Bayside Recreation Center

Love the Rec centers. For the price they are a bargain.
Went today and played racquetball. They allow you to call to reserve court. Sunday crowd was surprisingly light. On top of it being Sunday, it is also January 3^rd. Those ‘Resolution’ people usually swarm the gym for January and February. Then they quit.
Friendly staff, good parking and clean locker rooms. It is weird that you can not use your own lock, you have to pay $ 0.25. Trust me I can afford the quarter, it is the principle.
Still, I would recommend this spot over the $ 30/​month gyms. Certainly better than the $ 10/​month place. We have a pool…

The prices have gone up for the membership but I would rather come here than go to any place for excercise — they even have a pool! :) The facilities are always clean and the staff is very friendly even to my brothers, both with autism.

I could not imagine now living in a city without an offering of recreational centers, that’s how spoiled my family has got by these. Just today when at the counter a woman who just moved to VB said she could not believe our system of centers and the reasonable cost when compared to a traditional gym. The center has went through a renovation of several areas including main entrance, lobby, basketball court resealed and new equipment in the weight room. Parking is usually never a problem unless there is an event which limits parking severely. Best just to stay away unless you are involved in this even on these days.
We have resided in the neighborhood adjacent to the BS Rec Center and have utilized it for over 7 years. Both of our children learned to swim in this pool through their «learn to swim» lessons offered throughout the year at a very inexpensive cost. Most of the swimming instructors have been both excellent coaches and gifted in working with young children. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting you children in the pool by 3 – 4 years old with all the water we have in this area. The Aquatics Dept in all of the VB Rec Centers have open enrollment right now for something more competitive for ages 6 – 18 if your children already know how to swim. It is called «Winter League» and the individual rec centers compete against each other in swimming events. I have been involved in this for several years with my children and recommend. Also the cost is dirt cheap for the amount of instructions they get Nov — Jan.
The rec center offers a game room for kids. I provided some pics of the pool tables, ping pong tables and climbing area. There is also air hockey and a basketball game like they have at Chuck E Cheese. For the older kids 8&U another room is more selective hours offers Wii, Xbox 360 and some other type of electronic games. This area never seems to busy to me and I have been told by the staff that it is definitely under utilized which is a surprise.
The gym is a full court basketball court and is also has multi uses. At times they will pull a curtain and have BB on one side and another activity.
The lobby area sports a ping pong table and small library. The ping pong table is open to all. The books can be taken by the honor system, so enjoy taking one home and bring it back and if you want to donate others feel free to drop off at front desk.
The center also offers an after school program, we have never used it but know through neighbors it is a hit.
There are lots of other programs offered by the VB Rec Center System, but what I did was shed light on ones that I was most familiar with. Like I said before, our family could not imagine a life without this wonderful facility in our area. The Bayside Recreational Center is clean, has wonderful dedicated staff and offer a variety of programs that any family could benefit from. If you have yet to check this one out I encourage you to do so.

You can’t beat the price. What a great perk for those of us who live in Virginia Beach. I only wish we had until 7pm on Saturdays. But at least they’re open 7 days a week.

I’ve never lived in a city that had such a nice system of recreation centers. No, they’re not the Y, but for $ 72 a year (the price just went up) for residents, how can you complain?
That amounts to like 6 bucks a month and you can use any of the city rec centers with a pass.
The Bayside Center is the one I’ve used the most. It has a big pool with many lap lanes and a diving board. Be sure to check the schedule carefully if you don’t want to be there during kids classes or camps – which are great but sometimes not if you’re not in the mood for teh pint-​sized energy.
The workout area is not fabulous, but again, it’s perfectly functional and you cannot beat it for the value as far as a place to get fit and not spend a lot of money.
Classes are extra — 4 bucks each. You can get a punch card and use it at your leisure. I actually really like their Saturday morning yoga class. Sometimes yoga at gyms and rec centers is highly questionable. This one is legit and a nice combo of relaxation/​centering and heart and muscle-​pumping poses.

The City of Virginia Beach has several recreation centers, some larger and with more amenities and others. It’s a nice, inexpensive service of the city, but there is a small membership fee and you have to be a citizen of Virginia Beach. I remember it costing about $ 35/​year and then having to buy punch cards to take aerobic classes. Factoring the punch cards if you go regularly, it ends up costing about a third of the YMCA. This works if you are on a really tight budget. I was, and I was glad I could still afford a gym. However, you get what you pay for.
This particular rec center is completely overcrowded. You have to sign up in advance for a treadmill. Not very practical. The punch card classes are a bit lower in quality and they get so crowded you have very little space to move.
Maybe if you have kids, you’ll get more for your money. They have a lot of extra arts, crafts and activity programs you can sign up for but they all cost extra. If you live closer to another one of the larger, better centers you mind find it worth the membership. But if you can scape up money in your budget, go for a regular gym!