Hilliard/Ray Patch Family YMCA - YMCA of Central Ohio — Local services in Norwich Township

I have visited hundreds of YMCA across the country. While in a generic YMCA I use the pool and weight floor the most. I use the pool a lot because I am a swimmer. I am the first YMCA represented athlete to break 44 in the 100 free in history. In short, I use the pool and weight floor a lot.

Now, why you should avoid this facility and your other better aquatic facility options.

This pool still uses sneeze guards, and lane reservations even though many other YMCA do not. This wouldn't bother me if the concern was health and cleanliness, which it is not. Even though the YMCA has those measures in place thy don't follow any stringent cleaning measures or any other covid measures. The locker rooms are not clean, and they don't have a single covid measures in place like the ones mentioned above. The shower curtains have mold growing in the folds, on my visit there were underwear in the suit dryer with what looked to be feces left inside, and no other cleaning checkups. The weight floor doesn't have staff that frequent the machines to ensure things stay extra clean either.

Now, the lane reservations. The only reason this YMCA still uses them is because they don't want to deal with older members complain and they don't want to staff lifeguards to allow more members to use the pool. Even though a pool closed a couple weeks ago brining more staff to this location. As stated above their concern isn't cleanliness because they don't follow any other measures anywhere else.

The weight floor is always underlit. I know YMCAs don't have a lot of money so if they are trying to save money then it's probably time to close up shop then to continue doing its members a disservice and offering a poor environment.

Finally, the staff. I have seen management like this in several locations. Management more concerned with keeping their job, than providing its community with a pleasurable experience. Focused on doing the bear minimum than one of excellence. Higher management is coarse, disrespectful, and unhelpful. Every experience I have had talking with higher management has always left a sour taste in my mouth.

Other Options; If you are an alumnus of OSU or know someone who is (for sponsored visits) I would recement using their facilities. Even if you have to pay for a gym membership, and visit a random city pool it would be better than this Y. Maybe even joining a masters swim team would be better. They have lost of freedom on those teams to come whenever you want or change the swim. If you have to use a YMCA I would drive the extra miles to go to the superior Liberty YMCA, or even the New Albany YMCA. The extra cost in gas or time is worth spending than coming to the...

Overall it's a great place. Plenty of equipment and all the extras, pools, sauna, hot tub, steam room...I've been a member since I moved to Hilliard 15 years ago. However there is a group that lets their kids run wild in the exercise area and those kids are usually not supervised by an adult. Those children are on equipment they have no business being on unsupervised and the staff rarely says anything to them. Last year I was in the exercise area with my 14 year old son was at the time pushing 6 feet tall and knew what he was doing was approached by a staff member for being in the weight room by himself and I was no more than 10 feet away from him. This situation was very frustrating because of the reasons above. I have the feeling that the staff does not want to upset this particular group above so they turn the other way and let things go on they usually wouldn't. if you go in the basketball gym the floor is overrun with a group of boys who are disrespectful and rude especially to girls and women. Most of these boys have no parent on site they are dropped off at the "Y" and left alone. This group called my 13 year old daughter the B-WORD because she wanted to share the court with them and they said she had no rights. I was there and witnessed this personally. The are loud, they argue and push and shove. My two girls will not go inn there to shoot because of them. There needs to be a YMCA Staff member at all times in the basketball gym. It probably sounds like I hate the place...I don't. There are just a few things I find annoying and unfair...

I’m writing this review because I am growing more and more frustrated with the lack of updated pool schedules. There was no info/update indicating that the pool was closed on Sept 9, on the YMCA app. I use the YMCA app on my phone, as suggested by the staff at the YMCA to check pool hours, changes, updates, etc. It’s a frustration that I need to call the YMCA every time I want to swim to find out if there are lanes open, and if the pool is even open. This is not the first time that this has been an issue, it’s a problem and frustration that has now extended into my second year of having a membership at the Hilliard YMCA. If the people paying to belong the YMCA do not have correct information or are faced with changing pool hours and/ or pool closures, why should we continue to pay for a membership with the Hilliard YMCA? I’m denied access to a pool I’m paying to belong to.

The YMCA offers a nice pool, however it seems there is consistently an issue with having lanes open for lap swimmers, especially when the swim team starts up. I was told today, Sept 9, that the front desk staff does not even have access to update the YMCA app, to let the paying members know what is going on. It’s very disappointing to see and hear that the communication is lacking even inside the YMCA amongst staff. The front desk staff are then faced with turning away paying members and having to tell members that once again the pool hours have changed, something is closed, and they are not always filled in on the...