Howard County Family YMCA

★★★★★Jean Diep

I am happy with the pricing (Open Doors) family of five is able to enjoy so much programming for kids, a warm pool, classes, and activities for children. This is my first time utilizing the Y as a family. I used to go to the Weinberg center ages ago. So now I feel like I am fully enjoying all the benefits the Y has to offer. I do wish that there was more structure and alternative options for kids at Parents Day/Nights out. Sometimes it seems a little chaotic. Otherwise, it's a worthwhile event for the kids to socialize and for the parents to have a little time for themselves!

★Kyle Colonna

My family went to play pickleball here, one family member has a Y membership and said she played at that time on prior days there. We walked into the gym and my family told the man organizing the session that some players were newer to the sport. He said we could play each other on our own court after waiting in line since some members were more“advanced”. That sounded good to me, either way, I’ve played in multiple open pickleball sessions before at other places. It didn’t matter the skill level, people were always friendly to new players. So eventually we got to play on our own court, we warmed up by volleying a bit, and played a game that stayed close for a while. Well, at least two of the “advanced” pickleballers complained that we were not good enough to be playing. Now I don’t have a Y membership, I did not know there was a schedule and that this was an “advanced” session, not everyone looked advanced to me anyway! Nobody directly told us that this was an advanced playing session before we started. But also, we were just playing each other for maybe 10 min. So when the guy told us that we couldn’t play anymore, even though we were keeping score and doing everything as were supposed to (two of the four of us have played competitively before so half us knew the rules and were keeping things on track), I was surprised and embarrassed. And this led to multiple long conversations for at least 20-min with multiple staff members who apologized on behalf of the players in that session. We still had to leave that gym embarrassed. I’m sorry if this is naive, but I thought the Y was supposed to be community-oriented. My family was all home for Thanksgiving for a single day of the weekend. We just wanted to play for a bit for fun. And a few “advanced” pickleball players did not care about any of that. That’s sad, but also, I’ve contemplated joining a Y myself before. I thought it could be a nice place for certain programs/services. Now I’m just kind of put off by the whole thing. So thank you for embarrassing us and making us feel unwelcome during the holidays. I understand now that there is a schedule for varying levels of skill, but I won’t be back anyways.

★Marry Alice

This is crazy! This morning I was taking a shower in the women's bathroom, and a teenage boy was showering next to me with his mother. I walked out wrapped in a bath towel and saw another boy standing in the locker room looking at me! Others called the administrator, but the administrator arrived late. After seeing the two boys, she told their mother that the boys could not come here and left. After that, they didn't leave immediately, and another boy went in to shower again! I am very disappointed with the management of the YMCA!

★★★★Ellie

Great place, facilities are clean, all instructors are great, weight area is really big, main and warm pool are great, lookers area is fair, showers are okay (I wish people could be more respectful and pickup their hair from the shower drain after showering). The are few things are not the best... classes are canceled without previous notice and people leave stuff inside lockers unattended or without a lock 🔐. This can be frustrating if you are looking for a free locker and realized after opening 10 lockers, 10 out of 10 are already occupied because people dont care tossing their stuff in. Unfortunately, there is no way one can know when a locker is occupied, because most people toss their stuff in and they cannot get a 3 dollar lock to use it in the locker they are using.

★★★★★Ty P.

This gym is really nice. Plenty of modern equipment that's well kept and cleaned on a consistent basis. Multiple weight stations to accommodate the traffic. A great class schedule to fit anyone's needs.. The ball courts are polished and in great condition. Plus a wonderful & friendly staff. I'm a National member and found this gem of a gym during my travels. Will definitely be back as soon as I'm able.