The St. James facility upkeep & safety
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Walking around with my toddler yesterday while older child practiced, I was struck by how worn down and gross much of the facility is. When you walk in, it smells like a McDonald’s (the ‘healthy’ restaurant 😝). Throughout the building, there’s cracked linoleum on the stairs; raggedy, smelly couches; flooded locker rooms and clogged toilets. Also, there’s zero security - anyone can wander in to the main sports floors and watch the kids practicing, not to mention the open restrooms and locker rooms! It’s a pretty stark juxtaposition with all their advertising language about ‘luxury’ and ‘state of the art’. Also, seems like many of their house league teams aren’t that good? All in all, I’m just wondering if this is [another] private equity scheme gone bad… |
Anonymous
| They make their money renting space to tournaments and leagues and swim meets. That brings in users who do not care about the facilities. The gym part is an after thought now |
Anonymous
|
Everyone I know who left a neighborhood league or travel club for St. James ended up going back to an established organization. Maybe it was one travel team to another with St. James in between, maybe it was trying St. James for a house league or some sort and then moving to a youth club, but nobody in my area sticks with it.
I knew people who did their swim team for the drop-in, leave-whenever policy, but I hear they also got rid of that. The only people I know who are happy with it are people coming in for a tournament indoors in the winter from a sport (ex: lacrosse) where they are on another team. |
Anonymous
+1 We've been there for gymnastics meets that were hosted by a non-St James team and it was great. Trying out a few of their camps was the opposite, although that had more to do with the coaching and organization than the facility. Maybe I was just too annoyed to notice anything else though lol. |
Anonymous
| We’ve only ever been for swim practice and meets as part of a non-St. James club, so there’s always a parent there the whole time, but the security thing seems major to me. If I were the parent of a teen girl athlete in particular, I’d be really uncomfortable with random adult men being able to watch, say, her gymnastics or volleyball practice at close range. |
Anonymous
| Security would be impossible when their fields, rink, courts, and pool are all hosting large events. The tried it in the early days, but the lines were insane and people were just saying they were going to hockey or basketball or swim anyway |
Anonymous
| OP, I agree that the faciity could be maintained better, but it's still light years ahead of other alternatives in close-in NoVA... |
Anonymous
|
that place gets a lot of use so not sure how they keep it as clean as it is.
also, have you been to audrey moore or fairfax sportsplex? those places are gross |
Anonymous
Lol, I had the same thought about the sportsplex comparison. But to answer OP's question, yes, I expect TSJ to ultimately be a VC thing gone kaput. |
Anonymous
Yes, the county rec centers are mostly in rough shape, no argument there…but no one is advertising them as premiere facilities? Also the fact that the swag shop is called “Strivers” will never not make me chuckle. |
Anonymous
| Shut up I love that place |
Anonymous
Oh my gosh, I'm dying. That is hilarious |
Anonymous
| I’ve only been there a couple times but it was decent. As someone who’s regularly gone to other facilities in the area, we were impressed but maybe that’s not saying much. It seemed nice to us. |
Anonymous
| It’s pretty sexy. OP you’re a snob |
Anonymous
I hated that gymnastics meet. The parking oh you lowly non members park here lining the roadways. The cost to watch my kid was way too high. The views of the equipment was terrible. My kids had to go to the bathroom, the time to get there, wait in line, and get back she almost missed an event. |