When I recently visited my family in Columbia, I was able to use the NorthWest Family YMCA through my national Y membership from Honolulu. I swim for exercise and I found it's a fantastic facility -- clean, spacious, and has everything you could want: a great pool, aerobics classes, weight room, and even a sauna. All included with national Y membership at no extra cost. It's a little bit outside of town, but still easy to get to from Irmo and the northwest side of Columbia. Overall, a great place to work out, swim, or just unwind while you're in the area. read more

Love the facility and the people! The facility is well maintained, the instructors are fantastic and the members are kind and friendly.

My one daughter has played volleyball here since she was little over the years it has gone downhill. My oldest daughter volunteered to coach 3-5 year old t ball and 3-5 year old soccer . She then ended up coaching 14-17 year old volleyball because they couldn't find anyone for free . The whole season she was harassed by a parent . Spoken ugly to . Filmed , mocked but she made the best of it with the girls . Several parents spent every week trying to start trouble for her because they I guess wanted an Olympic Coach . She developed close relationships with the girls . The one mom that harassed her tried to pick a fight with me during a practice it made me very uncomfortable. Something was said to her so to exact revenge she made up a lie and that lie was sent to my daughter in a note telling my daughter she was dismissed with two games left as a Coach . Then he tried to tell me and my daughter we could not speak to the parents . Then he sent out a email telling the parents not to talk to each other . I didn't know you could do that . Then he told the kids they couldn't talk to each other . Then when he started to get shown proof that her reason for dismissal was not true . He came up with another policy she had broken then said she had four parents complain about several policies broken but wouldn't say what . I have requested a copy of the policies . I also heard he's telling parents she admitted to breaking a policy . She also got kicked from helping the 3-5 year old kids . Still don't know why but I bet it's the bully parents . I will never have my daughter play volleyball there again and I would highly suggest you do not ever volunteer because they just allow you to be free range bullied for free . Disgusting . No wonder you were short of volunteers . I would tell everyone I know to not volunteer there read more

I came to add a bad review and I see several others have had the same awful experience I did. The staff at the front desk was rude and regarded my family with a stuck-up attitude that didn't seem justified. I had called one day prior to confirm my son who is 11 years old would be able to use the basketball court as a traveling member. Today, we were turned away at the door by the staff who cited "policy". They didn't seem to care that I had confirmed a place for him to play the previous day, again pointing us to their "policy". When I called back later that day to ask where this policy could be found, they said they "did not know" but that "all Columbia YMCA's enact the same policy." When I corrected them and said that actually, every other ymca in the area said my son could use all the facilities as a traveling member, they said their policy was "different" (a contradiction) and that it was clearly stated "behind their desk". That is absolutely ridiculous. I brought my son to the Jeep Roger's Y the same day and he was allowed access to the courts with no issues. The facilities were much cleaner and nicer and the staff was more professional, as well. Guess where I will be leaving a five star review? read more

They are teaching me to swim! This is major. The facility is beautiful and clean. They offer modern exercise equipment and everything is in working order. Sanitizer and paper towels are in close reach. I'm happy we joined. read more

I signed for a family membership on 5-4. I solely wanted to use the pool for my children that I have two weeks out of the month. I expressed to the lady that processed my application several times. I specifically asked if we could use the pool anytime and she said yes and that it closed early on some evenings. I took my kids to swim that day a couple hours later and a swim team was there so we had to come back at 7:30 and the pool closed at 8:45. I was given a chart that night and I had spoke to Anna the following day because the charts were beyond confusing and I had expressed I was having second thoughts about my membership. The following day the same thing happened we showed up to swim and the swim team was there again and it was explained they are there Monday-Friday and we could swim from 7:30-8:45 Monday-Friday, Saturday morning they have swimming lessons until after lunchtime and limited hours Sunday. I soon found out swim teams have priority over solo/free swim. They basically use all the lanes but one and that one is used for swimming lesson. This was beyond frustrating and I cancelled my membership two days later on 5-6. I'm not going to sign up for a one time 50 dollar fee and pay 75 dollars a month to be able to swim for an hour and 15 minutes Monday-Friday and then limited hours on the weekend. It would have been nice for more transparency as far as the hours and that the swim team is there and that we could only swim for a hour a night. I wouldn't have joined if I had known that. A lady told told me there is a sign near where you scan in that says something about the swim team but I said it would have been nice to see the sign when filling out my application or better yet that was explained to me. When I came to the YMCA on Friday to cancel my membership I explained what had happened and she said "yeah I can see why you cancelled" I feel they should have credited my 75 dollars for the month and they could keep the 50 dollar one time fee for the lack of transparency on their part. If you're thinking about joining and want to use the pool primarily you might want to take your money elsewhere. Nathan Ward read more

I went in to sign up my kids for swim, and they are already packed until July!!! You guys definitely need to hire some more people. I'm paying a membership for what? And, the kicker is I have to drive 25mins from my house to cancel my membership, can't even do it on the phone or online. Oh! And don't get me started with their website, biggest load of crap ever. read more

The bathrooms & showers are FILTHY! I saw a review on their website that was 5 years old that said the same thing. They obviously don't care. read more

We have a family membership and love it! The pool is clean. Not too crowded. They have classes and childcare at certain times during the day. Membership can be used at other locations too. read more

Very poorly managed after school programs. They hire teenagers and don't train them to handle stressful situations with the kids. Kids bully each other and not all of them get in trouble for that. They did not want to work with my son, treated them differently, the youth development director had an attitude while handled the problems with parents. She also refused to give us money back for the weeks our son was not going to attend. They get a lot of money with 100 kids at care and don't bother to train their personnel. I saw counselors put hands on kids instead of talking to them. I would rather not recommend their after school program cause they need to change their counselors and structure was really changing every day. Chaotic and unprofessional. read more

We signed up for a membership in order to let our grandchild attend the summer day-camp program and apart from the fact they kept the boy outside pretty much all the time (it gets pretty hot in the summertime in SC) it went ok otherwise. I would have given 4 or 5 stars on that alone, but financially they have a cancellation policy that is geared to result in people paying for much more than they would if the Y would actually cancel the membership when you make the request...!!! In my case I'm having to pay for all of October even though I came in to cancel on the 7th, and my normal payment isn't scheduled for another week or two. In my book that's stealing. read more

Great facility with good selection of equipment and offers a variety of classes. Your membership covers all 4 locations within the columbia area. read more

If I could give a negative review I would the facility is just okay the management is terrible I was sexually harassed at the gym in 2012 and the management did not do anything to correct the situation don't go there if you are a woman read more

Great gym and friendly staff! Lots of cardio machines, weight machines, free weights, pool, several classes at varying times, basketball courts, and a play area for kids. You can drop a child off in the play area for 2 hours while you workout and they have lots of fun! Just check the child care times. No monthly contract, which is very nice. Their cancellation policy is to just let them know before the 1st of the month that you will be canceling and then they won't charge you the next month (they post payments on the 15th). Another reviewer posted that their policy was "stealing", but it's not hard to understand. (He stated that he told them on the 7th to cancel, which is NOT before the 1st). What other gym allows you to cancel with no questions and no fees? If you cancel BEFORE the 1st, you'll be good. read more