Canton YMCA Site Visit 9/14/10

Today we visited the Canton YMCA and toured the facility with Nicole Lawson. We all met in the "Reinhardt Room" to talk briefly about the programs at the Y and the different career opportunities they offer. Nicole was the membership manager at the facility and also worked with all the marketing of the business. The Canton YMCA is very family oriented and offers many programs for all ages. The different career paths at this site include event management, physical training, coaching, marketing, child care, instructor, and life guarding. This site has a huge soccer program for kids which offers jobs in helping organize the programs as well as coaching. There are so many different programs such as cycle class, yoga, aquatics, and sports that you are able to be a part of. There is a day care center where you take care of the parents' children while they workout. After Mrs. Lawson talked to us about the facility, she gave us a tour of the building. There was a hall of fame room where they hold board meetings and can elect anyone to be in the Cherokee Hall of Fame. She then showed us the Day Care Room where it was full of babies and kids with plenty of games and toys to entertain them. They had a full court baskettball court with a screen that comes down to separate it into two different courts. Above the the court there was a walking track around the gym. There was a Cycle Room where they hold cycle classes with a screen that the instructor can show a scene to make it look like they are riding with Lance Armstrong. This site had an Excerise Room where they hold different classes such as yoga. The workout gym has free weights and machines with t.v.'s above them. They call this the Cardio Theater. It also had an Indoor and Outdoor Pool located within the facililty with a life guard always on duty. The outdoor pool closes after the summer because most of the life guards are college students who have to go away to school. The newest room there is called the Teen Room with pool tables, couches, and t.v.'s to hang out in. The most significant things I learned were all the careers associated with any YMCA not just the one in Canton. I am actually thinking about doing my practicum at the Y near my house this summer.