Royalty Gymnastics, Tumbling and Dance expanding Huntley location

Royalty Gymnastics, Tumbling and Dance in Huntley is undergoing a bit of an expansion to help better serve members of the public.

The new space, 10757 Wolf Drive, is located adjacent to their large gym, 10761 Wolf Drive, and across the corridor from their small gym, 10715 Wolf Drive, according to Huntley Plan Commission documents. Originally, the owners were granted two special use permits for indoor recreation spaces totaling 20,000 square feet.

The project didn’t require any construction, but it prompted project leaders to install a new gymnastics floor within the facility.

Marcie Mecher, a co-owner at Royalty Gymnastics, Tumbling and Dance, said the facility expansion is much needed.

“We started a parkour program, and it really took off,” Mecher said. “It crowded our preschool/dance gym. And with COVID-19 and everything, we could not keep it in there.”

According to the facility’s website, parkour is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

Royalty Gymnastics, Tumbling and Dance first started offering its parkour program in July 2019, a few months after setting up shop in town.

The facility expansion is intended to alleviate concerns for crowding, project leaders said. It also will provide space for the boys’ gymnastics program, project leaders said.

Mecher said the popularity of the parkour program is exciting to see.

“The popularity within it is growing,” Mecher said. “It’s a lot like [NBC’s] ‘American Ninja Warrior.’ It has tumbling. It’s different. There’s differences between the two programs, but the main [similarity] in my opinion is parkour and tumbling.”

The expansion previously was reviewed during a May 10 Plan Commission meeting. At the time, officials provided a positive recommendation of the project to the Huntley Village Board.

Mecher said it’s always been a goal to keep the facility in Huntley.

“We wanted something very close,” she said. “The space that we’re hopefully going to get had opened up. Three of us had previously coached in Huntley. We all live around this area.”

The expansion will be reviewed by the Village Board during its May 27 meeting. At that time, officials expect to have the final say about the project.