Lake Norman Family Branch YMCA — Local services in Cornelius

My review is only for the lake access, not for the gym or workout facility.

I saw on Instagram they have lake access on Saturdays from 11am-4pm so I came today to check it out. My membership is at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte but I had no problem visiting this location!

If you drive to the left past the main building, you'll see the lake access area and there is a small parking lot where you can park. There is a covered pavilion with picnic tables so you can bring a picnic lunch. There are also bathrooms and dressing rooms available for changing. Nothing fancy but it's nice that they are there!

There is a small cove area where you can kayak, canoe, stand up paddle, or play on two inflatable climbing things in the water. They require everyone to wear a life vest which they can supply if you don't have your own. There was no cost to use any of the equipment!

On a crowded day they ask you to limit the time you have the equipment to an hour, but on a slow day they don't care how long you use it. For the swimmers and kids, every hour they call everyone out of the water for 15 minutes, but kayakers can stay in the water.

There are also plenty of lifeguards on duty. I counted at least 7. They station 2 lifeguards in kayaks at each of the inflatable things to watch the kids from both sides. One lifeguard stands on the dock and watches the kayakers in the cove. They even have a lifeguard ski boat that they send out to watch the kayakers who paddle outside of the cove. I felt very safe when I was there!

This is definitely an activity place and not a beach for laying out and tanning.

(Lake access is during the summer months, first day was mid-June 2020,...

We came here specifically for the lakeside amenities… and this was on a warm, perfect Saturday afternoon. We were the only ones there much of the time - there were more lifeguards than guests. Why is that you may ask? Lakeside amenities on a perfect Saturday afternoon should attract Lots of people. I think I know: this YMCA kills off any chance of fun with all the rules they impose. To even be on the beach or in the water, you have to wear a lifejacket. It is not pleasant to swim around in a life-jacket. Even full grown adults need to wear them. There is a large inflatable water slide right in the lake, with 4 sides… but you can only slide off of the side that the lifeguard can see. There are 2 swim areas, but you can only use the one where the lifeguard is currently occupying. As far as the kayaks and canoes, you can only take them within a very limited, small area.

All the while my family were restricted in all these ways from fuller enjoyment… the posse of lifeguards were having a ball - they would jump off the roof of the inflatable waterfall slide, and swim around all they wanted without the life jackets… seemed unfair that they can have more fun than us.

This is a trend I have long observed at many YMCA’s, this over-concern for safety kills all chances of enjoying your time. Many YMCA’s don’t even allow underwater ‘breath holding’, saying it leads...

The staff is great. However this is Not one of the best YMCA's in North Carolina, and I have been to many many Y's. It's also in one of the richest towns in the state but has the worst and smallest Y makes no sense. All the equipment you want to use is full of people all over the place during peak hours and the gym area is very tight and most of the equipment is dated. basketball courts are normally always taken from Pickle ball, volley ball, kids camp. and During the summer there is dust and food all over the courts, rarely ever available for people who actually want to play basketball. They desperately need to build another court and expand the gym. If the YMCA doesn't have the budget they need talk to the city, talk to board of Lake Norman or Davison, someone has the money if the Y does not, get a government grant if all else fails I don't know, but something needs to change there. The brand YMCA can sponsor the ALT hawks NBA team? But we don't have a modern and upgraded YMCA, Gym and courts in Lake Norman is crazy. They need to rebuild it or just start building more / adding on to it with a upgraded gym section etc, they have TONS of land and real estate there. locker rooms FILLED with people all over the place those need to be upgraded too. Corporate needs to step in and help, place needs assistance and funding for the...