ORANGEVALE, CA (MPG) - Rollingwood Athletic Club (RAC) sits at the crossroads of Fair Oaks and Orangevale and is very much a symbol of the area’s semi-rural vibe. You must traverse a winding, tree-lined driveway before you can even glimpse the rooftop of the club, set back on 10 acres amongst mature trees and in a valley between neighborhoods. 

Despite its more tranquil atmosphere, the club isn’t short on state-of-the-art facilities, from tennis courts and two large swimming pools - indoor and outdoor - to a spacious fitness area and several rooms for group fitness classes. And the amount of outdoor space has definitely helped the club make it through the challenges of the past year with COVID restrictions.

During the pandemic, tennis courts were converted into outdoor training facilities and group fitness areas, moving some large equipment outside and adding sails and easy-ups to shield members from rain, wind, and sun, and so that they can continue to work out safely. Currently, the club operates an online sign-up system to ensure it does not exceed safe capacity restrictions.

Like many businesses, however, the pandemic has not left RAC unscathed.

“After the initial shutdown in March and April of last year, and as summer offered opportunities to resume outdoor fitness, we offered our members the opportunity to continue paying their membership dues, freeze their membership, or discontinue,” says Stephani Leigh who handles the club’s marketing. “Since then, we have seen about 30% of our members return.” Which means the club, which is locally and independently owned, still has a long way to go to return to full, pre-COVID operations, although continuing to offer a full schedule of more than 30 HIT, yoga, cycle, pilates, TRX, and aqua classes. 

Outside of the fitness facilities and pre-COVID, the club acted as a community gathering space, with large indoor and outdoor areas for local organizations to meet, birthday parties to be held, and even a remote space for members to work from. Currently, those spaces sit empty, waiting for the time, hopefully very soon, when they can once again be filled with music and passing chatter.

When I visited on a Wednesday morning, the tennis courts were open and games were being played, members were trickling in for an outdoor class, and a socially distant yoga class was happening in the group fitness room.

As the area continues to resume more normal activities, the club looks forward to welcoming back those members who have been waiting in the wings for the health situation to change, and those members will get to benefit from some of the changes that the pandemic necessitated. 

What was an unused outside area behind the club will be kept as an outdoor fitness area and there is now a new pickle-ball court, which has been hugely popular. Meanwhile, the club has been able to gradually resume junior swimming and tennis programs which family members have been very appreciative of. “It’s been great to see the smiles of the kids around the club,” Stephani says.

RAC has been in business since 1978 and being adaptable, moving with the trends of the time to meet members’ evolving needs and schedules, has been part of that longevity. “We’ll continue to do that, putting feedback at the heart of our business,” says Stephani. “We want to hear from our members and we want to offer what the community tells us they want to see from us.”