The local YMCA has a new leader and a new strategy – boost resources at the current site to pump up members’ muscles and overall demand.
Andy Weighill joined the Central Coast YMCA, overseeing the Watonsville and San Benito County locations, in late 2013. In Hollister at the 6,000-square-foot site, Weighill immediately saw a need for updated equipment. He also boosted offerings for group exercise classes, he said.
Exercise classes are focusing on individual age groups, including those specific to seniors or children, while the YMCA replaced its outdated resistance equipment in favor of new weight and cardiovascular machines, Weighill said.
The Tres Pinos Road YMCA also updated its member lounge to now include coffee service, couches and a TV.
“What you’re finding is members tend to congregate both before and after classes,” he said. “They’ll start to develop an affinity.”
For now, Weighill is focused on improving membership numbers – after two weeks with the new equipment earlier in the spring, membership jumped from 88 to 171 – rather than the long-discussed capital effort to eventually build a new Y. The capital campaign essentially has been on hold since the 2008 recession hit.
“The strategy is, show a need for demand here,” Weighill said.
