Coach Approach continues to grow and help people get fit

Coach Approach continues to grow and help people get fit

COACH Approach, a business with “a community ethos” offers accessible and enjoyable coaching for people of any age looking to sort out their fitness and improve their overall well-being.

Launched in 2013, Coach Approach has been helping people in the community by offering exercise groups, online weight-loss advice, sports classes for children, one-to-one coaching, jogging and running groups, as well as sports parties, summer projects and a school-age childcare service.

Founder Lee Moroney believes coaching is primarily about helping people and that is what Coach Approach sets out to do in the wide range of services it provides.

“The original idea was to do something I like doing, so coaching turned it into a service where I got paid for my time,” said Lee.

“I had done a few sports parties for close friends in the past and thought sports parties would be an ideal start – I ran a small juvenile club for Bohernabreena pitch and putt club and it just started from there. I always knew I would enter the fitness aspect of coaching, but had no defined role of how that was going to

happen.”

Over the last eight years, Lee has grown the business to include a Túsla registered school-age service in Solas Chríost National School. This service now has seven employees.

“The greatest thing was to become an employer and give someone a job and a regular wage. We also have some casual employees from time to time for various projects.

“Plus, we have 11 amazing coaches who volunteer their time to help with the keep-jogging groups,” Lee told The Echo.

Founder of Coach Approach, Lee Moroney

Like most businesses, Coach Approach had to adapt their services to fit in with the ongoing restrictions, including separating the after-school service into pods and transitioning into virtual coaching.

“There is a number of extras requirements from Túsla/DCYA in how we run our after-school programme. We had to separate into pods – Mr Kelly, the school principal and the BOM of Solas Chríost has been a great support and very accommodating to us.

“We had no Summer Projects this year. In 2019 we worked 22 different groups and ran 25 two-hour sessions.

“We moved online pretty quickly with a virtual coaching group Couch-to-2km for free and then brought over 60 people from 2km to 5km via a private Facebook group. The online weight-loss groups, now running over five years got a shot in the arm with numbers doubling between April to July this year,” Lee

explained.

Despite Covid-19 restrictions, Coach Approach has seen a significant increase in clients looking to improve their fitness in an accessible and enjoyable way. Lee explains that the approach is not to be a hard-core fitness group, rather to celebrate everyone’s own personal achievements, which can be much more beneficial.

“Our approach of ‘do what you can, when you can’ has been a testament to the success over the last seven years. Our business – while it is run for profit – has very much a community ethos and accessibility is key,” said Lee.

“Our success is down to meeting people where they are at regards to their fitness levels, to make people feel at ease, and support, and give gentle encouragement – encourage a sense of fun, and don’t take things too seriously.

“For me, whether I am working with a pre-school group, my after-schoolers, or with adults who have disabilities – I try to be the same across the board. I don’t change my coaching style or teaching methods. It’s been genuine in its approach, and aims to give back in the way of sponsorship if possible and check in and support others, especially when their luck is down.”

Coach Approach continues to grow and hopes to approach another local school for a second after-school service for 2022 as well as continuing to move more online with exercise classes and a possible Couch-to-5km, Learn-to-Jog group.

For more information about Coach Approach and the services it offers, visit their website at coachapproach.ie or follow them on Facebook at Coach Approach.

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