The future of sport and fitness clubs after lockdown through the lens of Eurofitness

13/8/2020

By Maria Malyshkina, ISCA

The future has become pretty ambiguous for sports clubs and indoor fitness centres during the COVID-19 crisis. In Spain, every sport facility was closed in one day for an unspecified period of time, prompting the management to look for solutions to prevent – or at least minimise – the negative consequences of such radical measures.

Toni Llop, Eurofitness Partner Director in Barcelona, Spain, shared in his presentation at our MOVE Week webinar how their fitness centre has responded to the COVID-19 crisis. The video recording is provided with the kind support from UISP.

As he looks back at the past months, Toni explains the main aspects of their action plan introduced to fight the crisis. They appointed a special leadership board, “Crisis Task Force”, which focused on elements such as retaining customers and addressing their concerns, membership fees and lack of security, activating and protecting the staff (300 employees), and maintaining and updating the facilities.

One of the key focus points was to build capacity to return back even stronger than before and potentially innovate in some areas. As Toni rightly notes, the “New Normal” will reveal what needs to be changed. However, he says we could also see a brighter side and even hope for a Renaissance after the pandemic.

We at ISCA agree that sport organisations should be active in finding their way to engage with various stakeholders and suggest solutions for re-opening and working under pandemic conditions. If you are looking for tools to build capacity in advocating for physical activity and healthy lifestyle in order to encourage people to return to fitness, check out our ActiveVoice online course.

A month ago, Eurofitness clubs welcomed back their members, and Toni shared his first observations after reopening:

“Although the number of cases of COVID-19 has increased in the last hours in Barcelona, no cases have been notified to any sports centre in the city. Thanks to the investment in preventive measures, the training of their staff and the introduction of technological solutions to keep the attendance … sport areas are safe areas and users recognise the effectivity of the adopted measures.”

Learn more about Eurofitness’ reopening strategy in our MOVE Week webinar