Swimming Club in Brooklyn: Dodge YMCA Pool on Atlantic

Dodge YMCA charges $95 a month for an adult membership and, for now, no joining fee at all, a saving the branch puts at $125. That buys lap swim in a bright indoor pool at 225 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a few minutes from Borough Hall, where five lanes are roped for laps from 6:30 AM on weekdays. Lessons run in stages from first floats to stroke work. For a swimming club near me in Brownstone Brooklyn without a Manhattan price tag, this Y is the practical choice.

The YMCA in Brooklyn dates from 1853, and the branch history makes a big claim: the Brooklyn Y's 1885 building at 502 Fulton Street included the first YMCA swimming pool, and the branch later hosted the first national YMCA swimming championships. In 1915 the Central building on Hanson Place opened as the largest YMCA in the world, with donors including John D. Rockefeller and the Pratt family.

The current building is much newer. In 2005 the branch reopened on Atlantic Avenue with help from a large grant from the Dodge Family Foundation, which is where the name comes from. It now serves more than 23,300 New Yorkers a year under executive director Caroline Sanchez. Aquatics director Daniel Wolin, approves every private lesson sold in the branch.

The Y stands on Atlantic Avenue near Borough Hall, where Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill meet. The closest trains are the 4 and 5 at Borough Hall, about 350 meters away, then the 2 and 3 at the same station and the F and G at Bergen Street. Jay St-MetroTech for the A, C and F and Court Street for the R are each roughly half a kilometer off.

The main number is a Manhattan 212 line, shared across the YMCA of Greater New York, and the branch email is infododge@ymcanyc.org. Building hours are 6 AM to 9 PM on weekdays and 8 AM to 6 PM on weekends. Members scan a card or key tag with their photo at the desk, and nobody may film or photograph in the building without the branch director's permission.

The live schedule changes lane counts through the day, so read it in the YMCA app before leaving home. The week of October 12, 2026 showed five lap lanes on Monday from 6:30 to 7:30 AM, from 8:15 to 10:30 AM and again from 6 to 8 PM. Saturday and Sunday open with five lanes from 8 to 9 AM, and Sunday gets a long five-lane block from 2:30 to 5 PM.

Avoid weekday afternoons. From about 3:30 to 6:15 PM, aquatics programming for children drops lap swim to one or two lanes, and on Tuesday and Thursday there is no lap swim at all from 4:40 to 5:30 PM. Saturday from 10:45 AM to 12:30 PM is also closed to laps. A Swimmers Guide reviewer in 2023 noted that one or two people per lane is rare before and after work, so the midday blocks are the calm ones.

Swimmers Guide lists the pool as 25 yards by 45 feet with six lanes and water at 83 degrees, though the branch's own schedule never ropes off more than five lanes for laps. Large windows bring in what several reviewers call lots of natural light. The same 2023 review warned that the water can feel warm or cloudy right after swim lessons, which is another reason to favor the morning blocks.

The building also has a sauna and a steam room off the adult locker rooms, plus a family locker room. Lockers are for daily use only, so bring your own lock. The Y supplies kickboards and other gear but not towels or caps, so pack both. Children up to age 6 can change with a parent of any gender, and older children use the room that matches their gender identity or the family room.

Open swim at New York City Ys requires a reservation, made in the YMCA of Greater New York app. Family Swim can be booked up to 48 hours ahead, one reservation per day, and each covers up to ten family members. The Water Walking lane runs alongside most lap blocks, so do not be surprised to share the pool with walkers in the shallow end.

Water aerobics fills several weekday mornings, with classes at 7:30 AM on Monday, Tuesday and Friday and midday sessions on Monday and Wednesday. Friday at 6 PM is Aqua Zumba. Kids get a Dive in Movie night on October 16 and 30. If you arrive to find only one or two lap lanes, rebook for the Sunday 2:30 PM block, the longest five-lane window of the weekend.

Adult and teen group lessons for ages 13 and up run 45 minutes and climb through stages: Water Acclimation, Water Movement, Water Stamina, Stroke Introduction and Stroke Development. Stage 6, Stroke Mechanics, is not offered in the Fall II session. Fall II runs November 2 to December 27, with member registration from October 17 and community registration from October 24, so non-members can sign up a week later.

Private lessons for adults cost $107 for one, $395 for four and $746 for eight at the member rate. Non-members pay the community rate of $128, $485 and $921. Two swimmers sharing a semi-private lesson pay $140 per session as members. There is no masters team at Dodge, and the association's youth teams train in Queens, so this is a lessons-and-laps pool rather than a competitive club.

Adult membership is $95 a month, students pay $77 and seniors $71. A family plan starts at $114. For $124 a month, the city-wide upgrade opens every YMCA branch in New York. Even the basic plan includes ten passes a year for trying other city branches. Members 18 and over can request six free guest passes a year, and each guest may use one visit per year.

Day passes are sold at the branch, but the price is not printed on the YMCA website. Ask at the desk or call before you travel. Visitors who belong to a Y outside the area get ten free visits a year through the AWAY program, then half the branch day-pass fee. The YMCA of Greater New York does not take part in the Nationwide Membership program.

Walk west along Atlantic Avenue to Sahadi's at 187 Atlantic, the original store of the Middle Eastern grocer. Its bulk bins of nuts and dried fruit are made for a post-swim snack. Skip the Y entirely in late August, because the pool closes for annual maintenance, as it did from August 22 to September 13 this year.