It can all sound quite daunting, but as many schools, colleges and universities already have dedicated gyms and sports halls the question is more often - “How can we improve on the fitness facilities we have got and how can we fund and justify the expenditure?”
The benefits of healthy eating, physical activity and team participation is widely promoted in all the media, covering all ages, both young and old. The important factor for health is the encouragement of physical activity as a behaviour, rather than concentrating on fitness as an outcome - and this should start at a young age. Participating in regular physical activity promotes positive results, not only helping young people to optimise physical fitness, growth and development, but has been proven to aid education with improved concentration and focus. Therefore, it is important that schools, colleges and universities provide the best facilities for students in order promote regular participation.
Developing Physical Education Facilities
There are many Government health and fitness initiatives which support educational establishments to develop quality fitness facilities for the purpose of encouraging student participation and even for ‘dual use’ operation. This term ‘dual use’ is were schools have chosen to utilise their health and fitness facilities out of normal school hours to derive an income and achieve significant returns on their investment.
These development opportunities are not limited to new builds, or large educational establishments as many schools have started with mini training rooms - selecting individual pieces of fitness equipment to provide for all round cardio and strength training. The thought of major investments can also be a hurdle for some educational establishments , but the ‘fitness packages’ are there to assist as fitness equipment manufacturers now look to offer ‘one-stop sourcing’ to provide full planning, supply of equipment, service maintenance, marketing facilities and financial packages to suit individual requirements. Schools and colleges can purchase fitness equipment out right or alternatively, they can lease or rent fitness equipment and avoid major up-front investment.
Fitness solutions for all
Not all physical educational developments necessitate major investment and involve the purchase of numerous pieces of fitness equipment as shown below.
Recently, a Lancashire comprehensive secondary high school with mixed nationality students aged 11-16 committed to addressing health and fitness issues and developing a new fitness and training room, which was also to encourage participation by Asian Heritage Students who could not compete in team activities.
Although price was important, Mark Turner personally attended a meeting to discuss the schools requirements, reviewing space available, planning the layout and recommended the necessary fitness equipment . Because space was at a premium, a limited selection included a treadmill,X Trainer, Air Cycle and resistance training equipment to provide an all round workout facility.
The school was delighted that older students in particular took an active interest in the facilities and were keen to learn the workings of muscle groups by name, which was all part of their education. Staff also practised what they preach by adding exercise to their daily routine and out of school hours, the local athletics club hired the fitness equipment to train within an agreed time frame.
The fitness equipment was supplied on lease, which meant that the school could afford commercial fitness equipment from their budget and also, a scheduled maintenance contract was included within the contract.
Financial Options
With a career that spans some ten years in local Authority Leisure Operations management and subsequently, ten years supplying fitness equipment to private health clubs and the physical education sector, Mark Turner, MD of SportsArt Fitness UK knows the importance of budgets, financial management and accountability. That is why at SportsArt Fitness UK have devised various financial optional packages to suit individual requirements.
If funds are available, cardio, strength training and accessory equipment can be purchased out right and if required, SportsArt can use their experience to help secure funds to support the acquisition.
Alternatively, a popular flexible method of funding fitness equipment is by leasing, which offers all the benefits of ownership with only minimal outlay. Apart from the normal leasing agreement, SportsArt are now offering a 5 year lease purchase agreement with no payment required in the first twelve months. This could be extremely useful if the educational facility is considering operating a ‘dual-use’ commercially managed operation that is self financing.
Over the years, SportsArt have identified that many educational establishments under-use their sporting facilities and do not consider fully how they can exploit these for their benefit. They have an opportunity to turn these into ‘dual use’ fitness centres deriving an income by using the sporting facilities out of school hours. With the assistance of various grants available, schools, colleges and universities can extend their facilities and use them over subsequent years to generate an income and achieve significant returns on their investment. At the same time, they address social issues by contributing back to the local community by providing top-class fitness facilities.
Optimising leisure operations in ‘dual use’ operations requires a professional approach to business planning, marketing and management of the facility. However, this should not be seen as daunting as SportsArt working with strategic alliances can provide full accountability, staff appointment and management, removing the burden from the educational establishment.
The other option which could be considered is rental of fitness equipment. The benefits of this financing option is that it enables schools and colleges to fit out their gymnasium with a comprehensive range of fitness equipment, without having to make a large financial outlay and covers for the supply, installation, training and regular scheduled maintenance by experienced service engineers. After an agreed period, SportsArt would replace all existing fitness equipment enabling the educational facility to update in fitness technology which clearly creates new challenges, refreshes and motivates users.
