Bringing Families Together - A note from the Lyons-MacKenzie Family

Seventeen and fourteen, those are the ages of my children. The teens, who live in their rooms, are addicted to social media, YouTube and all things game-related. Many parents can relate that it’s hard to plan fun family things at these ages that everyone will enjoy. That is until they find VillaSport Athletic Club and Spa. My name is Micaela MacKenzie and VillaSport saved my family.

Like many American families, our daily routine consisted of the 9 to 5 grind. Work, school, eat, sleep, and repeat. I’d see my teens a total of 30 minutes when we ate dinner together every night. My fiancé, a full-time student, who is home studying if he isn’t at school, cooks dinner for us before hitting the books again. We were in a rut; no end in sight, hardly talking to each other, and getting un-healthier by the day. Until we decided something needed to change.

Two years ago, VillaSport opened in Cypress, Texas. I was there, walking the new construction as they tried to sell us on their fancy new sports and spa complex. Not for me, I couldn’t even envision my family in the spaces we walked through. Fast forward two years, VillaSport is persistent, sending emails, post cards, and advertisements about how great their club is. My friends on social media post how much they love it, and I started thinking maybe there is something going on.

We set up an appointment with Ashley, an Ambassador, on May 15, 2019. Little did she know that she was about to change our lives. As we walked through the doors of what I thought was a pretentious club for only the rich and famous, my mind and way of thinking is completely blown away! The people at the front desk, the first ones you see when you walk in, were happy, smiling and seemed genuinely glad we were there. (And get this, they are still the exact same way every day!) Ashley walked us through the complex and answered all our questions. She won over my fiancé, who is always a major skeptic. We signed up on the spot and a week later, we signed up my fourteen year-old as well.

We started going to the club daily (you may be thinking it’s just a gym, but it’s way more than that to us!). It was awesome having my daughter with me. We even had a fun daughter-mother day at VillaSpa, where Amy (she’s superb) did our nails and made us feel like queens. To my surprise, VillaSport also provided each of us with a free consultation with Johnny, a certified Personal Trainer. He helped us understand how to correctly use the equipment and get the best workout for our body types. Additionally, VillaSport has a ton of really fun classes taught by marvelous instructors. We love going there every day but one thing  was still missing.

On May 24^th, VillaSport had a huge summer picnic party blow out. It was a blast, and we were allowed to bring guests. We finally convinced our seventeen year-old, who is homeschooled and has special needs that he could spare a few hours away from his games. He desperately needed to get out of the house for some activity. As always, the VillaSport staff were there to greet us and make us feel at home and my son (anti-social, autistic, who never wants to go anywhere) had a blast, and to my surprise, he wanted to join as well!

If you asked me two years ago if I ever see myself swimming in the evenings with my family, having the time of our lives, and making amazing memories together, I would have laughed in your face. My teens? In public, not on their phones? Yeah, right! Except this is our life now. We get home, feed the dogs, eat, laugh, and love each other. Then go to VillaSport, our home away from home. You may be thinking, yeah right, how can a sports club save a family, but it did mine. Not only are we spending much-needed time away from electronics together, but we are getting healthier and eating better. I will be forever grateful for the push VillaSport sent our way and the staff that makes it an amazing place to go. Thank you VillaSport, from the Lyons-MacKenzie Family.