Lakeshore Academy of Gymnastics

★Turuk Canna

This place is awful and has terrible management. Managment is, from what I've heard, never even there.

★★★★★Pat Christopher

I have a child in class here. The staff is wonderful and accommodating for busy schedules. Child has a great time and loves to practice at home. A testament to the quality of coach!

★Max Shepherd

Hidden peak was a wonderful climbing gym with a great and welcoming community, but new ownership seems to have killed it. It has now lost all of its character and anything that made it special. And they are only open three hours per week and require a $100 membership fee to go even for a day! It's a tragedy.

★★★★★Elizabeth Berman

Lakeshore Academy is the BEST. They have programs for all ages and skill levels, from recreational to competitive. My now 8 year old daughter started recreational classes about 2 years ago, and recently joined the Xcel team program. All of the coaches and staff are fantastic. It’s worth our 30+ minute drive back and forth from Evanston multiple times per week. Can’t recommend Lakeshore enough!

★KG A

My daughters began their journey at Lakeshore Academy as recreational gymnasts at age 4 and 5, eventually progressing to the pre-team and then the main team. Over nearly three years, we consistently attended practices and punctually made payments. Unfortunately, after a brief absence post-summer, the owner, Marla, unjustly barred us from rejoining the team based on unfounded accusations. While the team’s coach is commendable, the gym’s management, including Marla, lacks professionalism and courtesy. Feedback on my children’s progress was scarce, and practice schedules were often unclear. We adapted to heavy traffic by biking to the gym and received approval from the front desk to store the bicycles in the lobby. Surprisingly, Marla cited this as a problem and used it as a pretext to exclude my daughters. Furthermore, Marla falsely claimed that other parents had issues with my daughters’ behavior. After personally speaking with other team parents, it was clear that these allegations were baseless. Marla also inaccurately accused parents of disrupting classes by entering the floor area. The competition coach is excellent, but the overall experience, in my opinion, with the gym’s owner and staff was disappointing. This facility does not foster a nurturing, community-oriented environment for children’s development. Despite their readiness to accept payment, any inquiries to the owner or staff were met with rudeness. Below are email exchanges that further illustrate the nature of the owner’s conduct. Hi.XXX- M is a great coach and willing to work with all types of kids. However, we have had some problems with the girls behavior at the gym and the other parents have made comments that the group has run better in the past few weeks. Also- the front desk staff has expressed much frustration with the bikes in the building, doing gymnastics in the lobby and parents going out on the floor to speak with the coach during class. We feel that the girls are best in a recreational class and maybe they can revisit the team when they are more self-disciplined and committed to the competitive team. Thanks Marla On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 9:53 AM KG wrote: Hello, I wanted to update you on our situation. Our family recently moved to XXXX but due to a certain circumstance, we've returned to Chicago. It's been a hectic month with the moves. I've spoken to Coach M and he mentioned that our kids can rejoin when we are ready. Since tuition is billed at the beginning of the month, we're considering re-enrolling them on October 1, 2023. Please let me know if this works. Thank you, K Marla, the owner, recently indicated that the decision regarding our girls' participation was made by the competition team. However, this explanation does not fully capture the situation. Before deciding to re-enroll, we consulted Coach Marius, who expressed eagerness on several occasions to welcome our daughters back to the team. Happy to share his corresponds. In our opinion, our concern is not born out of discontent; rather, it stems from the realization that the owner's misrepresentation of the facts creates an environment that we believe is not conducive to our children's involvement. Even on this respond, after many months, she continues to make up the facts.