This summer camp and after school program was the worst place I've ever experienced a few years…read more Every time I come to camp, I witnessed a lot of bullying and fighting going on everyday, and the counselors wouldn't do anything about it, but only a few trusted counselors that were my favorite had jump into action to break things up. I was in the 10 and up group, and I've met one of the worst kids who used to bully me. This was because I had suffered from a mental disorder, but overall the kids in my group started to accept me. I think that the alternatives they offer there, are pretty underfunded, or cost too much due to Covid, so that's why people don't sign up for activities anymore. I've realized back then that the program had stop hosting other activities where kids can be as productive as possible, because once again, due to Covid, the city can no longer afford it. They're charging parents way too much money to send their kids to camp. I even couldn't come to camp for about a month or 2, until my mom finished the payment. If you have the resources to send your child to a well funded program I would recommended, because it seems like the camp hasn't made a recovery to help kids with colleges and organizations where kids can be in a fun learning environment for their future

I found the summer camp here to be extremely poorly run. Communication from the directors was…read morenonexistent (plans would change and parents would not be notified) and I sent several emails that went unanswered. Facility staff was extremely unfriendly. Counselors were all very young and inexperienced and did not facilitate positive interactions between the campers. My child was reluctant to go every single day and has asked that we never again sign up for camps at this location. The only bright spot was the assistant director who seemed to be trying her absolute best to make this a good experience, but wasn't working with much.

My 7 year old daughter loves taking classes here. She attends twice a week and loves all the…read moreteachers/Senseis... she has Sensei Phil frequently and I think he does a great job of being silly with them at times but also teaches them the importance of listening and respecting their teachers. My husband and I were very impressed with her skills so far and love the dedication she is learning here.

Sensei Phil is great. He cares about the kids in his class and has an unbelievable amount of…read morepatients.

Very expensive, no air conditioning in the summer, and coaches that play favorites. If you have…read morekids that could potentially fit in their junior tennis program, you might get treated better. If you're a stay at home mom, with money and time to devote to their programs, you will get treated better. Otherwise, they have very average tennis coaches who will give you constant feedback on every shot you make, whether you like it or not. It's a little too intense!

This is an article on the ATP tennis tourney that comes to Nielsen once a year:…read more http://www.windycitytennis.com/2013/05/who-can-we-expect-to-see-at-this-years.html Nielsen is great...very helpful staff. They have night owl tennis once a week, normally on Thursdays.

I waited too long to sign my daughter up for soccer through the park district, so I decided to give…read moreLil Kickers a go instead. This was my 5 year old daughter's first time playing soccer, so it actually worked out perfect. They spend the first half of class practicing drills while playing games and then they do scrimmages the second half of class. My daughter has only been to 4 classes, but I feel like she has already learned a lot. The coaches are great with the kids and the classes are fun. I also appreciate that missed classes can easily be made up.

My son has been going to lil kickers since he was 18 months old (he's now 6). Due to my sons…read morehyper and strong tempered demeanor, it has been a very tough journey. What I appreciate the most is that despite the tantrums and other difficulties, the coaches without exception kept encouraging me to bring him back. And I did. The Niles location in particular is great because they have the same coaches season after season.

I tried this company with two different park districts and each time it was unprofessional…read moreinstruction and disorganized classes.

I've taken indoor/outdoor adult classes in Gurnee and Mundelein for multiple sessions. I've played…read moreat a pretty stagnant level since high school (over 15 years ago) until taking lessons with Frank. While I've had some great instructors, Frank has been the only one to help me make consistent improvements in my serves and backhands. He explains things in a way that really gets you to understand cause/effect of technique and offers very honest but encouraging feedback. Even while building foundations for good techniques, he also focuses on strategy. His other instructors, particularly during the summer, are also great. Definitely will continue with lessons!

We had our daughter in park district swimming classes but she wasn't making progress. At Foss she…read morebecame more comfortable and confident, and after a couple years now swims considerably better than I do.

I am truly sad and disappointed in our Foss experience at Elmwood Park. When we started at Foss,…read morethe quality of instruction and kid-friendly environment made it worth the steep price. Our son loved his lessons. However, several major factors have caused us to pull our son out mid session. This year, Foss stopped offering any make up sessions. To us, this was unreasonable as the current session is 13 weeks long and the price is $30 for a half hour. Instead, Foss offers family swim as a substitute for a make-up lesson, which books out months in advance. Other swim schools offer tokens for make up sessions as inevitably, very few families are available for 13 weeks straight. We also experienced a major lack of communication with management. Nobody answers the phone. We missed a session once and when we arrived the following week, the building was closed. There was nothing on the website or any form of communication to inform us of this closure. When I called and asked why the building was closed I was told that there had been a note on the door the previous week (the week we missed.) Most unfortunately, the quality of swim instructors at Foss varies widely. Although our three teachers before this session were great, our most recent teacher wasn't in the pool when class started, had 4 year old kids sitting on the step for long periods of time, and put the kids in time out if they moved to the other end of their lane for their turn. Of course the top priority is safety, but she never showed the children what she expected of them. I'm still not sure how they were expected to get to the other side of the lane for their turn. I had to stick up for my son when the teacher put him in time out for moving down the lane. During the first class with her, my son only swam for 10 minutes total, as the kids sat on the step for the first 10 minutes, played games for 5 minutes and were sent out of the pool early. This is not acceptable when classes cost about $1 per minute. When I spoke with the manager about my concern, another mom was doing the same thing about the same teacher. Instead of listening to me, the manager said she'd call or email me the next day, but I never heard from her until I followed up a few days later. If I were the manager, I would be interested in knowing why families were ending their sessions. Overall, this lack of communication, and poor teacher experience is no longer worth the high cost (and parking nightmare.) We were hoping to keep our son (and eventually enroll our daughter) at Foss as there are few swim environments close to us that are as kid friendly. We know a lot of families at Foss who have had great experiences, but unfortunately, it was not for us.

My kids have been taking tennis at North Shore Racquet Club, which they love, for many years. Due…read moreto their limited classes and loooong waitlists they wanted to supplement elsewhere and we had heard great things about Glenbrook Racquet Club. We set up an eval for my 2 oldest kids (thanks Beth) and they were placed in classes. They find the classes to be easier than North Shore Racquet Club, which may be a leveling thing. They do like that they are small classes and say that the instructors are all great. They've also been doing privates with Mo, who is such an amazing instructor. I watched my son's lesson one day and was so impressed with the feedback he was getting and he has a really fun, positive attitude too. I'm doing a lot of outdoor tennis right now thanks to this gorgeous Chicago fall we are enjoying, but when it's time to hit the indoor courts I may see if Mo has time for me too! They have agility classes here too, which I think look amazing. I've been trying to convince my kids to try them, but so far they just want to play tennis. The front desk can be slow with returning emails and they don't always answer the phone, which can be difficult when it comes to scheduling makeups, etc. They do have a makeup email alias, but I"ve yet to get a response when I've emailed it and usually just call until someone picks up. Overall, it's a great club and I can see why it has such a good reputation!

Moved to Chicago last fall and shopped some tennis clubs before I landed at Glenbrook. The members…read moreand staff are amazing. Highly recommend for great drills and plenty of match options!

Nice little course if you pick a good day to play. Sometimes it takes a while and it's only 9 holes…read moreand it's short but it's in good shape usually and pretty good staff

Coach Chris and the others are very helpful in tutoring the kids but facilities are way out datedread more