Pickaway Family Branch YMCA

Oh Circleville YMCA, I never realized just how spoiled I was by you until I left the Circleville area. For around $45/month you provided me with a running track, huge gymnasium, sauna, hot tub, racquetball courts, weight room, and plenty of weight machines. Once I moved on to the big city I found it near impossible to find all of those things for a price even close to the same.The dealbreaker always seems to be the overly-chlorinated pool that I love to swim in. Almost no gyms near my new home have a pool at all. Having said that, it sure is nice to have options, because in Circleville there sure aren't many.So, why the 3 star rating? For starters, it seems like there is always a leak somewhere in the roof above the workout equipment and running track area. I would almost always see a bucket somewhere to collect the drips, and water stains on the track were very common.My next gripe isn't necessarily the fault of the YMCA itself, it's the result of the YMCA being built up as such a family environment. In the weight room, they've taken the stereo out as a result of too much "non-family friendly" music. I don't know about you, but I like to listen to music while I'm lifting, and I like my music LOUD! It pumps you up and gets you going, but now the only thing you hear in there (unless you have headphones) is the sound of weights clanking around. They did post warnings that they'd have to remove the stereo if the complaints about the music didn't stop, but still....there shouldn't be kids in the weight room anyway. If someone is offended by the music, just wear headphones.Next, the swimming pool. I get that the pool needs to be sanitized as much as possible, but good lord does it have a lot of chlorine! I used to have a different set of trunks for the Y's pool than I would use anywhere else, just because I could count on the ones I wore there losing about half of their original color in about six months. And just pray you don't get that chlorine in your eyes! They'll burn so bad it's as if someone sprayed lemon juice straight into them! Playing into the wussification of America, they've long since gotten rid of the high dive that was there when they took my grade school class there years and years ago, because it "wasn't safe". There are also some times when the pool isn't available to use because another group has it reserved or they're holding a competition there. If you're unsure if it's available, best to call ahead.A nice touch though are the racquetball courts. You can use the courts for free with your regular membership, and if you want to, you can call ahead and reserve a court. They have both a glass-walled court and an enclosed court for more privacy. Racquets and racquetballs are available free of charge at the front desk.Overall, the Circleville Y is the best option in Circleville, but I think if they had some good competition that it could push them to be a lot better. There are definite ways that they can improve, but there's a lot that they do right.

My first time trying a Y. It isn't bad at all, but it's nothing amazing at all either. It is what it is, a gym. I can get by old equipment and leaky roofs. I'll use the facility but it ain't getting anything higher than 3

The Before and after school program is only good if you have nerotypical children that perform to the staffs expectations and can watch themselves.If your child has special needs (ADHD;Autism or Developmental Delays)and need extra support and the staff have to actually get off their phones and butts to work with them then expect issues .Expect your child to be yelled at ,expect your child to be singled out and kicked out of the program .They get their access cordinator involved to make a support plan but after that the staff don't follow it.They do all the paperwork to show they are doing what's expected ,but then sit on their phones ,walk around with phones instead of actually monitoring the kids and teaching them..When you start to advocate for your child and stick up for what's not right they begin to write your child up for everything they do .Your kids can't even be kids ,they are yelled at ,they are mistreated and it is allowed and accepted by the Regional director .If you try to even speak up about what's taking place she will respond with the basic typical responses of policy and procedures (gaslighting you)instead of sitting down and listening to what's going on.and how to solve the issue when it involves staff ,phones ,and the treatment of the children .When I took my kids to the bathroom another little girl from the group followed my kids and I, and non of the staff was watching her .They allow kids to get out of the gym so they can call the parents to come pick up because they are considered a flight risk ,but yet they aren't actually engaging with the kids to keep them away from going out the door .Other parents have expressed concern for the same situations about the staff on phones ,Staff using a rude tone with the kids and their kids getting letters for behavior issues ,One parent had to bang on the glass door at scioto elementary just to get the teachers attention to open the door,she was to busy on her phone to notice the parents standing outside .YMCA before and after school program in Pickaway is just a unsupervised program designed to fail kids .If you have a child with special needs(ADHD ) who has challenges with behaviors expect the letters,expect to get called to pick your child up .They are really good at having all the paperwork done for documentation,but off the paperwork is a different story.They get away with what they are doing when licensing pops up ,Simply by having all the licensing papers done and actually doing their job .The program was in trouble for not having a safe environment for the kids ,and for not having staff with enough professional development training . I will not be using this program ever again.Other Yclubs have better care then Pickaway county does

We recently tried a week long free trial to the YMCA. We've been Y members all over the country, and, at first, I was very impressed with the tour we received of this YMCA just because they could fit so much into such into their space. But, then their scheduling made the venue completely unfriendly for families. And, god help you if you have a question, because the staff at the desk DOES NOT have an answer, ever!This place is set up to only cater to senior citizens and trophy wives with nothing else to do all day. I thought their child watch service sounded amazing, until I actually wanted to do something at the Y other than use random exercise machines. Child watch ends at 11:30 am and does not pick up again until 4:30pm. This break spans the vast majority of free time for stay at home moms who would like to work out! We can't come in at 7 or 8am for classes because our kids are still getting ready for school! By the time I get my older kids on the bus and drive to the Y, if everything goes perfectly, the earliest I can get there is 9am, which means I'm unable to participate in the early morning classes. The morning classes seem designed for people to do before they go to work, which is great for them, yet there's very few classes to accommodate the hours for parents of young children! And the next available class that I would like to attend (Yoga class) is 11:15-12:00 - so it's IMPOSSIBLE for a mother to take this class because child watch closes at 11:30! Why are they alienating stay at home mothers who's children will be coming with them until they're at least 5 years old?Well, I thought, that's okay, because I love to swim, so I'll just do that instead of classes! Oh wait, no I won't, because the pool only offers open swim from 11:00am-5:00pm! So, unless I just want to jump in, do a lap, and go change as fast as I can, there's no possible way for someone with a toddler to swim for exercise at this facility!And, keep in mind, elementary school kids don't get off the bus until 4pm, making 4:30 the earliest I could get to the Y. Why would I want to pay for a membership if the only child-friendly activity (that isn't a class I have to pay more money for) is a pool that closes to the public at 5pm? Kids swimming on a school day is impossible here! Why should I pay for a family membership if you've set the pool up so that my family can only attend during the weekends (which are always booked up anyways)? I'm not paying for a membership that only works 2 days a week, am I?One day during our trial, the kids were out of school on a Friday and we went in to let them swim. We found the deep end of the pool roped off, and two swimmer lanes were left open for adults wanting to do laps. No big deal, the kids had about 40% of the pool with just the roped off shallow end. Well, they did until these geniuses decided that open swim time - the ONLY time that kids are allowed in the freaking pool - is a great time to hold yet another hour long senior water aerobics class that takes up the entire roped off/kid-safe zone of the pool! They were going to kick us out of the pool entirely, until more kids showed up and jumped in the pool without asking (because why should they? It's open swim for a reason and classes shouldn't be happening then!). By the way, homeschooling is still legal, and homeschool phys ed is a huge deal - so the Y should be prepared for kids in that pool every single time it's open swim, whether they expect kids of not!Ultimately, there are no classes open to mothers of young kids. I'm coming alone so I have no racquetball partner to play with. The weight room was always all male and tucked away by itself, so that's uncomfortable for me to be in there. I can't swim, get in the hot tub, or use the sauna due to child watch hours. And my older kids can't swim because the open swim ends at 5pm. Anything else they offer appears to cost more money. But, why would I want to pay more if I can't get any use out of the facility in the first place? I want to swim! I want to sit in the hot tub! I want to take Zumba and Yoga classes! Moms are people too! I don't know who deals with the scheduling at this Y - but that person needs replaced with someone who actually understands what families with children need! For $500+ a year in membership fees, I expect to be able to use the facilities a reasonable amount, but I can't! It's mostly seniors in there because that's who they cater to. Why can't open swim be from 1-7pm so kids in school can have some time? Why can't yoga be at 10am so moms can take the class without finding a babysitter? Why do I have to type this when every other Y I've been to already realizes that stay at home moms are a huge part of their business and deserve their attention too?