Paye’s Place

Payes Place is closed. Equipment being sold this weekend and next

My son is on an AAU basketball team and played at Paye’s Place recently. It was the first time for all of us. This place is awful! This review is for the facility only.
So the owner found an old warehouse in San Carlos and turned it into 3 basketball courts. First there is a $ 10 per adult admission charge! I’ve never had to pay to watch my child play. And $ 10.00!!! Then the gym has no lights. Don’t know whether they didn’t pay the electric bill or are too lazy to change the light bulbs. There’s no ventilation or A/​C so that place gets HOT!!! The parents are sweating and the kids are overheating. Parking is limited and tight. None of the scoreboards were working. So in the scoreboard’s place was a portable one that was on the scorer’s table… and it was the size of a piece of paper. The restrooms were disgusting and I’ll leave it at that!
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. You can’t do much about crappy referees or the gym smell, but if Mr. Paye is gonna charge me $ 10 to get in, he should think about some repairs! I hope I don’t have to go back there!

Been here a couple of times for AAU basketball games. This is a review of the facilities. Paye’s Place features three basketball courts and a volleyball court. One of the basketball courts is small and the teams sit at one baseline while fans sit on bleachers on the other baseline. It’s hot in the summer. Easy for players to run into walls doing a layup or chasing a ball along the sidelines (at least it’s padded), or to step on spectators at the other baseline. My biggest gripe about the small court is that about half of the florescent light tubes are out and it’s a lot darker than it should be. Why can’t those tubes be replaced? And it’s not like just a few are out — maybe half of them are out.
The two main courts are bigger, and considerably better lit. More room on the sidelines but not much on the baselines. The sideline where the benches are located for the players features pillars that are fortunately wrapped in padding. Fans sit in bleachers at the baselines on each court. Pretty cold here in the winter.
Tough parking on the street and parking lots in the street toward the freeway during tournaments.

I really like the way they developed the players.
The basketball and volleyball clinics are really helpful to the players

My son played an AAU game there today against the home team. The tournament was supposedly for 4^th graders (my son is in 3^rd grade) but our team went against their 6^th grade team. The home team parents even asked us what grade our kids are and they told us their kids are in 6^th. During the game, their parents started back tracking, saying some of their kids are in 4^th grade, then a few mins later, they said some are in 3^rd grade. Wth?! Why would the organizer allow these older boys play against 9 and 10 year olds?! As expected, our team lost but the worst part is, the opponents even bragged about winning after the game. If Paye’s wants to show how good they are, I say let them play in the East Bay or against the Oakland Soldiers!

Has this place ever heard of heat? The gym is a dump!!! Kids shouldn’t be playing in 40 degree gym!!!

Adequate facility for volleyball, basketball and weight training but parking is always limited.

Good facilities but poorly organized. Our PJB team had 5 players, this program could be so much better.
NJB run by Dads seems a much, much stronger offering.

Went here for the first time to attend an AAU game. Nice facility, but the home team here has no respect. Calling a player a «b***h» and another one another one a «n****r» should not be tolerated behavior. Then to throw a punch during the post game handshake line… seriously. What a bunch elitist racists with their token enablers just happy to play.

This is the WORST experience we have every had with any organized children’s activity, be it sport or educational. Payes Place is the least customer focused organization that I have experienced in the Bay Area.
We enrolled our 8 year old in the PJB — basketball program. This is what we experienced:
— When we signed up they told us specific days of the week & times for practice & games
— Then over the course of the season they randomly changed those days and times WITHOUT even notifying the parents. As a result, often there were hardly any kids showing up for practice
— The ‘coach’ was a 19 year old that had experience playing basketball, but almost no experience as a coach. He certainly had no passion and was not a leader. A parent probably would have done a better job motivating the kids. He actually turned my boy off to basketball — I’ve livid about this.
— Mid season, they ran out of space to practice, so they found a room in a cramped warehouse 1 block away to practice. So the kids have to walk outside through a busy street with cars in the evening 5:30 — 6:30. Now let me tell you about the room where they practiced: It was dark, exceptionally dirty and there were rafters and beams that would block your shot to the basket. It was a joke. If you tried to make a 3 point shot, your ball would hit a rafter and bounce back at you! I wish I was kidding.
— There is no accountability at this place. I have no idea what kind of football player the founder was, John Paye, but he sucks as businessman. His staff is customer-​unfriendly and there is zero accountability. This is by far the worst run place that I have ever experienced. Stay far away from this place. I had a good experience at Legarza — their camp was excellent. i will be investigating their full-​time program.

As a mother of 3, I could not be more grateful for the existence of Paye’s Place. My daughters have all three participated in every season of NJB, AAU and PJB basketball since they were eligible (the last 7 years), regularly attending speed and agility training, and spending every summer in various Paye’s Place camps.
My children have had an outstanding experience with the basketball and volleyball programs. I find it hard to believe that anyone who took the time to park, get out of their car, and walk into the amazing sports facility that Paye has created to get an understanding as to what their child is learning, could have any doubts as to the rewarding experience Payes offers.
Paye’s is run by a family oriented team of trainers, coaches and office staff that are quickly endearing to anyone who gets to know them.
We are lucky to have so many spectacular athletes available to our children as coaches and trainers. John Paye has made incredible advances for girls basketball and has personally coached many of the key college athletes today. His resume is beyond impressive. He is in the Stanford Univ Hall of Fame, triple lettered (basketball, baseball and football) and comes from a widely respected family of athletes (and is currently raising a family of athletes).
I highly suggest giving any child interested in sports, fitness or health the opportunity to spend time at Payes Place.

My son went to the MLK day basketball camp. Apparently there was almost no basketball, almost all conditioning. It was apparently the worst basketball camp he’s ever been to.

John Paye (former star QB at Stanford) has built a gym in Redwood City with an incredible reputation for instilling basketball enthusiasm in kids. Everyone raves about this place.

My daughter started playing basketball here last year. This seems to be the in-​place for kids all over the Peninsula to participate in club/​team sports like basketball and volleyball. Her experience there has been terrific. The Gym really has hard working, caring coaches, exciting game-​play and a great deal of real sports-​learning. Folks have the right attitude — a mix of serious training, learning and knowledge along with positive and fun teaching methods.
The Gym was founded by John Paye, who coaches many of the teams. John is a former star QB and point guard for Stanford (he also played for the 49ers behind Montana and Young).
Most of the kids are from Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo. If you’re looking for club/​team basketball or volleyball for your kid, this has to be at the top of your list anywhere near San Carlos. It really is the epicenter of that universe.

My trainer’s gym facilities moved recently in here and I have been visiting this place twice now.
Well, I understand that it is a gym for mainly kids league trainings and plays. The court areas are actually nice and you can open the «roll» doors so you get some fresh air.
However the bath/​locker rooms are not very inviting and constantly running low on all sorts of necessary bathroom equipment…
The staff is ok, I had a friendly front desk lady and a not so friendly front desk gentleman helping me out.
Parking is a mess and watch out for the moms with their mini vans! Better park on the back side so you avoid all sorts of weird dropping off and picking up services.
Overall I guess I could send my child here for playing a volleyball league or something but I have seen nicer facilities out there…