Keene Family YMCA — Local services in Keene

Loved yoga here. Took different classes from different instructors, the only time I wasn't crazy about it was when there was a sub. instructor who didn't know what they were doing. The fact that the child care play area was outside & below the windows where yoga classes were made it interesting, trying to ignore screaming children.

Swam at the pool, both laps alone & with the whole family, for fun. Often there weren't enough lanes open & had to share with other folks.

Loved child watch. Never left the kids with anyone other than family, but always felt like my son was in great hands here.

The family locker room could be weird. Certain times of the day grown women without children were allowed in the family dressing room, but mostly they just went in whenever they felt like it, & the fact that it was after their allowed time was never challenged by anyone who worked there. I found that extremely weird, given that there's a women's locker room which has all the same "amenities", just without little children... They have rules but don't enforce them.

Used the gym (just the treadmills) a few times, & the track. Another rule they NEVER bothered enforcing - walking lane, running lane, passing lane. You get these folks who just think the rules don't apply to them (why not, since the Y never enforced the rules) & they walk, side by side (2 folks), just chatting, completely oblivious to the folks trying to RUN in the RUNNING lane (which one of them would be WALKING in). Then there were the geniuses using the track as their own personal "go-between" to walk from the courts/studios in the back to the front & step out in front of folks who are RUNNING on the track without bothering to look first. Can't tell you how many times I had to come to a complete stop for some oblivious jerk with his/her giant duffel bag just taking their sweet time walking mid-track.

My main problem, however, was their gymnastics program & the disrespectful, unprofessional way that it was run. Heather Goodwin ran it the year before we joined. Before she ran it, they only did Y meets. Yes, there are Y teams & Y meets, but they are no where near as organized & competitive as USAG. Y-meets are a step up from recreational gymnastics, but no where near as challenging & competitive as USAG. The first year Heather Goodwin took over the Y team, she had the girls competing USAG meets, & they WON STATES (tied with a private gym). For their first year competing USAG, this was huge. We had no idea the Keene Y even competed USAG until we were at states & they WON! We left the private gym where our daughter had gone for 7 years & went to the Y specifically so our daughter could be coached by Heather Goodwin.

One day, Heather was just gone. No explanation or even warning from the Y. Our daughter simply showed up one day & she was GONE. They did tell us she wasn't allowed back at the Y, so the girls never got to say bye to their coach. There were some "everybody gets a trophy, don't push the kids at all" parents who disliked her, they thought she was too tough on the kids. As a team parent whose child has been in both rec classes & on teams, from years of experience, Heather did NOT push the kids too hard. She was the nicest team coach! If the other parents did like their children being pushed, they should have taken them off team & put them in rec classes where it's all fun & games! Our daughter spent 9 hours/week under Heather's coaching, it was beyond unprofessional that she was not allowed to say goodbye. I have a feeling the Y forced her out, although I've never gotten any explanation. We left because of that, & they told us they were going back to only Y meets, NO USAG meets, which is garbage b/c Heather & USAG were the ONLY reasons we went there! Plus the parents originally voted to do USAG only, then the Y came in 1 yr later & vetoed what the parents wanted. Ridiculous. So yeah, they do Y meets, & the team practices a whopping 4 or 5 hours/week (what a joke), but if your daughter wants real gymnastics, go to a...

This YMCA is clean inside and outside. The staff here does an outstanding job on keeping on top of the clean up. The restrooms are always clean. The gym equipment always smells fresh and clean. The floors are swept periodically throughout the day. I spend as much time as possible here after work, generally I get in 4 hours of exercise per night 7 days a week. There is always something to do here. You can go rock climbing, take karate classes, do cycling classes, racket ball, they have an Olympic size swimming pool with lanes put up, they have a full size basketball court, an indoor running track, they have a Jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, there are coaches here that can help you train all you have to do is sign up, there is an indoor gym with just about any kind of workout machine that you would ever need to use, treadmills, cycle Mills, free weights, bench press, they have gymnastics but for quite a few of the activities that I mentioned above you need to get the weekly/ monthly schedule upfront so you can make appointments if necessary or figure out what times of the day and week certain classes are being held otherwise you will miss out. They don't hold every single class everyday, some classes are alternated each day of the week at specific times of the day. So get that schedule first.

They do have a summer camp and tried to enroll mine, but it fills up before their camp even starts so that was a bummer, but maybe next year my kid will get to participate. I heard alot of great things about their camp but no worries we still visit here and enjoy all of their other activities.

Definitely bring your family here if you are in the area and check this facility out it's definitely worth your time.

Thanks for reading my review and have a superific day! 😆👍

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We have been members of the Y for 6+ years, and have overall enjoyed the facility until the recent hire of new CEO, Christy Sterbenz Filby. Previously, this facility was extremely family focused, and a place that we could enjoy being healthy together as a family.

Unfortunately, the new policies introduced under Christy’s leadership are unlike any other YMCA in the region (all other locations require youth minimum age to be 11 or 12 with a parent), and eliminate youth’s access to exercise equipment (even supervised by a parent) until they are 15. The YMCA has always been a place that children can grow, learn, and develop healthy habits, and these new policies undermine that mission. She will state that there are “teen group work out classes” in lieu of supervised access to using equipment, however this is incredibly out of touch as most children this age do not want to participate in these sorts of group classes.

We have attempted multiple times to reason with Christy, but have only been met with condescending replies and unanswered questions.

It is a shame that Christy was the decided hire for such an important role. She is short sighted, and out of touch with the YMCA’s mission statement, which is to “empower young people and communities worldwide to build a just, sustainable, equitable inclusive world”.

We hope management reconsiders these policies and takes into account the feedback from long-time members who value the inclusive and supportive environment that the YMCA...