By Bassam Mohor
For the time being, the YMCA Ramallah Community Center sits alone on a hill to the north of the city, between the Tireh and Irsal neighborhoods. The large white building overlooks the city, like the balcony of a house.
Built on an area of ten dunums, and inaugurated in 2017, the center proudly serves the entire Ramallah community. Its vast, multipurpose premises offer space for a multitude of activities, providing the residents of Ramallah and surrounding villages with a wealth of possibilities to spend time, recreate, learn, and pamper themselves. “Our center is not merely a sports center. It is a place where families and individuals can enjoy themselves and benefit: You can come here to relax and release excessive energy, daily worries, anxieties, and negative energy,” says Rania Abu Hashish, director of the center. For Rania, the center is a micro-community, and she asserts: “We care about every individual. We make people feel at home and give them the safety they need in order to focus on their health and well-being.”
The YMCA Ramallah Community Center is a three-level building that includes facilities such as an outdoor basketball court, a ping-pong hall, a squash court, a fitness room, a multi-sport activities hall, sauna and steam rooms, and (wow!) an indoor, heated semi-Olympic swimming pool. On the lower level, a 1,000-meter hall is being prepared for more sports, including wall climbing.
The center’s activities are available year-round and serve between 400 and 700 members. A busy state-of-the-art gym boasts quality exercise equipment designed to work every muscle of your body under the supervision of professionals who will attend to your needs and follow your progress. On the upper floor, well-lit halls with floor-to-ceiling mirrors are open for resistance training and aerobics, gymnastics, kickboxing, and tae kwon do. On the center’s first level, there is a hall where you might catch a glimpse of two senior professional-looking athletes as they challenge each other in a game of squash.
The pool is often busy with swimmers of all ages. In one corner you may see a professional trainer teaching a group of toddlers the basics of propelling their little bodies through the water. On the other side, there may be swimmers crossing the 25-meter-long pool, seriously engaging in various strokes: the front crawl, the breaststroke, or the backstroke. It’s clear that everything is geared to help you improve your cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, endurance, and muscular strength. The versatile activity of swimming provides not only physical but also mental benefits.
Open daily from 6:00 until 22:00, the center offers affordable packages and family discounts that include the use of all facilities. The center is in Al-Quren’a area to the north of Ramallah. Coming from Irsal Street, drive towards Raddana Park, then take Muscat Street, and turn right onto Foad Hijazi Street. Coming from Tireh neighborhood, drive to the valley below and head north on the valley road before turning onto Foad Hijazi Street. Location: 31.916544, 35.193068. Contact the center by phone at 02 292 0116, or on Facebook/Instagram @EJYMCAramallah.
Bassam Almohor can be reached
at almohor@gmail.com,
+972-59-753-4681, or through Facebook @toursmore.
