HISTORY
The beginning…
Sonora Sports and Fitness Center opened for business April 1, 1992. Our original facility was 13,000 square feet. We offered weight training, 14 aerobic classes per week, two racquetball courts, an assortment of cardio equipment such as lifecycles and Stairmaster climbers, and our childcare hours were from 9AM-1PM and 4-8PM, Mon-Fri. We had a total of 17 employees.
During the past 15 years we have reinvested over 4 million dollars for new equipment and facilities and have grown to 50 employees, 2 pools, 4 racquetball courts, two separate workout facilities, over 32 exercise classes per week, and much more. This quest to improve our facilities parallels our desire to be part of and positively impact this community. We have a philosophical aspiration to spread exercise and its benefits throughout the county.
Our first improvement…
September 16, 1992, less than 5 months after opening, we completed construction of a 75 foot by 40-foot swimming pool. At the time of completion we were the only facility to offer a heated pool year-round for lap swimming and aquatics programs in the county.
Continuing to grow…
Three years later in November of 1995 we completed a 1,500-foot expansion of our exercise floor, adding 10 new treadmills and 5 Stairmaster 1650 cardio/strength machines.
November of 1996 we completed our next 10,000 square foot expansion. The new facilities included a brand new group exercise room, two additional racquetball courts, and an expanded Physical Therapy office leased by Sonora Regional Medical Center.
July of 1999 we opened a 5,000 square foot childcare/martial arts facility. This new building allowed us to expand our childcare hours and freed up additional space for an infant specific room within childcare. We were fortunate to secure Tripps Tae Kwon Do as a tenant.
Additional expansion…
In April 2003, just 11 years after opening, we completed our largest project to date adding a new building and a pool encompassing 25,000 feet as well as 30,000 feet of off-site improvements such as secondary access and expanded parking. These facilities allow us to provide programs specifically for the youth of Tuolumne County. We built an expanded multi-purpose gymnasium for basketball, volleyball and a host of other indoor activities. Our prized addition from this time is a competition-grade swimming pool. The pool has 10 lanes, which is more than double the size of our pool built in 1992. The Tuolumne County Aquatics youth swim team practices here and our Masters program has grown to the 3rd largest in the country since the addition of our beautiful pool. We are able to offer adults a choice of 31 workouts each week as well as introductory swimming classes and private lessons to adults and children. This addition of a second pool also allows us to provide the necessary access and temperature for our aquatic classes in our adult center pool.
Ongoing upgrades…
In October 2007 we completed another renovation and upgrade. We purchased new cardio and weight machines, and re-carpeted and painted the adult center and upgraded both the men’s and women’s locker rooms.
Going green…
In the next year you will see some exciting new changes. In August 2008 we installed a new and better air conditioning system. We will begin installing a more efficient and greener heating system for our pools to include solar thermal technology and a wood fired boiler. This wood fired boiler leaves a smaller carbon footprint than our current propane system. We will be burning wood that is a waste product of construction or are downed trees as a result of weather and drought. By using these downed trees we save the environment from greenhouse gases as a byproduct of rotting dead trees is methane gas. Our solar thermal system will help us reduce the cost of hot water for showers and pools and also help us shed our dependence on fossil fuels. This will include a 262 KWH Photovoltaic solar electric system which will cut our use of natural gas generated electricity by 60%!
Child care changes…
September 1, 2008 Zoo-phonics/Safari learning school opened and took over the child care for our members and staff. This company has over 30 years experience in the education of young children. We are so proud to be a part of this offering.