First, a confession. I’ve lived in Seaside and Marina for three decades, and had never been inside the city-owned Monterey Sports Center. I had been curious about the 72,000-square-foot downtown facility, but had never been past the front desk until Sports Center Manager Jeff Vierra took me on a tour last week.
He says the idea for the place came from the East Coast, where similar facilities are much bigger because outdoor recreation like soccer and tennis are built indoors for winter. Nowadays, Vierra says, other California cities study Monterey’s model to design their own city-owned fitness centers, including Roseville and West Sacramento.
The Sports Center opened June 1, 1992, at a cost of $15 million; this June 1 it will celebrate its 25th anniversary. It was built for the community to promote health, and was ahead of its time.
“It was built before the fitness craze hit,” says Vierra, who was hired six months prior to the opening. “But the building was designed to expand.”
They renovated almost immediately to accommodate the growing demand. In 2002 they expanded with another wing for $7 million; another expansion is part of the Parks and Rec master plan but isn’t expected to move forward for some years.
Today the center houses two indoor pools, men’s and women’s saunas, a sun deck, sports cafe and pro shop, a three-court gym, cardio and weight training rooms, two large exercise studios, a babysitting service.
Two to three thousand guests come through the doors every day – the place closes only on Christmas, Easter, July Fourth and Thanksgiving – for sports leagues and fitness camps, physical therapy and swim lessons, pilates classes and cardio workouts. In the daytime, nonprofits like the Boys & Girls Club and YMCA often use the facilities.
David Dyerle of Pacific Grove coaches Special Olympics swimming at the center. He has a daughter, Lindsey, who has special needs and was so impressed with the friendliness of the staff, the cleanliness of the facilities, and the upbeat and supportive atmosphere, that he’s been working out there for about a decade now.
“I have a spin bike at home,” he says. “But I don’t get as much of a workout as when I’m at the Sports Center in a group setting. I push a little harder.”
In addition to his daughter, Dyerle’s wife, son and granddaughter also go to Monterey Sports Center under family memberships, which reinforces why he goes there in the first place: “For a longer life. To stay healthy through my life.”
The facilities can be rented after hours on the weekend. Genentech from San Francisco recently took them up on that and did a team-building event. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is doing an aircraft-ditching and survival training class in the pool.
Aside from the more than 120 group classes – Red Cross lifeguard training, high-intensity interval training (or HIIT), aqua tai chi, outdoor bootcamp, pilates contrology, jiujitsu – and the sports leagues, including basketball and volleyball, that are expanding dramatically, the place is packed with perks that one might or might not expect.
Youth basketball leagues continue to grow.
It has Wi-Fi throughout, babysitting service, pingpong, water-float-toy night and a 112-foot water slide that’s like a kinetic sculpture solely dedicated to fun.
But maybe the perk that distinguishes it from other local fitness facilities and gyms is its accessibility and inclusion. The patrons are a cross-section of ordinary folks, from babes to elders, singles to families, beginners to advanced. And the atmosphere is seemingly ego-free and community-oriented.
“Walking into a fitness facility can be intimidating,” Vierra says. “You don’t have to already be in shape here. You don’t have to worry about how you look in a bathing suit. Everyone knows each other. Socializing is a big part of wellness.”
During my tour, Susan, an instructor in Studio 2, shouts encouragement to participants of her Body Shred class. In Studio 1, instructor Marcia D. swings a kettlebell around as her students follow suit while dance music pumps. In the pool, another instructor, Lloyd, runs a water exercise class for people with multiple sclerosis.
The Sports Center is a part of the city’s Community Services Department and reports to the city manager, who gets advised by the Parks and Rec Commission through the City Council. (Vierra doesn’t see any parallels to the NBC sitcom Parks and Rec.)
Two hundred staff members – all city employees, including 50 group exercise instructors and 23 full-timers – keep the gears running. Although the Sports Center can receive donations and is subsidized by the city, 92 percent of its $4.9 million budget is raised from memberships and programs. The numbers add up to a healthier community.
A final disclosure: All this good stuff tilted me in favor of finally using my company’s partnership deal with the center. I just signed up to become a member.
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