A Dubbo gym is about to open a second location in the city in a stunning bounceback from the COVID-19 shutdown earlier this year.
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Fitness Focus owner Andrew Bassett has revealed "Fitness Focus Central" is set to open within PCYC Dubbo from October 19.
The 2019 winner of the Gold Rhino Award for Dubbo's most outstanding business will continue to operate at its Jannali Road premises in the city's west.
The new partnership which involves the gym becoming a "venue user" of the facility on the corner of Darling and Erskine Street has come about after months of planning, he reports.
Mr Bassett is looking forward to the new option helping Dubbo to get "fitter and stronger and happier".
The parties told of one organisation being able to "complement the other and vice versa".
They expect multiple benefits to flow from the partnership, including better meeting community needs and the use of Dubbo PCYC for more hours of the day.
It's not just an exciting announcement for Fitness Focus, but also for PCYC as well as for the community of Dubbo.
- Fitness Focus Dubbo owner Andrew Bassett
"It's not just an exciting announcement for Fitness Focus, but also for PCYC as well as for the community of Dubbo," Mr Bassett said.
"When you look at two businesses that are all community-focused and all around transforming lives, it just seems like such a natural partnership."
Fitness Focus Central will have a different target to its larger sibling gym.
"It's a smaller model... which will have a focus around lunchtime, speed for people to come in and do their lunchtime workout and leave," he said.
Mr Bassett said the second site meant job opportunities, with Fitness Focus initially recruiting two extra people to its staff of more than 20 members.
"Then obviously as we grow and expand, and that's both businesses as well, we're always on the lookout for more passionate staff," he said.
It's a huge turnaround from March when coronavirus restrictions forced gyms to close, putting them out of action until June.
Mr Bassett said he had taken a positive approach to the period.
"So most people were just reacting to it, which is, reactive is a very crazy, disorientated, sometimes disruptive type of behaviour," he said.
"Where we actually took more of a responsive approach to it, to go right, well this is what's happened, how can we turn that negative into a positive."
The partnership is close to the heart of Mr Bassett, who first walked into PCYC Dubbo as a young gymnast 28 years ago.
He later became a PCYC team member before starting his own business, and remains a champion of the centre.
"...it's going to bring a lot more numbers into PCYC as well, which I think will be very positive, because the side-effect of that, hopefully we will see an increase in their services and also the use of this amazing facility because Dubbo's lucky to have such a great PCYC," Mr Bassett said.
Ms Ross said PCYC was a charity empowering young people, and in order to do that, it had to cater for parents and guardians as well.
At the moment its busiest time was from 3pm, but the new opportunity should see more people there from morning onwards, she said.
We see so many kids come through the doors of an afternoon, and if we've then got a space that parents can utilise in that time, I think that's really important too...
- PCYC Dubbo club manager Emily Ross
"We see so many kids come through the doors of an afternoon, and if we've then got a space that parents can utilise in that time, I think that's really important too, that they've got their time for them," she said.
"So I think that's where that sort of joint partnership really does work very well.
"I'm excited, I'm excited to see new faces coming through the door as well, so we go from here."