YMCA ready to get Mansfield moving

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

On Nov. 12, Mansfield gets a new way to move.

The YMCA will open its doors for the first full-scale Mansfield YMCA at 78 Regency Parkway on Saturday.

“We added Mansfield to our name 10 years ago,” said Eric Tucker, president and CEO of the Arlington-Mansfield Area YMCA. “Mansfield is growing and we know that there is need here.”

The YMCA and Mansfield Mission Center purchased a 36,000-square-foot call center on seven acres for $3.7 million last fall and will split the facility with some shared spaces, including a boardroom, bathrooms, break room, community kitchen and food pantry. Mansfield Mission Center will move into its side of the building at a later date.

The YMCA has put $900,000 into renovating its side of the building with reception area with café, exercise room, spinning room, childcare space, outdoor playground, changing rooms and training area with free weights, cardio and machines. The nonprofit is also moving its administrative offices and five employees from Arlington into the Mansfield location.

The YMCA has big plans, including personal training, yoga classes, zumba, pilates, Silver Sneakers, step classes, summer camps, health and wellness classes for seniors and a special friends program for special-needs residents.

“We’re more important than we’ve ever been before for socialization,” Tucker said. “Even people who work out at home want to come to the YMCA.”

The new spinning class features wide yellow stripes on the floor with stationary bikes and a big screen on one wall that will let the riders virtually ride on a variety of trails, even some in Mansfield.

Summer camps will also be a huge area for the new YMCA, with esports, cooking, music and martial arts on the schedule for next summer – if not sooner.

The YMCA has been moving south from Arlington, using Mansfield school gyms for its basketball and volleyball programs, Tucker said.

And this is just the first step, as the YMCA has acreage to add a gym and swimming pool, he said.

“This location helps us put that flag in the ground,” Tucker said.

The YMCA currently runs a backyard swim program, using pools at Mansfield apartment complexes and HOA pools, and the gymnasium at Alma Martinez Intermediate School for a lot of programs.

Members age 6 weeks to 12 years old can get a free night out from 5-9 p.m. Saturdays at the YMCA while their parents step out on the town.

Members who work out at the Arlington YMCA locations can come to the new Mansfield facility, as well as the 30 other locations in the Metroplex, without an additional charge, Tucker said.

“For Mansfield people, this is closer,” he said, “especially with all of the planned communities down here.”

Tucker expects the new YMCA to have 500 to 800 families.

“What I like the most is we’ve been around since 1844 and we ask ‘how can we serve the community?’” Tucker said.

On opening day, Nov. 12, the YMCA will be open from 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

Regular hours will be 5 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays.

For more information and fees, click here.

‍