9 September 2026
The Valleys Lifestyle Centre in 2025-26
The Valleys has the most satisfied members in South Australia, and it is not close. A Net Promoter Score of 76.6 against a state figure of 64.4.
Ask a Valleys member how likely they are to recommend the centre and the answer comes back higher than anywhere else we run. The score was 76.6 last year. The next best centre managed 72.9, and the YMCA benchmark is 50.
Members are fairly consistent about why. Classes, aqua sessions and the sauna are included in the membership rather than charged on top, and the staff know people by name. Group fitness takes 22% of everything that happens here, close to three times the share it takes at our other pool centres.
75,188
visits to the centre
639
memberships at the year’s peak
76.6
Net Promoter Score, against a YMCA benchmark of 50
411
swimming lesson enrolments at the peak
Flat on visits, growing on members
The Valleys now records 5,290 more visits a year than it did in 2023-24, an increase of 8%. Year to year the visit figure was flat. The three year picture is where the growth shows. Memberships and swimming lessons both grew again, which is the combination that tends to hold.
The centre reached 639 memberships at its peak, up 10.4% on the previous year, and members stay an average of 27 weeks against a state average of 30.
Swimming lesson enrolments reached 411 at their peak, up 4.3%, with classes running at 75% occupancy.
+10.4%
growth in memberships
27 weeks
average length of a membership, against 30 across the state
75%
average swimming lesson class occupancy
Who trains at The Valleys
The Valleys membership spreads more evenly across the age bands than at any other centre we run. No single age group dominates, which is unusual and is probably a function of a class timetable that runs for everybody rather than for one cohort.
Members by age
Share of memberships with a recorded date of birth. The Valleys: 531 members, 318 women and 220 men.
The Valleys teaches the youngest swimmers in the state. The average student is four.
Swimming lesson students by age
248 students, average age 4.6
Six in ten of its swim students are under five. That is a program built around water confidence and parents in the pool, and it is the earliest point at which a centre can make a difference to whether a child grows up safe around water.
What members said
We ask our members how likely they are to recommend us. At The Valleys, 184 people answered out of 816 asked. That is a response rate of 23%, against a state average of 20%.
The score was 76.6, against a YMCA benchmark of 50.
Great value, with access to more than a gym. I love the classes, aqua sessions and sauna at no additional cost.
Member, The Valleys
All the staff are very welcoming with a smile, and the gym has everything needed to keep fit and healthy.
Member, The Valleys
76.6
Net Promoter Score
184
members responded
23%
response rate, against 20% across the state
Everything included
Group fitness and health programs take close to three times the share here that they take at our other pool centres. That is what members mean when they write about value. The membership buys the timetable, not just the door.
Share of total participation, 2024-25
Comparison here is against the average of our other pool centres, with The Valleys left out of its own benchmark.
75%
average swimming lesson class occupancy
1.02
average visits per week per member, against 1.29 across the state
What the activity is worth
$796,485
Estimated community benefit created at The Valleys in 2025-26.
Social Value puts a dollar figure on the community benefit created when people are physically active. It is an estimate, built from real participation data at this centre, and it covers health, education and employment outcomes where there is an agreed, evidence-based method for converting activity into monetary terms.
What the estimate covers
Select any indicator to read what it covers.
Value only accrues above a threshold
Turning up does not automatically create measurable value. A participant has to be active often enough to reach a physical activity threshold before anything is counted.
Across our centres, 43,735 people took part in an activity last year and 12,162 reached a threshold. Around 28 in every 100. That is normal for a community recreation centre, and the threshold is an invitation rather than a test.
How much of the centre the model sees
Roughly 63% of what happens at The Valleys is visible to the model. The figure above is real, and it is also an understatement.