Kempsville Recreation Center
Overview
Expert Summary
Detailed Insights
Kempsville Recreation Center is a beautiful, new, and super clean facility offering a wide range of indoor amenities including a huge indoor track, a fabulous pool area with a resistance pool, and a well-equipped weight room. It stands out for offering unique kids' activity classes like astronomy and Kendo, and provides great value with its membership. While generally praised for its friendly and knowledgeable staff, especially for tours and private events, parents should be aware of potential communication issues regarding specific gym court availability.
Key Highlights
- ✓Super clean and beautiful new facility with recently updated shower heads.
- ✓Friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable staff, with specific praise for staff member Tanya for excellent tours and member relations.
- ✓Offers unique and engaging activity classes for children, such as astronomy and Kendo.
- ✓Features a huge indoor track, uniquely painted with different colors for different speeds.
- ✓Boasts a fabulous pool area and a resistance pool for walking.
- ✓Well-equipped weight room with a variety of machines on the first floor.
- ✓Accommodates private events (e.g., graduation dinners), allowing decoration and outside food.
- ✓Offers free admission on Fridays for military members to 'test drive' the facility.
Standout Features
- ⭐New, beautiful, and super clean facility.
- ⭐Unique activity classes for kids (astronomy, Kendo).
- ⭐Huge indoor track with color-coded lanes for different speeds.
- ⭐Fabulous pool area and a resistance pool.
- ⭐Well-equipped weight room.
- ⭐Gracious and accommodating staff for general inquiries and private events.
- ⭐Option to decorate and bring food for private events.
- ⭐Free admission for military members every Friday.
Perfect For
Ideal For
💡Pro Tips from Reviews
- →If considering membership, ask for a tour (staff like Tanya are highly praised for giving tours).
- →Military members should utilize the free Friday admission to test out the facilities before committing to a membership.
- →For parents planning on using specific gym courts (e.g., basketball), be aware that calling ahead may not guarantee accurate or complete information, and courts might close unexpectedly. Have a backup plan or consider alternative venues for reliable gym access.
- →If hosting a private event, take advantage of the ability to decorate and bring your own food.
Things to Consider
- ⚠Poor and inaccurate communication from staff regarding gym court availability, even after calling ahead.
- ⚠Basketball gym courts are frequently 'open but not really open,' with unexpected closures for other activities like pickleball, leading to wasted trips.
- ⚠Inconsistent reliability of facility access for specific activities, causing frustration and requiring travel to other recreation centers.
Price & Value
Memberships are described as a 'Great value' given the array of new and clean facilities and diverse classes. No specific membership costs are mentioned. A significant value-add is free admission for military members on Fridays, allowing them to 'test drive' the center.
♿Accessibility & Special Needs
- •The walking track is on the second floor, implying elevator or stair access.
- •No specific special needs accommodations for children are mentioned in the reviews.
🍎Food & Drink Policy
- •Outside food is allowed for private events (e.g., graduation dinners).
- •No specific policy mentioned for general daily visitors or inside other areas like the gym/pool.
🚗Parking Info
- •Not explicitly detailed, but no complaints about availability or cost. Implied to be convenient for local residents (less than five minutes drive for one reviewer).
👥Crowd Levels
- •No general crowd levels mentioned, but specific gym areas can experience sudden closures for other activities (e.g., pickleball), impacting availability.
🛡️Safety Features
- •No specific safety features for children (e.g., staff supervision ratios, specific play area safety equipment) are explicitly mentioned in the reviews.
⏰When to Avoid
- • Relying solely on phone calls for specific gym court availability, especially for basketball, as information may be inaccurate or incomplete.
- • Expecting consistent, uninterrupted access to specific gym courts, as they may close unexpectedly for other activities like pickleball.
Pricing/Package/Events
Events & Schedule
What People Say
What's Great
- Friendly and helpful staff (mentioned in 5 reviews)
- Spacious play areas (mentioned in 3 reviews)
Recent Reviews
Michele Gordon
4 months agoI had my graduation dinner at the center, and we were able to decorate, have food, and enjoy. The staff was very gracious, making sure you had everything you needed. Thank you, Kempsville Rec, such a beautiful facility.
Elizabeth Duncan-Hawker
4 months agoIt is a Great value to have a membership at this beautiful new recreation center. Super clean, friendly helpful knowledgeable staff . We love the extra fun activities classes (astronomy and Kendo ) we can sign up for. I like the weight room and variety of machines plus a huge indoor track and fabulous pool area! Wow!
ashley wright
3 months agoI just want to give Tanya a shout out. She is a great asset to the establishment. My family and I just joined today after she gave us a tour yesterday. She has a great attitude and you can tell she really enjoys her members at the gym. She treats everyone with kindness and respect. It is hard to find good people in this world. She is great! Thank you, Tanya! We look forward to coming in and exploring the facility.
Phillip Waters
a month agoMy brother and I called the Kempsville Recreation Center to see if the basketball gym was open. We were told that half of the court was open so we decided to come in. We were there maybe five minutes when we were told that the side of the gym we were on was being closed for pickleball. Mind you, this activity was already going on on the other side of the gym that was closed. Everytime we try to come to this gym there is an issue with the gym being open but not really open. Now I understand that there is a daily schedule and activities take place in the gym however, that is why we called ahead to see if the gym was open. The person that we spoke with could have told us on the phone that the full gymnasium was about to be closed and this is not the first time that we've had issues with the Kempsville Recreation Center. The poor communication caused me and my brother to travel to another rec center that is further away from where we live. Kempsville rec center is less than five minutes from where we live and having to travel to another gym isn't what we would like to do but will do from here on out since we continue to have issues with using the gym in this facility.
D Miles
2 years agoThe Kempsville Rec Center was recently closed for maintenance so the shower heads are new. Great pool and resistance pool to walk as well as the walking track on the second floor. The track is unique because it’s painted different colors for different speeds. Work out room on the first floor. I’m a Marine Corps Veteran so I made sure to take a photo of the sign they posted for free admission to Military members on Fridays…great way to test drive the Rec Center before you decide to become a member.