Cross Island YMCA

My daughter goes to gymnastics here and they have a great staff for each age group. It is a little crowded as far as the gymnastics goes but that can be over looked for the great job and teaching they do. They learn real gymnastic techniques that you would see in the Olympics. I’ve taken my daughter to other gyms before that just teach them to roll and strech but at Y they have many different pieces of equipment to teach them true gymnastics. The class is an hour long which is more than enough and it is in a fair price range for a 8 week session. So if your child is into gymnastics I would give the YMCA at cross island a try

I have to say… getting back into the gym routine is not easy! My wife and I have plans to go away this June so we want to be more toned by then. Last year, we went to a gym in Fresh Meadows with an annual contract. That was such a pain since some months we were away and weren’t able to work out there. I needed to find a place that 1.) Did not have an annual contract and 2.) It wasn’t the boring treadmill, weights, back to treadmill, cool down, more treadmill, protein shake and weights.
I wanted to go to a spot that was closer to my house and came across Cross Island YMCA. My wife and I sat down with a coach and even had a tour. Let me tell you… there are a lot of things to do here. basketball, track, tennis, pool, martial arts, dancehall reggae dance move, weights, zumba, yoga, racketball. I am missing about 5 – 7 other activities.
They have parking in the back. This is our first week and so far so good. workin’ up a sweat. Soon we’ll have to buy our own tennis rackets and play tennis early in the morning. Oh yeah. they have month to month memberships. If you will be away for a month. you can freeze your membership.
The place is clean, the membership is affordable and I’m so glad it’s closer to home.

I like it here I really do! Clean, great offerings!
I’m just so u comfortable with how many entrances and exits there are and obviously to each his own with the kids. I fear someone can just walk in and snatch a kid walk out and no one would even notice! Granted that may not be fair. U didn’t really sign up for ur kids to be watched but still something to think about.

I can only comment on the swim school since that’s the only reason I go here. This is a good place for kids to learn how to swim. They offer a lot of classes during the week. Diana, the swim director is really helpful. The swim instructors are great. The place could use renovations and I wish they could clean more often. Also, the parking lot is a disaster on Saturdays.

Love it here. The staff is friendly and the set is very clean. My kids love it here!

they keep increasing the rate and cutting the hours at the same time. Canceling my membership soon because their tiny weight rooms get too crowded at 4−8pm on Weekdays. The staff are friendly and it’s always clean except the basement men’s locker room… it smells so bad because of lack of ventilation.

Lots of parking. Friendly staff. Clean place. Lots of machines to excersise on. The pools are big and the instructors are really good. The Indian lady at the front desk have a nasty attitude and she is not friendly and helpful though.

I have been a member of this Y for 2.5 years. They have many classes and I love the ones I took. They have something for any age, physical ability, The crew is very nice and the instructors are great

Love it here, staff is great.
Gym is rarely full and there are machines for all workouts. Machines are rarely out of order and when it is the staff quickly gets it fixed.
Nothing but good experiences at this ymca.
Perfect place to get your pump on

Poor management. Facility needs to be updated.

My son just completed his first set of swim lessons and we are pleased with the results. He has improved a great deal and is looking forward to the next session, to continue learning. The instructors are patient but they also challenge the kids. They provide good verbal instruction and physical cues/​examples too. Each session is 45 minutes, which is plenty long without seeming like things are dragging on.

My 4 year old daughter takes Gym and swim here and I’ve been borderline okay with this place — some good days, some bad days, good staff, bad staff. I’ve seen what I used to think was the occasional insensitivity towards children’s feelings and confidence and thought — well maybe it’s nothing or just someone having a bad day. After coming here for over a year I realize this isn’t the case. There is a general «I don’t care» attitude at this place. They promote and demote children to more skilled groups for all the wrong reasons. If a child isn’t ready to advance to the next skill group don’t do it because someone has too many children in their group only to figure out that there is room and put her back. This ping ponging treatment of young children is demoralizing and shakes a child’s confidence. Shame on this place. I only write this because I’ve seen it too often here and prospective customers with young children should be aware. As a long time Y supporter, this is not what I expect. You should know better, where is the oversight? Sad, sad, sad.

Yes this Cross Island is really nice and clean! They have a lot of programs in there that you can take advantage with the membership you can go swimming, do cardio, take spinning classes, yoga, and play tennis. It can be a little crowded sometimes during registration dates, staff is always willing to help you you just need to ask!

One stop shopping here! My daughter swims and I work out!

This review is based on my 7-​year old summer camp and after school camp experiences. I will rate each one separately for a better view. Please note that this poor review does not include the Early Childhood program.
—Summer Camp (Summer 2010) 2 stars
The team sports camp have a bit of different sports that kids would like to do and for variety I would give them a 5. However, the final score I can give is maximum of 2 ½ because of a few experiences we had this summer; below are a few.
First– The nature of the summer camp is that kids spend much time outdoors. One day, my son suffered from heat exhaustion and I found out that he had not drank any water. The Y does have water breaks but I feel that they did not enforce the kids enough to use them. I am unsure as to how much responsibility a 7-​year old to remember to drink water should he have when he is busy having fun. Regardless, we lost a week from the camp till he recovered and was not even reimbursed in terms of extending his stay for that an additional week.
Second– Today (8÷13÷10), my son’s school bag was stolen from the men’s lockers and so was his prescription glasses. They did not ask parents to bring locks for lockers (and when I spoke to them, I got mixed review) as I was told it is our responsibility (but never mentioned to me or written) to bring a lock while some other staff indicated that locks are a big problem for kids who forget their combination which is why it is not mandatory. As a result, locks are optional. So while he was swimming, someone stole his backpack with all his clothes and sneakers as well as glasses which cost over $ 300. They seem not to like to take the responsibility and I had to insist that they also check their cameras and see if they can find out who may have done it as the bag is identifiable because it isn’t too common.
UPDATE (8÷14÷10): Yesterday night I personally went to the locker rooms and asked the custodian in charge to check the adjacent lockers that were locked to see if my son’s stuff is there. The next morning before we went to the glasses store to buy a replacement pair, my wife checked and the locker was still locked. We got the locker clipped and found everything of my son’s stuff in there. Has I and my wife not taken action in our own hands, we would have either never gotten our stuff and certainly spend needless money on a pair of new glasses with same prescription. I don’t know how my son’s stuff got locked but I still stand behind my poor review. The summer person in charge did nothing to help and I felt that I was an annoyance to him.
Overall, I felt that to them I seem to be just an inconvenience and I will have to be insistent and see what results can be made. This last incidence is what drove my to sign up and write a review. We will not be using the Y and some of the recent reasons are listed above. I feel mostly relief that we have 1 more week paid and we will not use it again and a bit regret because when it came to getting physical activities which is also important, they did have a great deal to provide. Still. I feel that the cons overweight the pros.
—After school Program ²⁰⁰⁹⁄₂₀₁₀ 2 ½ stars
You get what you pay for and in regards to price it isn’t bad. However, the kids counselors are not teachers but I believe college students who seem to have good grades and in general are responsible.
Having said this, the reason I give a low score is once again from experiences that we have
First– They have had a bit too often problems with their buses and on numerous occasions they picked him up over half an hour late… the school was not too pleased with this.
Second– One day, they completely forgot to pick up my child and the school once again called. No one in YMCA noticed until the school called them.
Third– Although they are great at physical activities (including swimming) in all seasons, I feel that they are weak in academics. They do not provide teaching as they are not teachers but when they go over my child’s homework I find it not all done (they started to inform parents that they can’t guarantee this) and at times done incorrectly. From the above factors, I have now placed my child in another after school program that is purely academically inclined and will have to figure out other means for his physical activities.
—Early Childhood Program 4 – 5 stars
PLEASE NOTE: The Cross Island YMCA does have an early school program and my son was in it. I believe that this program deserves 4 – 5 stars so please don’t look at my negative review above and base it on their early childhood. The staff is run by a different department all together and I considered them to have been a great experience for my son and myself. They teachers and assistants are friendly, cared and I feel did a great job getting him comfortable and prepared for kindergarten.