I live within walking distance to this pool but send Jenbert Jr. to another swim school. Why?…read more This is what I want: 1) For her to learn to swim. 2) For her to enjoy and feel comfortable in the water. This is what I'm not interested in: 1) Feeling pressured to join the swim team. (Mr. Jenbert & I would be OK with her joining a swim team, but it would have to be because she wanted to, not someone else) 2) Building an Olympian athlete. (Again, if she wants it, that's a different story) 3) Getting Jenbert Jr. onto Stanford/Cal/other big name school swim team before she turns 9. Not 19. 4) Being treated differently (read: inferiorly) because my philosophy on swim lessons differs from theirs. 5) Being on a waitlist to join the club and when being offered a spot halfway through the year, the amount is not prorated.

My kids have grown up swimming at Meadow and we've been members for 16 years. Such a great…read morecommunity. They all learned to swim and two of them were/are on swim team while one did tennis for several years. My oldest was a junior coach in high school and loved it almost as much as swimming. Love the multi-age aspect - where else these days can 5-year-olds and 17-year-olds be on the same team and the older ones can mentor the littles? The facilities are not as nice as OCC or MCC, but the culture is great. I love that many of the kids walk over from school during the year and ride their bikes to/from the club and hang out together in between swimming and tennis. It is a neighborhood pool in the best sense.

This facility has had a significant negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood. In my…read moreexperience, many visitors park throughout nearby residential streets without regard for residents, blocking access and damaging landscaping and other property. The increased traffic also disrupts the local environment and wildlife, creating unnecessary safety concerns for families, children, pedestrians, and drivers. The situation appears to be poorly managed, and the surrounding neighborhood is paying the price. I hope management and local officials take these concerns seriously by enforcing parking rules and implementing solutions to protect the community and the environment. Until meaningful changes are made, I cannot recommend this facility.

This is a member only club perched in the beautiful hills north of Orinda. We went there as guest…read moreand truly enjoyed the vast space the club is on and the size of the pools as well as the cute and well run cabana. I believe there is a 4 year waitlist. Parking is an issue because limited - we got dropped off hence no issue. Car pool at least , get dropped off at best.

I joined Montclair Swim Club because I was looking for an option closer to home and after about a…read moreyear decided it wasn't really for me. They have good hours and the lifeguards at the front office are super helpful. The pool itself is a bit unusual - one end is quite shallow so it takes a bit of getting used to it for doing flip turns. There are always kids around - and quite often children's swim teams practicing. When I first started swimming there, I kept hear the name "Marco" being yelled repeatedly and thought "This must be the worst game of Marco-Polo ever!" I later found out it was that one guy on the kids' swim team who doesn't hear instructions and keeps swimming when everyone else is stopping. The hot tub is not bad - it's quite big. It's sadly full of people who all seem to want to talk OVER the noise of the jets. I can only imagine what it must be like for the people who live in the canyon all around and have to hear banal conversations, frequently alcohol fueled as there are many people with cans of beer in the hot tub, about personal relationships and compost bins. While parking is plentiful - there are plenty of people who block the road because they can't be bothered to park and walk 20 feet. There are even some rather entitled white male Tesla drivers who will criticize another person's driving despite the fact that they had no problems parking themselves (and the parking lines are many, worn down, and contradictory at best). There's definitely a bit of elitist element among the long time/regulars. Finally, the locker rooms are a horror. They are not kept clean and could do with re-tiling. The lockers are a mess. The toilets are miniscule and not much bigger than what you'd find in an airplane. I do confess that the source of my discontent was a visit to Villa Sport in San Jose last summer -- and the realization that for HALF the money, I could be getting way way more value. Let's not even get into the strange cash-only deposits and lack of policy to suspend membership when out of town or out of commission for long periods of time. It's a really great pool and club for families -- it's got picnic tables, grills, and you can bring the au pair as part of your membership. Two stars for single people without kids who prefer clean lockerooms - but five stars for families with lower standards and more money.

I go here five or six days a week, the beautiful location and lack of crowds makes it easy for me…read moreto get my laps in. Sure, i wish the pools had been resurfaced in the last twenty years or that the locker rooms felt a little less wet/moist, but tbh it all makes it feel like this is my personal club. I'm basically writing this review to make sure the swim club sticks around for another 100 years, i dunno what i'd do without it

We couldn't be happier with our experience! Dashiell is incredibly patient, encouraging, and clear…read morewith instructions. They have a fantastic way of building confidence in the water while keeping lessons fun and engaging. We've seen amazing progress in just a short time and highly recommend Dashiell to anyone looking for a skilled, thoughtful swim teacher!

David was fabulous with my grandsons. He was patient, kind, brought the fun, and really taught…read morethem to swim. My older grandson went from trying to do freestyle to that and back stroke, breast stroke and even butterfly!! My younger grandson was afraid to float on his back and was not water safe. He is now doing freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke and is safe in the water!! I would highly recommend David!

As a long-standing member of Oakwood, I am continually drawn back by the exceptional dance…read moreinstructors who enrich our community. Among them, Carah Hering stands out as my all-time favorite fitness instructor. She imparts her expertise in Line Dancing, ZUMBA, Aqua-ZUMBA, and Cardio Dance, fostering a sense of community that transcends the club. Carah helps coordinate dance parties and trips throughout the year, she also encourages the celebration of birthdays and other life milestones in a unique and memorable manner. These events provide an unparalleled opportunity for camaraderie and shared experiences. Recently, I underwent hip replacement surgery, and Carah's classes served as my greatest motivation to heal and resume dancing with my Oakwood Dance Sisters. If you are passionate about dance or eager to explore this art form, I wholeheartedly recommend all the dance classes offered at the Oakwood Athletic Club.

Love this gym! The pool is the perfect temperature, the showers are immaculate, the wet and dry…read moresaunas relaxing, the fitness classes intense, but fun, and the machines are state-of-the-art. The staff at the front desk, make it a point to memorize your name, amazing, so check-in is very easy highly recommend!

Swim with Brandon has been a great disappointment. We purchased a Groupon for private lessons for…read moreboth of our sons last July. The redemption instructions were to email to set up the schedule for the lessons. We emailed and phoned a number of times over a period of months before we got a reply, which was to contact them again this Spring. We contacted them on the first day of Spring; it took more than a month for them to respond, at which time they said they were not honoring the Groupons. They offered to allow us to apply the Groupon to their retail price, which amounts to nothing less than a bait and switch. We cannot comment on the quality of their swim lessons, but their business practices are terrible and are not honorable. In general, business practices are important. To a place that's going to be teaching little children to swim, it seems even more important that things be done properly. We would strongly recommend seeking swim lessons elsewhere. As an aside, we've had less than good experiences with Groupon offers for lessons. It appears that the vendors get swamped and can become quite uncooperative. Kind of a bad business proposition for all involved.

Absolutely 5 stars and highly recommended. Coach Audrey has the patience, skill and plan to teach…read moreyoung kids swimming in the right approach. Best of all, she also makes the whole experience fun. Our kid looks forward to the lesson every week, and we can see concrete steady improvements after every lesson.

Thank you Audrey for being such an AMAZING swim teacher and swim coach! You have such wisdom and…read morecompassion for new swimmers!

Parents, please do not send your poor children here. They take your money and have no…read morequalifications to teach anything. I wouldn't even allow these people to pet sit let along try to educate. I sent my child here for close to a year to learn piano and she learned nothing. Here are my main concerns: 1) teacher showed up 10 minutes late every time for 30 mins session and of course they continued to charge me for the full session 2) they try to teach using technology but their Wi-Fi is down. Therefore the rest of the class they spend trying to figure out how to connect to Wi-Fi which first hand observing, was painful. 3) the place is owned by a clown with the biggest ego. I went in there to watch my child after realizing that the sessions were not helping her at all. The clown that owns this place was fumbling around trying to get tech support to turn his computer on. He refers to himself as a "doctor" which further shows what a narcissistic clown he is. He also was upset that I hadn't been in there before to introduce myself to him. I don't think the moron realizes that parents have to work to pay for extracurricular activities like his clown school. He literally was offended that I didn't come in to introduce myself!? 4) the pianos and other instruments looked like they were picked up at the local dump. I can't sing and I am more tuned than the piano my poor daughter was trying to learn on. 5) the worst part is that I asked them to cancel my daughters sessions. That night I noticed that he had gone in and quickly charged our credit card for next month. What a crook and phony. Horrible place disguised as a teaching institute.

Don't send your kids here. Angry owner in attack mode:…read more I had an appointment in the building of 99 Brookwood Rd, Orinda, CA 94563. The person I had an appointment with told me that I could park in the ATMA/ALMA spaces. My dad dropped me off and wanted to wait for me, so I told him to park in one of the ATMA/ALMA spaces since he would be waiting for an hour and could take a nap if he wanted.  When I was done with my appointment, I walked to my dad's car and we got ready to leave. We saw a car stopped on the street and thought the driver was waiting for the space. After we pulled out of the parking space, that driver waved my dad down and got out of his car. I thought, "oh, maybe we didn't close all the doors in our car and he was trying to be nice." Not the case. This man, while blocking traffic, walked towards my dad and took a photo, then started yelling that we can't park there and that we were disturbing the businesses. My dad doesn't speak fluent English, so he told me to explain to the man what we were doing there. I got out of the car to tell the man that I was here for an appointment in the building and was told that I could park in one of those spaces. That man did not stop yelling to hear my explanation. He continued to yell that it was his spot. There was no point to this, so my dad and I got back in our car and drove off. I called the person I had an appointment with and found out that the man who yelled at us was the landlord of the building. He received a complaint from a tenant, SaraBella (florist), who described my dad as a creepy man walking around. My dad was stretching and admiring the scenery outside of his car while waiting for me, nowhere near the florist, minding his own business. No one, not the florist nor the landlord, talked to us and just assumed that we did not belong. We were judged by our appearance and treated unfairly. What happened to my dad and me happens to many people and I'm not going to be silent about it. His name is Dr. James Fiatarone, aka Dr. Jim. He is a landlord and a music teacher at the Academy of Language & Music Arts (ALMA), located in that same building. Stated on his webpage, "James is a Bay Area native who holds a Ph.D. in language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley". I expect better language and understanding from someone with such esteemed credentials, at the very least a common decency to speak maturely. Instead of introducing himself as the landlord and seeking to understand, Dr. Jim chose to block traffic and cause a scene in order to exercise his own judgment and bias. I want to get my message out and let him know that the way he conducted himself is not okay, especially in a place of business.