YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids

My son has passed the swim test at the Spartan Nash YMCA and every time we go to another location they tell me he has to pass the swim test again if I’m not directly in the pool next to him. Only the past few weeks this has happened with only female lifeguards! I don’t understand, we paid good $ for private lessons so he could pass the swim test. Why does he need to take it every time he goes swimming? I’m not directly in the pool with him but I never leave him in there. The lifeguard today made him get out, made us walk to the desk so they could look it up that he passed then we could go back but there has to be a better way. We’ve never had anything said to us before and the pool was crowded with kids in there without their parents. I completely felt singled out and we’ve been members for 10 years, paying members. PLAIN & SIMPLE THE SO CALLED RULES DON’T APPLY TO EVERYONE.

We pay $130/mo for a family of 5 and there is an indoor pool with a slide at David Hunting branch. Can't beat that value. The Mary Free Bed branch is the nicest facility IMO if looking to use locker rooms, weights or cardio machines. Not nearly as busy as well. David Hunting locker rooms are very old & crowded. But you can't really ask for a better value in the Grand Rapids YMCA The kidzone is excellent at all branches.

LOVE paying for a gym membership when the pool is NEVER open. Theres always a “problem” with it or they are “cleaning” it. I go to the gym almost every day , mainly for the pool, and it’s only open I’d say 25% of the time. I wish there were another gym I could go too.

The membership was not worth it for my family. We mostly wanted to be able to use the basketball and pickleball courts during the winter months, but they were so crowded that it was not possible. I was also mislead when I signed up, as I was told that my 10 and 13 year-old could use the hot tubs, but it is clearly posted at every location that you have to be at least 16 years old. I also got a pretty bad case of swimmer's itch from the main pool at the downtown location. Swim at your own risk!!

For the last two weeks, the entire top floor was been without proper HVAC operations. The temperatures have reached 92 degrees indoors on most days (There are thermostats there which read those numbers!) when it's 75-78 degrees outside. Consisting of basketball courts, weights, machines, racquetball courts, cardio, etc. on that level, all the members have had to endure unhealthy and - since there are many elder members - possibly fatal conditions. This is not an unusual occurrence: For the third consecutive spring season in the row, the Hunting facility fails to appreciate the wellness of their members all the while touting wellness through physical activity. The boiler plate response from its organization has been the HVAC is broken and they're waiting for parts. Yet, some of the staffers have privately stated to us that the YMCA does not want to start up their HVAC too early in the year because it's not cost effective. How an organization which affiliates themselves with Christian values can blatantly lie to their membership at nearly every given turn and also expect people to compromise their well being is, in fact, un-Christian. Lastly, the standard issue response to valid feedback is always the same: "There are other Y locations at which you're invited to workout." That is a cop out and in essence saying, "If you don't like it, lump it."