Our garbage gym Lifetime Centreville is ripping out the indoor basketball courts and replacing it with all pickleball

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ahhh DCUM where always and forever the best and only really ok -ism is ageism.

You forgot sizeist. DCUM hates fat people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

But gyms are always glomming onto fads. They have to keep things fresh to bring people in. They change up the classes more yoga, (less step aerobics or kick boxing), buy new equipment, provide new offerings. Fads come and go, everyone knows that.
People are always latching onto whatever the latest fitness craze is because they want to be in shape but it's hard to stick with it. So, they try something new hoping it sticks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Centreville location has really gotten crappy. There used to be a much bigger and better selection of food, there was a place you could get a haircut, the courts and bathrooms were well maintained and clean. Now its dirty and they keep getting rid of the amenities. No rock climbing, basketball courts or camps anymore?

+1. It was actually nice like 10 years ago. I don't know why it kept getting...grimier? The haircut lady was convenient. It was a nice young family weekend morning-daycare, parents work out, kids need a haircut? right there, take the kids swimming? right there, grab lunch from the cafe, etc. Now its just really basic for what they charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahhh DCUM where always and forever the best and only really ok -ism is ageism.

It's ok to point out when a business isn't interested in serving your demographic any more. Getting rid of two full basketball courts, parties, and camps and replacing all those things with an activity for senior citizens is factually what is happening.

Seniors are the only ones who play pickle ball. Maybe it's you behind the times and out of touch?

At night, at lifetime, only Senior Citizens play pickleball. Perhaps, during the workday, the pickleball court is a just teeming with athletic 20-somethings. I am working so I could not say.

So, you're not at the gym in the morning or afternoon but you know how all the facilities and offerings of the gym are being utilized and by whom? The gym needs to listen to you for your limited data and knowledge to make financial decisions? The vast majority of kids are never available during the day so should the kid offerings just sit there empty waiting for school to let out? Guaranteed there are adults there at all hours of the day. Kids are few in number with limited availability for most of the year. Whose needs would you rather meet if you cared about the bottom line?

What most people seem to be agreeing on is for there to be pickleball all day long while the old people are out and about, and then switch it over to basketball once its Early Bird Special time and kids are out of school. That seems like a good way to maximize use for two different groups of customers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

I'm the same way too but I compare it more to racquetball, which I remember being real popular a while back. And there's a couple of places that I've seen with racquetball courts that look like they're hardly ever used for actual racquetball.

But I've also been wrong about trends and fads in the past and it looks like there is more support for pickleball. So can be wrong about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

But gyms are always glomming onto fads. They have to keep things fresh to bring people in. They change up the classes more yoga, (less step aerobics or kick boxing), buy new equipment, provide new offerings. Fads come and go, everyone knows that.
People are always latching onto whatever the latest fitness craze is because they want to be in shape but it's hard to stick with it. So, they try something new hoping it sticks.

But this seems to be the opposite of the gym MO. Usually they want to sign up a ton of people, but not have too many people actually come in because it overwhelms the fixed resources. I used to have a Y membership for one class I liked. So I was paying about $45 each class. For the PB locusts, they will pay a monthly fee, come in all day every day. So they will pay pennies per visit and clog up the drains with their blue hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

No, they seem to be getting rid of basketball and other kid-friendly amenities at all but their highest tier (most expensive, fanciest) gyms. They are ripping the courts out from Fairfax, Centreville, and Ashburn. Not sure where else they have gyms.

Centreville skews young actually, and is really diverse with a lot of low-income people. But the people who pay $200 a month for Centreville Lifetime probably don't exactly reflect the entire area's demographics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ahhh DCUM where always and forever the best and only really ok -ism is ageism.

It's ok to point out when a business isn't interested in serving your demographic any more. Getting rid of two full basketball courts, parties, and camps and replacing all those things with an activity for senior citizens is factually what is happening.

Seniors are the only ones who play pickle ball. Maybe it's you behind the times and out of touch?

At night, at lifetime, only Senior Citizens play pickleball. Perhaps, during the workday, the pickleball court is a just teeming with athletic 20-somethings. I am working so I could not say.

So, you're not at the gym in the morning or afternoon but you know how all the facilities and offerings of the gym are being utilized and by whom? The gym needs to listen to you for your limited data and knowledge to make financial decisions? The vast majority of kids are never available during the day so should the kid offerings just sit there empty waiting for school to let out? Guaranteed there are adults there at all hours of the day. Kids are few in number with limited availability for most of the year. Whose needs would you rather meet if you cared about the bottom line?

What most people seem to be agreeing on is for there to be pickleball all day long while the old people are out and about, and then switch it over to basketball once its Early Bird Special time and kids are out of school. That seems like a good way to maximize use for two different groups of customers.

What they had been doing was taking one full court and turning it into 4 pickleball courts. The other full court was for basketball, parties, giant exercise classes and what have you. It seemed to be working well although when we were there, there were many more people waiting to play basketball than were playing pickleball. They decided to rip out all of the courts and completely get rid of everything but pickleball. That's the bizarre part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

But gyms are always glomming onto fads. They have to keep things fresh to bring people in. They change up the classes more yoga, (less step aerobics or kick boxing), buy new equipment, provide new offerings. Fads come and go, everyone knows that.
People are always latching onto whatever the latest fitness craze is because they want to be in shape but it's hard to stick with it. So, they try something new hoping it sticks.

Good point. My gym has free weights, weight benches, TRX straps, and the cable reistance machine. I guess that stuff never goes out of style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

I'm the same way too but I compare it more to racquetball, which I remember being real popular a while back. And there's a couple of places that I've seen with racquetball courts that look like they're hardly ever used for actual racquetball.

But I've also been wrong about trends and fads in the past and it looks like there is more support for pickleball. So can be wrong about it.

More people will get hurt if they aren't playing on the right surface for their sport.

[Anonymous]

I believe all the northern va locations were built with two full courts and that was one of their big selling points for memberships.

they converted half to pickleball i think everywhere within the last year. Now 2 gyms in northern va will keep one court basketball/one court pickleball (for now), and 4 gyms are getting rid of the courts entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

But gyms are always glomming onto fads. They have to keep things fresh to bring people in. They change up the classes more yoga, (less step aerobics or kick boxing), buy new equipment, provide new offerings. Fads come and go, everyone knows that.
People are always latching onto whatever the latest fitness craze is because they want to be in shape but it's hard to stick with it. So, they try something new hoping it sticks.

Good point. My gym has free weights, weight benches, TRX straps, and the cable reistance machine. I guess that stuff never goes out of style.

I don't think basketball is a hot trend whose time has gone. The courts are always crowded at night!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

I'm the same way too but I compare it more to racquetball, which I remember being real popular a while back. And there's a couple of places that I've seen with racquetball courts that look like they're hardly ever used for actual racquetball.

But I've also been wrong about trends and fads in the past and it looks like there is more support for pickleball. So can be wrong about it.

More people will get hurt if they aren't playing on the right surface for their sport.

What's the right surface for pickleball?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in MD, but does Centreville skew older age-wise? Seems like Lifetime is making the changes only there, and the other locations will still have the kids camps and the like. Maybe it says more about Centreville than Lifetime Fitness in general.

My gut tells me pickleball is a fad. Just like tennis was in the 80s (does anyone walk around in tennis outfits any more, headband and all? look at how they dressed on Three's Company), and aerobics (Jane Fonda style), and shuffleboard, and bocce ball.

But gyms are always glomming onto fads. They have to keep things fresh to bring people in. They change up the classes more yoga, (less step aerobics or kick boxing), buy new equipment, provide new offerings. Fads come and go, everyone knows that.
People are always latching onto whatever the latest fitness craze is because they want to be in shape but it's hard to stick with it. So, they try something new hoping it sticks.

But this seems to be the opposite of the gym MO. Usually they want to sign up a ton of people, but not have too many people actually come in because it overwhelms the fixed resources. I used to have a Y membership for one class I liked. So I was paying about $45 each class. For the PB locusts, they will pay a monthly fee, come in all day every day. So they will pay pennies per visit and clog up the drains with their blue hair.

But people quit and leave. Gyms are always craving new memberships. They need people to want to play pickleball, sign up and not come in. Or to prevent members from quitting. Clearly the basketball courts weren't reeling enough in or preventing people from leaving. You're assuming they already had a ton of of people paying their dues but not coming in. Maybe they were actually bleeding members which you don't notice, because they never come in.

[Anonymous]

The Lifetime in Centreville is the worst lifetime. A little girl drowned in the pool there (and the pool is tiny and lifeguarded) a few years ago, it was horrible. IIRC the story was she was under the water for 5 minutes before anyone noticed. The pool is TINY.

They have a huge problem with theft. One of their employees was fired and was part of a fencing ring fueled by crap stolen from customers.