Beaverton Family YMCA — Local services in Beaverton

Pros: • Six courts available

Cons: • Poor parking situation • Dirty bathrooms • Cramped seating • Courts too close together, making whistles confusing • Disinterested high school referees • Paid “coaches” who don’t commit or actually coach • Organizational issues

Worst of all, the organizers don't return emails or reply with solutions or open communication. If you read through the reviews from nearly 10 years ago, you'll see there hasn't been much improvement in the parking, cleanliness of bathrooms, or organization of the leagues.

This review focuses on the basketball leagues at this YMCA location. My son has participated in recreational and developmental leagues for a few years.

Recreational League:

The rec league is fine if your child wants to play for fun. There’s only one practice per week, and coaches serve more as facilitators than actual instructors. While there were occasional last-minute schedule changes and canceled practices, it was an overall decent experience.

However, the high school referees often seemed uninterested, and one horrible experience involved our team facing what was essentially a club team. Not only did they dominate, but they also trash-talked our kids throughout and after the game—completely unnecessary.

Developmental League:

This league, unfortunately, has been a significant disappointment. It costs more than the rec league, has paid coaches and referees, and offers two practices per week, supposedly to help kids transition into club basketball.

The season starts with a “skill evaluation” meant to create balanced teams, but in reality, many teams are pre-formed “club” teams playing in the developmental league. This results in a few highly skilled teams dominating while other teams—thrown together with leftover players—struggle. My son’s team has lost every game by 30+ points.

Worse, the coaching has...

Heather is in charge of the homeschool physical education classes and adult exercise programs. She has been an incredible resource for our family. We originally showed up to try out the homeschool PE days and was warmly welcomed. My son was able to hop right into the group that day and had a fantastic time in the playground games class. He really enjoyed the playful nature of games and the easy-going coaches and has been able to make connections with the other kids.

Heather has created an environment that is incredibly supportive and responsive the needs of my family and has been checking in with us for input. Heather managed to create a feeling of community.

Because of her encouragement, I added a much needed "Roll and release" class (for adults) on the weekend. This class is relaxing and it's helping to reduce my pain and tightness. She is able to provide lots of adaptive solutions to movements which makes the class very accessible. Heather is clearly educated and passionate on the topic of fascia and techniques to restore function. She has been providing examples from her research--this makes going to class really exciting and motivating and I'm getting a lot out of it.

More classes are being added and I encourage everyone to come check it out. It's a pretty...

My family has been participating in basketball with the YMCA since 2010, with my youngest having played the last 3-4 years consistently. We have really enjoyed our experience with YMCA. Specifically, we enjoy working with Stilyan Slavov. He always addresses our concerns promptly, listens to our feedback, and has been very flexible and helpful with us whenever we’ve had a unique circumstance come up. He does a great job running a massive program with a ton of moving parts. His communication is excellent and as a parent with a lot going on I truly appreciate that.

This current season my son was “recruited” by a Coach during his last game of last season, Dave Lund or “Coach D” and we could not be happier about that. Coach D is the perfect combination you want to see in a Coach; loving, yet stern, supportive, yet firm. He is developing great players all while teaching them how to be great humans in the meantime. The improvement I’ve seen in my son has truly shocked me. I am hopeful we can continue working with him in future seasons.

All in all, I highly recommend YMCA Hoop as a great program for...