Gymnastics School Eyeing Early August Opening

On a warm Friday afternoon in a business park just off Route 31 in Lake in the Hills, a young gymnast sprinted toward the center of the mat, where she performed a round-off flip-flop before planting a perfect landing in the near corner.

After her, another girl followed, then another and another.

The girls practiced on a sprung floor, but had the floor been a large desk calendar, padded of course, they would’ve started on the first Friday in July and crossed left, diagonally, to finish on the first Monday in August.

Oddly enough, the girls’ path was symbolic of the one the Huntley Gymnastics Academy embarked on that afternoon as it prepared for all the final twists and turns associated with renovating a new space and ultimately scoring the perfect landing – at the Wolf Business Park in Huntley.

“We hoping for Aug. 1,” said Huntley Gymnastics Academy owner Amy Krotser of the company’s grand opening plans. For the past two months, the academy, which has 60 students on team and about another 20 in recreational, has been renting space at Trinity Academy of Gymnastics in north suburban Lake in the Hills.

Before the new facility can open, Krotser, who initially planned to relocate to Algonquin before discovering Wolf Business Park, says there is a lot of work that has to be done.

“We have almost 3,000 square feet of holes being dug because we’re putting trampolines down in the ground,” Krotser said. “The trampolines will be level (with the ground) so the kids will tumbling at (ground) level, and it’ll also be easy access on and off the trampolines.”

Overall the facility will have three pits and 14 different bar settings.

“We’ll have one main pit for beam dismounts and floor dismounts,” Krotser said. “We’ll also have our own pit for Tumbl Trak dismounts and vault dismounts, and then we’ll have another pit, which is a bar pit.”

Among the other benefits to the new Huntley facility are mats and floor space, because Huntley Gymnastics Academy is moving into a 15,000-square-foot facility compared to 8,000 at Trinity.

“The floor that we are getting in our gym is the floor that they compete on,” Krotser said.

The new facility will also have air conditioning. The Trinity gym is cooled by a handful of industrial-size fans.

“The air conditioning is huge because when it gets hot around here, the kids really can’t develop,” said Krotser of the change. “The kids will also have their locker rooms with their own lockers and a break room or a break area. I’m not sure about the room yet. I’m not sure if I want them enclosed. I want them out in the open so I can see them.”

Krotser, who played softball and volleyball at McHenry County College, says she’s been coaching gymnastics for almost eight years, including a stint at a competing Huntley gymnastics program, and that her kids helped serve as her entry point into the sport.

“My kids started in gymnastics and I wound up with four kids on a team and couldn’t afford it,” joked the single mother of five. “So I started just doing kinder-gym and recreational (gymnastics) programs and eventually built up to team.”

Krotser said she plans to offer kinder-gym and preschool programs in addition to “open gym” sessions on the weekends. Huntley Gymnastics Academy space also will be available for birthday parties and special events, bounce house included.

Among Huntley Gymnastics Academy’s instructors are head coach Kristy Brumback, Ben Hardy, and Edmar Nichols, and yoga instructor Ann Wolf.