Club Adds Value with Extensive Programming, Continued Renovations

The Weymouth Club adds value to its membership, and brings in additional revenue, with its extensive programming and continued renovations.

When Steve and Sally Goldman bought the Weymouth Club in Weymouth, Mass., in 1988, the facility was primarily devoted to tennis. At the time, there were eight indoor and six outdoor courts, plus a small outdoor pool. In 1992, the Goldmans added a six-lane lap pool, an expanded fitness center, a group exercise studio and more parking. The latest renovation, completed at the end of 2007, is the Energy Center, which was constructed to provide the area's youth with a fun environment in which to exercise. The current 200,000-square-foot facility is the place to be for families in the area, and a money-maker due to its emphasis on fee-based programs for tennis, aquatics, personal training and children.

The Weymouth Club's most recent accomplishment is its 12,000-square-foot Energy Center. The Energy Center for children "has generated a buzz in the community, which led to 325 new family memberships and 200 upgrades from our existing member base," according to Executive Director Rich Synnott. The Energy Center features a climbing wall, an area for arts and crafts, tumbling structures, and interactive games such as X Board Pro, Dance-Dance Revolution and interactive cycles. In addition, there is a gym for soccer, T-ball, basketball, kick ball, self-defense and dance. "To determine what to put into the Energy Center, we visited about a dozen other clubs all through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast that had a reputation for delivering a high-quality family program. We took what we liked, could afford and could fit into our project," says Synnott.

In addition to youth fitness, the Weymouth Club also focuses on aquatics, and has the largest private aquatics center in New England. It includes an eight-lane pool (with water temperature set at 80 degrees to appeal to the swim team, Master's swimmers and lap swimmers), a six-lane pool (set at 85 degrees for water exercise classes, older adults and young children in swim lessons), a warm-water exercise pool for physical therapy and Water Babies classes, three hot tubs located throughout the pool areas, and indoor and outdoor splash parks. The facility's swim team has more than 150 children participate, and Weymouth also teaches thousands of children to swim each year (it averages more than 500 children per session). "Between swim lessons, programs, lifeguard training and the swim team, we generate about $750,000 in revenue each year," Synnott says.

For members who don't like to get wet, there is also an extensive tennis program at Weymouth. The facility has 13 courts (10 hard courts and three clay courts), and programs for children and adults. Its Munchkin tennis program for younger children has more than 100 participants. The facility also runs the summer tennis recreation program for four local towns, and offers lessons, clinics, teams, rentals and tournaments. All said, the tennis program generates nearly $2 million, according to Synnott.

Inside the fitness center, personal trainers deliver about 200 personal training sessions per week. "This does not include people who participate in our boot camps and Lose Big weight-loss program" says Synnott. Personal training generates about $750,000 in annual revenue.

Whole-body wellness is the goal with all of these programs, and the Weymouth Club doesn't leave out programs for people who are injured. Its wellness component offers physical therapy, and chiropractic, massage and X-ray services. All new members receive a free wellness assessment that begins with a physical therapist who assists a personal trainer in developing an appropriate, customized fitness program.

For a typical fitness center, any one of these extensive facilities and programs would be an accomplishment. But the Weymouth Club has somehow managed to do it all, and be successful at each. This has something to do with the goals and planning of its owners. Says Steve Goldman, "Since we bought the Weymouth Club 20 years ago, we have always had two major goals in mind. The first was reinvesting in what's new in our industry. The second has always been to give back to our members. And, Sally and I feel that we have accomplished both of these goals."