RANTOUL — Championship banners line the west wall of the Irish's Gymnastics facility, trumpeting a long string of excellence.

Since owner Danny Irish opened it in 1997 at the Rantoul Plaza shopping center, he's moved it three times in the plaza to get more room.

He's moving again, but this time the move is more dramatic.

Irish is taking the gym to Gilman, citing financial concerns. By this time next month, the move will have been made.

"Basically it's all economics," he said recently as a group of young athletes went through exercises and training and a handful of parents watched.

"I have to downsize a little bit."

Irish, who lives in Paxton, said costs to operate the 10,000-square-foot building in Rantoul and shrinking numbers of gymnastics students are the reason for the move.

In Gilman, the gym will be in a 30-year-old building that was built specifically for gymnastics, albeit with 8,400 square feet. The smaller space should help with utilities, he said, adding that rent will be "a lot less."

"This is a facility that does lose a lot of heat," Irish said of the Rantoul building, which has 100 feet by 12 feet of window space.

The move might mean some of his students will have to look elsewhere for their gymnastics instruction because of the longer drive. Irish estimated that 65 percent of his students come from northern Champaign County, Ford and Iroquois counties.

In the less than one week since he put up a sign outside the Gilman building indicating the gym would open there, Irish said, he has had 18 children sign up for classes.

Irish said he spoke with his Rantoul landlord, David Meyer, about his dilemma. He said Meyer has been a good landlord throughout the years.

"Dave's always been there," Irish said.

Chris and Robin Kaler of Rantoul have seen their two daughters, Zoe and Emily, grow up and excel while students of Irish. Chris Kaler said he is sorry to see the gym leave Rantoul.

"Dan Irish has been really good for the community and good for a lot of kids," Kaler said. "If he has to make some kind of business decision, far be it from me to question that. However, the kids that he has in the program, I'm just going to make an assumption here that there's quite a few kids who are going to be left out in the cold."

Irish said he has tried to find other gyms for some of the students. He said he agonized over the decision to move and looked at buildings in Rantoul and area communities before realizing that nothing was available that would suit his needs.

Sandy Burklund of Paxton, whose son, Garret Waterstradt, is one of the top gymnasts to be trained at Irish's Gymnastics, said she doesn't look forward to the extra travel to Gilman, but added, "I'm glad for what it will bring for the gym."

Waterstradt, who also trains in Charleston, and his family are willing to do "whatever it takes" for him to succeed. He will compete in the Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships in November in Birmingham, England.

Irish said when he moved to the plaza in the 1990s, he was the only business open there.

The Rantoul building is not ideal for a gym. For one thing the ceilings are too low.

Several years ago when some of his older students began hitting their heads on the ceiling while using the trampoline, Irish lowered a portion of the floor 3 feet. Still, that didn't provide enough room as the top students began to get older.

The Rantoul building ceiling is about 15 feet high, while the Gilman facility is about 30 feet high. Irish said the new site will also be able to accommodate five trampolines, compared with four at Rantoul.

Irish has seen the number of students drop and the percentage of Rantoul students drop as the economy has hit everyone's pocketbooks.

"In 1997, 97 of the kids were from Rantoul," Irish said. Now he has "20 to 23 from Rantoul."

He estimated he had lost "60 or 70" kids from all around in August alone.

At its high point, the gym had 220 gymnasts taking lessons. Now there are 160.

"My accountant said, 'What do you think is going to happen in 10 years? Do you think you'll grow?'" Irish said.

The move won't mean a lot in terms of jobs lost to Rantoul. The gym employs only Irish and his wife, Dawn.

But, as Kaler puts it, "It's a quality-of-life issue" for Rantoul.

It will also mean fewer people driving into Rantoul who might shop in the community.

Irish said he has targeted Labor Day to open the gym in Gilman. He said it will be difficult to leave Rantoul.

"I have a bond here," he said. "It's very sad."