West Suburban YMCA — Attraction in Newton

THE WORST GYM I EVER JOINED!! I implore you NOT to join this gym. The Management team is beyond incompetent I was bullied and harassed for 6 straight weeks by the morning basketball crew. The Bullies wanted the entire court to themselves and tried to kick me off the court every Monday Wednesday and Friday when I refused to leave they would swear at me constantly. Management was well aware of the situation and did absolutely NOTHING about it it was a horrible experience. If you are thinking to join this gym the first question I would ask is why does this organization tolerate bullying?? The YMCAs response below is pure propaganda. They didn't take any measures. Saying that they took measures is a 100 percent pure unadulterated LIE. On December 7 the pathetic Bullies "Pearl Harbored" me, they lined up at half court and were simultaneously screaming and swearing at me. I had enough and started screaming and swearing back at them. If I could show you the video of the "Pearl Harbor" incident I guarantee you the Newton YMCA would never get another new memeber. I was told by Management that I would be receiving an apology from the leader of the bullies that never happened it was just more incompetence by Management. There is a curtain that drops from the ceiling that can split the court in half all management had to do was drop the curtain and there would not have been any problems. when I asked the COO Kimberly Benzan why they didn’t do that. The response I got was I don’t know. I spoke with her a second time, and she still refused to answer the question. She was very smug talking over me, arrogant and completely useless based on my experiences. I found Kimberly Benzan to be totally incompetent.Moreover, on December 9th after the Pearl Harbor incident I was STILL being heckled by the bullies. She offered me a pittance of an offer saying I will give you 3 free months if you rejoin the Newton YMCA, I wouldn't join the Newton YMCA if you offered me a free membership for the rest of my life. I sent a critical email to the President, Jack Fucci not only did he not respond but when I tried to send a follow up email, my email was Blocked. I joined the Brighton YMCA right after I left the Newton YMCA I get along very well with both the staff and the Brighton morning basketball crew. I am in my mid-50's and have blonged to several gyms since I was in high school, The Newton YMCA was by far the WORST gym I ever joined!! The Management at the Newton YMCA is beyond completely incompetent Josh Downes the Manager, I dealt with has absolutely no conflict, resolution skills whatsoever!! I wish I could give the Newton YMCA 0 stars. My experience with other YMCA’s has been favorable. I don’t know why the Newton YMCA is so poorly run and has management that is so atrocious. YMCA, please stop saying we would be happy to discuss this matter further with you. I discussed it twice with Kimberly Benson and not only did she not answer my questions. She was incredibly obnoxious, rude, condescending,...

I like this place in general. The basketball court with wood floor is well maintained. The front desk is always welcoming and helpful.

However, the pool schedule is absolutely not youth friendly. There are only two afternoons per week, both on the weekend, where the pool is open to youth. According to the schedule, one lane is reserved as a youth lap during these time periods. However, every time we were there, all lanes were occupied by adults. There is no sign out there indicating which lane is for the youth lap. My kids never get the chance to use the youth lap successfully with their first try. They kept getting yelled at and kicked out by the life guards for using the wrong lane. They were also told they can't share the lane with an adult. But why allow adults in the youth lap during youth swim time in the first place? Why not put up the youth lap sign? They are also not allowed to use rec lane because they swim laps?!

I am giving this review because, for one thing, I don't like the lifeguards throwing their weights around those kids (Not all lifeguards are blameful, some of them did try to help); for another thing, I don't think it is fair for the kids to be treated in this way given that they were the ones who followed the schedule from...

We have been members of that Y for a total of 4 years. Facilities are sub-par in cleanliness, especially changing rooms and toilets. Activities are limited, so no indoor or outdoor tennis, for example. But we still used it for swim lessons for the children. Management and leadership were defensive and not responsive to parents' concerns. When the swim coach, Christina, treated our children differentially with no explanation of why their treatment was severe and different from other children, and with no apologies if this was a mistake because the coach had "a bad day" following a personal loss that she took on our children (instead of being professional and taking some time off to recover and clear her head so she can perform her job well upon her return), speaking with Aquatic director, Amanda, or with the director of members' services, Cara, was completely useless with promises for the future from them and not the coach and still no explanation, apology or guarantees that stated coach will not be unfair to our children again, a reflection on their very poor and ineffective leadership and customer service. Allowing a coach to discriminate against children for whatever reason other than their performance or a pre-stated policy...