WNiF Magazine - Spring 2016 Edition | Page 26

past, to what it needs to be now, for the future’. Currently there are 580 CrossFit Affiliates throughout Australia, and in three short months around 70 businesses are active members of Affiliates Australia. What was identified from fellow business owners was ‘there is a distinct and significant lack of understanding about what CrossFit affiliates do in their facilities and how their businesses are run,’ Matty explains. ‘We operate very different to most traditional fitness centres’. It was these types of challenges that 26 throughout Australia, and in 3 short months around 70 businesses are already on board. In this initial phase of growth, members needed to have specific business operations in order to be represented by Affiliates Australia. These requirements may be adjusted in the future as the capacity of the group grows. led Matty to recognise the need
for specific representation that thoroughly understands Australian affiliates and their businesses ‘CrossFit Affiliates are all independent operators. We face similar issues like other businesses, such as fees, tariffs & insurances, but currently, these service industries may not have any specific data about how we operate, so often we don’t get the most appropriate and consistent deals from business-tobusiness within our industry. ‘CrossFit is an amazing fitness program, lead by passionate and experienced trainers, in some of the most innovative fitness businesses in this country. So the more support these small businesses can get, the better they become, and therefore the better the fitness industry becomes’. Affiliates Australia is an opportunity for a collective of businessess to work towards a common goal, to secure fair representation in the Fitness Industry, and work towards a fair deal with the external organisations who support us (i.e. suppliers of products and services and consumers),’ explains Matty. To find out more about Affiliates Australia and to see if your CrossFit business could be involved visit www.affiliatesaustralia.org ‘Our objective is to speak to our affiliate members, ensuring we understand their challenges & needs, to represent them as a group, and then address these issues in order to forge change for our part of the industry’. He adds, ‘After all, nobody understands what a CrossFit Affiliate does better than a CrossFit Affiliate themselves’. There are currently 580 CrossFit Affiliates WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - SPRING 2016