The little girl stands next to the bar and exhales.

Her trainer Abby Stewart looks on, hoping she can execute.

With her small hands, the girl grabs tightly, jumps and twists her hips, nosing her way to the top of the bar.

The little girl smiles. It’s her first pullover.

“Working with kids is a blast,” Stewart said. “They are so happy.”

Stewart is a paid coach for beginning and intermediate gymnasts at Tiger Academy Gymnastics, located in the Tiger Performance Center, which is wedged between Memorial Stadium and Mizzou Arena. The Tiger Performance Center is the facility for the Golden Girls and Missouri gymnastics team.

Last week, MU asked TAG to leave the Tiger Performance Center by Aug. 31, citing that the building was not meant to house the club.

Currently, TAG’s director Amie Butler and her husband are looking into ways to relocate the program, which trains nearly 450 children and includes Adapted Gymnastics, a weekend program that helps children with special needs.

“Our group plans on sticking together, including our Adapted Gymnastics program,” Butler said. “Really, we are looking for resources and reaching out to everybody and anybody.”

So far, a “SAVE Tiger Academy of Gymnastics” Facebook page has been created and has garnered more than 700 likes, mostly from parents who have commented that they want to keep up the gymnastics program.

Some people have expressed outrage on the page toward MU asking the program to leave.

“There is not any reason why TAG could not be in the facility, as Mizzou gymnasts use it only three to four hours daily,” Charles “Jake” Jacobson, longtime Missouri Hall of Fame gymnastics coach, posted. “I am very troubled by this decision.”

Jacobson helped start the organization in 1980 to pay for a new assistant coach and new equipment, a news release stated.

So far, no significant donation to help fund the move has been presented to TAG. Butler said MU has not given any money to assist the program, though she has never asked for funding.

Butler said she isn’t trying to fight MU to try to stay. Instead, she is looking into prices for gymnastics equipment and a new facility to house TAG. She said leasing a facility at first might be more feasible before buying a new facility outright.

Butler, who said she will take over the program June 1 from former Missouri gymnastics coach Rob Drass, added that accessibility is the first concern for her and the special needs participants in Adapted Gymnastics program.

“(There’s a) lot to think about each day,” Butler said.

Butler said she is working on several options to raise money for the program, including a silent auction. She hopes that the club can receive significant donations, but if it doesn’t, that will not stop her from relocating the program.

“I’m a firm believer that this is important enough that there will be something,” Butler said. “If I have to get a loan to get the rest of it, so be it. I’m that determined to keep going.”

Stewart said she would love to come and work with the program next year and isn’t worried about losing her job, should TAG be forced to fold for lack of funding.

“(Butler) is so dedicated to the program,” Stewart said. “She’ll keep the program afloat no matter what.”