Atmore YMCA undergoes renovations, upgrades

For anyone who hasn’t made a recent visit to Atmore’s YMCA, or is still putting off a New Year resolution to join a gym, now might be a good time to head toward the columned-building on Pensacola Avenue.

YMCA Director Paul Chason said the building has recently gone through several renovations, including upgrades to equipment and several areas of the building that weren’t in use.

“We’ve got new LED lights,” Chason explained while showing off a new recreation room on the building’s second floor. The room houses, among other things, a foosball table and several indoor basketball games. “We use this for an incentive for after school. If they do good, they can come in here and play. They have a great time.”

And the afterschool program Chason mentioned is just one of the many activities offered at the Y.

“We do an event with A.C. Moore for after school,” he said. “But, we also do a thing, once a month, where A.C. Moore participants bring their parents or their guardians in and we do little craft things. We can do a movie, or the parents come up play games. Kind of get the parents engaged. Also, this month will be the third month of YMCA family night. We do a movie. We provide some refreshments. We want our YMCA members to get to know each other.”

Chason said renovations have also taken place in the YMCA’s gymnasium, where workout equipment has been moved and the staging area has been completely revamped.

“We completely refurbished the stage,” Chason said. “All those old windows were boarded up and we had broken glass. The floor was weak and you couldn’t walk on it. So, we rejoiced the floor. We’ve added all new matting up here.”

Included in the stage renovation is a new set of ropes for workouts, a pegboard, heavy bags, speed bags and new pull-up stations.

Chason said a lot of the options are brand new.

“We actually finished this in early February,” he said. “We put the ropes in about ten days ago.”

And while structural work was left to a local company, Chason said his own staff pitched in to help as well.

“We had a local construction company come in. They repaired the roof for us. They repaired the floors for us. All the painting and stuff, our staff did. We did that internally.”

Chason said the Y has recently been able to also add new equipment to its gym floor.

“We’ve added a new ab machine,” he said. “We’ve added a new leg-extension machine. Since we moved, we’ve doubled our capacity on treadmills.”

But isn’t just the gym the YMCA is improving. They are also adding to the services they offer.

“We’re working on another program,” Chason said. “We’re not quite ready to unveil it, but we’re working on an outdoor-style boot camp program. We’ve made some progress on it, but we still have a couple of things we want to add.”

Chason said the Y will also host Healthy Kids Day Sat., April 29.

“It’s a free community-wide event we hold every year,” he said.

Other events include a 5K run, and a Matter of Balance class beginning Tues., April 4.

“It’s in conjunction with the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission and the Area Agency on Aging,” Chason said. “We’ll be doing a Matter of Balance Class every Tuesday for eight weeks from 1 to 3 p.m. It’s free to the community, but there’s limited seating. It’s to help people learn how to clear trip hazards in their homes. Just to give them a little more confidence in how to solve problems. A little bit about exercise they can do to strengthen themselves.”

Chason said, while the program is free, those interested should preregister in order to confirm seating.

For those interested in joining the YMCA, a membership can be obtained for $40 for families; $35 for single-parents memberships; $34 for adults; $30 for senior citizens; $34 for senior couples; and $28 for a student. All membership dues are monthly.

For more information on Atmore’s YMCA, visit atmorey.com.