul, or the quality of your students has taken a precipitous fall. Either way, your image isn’t enhanced.
3) Store your tools in a safe area. Having a circular saw and hammers, and numerous tubes of construction adhesive within the easy grasp of a group of six year olds is, in my opinion, a bad idea. It’s obvious that some remodeling is going on, but come on folks, clean up when you’re done for the day.
The kids had a great time, and the party supervisors were efficient, friendly, and upbeat, but this place looks like the owners have given up.

My daughter recently had her 9^th birthday party here, and everything went smoothly, and all the kids had a blast. The coaches were enthusiastic and knowledgable. The main gym is very large, and well equipped. I felt safe having the party with such good supervision. It’s true the facility could use some sprucing up, but it’s the experience that matters the most to me. My 2 daughters (ages 9 & 12) both take gymnastics classes here, and love it. There are multiple classes going on at once, but the students have enough room to move appropriately for their activity. Will definitely continue to come. Very friendly and helpful front office staff, especially Sandy.

I am really dissapointed with this gymnastics place. No individual approach, especially for beginners and little children. I finally decided to start activities for my youngest son. He was also so excited to go to gymnastics. Finally, we are there and what do I see:
Place: Small, crowded, various classes go at the same time. Kids are all over each other and there is no room to move.
Toddler class: 14 children! 2 teachers doing a warm up with. One of the teacher is taking care of paperwork and parents and not paying attention to children. So, that’s pretty much 1 teacher per 14 three year olds! Hmmm, I wonder if it is even legal.
Our experience: My son, who is finally on the floor, just standing there — amazed with all the action, which going on around him and not quite following the instrucions. The teacher (with the paperwork) did not even give him 1!!! minute to adjust, asked me if he understand English (ok, English is a 2^nd language in our family, but my son went thru therapy with english speaking therapists for 2 years!) and told us he can not be in this class, since he does not understand and follow instructions! Com’on!!, you place me, an adult, in a totally new setting, I’ll do the same thing — stare around for a few minutes, just to adjust!
I was beyond dissappointed with the teacher, place. The front desk lady Candi (Sandy) was super nice and really sorry about this experience — that’s why I gave this place 1 star.
Please avoid this place if you have toddlers. Take them somewhere where classes are smaller and there is an individual approach. This class is advertised as Toddlers Gymnastics, not a Military Training.

My older son came here for a birthday party. This place is a little hard to find off of Palatine Road, located immediately beside the off-​ramp leading to a frontage road right before Wheeling Rd. While I wasn’t one of them, people with a GPS end up going in circles trying to find it.
The place is another one of those converted industrial buildings that became a gym. As you walk in, there’s a small shop next to the door that sells gymnastics supplies. Our group was directed to a locker area where there was plenty of room for everyone to hang up their coats, leave their shoes off and head for the gym floor.
The gym is pretty spacious but not as big as International Gymnastics in Mt. Prospect. A series of banners on the wall lists the names and dates of various record-​setting gymnasts from the place. American Academy also leaves a lot to be desired in cleanliness. For the roughly 2 years I took my kids to gymnastics, I took for granted just how tidy and orderly the floor looked at International. This place could learn from that. The area by the uneven bars looks like a chalk powder bomb went off next to a box full of chalk dust. The carpeting and floor have a coating of white, even the padding on the beam nearby.
Still, it was pretty fun for the kids. Tumble-​tracks allow them to bounce along as they run, leading to trampoline «cages» enclosed in netting for safety. There’s also everyone’s favorite: a sponge pit with a swinging rope and a diving board. I must say the activities were well supervised, especially given that the sponge pit got crowded since everyone wanted to play in it.
After the gym time ended, everyone went upstairs for the cake and snacks. There are two separate upstairs rooms for parties, which makes it pretty efficient in terms of setting up parties. That is one area where International doesn’t have. But once again, I think the cleanliness could be better. The surrounding walls could use some brightening up and the party room could be cleaner looking.
Still, it’s not a bad place for a party and they look pretty serious about their gymnastics program they offer.