Hayward Area Recreation & Park District

The ladies who handle the park reservations are very rude. On the phone and in person. HARD should think about hiring staff with some customer service skills.

I love HARD and am constantly looking forward to their brochures. It really is an overlooked program. From arts, to languages and fitness, you can find it all in one place.
Let’s see, my favorites so far… All deserve 5+++ stars
Gentle Yoga with Alma Pasic Tran: This is a class for seniors but although I am not there yet, I took and still often drop in. The class is not restorative but the poses are still possible to do for even the least flexible amongst us. Alma offers alternatives to most poses and will give you options to push yourself or to make the movements more restorative. I always feel great after this class. And I enjoy that the instructor doesn’t get too dreamy with her expressions. I’ve been to some classes where the teacher spends most of the time talking about walking on the clouds and reaching for the stars. None of that here, and yet, I feel centered, connected to people around me and just darn positive.
Pottery with Scott Kowalski: Scott is a relaxed, easy going guy. No matter how many times I asked for help he always explained over and over again how to work with the clay. I haven’t had the chance to go back in a while but look forward to taking his class soon again. In class, I made 4 coffee cups of different sizes, a soap dish, something the resembled a vase, tons of mistakes and still had plenty of clay leftover. There is also a nice group of people there working on their projects, so once you get going, you get to meet other artisans, and new friends of all ages.
Watercolor: I feel bad because I forgot the teacher’s name, Pratt or Pruitt is his last name, I think. It’s been a while. The gentleman teaching the class is really kind, shows you how to do each new project and lets you develop your own style. I hope to take the class again. This is not an affordable hobby but I always wanted to try watercolor and was impressed by the quality of the lectures. Mostly focused on landscape paintings, studying the movement of water, shapes of hills, mountains, flowers. What a relaxing class, it felt like a meditation course at times. Really nice.
Pilates with Alma: This class is also for seniors and you know what’s really embarrassing? When people twice your age can do most of the poses while you are panting like a tired dog in the back of the room. Yeah, that was me two weeks ago. Not a traditional pilates class because it caters to seniors but I loved it. Tried it two weeks ago and when I can, I will go back. Alma really knows the human anatomy without getting too heady which I appreciate. The class time is a little strange, 9:45am but if you are retired, which most of her students are, you can make it work.
Health Fairs: Some of the senior centers have annual health fairs which are great for those of us with aging parents, it gives you ideas, options, alternatives. And usually free health class demos.
Adobe Gallery: The gallery has art contests, local and non-​local artists submit works of art regarding a theme set forth by the gallery. I’ve seen various levels of art and craftsmanship and always enjoyed the selections. Also they hold sale events where students such as myself can sell their pieces. I think they had a Christmas sale and maybe a mid-​year sale (I think?).
Swimming at the Plunge: Really the most affordable place in the area. Chlorine levels are pretty high and the building is old but very clean and the staff is friendly.
Don’t waste money on gyms, just sign up for HARD classes. A wonderful selection.

I appreciate HARD for offering affordable classes in so many different sports, but the quality isn’t always good.
The gymnastics program is outstanding. Run by excellent staff who pay attention to each kid and care about safety.
The summer swim lessons at the Castro Valley High School Pool leave a lot to be desired. ALL of the teachers are kids (college or high school age) and I don’t think they’ve been properly trained in how to teach swimming. Another big bummer: my daughter knows how to do two strokes, but because she is not yet 6 she has to go in a «tiny tot» class. She is not pushed beyond what she knows… In fact, she’s not even pushed to practice what she knows!

I organized a basketball gathering this month for my husband’s birthday. After looking around for places to rent a gym, I settled on the Hayward Area Recreation & Park District.
There’s a form online that you fill out. They offered three different schools to rent a gym. If you’re a residence, it’s $ 45 per hour. For non-​residence, it’s $ 60. So we rented the gym for 3 hours. Plus the $ 5 permit fee, it came out to $ 135.00.
The first time we faxed in the form, we tried to call a week later to find out whether we got the gym or not. When I called, the guy had no idea where Kristy (the main person in that department who handles the permits) put them and to call back the next day when she would be at work.
So I called the next day and I did get to talk to Kristy. However, since she was gone for a week, she was still catching up. If I didn’t hear back from her later on, I would have to call back at the same time on Monday. I’m getting a bit antsy because the date that we wanted was getting close and if we didn’t get the gym, I had to go find something else right away.
Thankfully on Monday, Kristy confirmed that we could get the gym in El Rancho Verde and our times fit perfectly since there was another event at 2pm. She emailed me a credit card authorization form, which I faxed. Then mid week, she emailed me a copy of the permit. The actual permit and copy of my payment came in the mail later that same week. Despite the short time frame, we got the gym that I requested and all the paperwork taken cared of.
Kristy was very nice to work with. However, they really should have a secondary person there to issue permits. Well, the guy was there as a back up but he had no clue of where she put the paperwork for the rental and really was no help at all.

I really love H.A.R.D, they offer all sorts of classes. Swim, dance, yoga, sports, camps, pre-​k and more. The locations are also nearby and convenient. For me some of these classes would otherwise be too expensive if I went through a private organization.
In recent years they have added more classes and have made it much easier to sign up online. It’s really worth a shot to give that little pamphlet a look when it comes in the mail, for us parents it’s a great tool.

Camp Tenderfoot ROCKS. I felt good about the place as soon as we walked up and saw all the campers and counselors greeting each other with enthusiastic «haven’t seen you since last summer and I’m so glad to be here!» hugs. My daughter came home each night dirty, exhausted, telling stories and singing all the camp songs I remember from my childhood. They hiked, they played, they had a great time. This is camp as it should be.
And, it seems all the counselors grew up going to this camp and just don’t want to stop. So, they volunteer, and for a fraction of what you would pay for other camps, you get an all-​day camp with an awesome camper-​counselor ratio. I’d give them 10 stars if I could.

For the kids my favorite H.A.R.D. programs are Sulpher Creek and Camp Tenderfoot; both are nature programs for tots to elementary age. It’s become somewhat of a tradition for the kids to move up from Sulpher Creek to Tenderfoot to Potowatomi. Many of the counselors were campers themselves and some even volunteer at both camps (squirrel at Sulpher Creek & grape at Tenderfoot.) Tenderfoot is one of those camps that your kids will remember and tell stories about all year long. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, my kid walks around singing «I I I yike us, nobody’s like us, we are the kids from CAMP TENDERFOOT, always are winning, always are grinning, ready to say hello, HELLO.»
Needless to say– 5 Stars from me.

H.A.R.D. has it’s ups and downs, but Tenderfoot and Potowatomi is their gem! After the first day of camp, my kids decided they were going to be camp counselors when they get older. They have picked out their names and everything!
The younger group — Tenderfoot has all kinds of fun plus little hikes. My daughter comes home filthy and happy every day. Potowatomi — 4−6^th graders, get to do bigger hikes, go swimming and stay overnight one night. Having a timid child, I must say his self confidence grew immensely the first summer we did these programs.
We are now on our second year of these summer camps and the kids just love them! It is an amazing program and has exceeded my expectations. We will continue to go to these camps every summer and suppose this wonderful program!

There are so many things that the district does right, it’s easy to forgive what doesn’t work or get fixed. Between the great classes at the Plunge (for kids AND adults) and the work that they do to keep the parks well maintained AND Camp Tenderfoot at East Avenue Park, it’s one of the few city amenities that I enjoyed in Hayward.

I love this organization. They have everything from lessons for swimming, dance, yoga, etc. to trails to go hiking and so much more that I have yet to explore.
My son has taken swim lessons and dance lessons with H.A.R.D. (Ms. Barbara is the best for beginning dance — she is so good with small children — and Stephanie is, in my opinion, one of the best swim instructors at The Plunge).
I have been on all of the trails in Hayward. Garin Park is humongous! (and there’s Kite Running there on Sundays for those of you who have read «The Kite Runner»).
Check it out: