One visit for every South Australian
People came through the doors of a YMCA South Australia recreation centre 1.8 million times last year. Here is what that produced.
A leisure centre is one of the few pieces of public infrastructure a person chooses to use. Nobody is required to swim laps. Nobody is sent to an aqua class. Every one of the 1,840,582 visits recorded across our nine centres last year was somebody deciding, that morning, to go.
That is the number worth starting with, because it is the one that makes everything else possible. South Australia has roughly 1.85 million residents. Our centres recorded almost exactly one visit for every person in the state.
What follows is the full year. Who came, how often, what they thought of it, and what the activity is estimated to be worth to the community.
1,840,582
visits across nine recreation centres
64.4
Net Promoter Score, against a YMCA benchmark of 50
5,585
people enrolled in swimming lessons
$11,056,720
estimated community benefit
Where the 1.8 million went
Participation rose at seven of our nine centres.
Purruna opened during 2023-24 and Thebarton in July 2024, so neither has a comparable 2023-24 figure. Management of Fleurieu Aquatic Centre transferred to another operator on 1 July 2026; its 2025-26 figures are included here because YMCA South Australia ran the centre for the whole of the reporting period.
St Clair is the busiest centre in the state at 470,728 visits, driven almost entirely by stadium sport. Marion grew fastest of the established centres, up 20.8% to 229,411. Thebarton recorded its busiest year since opening in July 2024, at 114,030.
Where the 1.8 million went
Participation rose at seven of our nine centres.
Thebarton and Purruna opened during 2023-24 and have no comparable year. Management of Fleurieu Aquatic Centre transferred to another operator on 1 July 2026; its 2025-26 figures are included here because YMCA South Australia ran the centre for the whole of the reporting period.
St Clair is the busiest centre in the state at 470,728 visits, driven almost entirely by stadium sport. Marion grew fastest of the established centres, up 20.8% to 229,411. Thebarton recorded its busiest year since opening in July 2024, at 114,030.
Who used the centres
Two groups dominate, and they sit at opposite ends of a life. More than 5,500 children and adults were enrolled in swimming lessons, at an average age of under seven. At the other end, 1,411 of our members are over 66.
Members by age
5,717 memberships with a recorded date of birth
Swimming lessons by age
5,585 students across seven centres with a pool
Nearly four in ten of our members are over 55. That shapes what a centre has to be. It means a warm water pool matters, that a group fitness timetable has to run in the middle of a weekday, and that the person on reception knowing your name is a service, not a nicety.
39.5%
of members are over 55
6.8
average age in our swimming lesson programs
30 weeks
average length of a membership
79%
average swimming lesson class occupancy
What members told us
We ask our members how likely they are to recommend us. Across the year 2,907 members and families answered, from 14,456 invitations. Our Net Promoter Score was 64.4, against a YMCA benchmark of 50, and it rose at seven of our nine centres.
Select a centre to see its score and read something a member wrote.
Net Promoter Score
responses
response rate
Quotes are published with the member's permission. Scores are taken from our survey platform for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
What the activity is worth
Everything above is a count of what happened. This last section is an estimate of what it was worth, and it needs more care than a number usually gets.
$11,056,720
Estimated community benefit created at our centres in 2025-26.
Social Value puts a dollar figure on the community benefit created when people are physically active. It covers health, education and employment outcomes where there is an agreed, evidence-based method for converting activity into monetary terms.
In 2018 the Australian Sports Commission asked KPMG to work out what community sport infrastructure is actually worth. The answer was more than $16.2 billion a year across Australia, including $4.9 billion in health benefit. That study is the reason councils build pools. It is also the first thing that drops out of the conversation when a centre gets discussed as a line item in a budget.
ActiveXchange applies that national framework to real participation records at each facility. We do not produce the methodology and we cannot adjust it. More than 200 councils and venues across Australia use the same model.
Social Value is an estimate. It indicates the scale of community benefit our centres generate. It does not count individual health outcomes, and it does not measure how well a centre is run. A centre can improve while its Social Value falls, and the reverse is also true.
ActiveXchange recalibrated its model during 2025. The practical effect is that the threshold for generating value went up. Activity is now measured on the actual length and intensity of a session, and a participant has to sustain it across the year rather than have one strong month. Figures we published before 2025 sit on the earlier model and are not directly comparable with the figures below.
Value only accrues above a threshold
This is the part of the model people find surprising. Turning up does not automatically create measurable value. A participant has to be active often enough, for long enough, to reach a physical activity threshold before anything is counted.
Acute benefits are assessed monthly. A participant qualifies in any month where their activity averages out to the weekly physical activity guidelines. Chronic benefits are assessed annually and also require the participant to meet the monthly threshold in at least six separate months of the year.
43,735
Every person who swam, trained, played or attended a class at a YMCA South Australia centre during the year, as recorded through our membership and point of sale systems.
Tap the other button to see how many of them were active often enough to reach a threshold.
Around 28 in every 100 participants reach a threshold. That is normal for a community recreation centre and it is not a failing. Most of the other 72 are people who came in, had a good time, and did not come back often enough for the model to count it. They still had a good time. The threshold is an invitation, not a test.
Where the value comes from
Eleven indicators make up the estimate. Ten of them are added together to reach the total. Select any one to see what it covers.
This is the eleventh indicator and the one most often misread. It is the reduced healthcare cost arising from the chronic outcomes above, and it is already counted inside those figures. It is reported separately to show the public purse component. It is never added to the total.
64%
of the value was generated by people living in the five most disadvantaged deciles in the state
$909
average value generated per contributing participant across the year
5,585
people learning to swim, at an average age of under seven
What the model counts, and what it misses
Social Value counts visits and participations recorded through our membership and point of sale systems. Casual customers, user groups and social stadium sport are not counted.
That matters when reading any figure on this page. Across our centres the model sees just under half of the activity that actually happens. At one centre it sees nearly four visits in five. At another it sees roughly one in nine. The centres where it sees least are the ones with the biggest stadium and user group programs, so their figures understate what they deliver by the widest margin.
49%
of activity is visible to the model
$11,056,720
estimated community benefit in 2025-26
Figures cover nine recreation centres. Casual customers, user groups and social stadium sport are not included, so the total understates activity across our centres.
What cannot be priced
Some benefits are left out of the dollar figure altogether, because there is no agreed method for converting them into money. Recreation centres are widely accepted to build social connection and inclusion, strengthen community pride and identity, raise levels of trust, and reduce anti-social behaviour.
None of that appears in the figures on this page. It is worth holding in mind alongside them.
Social Value figures are produced using the ActiveXchange Social Value model, developed in partnership with KPMG and based on the Value of Community Sport Infrastructure framework commissioned by the Australian Sports Commission. The model is used by more than 200 councils and venues across Australia. Figures are estimates. YMCA South Australia does not produce the methodology.
Reporting period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Totals exclude Strathalbyn, Riverton, Kensington and Holdfast, which are not in the model.
Your centre’s year
Every centre has published its own 2025-26 results.
Social Value figures are produced using the ActiveXchange Social Value model, developed in partnership with KPMG and based on the Value of Community Sport Infrastructure framework commissioned by the Australian Sports Commission. The model is used by more than 200 councils and venues across Australia. Figures are estimates. YMCA South Australia does not produce the methodology.
Reporting period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, during which YMCA South Australia operated all nine centres. Fleurieu Aquatic Centre has since transferred to another operator. Social Value totals exclude Strathalbyn, Riverton, Kensington and Holdfast, which are not in the model.
Written with AI assistance and reviewed by YMCA South Australia, in line with our AI Safe Use Policy.