When the city of Kent leaders agreed to pay about $11 million toward the construction of a $36.6 million YMCA in town, they formed a partnership to help make sure the nonprofit became a community asset.

So far, that partnership seems to be thriving based on a recent update on the facility’s overall operations and its performance under the city’s 50-year operating memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the YMCA of Greater Seattle.

The Kent YMCA, 10828 SE 248th St., on the East Hill, opened in 2019. The nonprofit facility has 3,216 memberships and more than 7,500 individual members, according to a Dec. 9 report to the Kent City Council by Jenna Montoya, branch executive. Over half of those are family memberships. There are about 1,500 senior memberships, or active older adults, as the YMCA prefers to call them.

“There’s a lot of fun and exciting things happening at the Kent YMCA, especially in partnership with the Kent Parks Department,” Montoya said.

Council President Satwinder Kaur agreed.

“I absolutely love our Y and I love that it’s in the partnership we have with our Kent Parks and community swims,” Kaur said. “I do take my kids there for the little pool. I’m a member, but still I see families there taking advantage of that.”

People can join the YMCA under a household membership (two or more at same household) for $154 per month or an individual membership for $91 per month. The facility offers a gym, pools, fitness facilities, classes and programs.

In addition, the YMCA will pay up to $1 million per year to provide financial aid to families who cannot afford the full membership fee. Montoya said the YMCA was expected to pay about $730,000 towards memberships and programs by the end of 2025.

“And we’ve expanded our financial assistance programs this year compared to years past where we increased the award based off of income,” Montoya said. “We also expanded the awards to additional income brackets. So we expect to see that number increase with those changes.”

Kent has added more programs, too.

“We have also grown in our offerings and enrollments for all of our programming,” Montoya said. “In addition, we had some new youth sports additions this year (2025). We’ve added ballet and expanded soccer programs, added volleyball, doubled our youth basketball league programming, which is the biggest participation base that we have. So, we’re excited to see that grow in 2026.”

While the city of Kent contributed $11 million toward construction of the two-story, 50,000-square-foot facility, the YMCA covered most of the rest of the costs through state grants, major donors and community contributors.

The city kicks in about $95,000 annually to help fund operations, mainly for the aquatics program, City Parks Director Julie Parascondola told the council.

City leaders for decades sought to build a community pool, but abandoned that idea because of the high costs. That led to the search for a partner to help build the pool, which is how the agreement came about with the YMCA of Greater Seattle.

With the renovations to Morrill Meadows Park, which sits next to the YMCA, that has given the city and nonprofit even more opportunities to partner.

“It’s been great to kind of see that flourish, to see all of the new neighbors and families join together,” Montoya said. “We have lots of special programming and events. We work closely with the parks team to ensure that that space is safe and enriching for everyone. We support steady use of the bathrooms in our buildings for those using the dog park and the parking lot and the parks outside and just protecting those spaces including the parking for those attendees.”

The park/YMCA events included the change of venue last summer for the city’s Spotlight Series Thursday evening concerts from Lake Meridian Park to Morrill Meadows Park.

“It was a huge success,” Montoya said. “There was hundreds, if not thousands of attendees to that event and we hosted the performers and bands inside the building. That was very exciting for our staff. We felt like we were meeting local celebrities. So, that was a great opportunity this year. We hope to continue that and we made a lot of new great relationships and partnerships with the city of Kent team through that.”

As far as aquatics programming, the YMCA added a third day per week for free community swim days, which was two days per week. The facility also serves as the practice pool for the high school swim teams from Kent-Meridian and Kentwood. The city used to operate a pool at Kent-Meridian, but closed the aging facility with the opening of the YMCA.

The YMCA also offers social impact programs, and has doubled its participants in programs like behavioral health and foster care support, Montoya said.

The Kent facility, with other community partners, offers a food pantry called Pantry of Hope that operates every Friday from about 1 to 4 p.m. to provide kind of a stigma-free food access point for community members, Montoya said.

“We see lots of people come in on a regular basis when we have this every Friday on a first-come first-served basis with nonperishables and fresh produce for families,” Montoya said. “We’ve had at least 20 families a week who have been partaking in the food pantry and we expect to expand this and shift this depending on community need and desires as we move forward.”

The YMCA opens its facility as a warming or cooling center during extreme temperatures.

• For more information about programs and financial assistance, go to seattleymca.org/locations/kent-ymca.

People enjoy the pool at the Kent YMCA, 10828 SE 248th St., on the East Hill. COURTESY PHOTO, YMCA

The Kent YMCA has fitness areas, pools and a gym. COURTESY PHOTO, YMCA

Nearly 100 youngsters hit the rank-soaked Kallem-Kemp Field at Burbank High Friday as they are participating in the Real Madrid Foundation Winter Soccer Camp. The program is run in collaboration with the city of Burbank Parks and Recreation Department.

It runs through Monday.

The most successful professional soccer club in the world, Real Madrid has won 36 Spanish League titles and 15 European titles.

FInding talent around the world is something the club is always looking for. After spending several years conducting the camp at the Glendale Sports Complex, it has moved to Burbank.

“The community in Glendale and Burbank is great,” Camp Supervisor Jaypo Lamounier said, “They support us a lot.”

Lamournier said a number of past campers who have been deemed elite have moved to Spain, where they train within the Real Madrid youth academy and attend school.

Lamournier said the camp is open to players of all skill levels. Most of the coaches in the camp live and work in Spain.

“The kids get to enjoy some different styles than they usually practice,” he said. 

It’s time to dust off the annual ’49 football trophy’ that will once again be hoisted in the air on Thanksgiving Day.

The long-standing, 90-year high school holiday rivalry between Joseph Case and Somerset Berkley is officially back on this coming November. The last time the two schools met was in 2022 when the Raiders defeated the Cardinals, 50-14.

Returning this month, the Soldier Hollow Kickers and Gliders program aims to introduce more youth across the Wasatch Back to cross-country skiing, with renewed efforts focused on reaching families in the local Latino population.

The beginner-focused program is designed for children ages 6 to 11 runs from Jan. 6 through Feb. 26, with sessions held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Soldier Hollow’s Sports Discovery Center, located at 2002 South Olympic Drive in Midway.

“Kids will learn the basics of skiing through purposeful play, games and drills. All participants get free hot chocolate to warm back up after each practice,” said Gerrit Garberich, senior sports manager and head comp BIA Coach.

Last winter, Garberich and Luke Bodensteiner, Soldier Hollow’s general manager and chief of sport development for the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, began a discounted registration initiative aimed at increasing participation among Latino families.

That initiative set aside 20 spots for Latino participants at a discounted rate of $25 supported by the Wasatch Community Foundation and the Wasatch Latino Coalition. Additionally the program offers needs-based scholarships to all families.

Program leaders have pointed to longstanding underrepresentation of Latino families in local skiing programs as a key reason for expanding outreach and reducing barriers.

“Last year we had 95 kids participate in our program but only four took advantage of the $25 registration for the Latino community,” said Garberich.

Organizers recognized that challenges such as transportation and communication have limited participation in the past and said they are working to improve outreach and access for Latino families this season.

Transportation was not offered last year due to a lack of available bus drivers — a limitation organizers said may have affected participation. This winter, the program has secured two bus drivers in hopes of increasing access and enrollment.

Free transportation will be available for registered participants, with a program bus picking up children at 3:40 p.m. from the southeast portion of the Wasatch Recreation Center parking lot and returning them to the same location at approximately 5:45 p.m.

The goal is to reduce common barriers, organizers said — which include cost, equipment and transportation — that can prevent families from accessing winter sports.

The program provides all ski equipment, including skis, boots and poles. Families are asked to send children dressed for winter conditions, including windproof or snow pants, base layers, a warm jacket, hat, gloves, neck gaiter, warm socks and a water bottle.

Registration is now open, with separate links available in English and Spanish. Families seeking Spanish-language registration and access to the reduced $25 rate for Latino participants are encouraged to use the Spanish registration link, while general registration is available through the English link.

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This appeared in the 2025-2026 Insider’s Guide.

A parent said to me recently, “We don’t have time for anything anymore. Every season is another sport, another camp, another commitment.” That comment stuck with me, because it echoes what many parents have shared with me over the years. One parent told me how, in their experience with youth sports, certain activities began taking priority over everything else not because kids loved them more, but because families had already invested so much money that stepping back didn’t feel like an option.

Hockey and dance were early examples. Those weren’t just sports; they were major financial commitments that shaped the entire family’s schedule and budget. Another family we know has a son who eventually signed with the LA Kings. When he received his signing bonus, he bought his dad a new truck. He told him, “You wore your truck out taking me to practices and games all those years.” It was a heartfelt gesture, but it also shows the level of sacrifice families feel obligated to make long before they know whether any of it will pay off.

Even the outdoors, the place many of us turned to for simplicity, isn’t immune from this shift. Several people have told me how fishing, once the most accessible pastime around, has become another high‑cost, high‑pressure pursuit. Multiple locators with forward‑facing sonar, spot‑lock trolling motors, specialized tackle, and the vehicle to tow the boat have turned a “fishing boat” into a serious investment. What used to be a quiet day on the water has become yet another arena where gear and competition creep in. Parents also tell me they feel pressure to keep spending, keep traveling, and keep their kids committed year‑round, sometimes chasing the child’s dream, sometimes chasing their own. That’s not new, and it’s not going away. But it does feed into a culture where families feel they have to keep up, spend more, and sacrifice more.

Meanwhile, the simple things, the things that used to define childhood, are getting squeezed out. Those last crisp days of pheasant season. Walking a woods line for squirrels or rabbits. Wandering a field with a dog and no real agenda. Summer mornings on the lake. These moments have been replaced by “mandatory” camps, weekend tournaments, and off‑season practices that leave no room for anything else. One parent told me, “My own grandsons have so much going on that it’s almost impossible for them to find time to fish with Grampa.” Not because they don’t want to but because their schedules don’t leave room for unstructured time, family traditions, or simply being outdoors for the fun of it.

If we want kids to stay active in sports and still grow up with the outdoor traditions so many of us value, we need to bring back some balance. Let them rest. Let them wander. Let them fish with their grandparents. Let them be kids again.

Gary Korsgaden lives in Pelican Rapids, Minn.