902 Athletics a CrossFit gym located in Bridgewater, NS. Photo: 902 Athletics/Facebook
Typically 902 Athletics puts on group workout classes that draw around fifty people, however amidst COVID-19 that has all changed and the business needed to adapt to survive.
Owner Joel Holland shut down his gym before it was mandated by the provincial government “I didn’t want to be the last guy who was holding on, trying to stay open especially with peoples health at risk.”
After that decision was made he quickly started to think of other ideas that would allow people to stay fit, stay home and generate revenue. The decision was made that they would loan out our equipment to our members.
In addition staff of 902 Athletics will be providing online fitness guides and instructional videos for members to follow along with.
The program has already seen over a hundred people express interest which has offered some relief according to Holland “It enables me to keep my staff on and working without this that wouldn’t have been possible.”
Gyms are one of the businesses that qualify for the provinces’ rent deferral program and Holland says he intends to apply for it. Even with the credit Holland still worries about what business will be like post-COVID-19 “A lot of people are dealing with reduced incomes, when they come back a gym membership is probably not their first priority.”
Holland says he currently isn’t being paid to help keep costs down and he will continue to look for solutions to outlast this and rebuild when things return to normal.
