New Rochelle YMCA — Attraction in City of New Rochelle

Visited this YMCA while I was in NYC and it was a pretty bad experience. Super hot in the building, not sure what the air conditioning situation is, but it's not great. No working water fountain in the building. This was only made worse by the front desk person telling me where the water fountain is located, and when I returned to let them know it was broken, they replied, "Yeah, it's been broken for like a month." So, not only do you not have a single working water fountain in the building, but it's been broken for a month and it still hasn't been fixed, and you pointed me towards it as if it worked in the first place‽ Why didn't you just say, "We do have a water fountain, but it's out of order at the moment," and just save me the time from having to walk all the way down the hall and back for literally no reason??? Completely baffling. I called to participate in their daily, afternoon pickleball, and when I called the front desk, I asked, "Hello, I'm interested in playing pickleball this afternoon, but I just wanted to check—how many courts do you guys have and around how many people come play? Just to get an idea?" I kid you not when the lady at the front desk said, in all seriousness, "I'm not able to share that kind of information," as if I was asking for their monthly financial statements. Even worse—it turns out that you can literally see the pickleball courts from the front desk, so she was fully able to answer my question, she was just being unhelpful for no reason at all. I'm confused as to why the day pass is $20??? I belong to pickleball clubs with memberships more expensive than this YMCA; the day passes of those clubs are $6 and $10, yet, a YMCA with a broken water fountain and air conditioning is $20??? I'm guessing the price was picked by a dart board and they just called it a day? Lastly, I was told that they had free pickleball paddles available for use, which was nice to see, and then when I got there, they proceeded to hand me A PIECE OF THIN WOOD WITH DUCT TAPE WRAPPED AROUND IT FOR A HANDLE! It was literally like they broke into a sports museum and took paddles that were used from 50 years ago.

All in all, I would highly recommend avoiding this place if you're visiting the area. Or, honestly, I wouldn't even recommend this place even if you DID live in the area. Truly a memory I would like to forever put...

Update on review: The cardio room is now up and running.

Theres a lot of issues going on in this Y. The cardio room is down, needs renovation. Its been like this for a couple of months now. We cant use it at all. When it rains there's a leak thru the roof. Mind you they raised the membership. I try to understand because they seem to need the upgrades thru out the gym. To ask for assistance from the staff. Its impossible because everytime I ask, I see that they're so busy. Like today I saw the staff available at the front desk. I asked her about the personal swimming class that I purchased for my son and she was going to look into it but then another lady came in and asked her a question. I waited but then I saw her helping them instead and then the phone rang. And So Thats it, she got busy and helped everyone else. But this wasnt my first experienced with the Y. I understand theres only one staff and they get overwhelmed but everyone should have a turn and wait until shes available to help them. The staff should also know how to assist everyone and tell them "hold on please when Im finish with this client, Il be happy to help you" I've been a member for a couple of years now. But I dont see progress on the gym and the staff. This Y makes you feel that us "the Members" are serving them so we have to wait for them. They need better management, staff, work out classes, equipment and better training on how to treat the client's. This included for the Ymca camp too. Kids watching kids, and I've seen the staff members for the camp on their phone while they are suppose to be watching the children, my son does not like this camp. Aleast we gave it a try this year for the camp but it did not work out. While I was at work I did not have a peace of mind while my son was at the Y camp. Hopefully...

On the advice of a friend I enrolled my scared 7 year old to learn to swim with Marcello at the New Rochelle YMCA. Despite several summers of camp swim lessons, my child named drowning as his number one fear and would do anything to avoid putting his face in the water. But after the very first lesson with Marcello, my son was making more progress than he ever had. Six one-hour private lessons later (and a promise of a nice reward if he stuck with it), my son was jumping in the deep end and swimming 8 pool lengths himself and is truly excited to go back. The Great Marcello is a swim magician and is worth his weight in gold! If you have a kid who is not making progress and scared to swim despite repeated attempts, skip the Goldfish group classes and come to Marcello. Be prepared that it’s still a process - Marcello uses no-nonsense and firm coaching with flashes of humor and heart of gold tactics I wasn’t sure would work on a kid who usually demands a soft touch and a lot of hand holding. Even though my son was excited at the end of each lesson his fear would creep back in between them, so Marcello’s recommendation to go 2-3 times a week is spot on -it’s made a big difference and is well worth the investment.

Also a note on the facility itself. It’s not brand new or super posh. It reminds me of the Ys that I grew up with and that’s just fine with me. It’s very clean, there is everything you need or would want to do, the staff are so nice and remember your name, and the community is just wonderful. It’s a phenomenal deal for everything you get and you can use any of the other Westchester YMCAs for no additional fee (and some others but not the NYC ones). They have wonderful child care options and a summer camp. They are really providing an incredible...