Author: ezfacility

New Athletic Complex to Open In California Storage Facility

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A new athletic complex is coming to Ladera Ranch, California — right next door to a massive storage facility. Michael Schwartz, owner of Smart Stop Self Storage and Strategic Storage Trust, Inc., has received municipal approval to build a $32.6 million athletic center on a plot of land adjacent to his 100,000-square-foot storage facility.
The complex will include a 56,000-square-foot gymnasium with eight basketball and volleyball courts. It will also expand Smart Stop’s operations, with 41,400 square feet of the new building dedicated to storage and 21,000 square feet set aside for Smart Shop’s office headquarters. Built-in features will include cameras on all courts, so that parents or sports scouts can log in remotely to watch games or practices. In addition, plans for the facility include the installation of rooftop solar panels and an architectural design that will stand out in the community.
Schwartz told the Orange County Register that the project fits in with the company’s vision for serving the community. “It’s not a small endeavor, but we really believe in the community,” he said. “The mixed-use financially makes sense. We can build the nicest indoor gymnasium in the U.S., and we need to expand storage space and offices for our growing operations.”
Eric Willin, COO, of EZFacility, a sports facility management software developer in Woodbury, New York, called the move an intriguing experiment. “Community-minded entrepreneurs look for ways to grow their businesses while also serving their localities. There is almost no community in the United States that would not benefit from having an easily accessible athletic center available for use. Situating such a center within an already established business stands to benefit all parties involved.”
Schwartz commented that anyone will be able to rent the athletic center, including the players and club teams of local basketball and volleyball leagues, as well as high school teams.

Planning for Emergencies

Planning for Emergencies

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My son is eight years old, the age at which curiosity, acquired knowledge, and a total fascination with disaster scenarios come together beautifully and lead to all kinds of thought-provoking (and sometimes horrifying) what-if questions. What if the house blew up just as we were about to step inside of it? What if a tornado ripped through town unexpectedly while summer camp was in session? What if we went to watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium and an earthquake happened in the first inning?
That last one gave me pause. What if an earthquake did happen during a baseball game? What if you run a sports facility or a recreation complex or, for that matter, a gym, health club, or fitness center and you’re faced with a major emergency? How do you prepare yourself? How do you even begin to think of something as massive, and as potentially devastating, as an earthquake?
Kevin Bryant, a senior facility manager for the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex in Hillsboro, Oregon (which boasts a 3,700-seat baseball stadium, a 7,200-seat football/soccer stadium, and six softball fields) addressed such questions in a recent article for Sports Venue Safety, a supplement to Athletic Business. Bryant has encountered a number of extraordinary situations at his facility: a drunk and belligerent spectator, drug-use by a semi-professional sports team in the locker room, lights going out during a stormy, night-time, high-school football game. None of these are on the scale of an earthquake, but they got him thinking about the importance of being ready should a major emergency occur.
In order to frame out a coherent emergency plan, including an evacuation strategy, Bryant and his team—full-time and part-time staff—engaged in a months-long effort. Starting with the simple plan they already had (and you no doubt have at least a simple one of your own), they called upon the expertise of police and fire first-responders, city staff, and school district personnel. They researched actual emergencies that had happened at other facilities, used virtual reality software, and good, old-fashioned brainstorming to imagine potential situations. At the end of the process, they produced a carefully crafted, solidly tested, emergency and evacuation plan.
Bryant offers some useful advice. The first step, he says, was getting practical training for all full-time staff so that, at the very least, everyone knows how to administer basic first-aid and everyone has some AED and CPR training. Whether you run a sports facility or a gym or health club, you’ve probably prepared key staff members for simple emergencies in similar ways. But it’s worth asking yourself whether you’ve trained enough staff and whether new employees need training. Do you have a plan for yearly refresher sessions?
After training, Bryant and his team made a list of the exact types of emergencies they might encounter at their facility and then researched preferred ways of dealing with those emergencies. They looked into bomb threats, critical operations shutdowns, fires in and outside the stadium, extreme weather situations (including, yes, earthquakes), medical emergencies, and even nuclear fallout. They outlined, among other things, what the immediate reaction to each type of emergency would be, who would be responsible for what, and how the city and first-responders would be involved. The take-away here is that different kinds of disasters require different kinds of responses. At your facility, you must have a specific plan for each kind, and all the players must be clear on their roles.
Once you’ve got your written plan, you need to start another round of training—this time stepping through the actual plan as if an emergency had occurred. Bryant’s staff went through a fire drill. On a day when there was no event, they pulled the fire-alarm, role-played responses, and then discussed how it all went. The exercise revealed the importance of communication in the midst of chaos, noise, and stress, and showed Bryant that, while a written plan is crucial, realistic training is the only way to get all players on board with how to manage an actual situation.
Another great thing about eight-year-olds is that they’re convinced they can overcome any disaster scenario they might have to face; when my son explains how he’s going to deal with the tornado-at-summer-camp, or any other similar situation, he always describes his own deeds of daring and his phenomenal, heroic triumphs. I love his confidence and optimism, but I always try to remind him that he has a good chance of succeeding as long as he has a carefully thought-through plan.

EZFacility Updates EZleagues Scheduling Wizard

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Woodbury, NY (August 9, 2014) – EZFacility, an industry leader in sports management software, today announced an update to its EZLeagues Scheduling Wizard software. The update enhances and refines the Scheduling Wizard’s capabilities, making it even simpler than before to create a league or tournament schedule. The upgrade focuses on improving functionality and adding a fluid interface.
With more clear and concise content, users will find scheduling a league to be even quicker and more precise than ever before. Within the update is a brand new feature added to the Scheduling Wizard, Auto-Save. The addition of the Auto-Save feature gives EZFacility’s clients, for the first time ever, the ability to save their scheduling progress as they work, and the option to return to it at a later time.
“Our main goal has always been to create a software program that can be easily operated. This upgrade brings us one step closer to accomplishing that goal.” said Michael Vidal, Product Owner at EZFacility. “The groundwork has been laid, now we are looking to build upon it.”
EZFacility’s EZLeagues Scheduling Wizard is an ideal service for business owners who are running leagues and/or tournaments with small or large groups of people.

Study Links Obesity to Lack of Exercise—What It Means for Your Facility

Study Links Obesity to Lack of Exercise—What It Means for Your Facility

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You may have heard about a long-term Stanford University study that recently revealed interesting—and controversial—results. Obesity, the study concludes, is due primarily not to over-eating but to a decline in exercise. “Our findings do not support the popular notion that the increase of obesity in the United States can be attributed primarily to sustained increase over time in the average daily caloric intake of Americans,” said the study’s lead author, Uri Ladabaum, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford. “We found significant association between the level of leisure-time physical activity, but not daily caloric intake, and the increases in BMI and waist circumference.”
This is good news for the fitness industry for several reasons. First, amid all the clamoring voices in the media and among experts, it lends a weight of authority to the work we do. Every day, it seems, there’s a new report, or a new top-ten list, or a new “trusted opinion” about the value of exercise, the value of dieting, the value of exercising while dieting, the value of a health club membership. The Stanford study took place over a 20-year period. It rigorously examined obesity, waistline obesity, physical activity, and calorie intake among both men and women. It offers unique data: In 1994, for example, only 19.1 percent of women said they did not have any physical activity in their lifestyle; in 2010, 51.7 percent reported that they did not work out. The difference is similar for men: In 1994, only 11.4 percent of men didn’t work out; in 2010, that figure was up to 43.5 percent. During that time, body mass index increased .37 percent per year for women and .27 percent per year for men.
The upshot is this: Medical scientists who have spent two decades studying the issue have proven that people need to work out to avoid obesity. The opportunities for working out provided by gyms, health clubs, fitness venues, sports centres, and the like are unparalleled. In today’s society, with the pressures of work being what they are and the possibilities for sedentary activity being so attractive and plentiful, it is your facilities that give people a fair shot at lasting good health.
How can you use this information to your benefit? Make it known. Spread news of the study through your social media channels and through personal interaction—make sure your trainers and your sales staff know about it, and get them talking about it. Find ways to ask your members to tell their friends.
Also, create outreach programs. The study shows that the groups hit hardest by lack of exercise are African-American women and Mexican-American women. Consider creating affordable programs and make them available to these groups. Also, try to figure out the best ways to spread the news about them. People who don’t have easy access to exercise want it—and desperately need it—and they represent for you a virtually untapped source of new memberships. It’s up to you to design memberships that work for them.
But beware of one thing: The study results are, as I mentioned, controversial. Certainly eating habits in this country are problematic, especially in places known as food deserts, where nutritious choices are not always available or understood. Even in places where incomes and available options do allow for healthier eating, the prevalence of processed food, fast food, and just plain junk food often leads consumers to make poor choices. To show that you’re concerned with the total health of your members, try to make yourself a source of information about nutrition and healthy dieting. Offer programs to educate your members about healthy eating choices—and to set yourself apart from your competition. Your members are there to work out, and that’s the first step; give them the added bonus of increased chances at better eating. They’ll watch their BMIs drop quicker, and eventually you’ll watch your membership numbers grow.

Planning for Wear and Tear

Planning for Wear and Tear

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It’s a sad fact of life—any highly trafficked building, sports clubs, gyms, health clubs, and fitness centres undergo a great deal of wear and tear in a short period of time. Cracks and chips in the tiles, dings and scratches on countertop edges, tears in the mats, streaks on the floors, and marks on the finish of doors are inevitable, and they happen much sooner after construction or renovation than you would expect or like. But there are some steps you can take to prevent damage and keep your facility looking, well, maybe not brand new, but at least younger than it really is.
1) Expect and plan for deterioration. Certain features of your facility will age faster than others, like the tiles, countertop edges, mats, and other things listed above. Toilet seats, showerheads, the pads on workout benches and machines, handgrips—these and other frequently used things are items you can expect to show wear and tear. And if you can expect it, then you can make plans to guard against it. Take efforts to predict which areas will suffer the worst by identifying high-impact spaces and observing changes in those spaces over time. Note how long it takes for items to begin showing damage and document the timeframe—along with repair and replacement costs—so that down the road you’ll know when you need to take action and begin purchasing new items.
2) Design your operating and capital budget to accommodate refurbishing on a regular schedule. Your annual operating budget should include room for small improvements and repairs, and you can use your budget to step up into larger capital remodeling projects. Like dining venues that use a 7- to 10-year agenda for overhauling their spaces, fitness and sports facilities should plan for regularly scheduled updates within relatively small timeframes. They should also consider renovations that will need to occur in longer timeframes, and plans for such renovations should be updated annually. The goal is to ensure that the look and function of your spaces will still be relevant in 15 years, 20 years, and beyond.
3) One thing you probably already can’t do without (and if you are doing without it, you should stop everything and get one set up immediately) is a personal service reference guide. This is a notated list of professionals who installed elements of your facility and designed its features. The myriad small details that go into putting a space together can get lost over time, and if you begin refurbishing a space, you might find information about those details crucial to your project. You’ll need to have at your fingertips the names of the engineers, subcontractors, carpenters, and electricians whose work went into creating the original space. When little things start to go wrong—breakers begin to trip, remote controls no longer work—this reference guide will be priceless. Include everything you can think of, down to the names of the carpet and tile suppliers. You’ll be really glad you did.
4) Another key strategy is developing a vigorous cleaning routine. Imagine your mother there everyday, asking whether you’ve cleared your dishes and put your things away, and then multiply that by a thousand. In any building, and especially a high-use facility, it’s the accumulated grime and grit that can lead to premature aging. Don’t rely only on standard custodial care; in a health club or sports facility, you need specialized housekeeping of particular areas. And you need it daily. Also consider the cleaning that can be outsourced to specialists: power-washing entryways, keeping windows sparkly, scrubbing tile and grout.
If you’re still in the planning stages, waiting for your facility to be built or renovated, there are other steps you can take too: choose materials made for high-impact use, select finishes that will be easy to clean, note warranties and product limitations. The main point is this: From the very beginning, you want to imagine how your facility should look thirty years from now; then work to make sure that it looks that way. And if there’s some wear and tear that’s unavoidable, consider that a sign that your facility is well-used and well-loved, and be glad.

Major Overhaul of University of Colorado-Boulder Rec Center

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A three-year plan to renovate the student recreation center at the University of Colorado-Boulder is starting to bear fruit, with a new pool now on campus and new tennis courts slated to be operational at the end of July. The pool has been a focal point of the project, as it is uniquely shaped to resemble a charging buffalo, the university’s mascot.
In April 2011, more than 70 percent of students at the university voted to increase student fees in support of a $63.5 million recreation center overhaul. In addition to the pool and tennis courts, the overhaul has resulted in a strength and conditioning space double its original size, a much larger group exercise and fitness studio, a new ice rink, a refurbishing of existing gym spaces, a new climbing gym and bouldering wall, and a renovation of locker rooms, lobbies, and meeting spaces.
“Like many other universities, the University of Colorado at Boulder has recognized the need for a top-notch exercise facility,” said Eric Willin, COO of EZFacility, a fitness center management software developer in Woodbury, New York. “Prospective students weigh exercise facilities carefully when they’re comparing universities and deciding which one to attend. If a school lacks decent space with high-quality equipment and an array of classes and other offerings, prospectives go elsewhere. Also, as demonstrated by the buffalo-shaped pool, a school’s rec center is a mark of pride — it’s a center for school spirit.”
Annie Mulvaney, assistant director of marketing and external relations for Colorado’s recreation service, told the university’s newspaper, the Boulder Daily Camera, that the recreation center received some criticism for spending extra money on an elaborately shaped pool that, being outdoors, will be open for only a short time each year. But she noted that it’s a feature students have supported heartily.

YogaWorks Acquired by Private Equity Firm

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YogaWorks, a Los Angeles-based company that operates 29 studios in California and New York, was sold to the Boston-based private equity firm Great Hill Partners earlier this month.
The yoga studio’s parent firm, Highland Capital Partners, sold the company for about $45 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. In addition to studio-based classes, YogaWorks produces online courses and videos through MyYogaWorks and has an established teacher-training progam.
“The popularity of yoga is on the rise and has been for years,” says Eric Willin, COO of EZFacility, a fitness facility management software developer in Woodbury, New York. “Investing in a yoga studio is simply a good business decision, especially if the studio is an established brand with the potential to thrive in new markets.”
Great Hill Partners has more than $3 billion under management. A spokesperson for the firm told the Wall Street Journal that YogaWorks was an appealing acquisition because of its robust brand recognition. Also, Great Hill’s research reportedly has shown that yoga class attendance is increasing at a rate of more than 10 percent per year.

Spin class

Getting Past the Summer Attendance Blues

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This is it, folks—we’re now in the throes of what I like to call Summer Attendance Blues. Every year it’s the same story: June hits, attendance at gyms, fitness centres, and health clubs takes a dive. It stays low till the end of August. You watch in despair as a handful of only the most loyal clients straggles in for classes, while your front desk crew twiddle their thumbs and your locker rooms stay woefully empty.
Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but some days can feel that way. What can you do?
It may be daunting to imagine cutting back on your group exercise schedule, but that could be the first step to take. On IHRSA’s blog, Anne Whiteside, program director at the Yakima Athletic Club in Yakima, Washington, says, “It’s absolutely necessary to cut back on group fitness classes during the slower months.” Frances Michaelson, Owner/Director of Muscle Up, Inc. in Quebec, Canada, agrees. “In the summer,” she says, “there’s always a drop in the numbers and it’s acceptable to reduce the number of classes.”
If you do cut back, you’ll inevitably displease some people, but both Whiteside and Michaelson say there are steps you can take to assuage them. Whiteside recommends educating members very directly about why you’re cutting back. “Inform them about industry averages for classes, and/or your own personal goals for the club’s group exercise program. Let them know what the numbers are, that that they’re falling off due to seasonal low attendance.” One possible benefit from doing so is that members may begin to pay more attention to the shrinking numbers—and they may start to encourage others to attend regularly in order to keep the classes on the schedule. Another option is to combine classes, says Michaelson. “For example, if you offer a step class and a toning class that are both popular, then why not put the two together with a circuit-style format, and call it ‘Step ‘n Tone’?”
If reducing the number of class offerings doesn’t seem like enough, or if it’s something you’re simply not willing to do, there are still other steps you can take. You could consider instituting summer hours, keeping all your offerings but compressing them into just four or five days a week. Or design an incentives program. Perhaps if members attend 35 classes between July 1st and August 31st, they receive a discount for September, or if they bring a friend to at least 10 classes during that time, their friend gets a month’s membership free. Think about what kind of program would work best for your facility, and get creative. You might also try simply getting members to pledge at the start of summer that they’ll make it to your facility a certain number of times before the summer ends. Studies show that people are more likely to stick to promises and goals if they take the trouble to state them in a formal way.
Whatever your plan, make sure you have one, even if it’s just doubling down on efforts to keep attendance high during the fall, winter, and spring. The last thing you want is that experience of sitting around watching the numbers dip, feeling powerless and waiting for the year’s sunniest season to end. And remember: Summer does end. Everyone will be back.

Weight Watchers Enters the Fitness Business

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Weight Watchers International, Inc., the largest weight-management company in the world, recently combined its famous nutrition and diet programs with a remote fitness component. The company acquired Wello, an app that provides exercisers with online workouts and live classes.
“I’m impressed with Wello’s talent, their technology, and their platform to deliver personalized services,” Dan Crow, Weight Watchers chief technology officer, said in a statement. “We look forward to combining our technology and innovation capabilities to better meet the needs of today’s consumer.”
Eric Willin, COO, of EZFacility, a fitness facility management software developer, noted the growing presence of digital services in the fitness industry. “Every day, we’re seeing more and more businesses take advantage of technology to enhance exercise, increase options available to consumers, and expand their own offerings. Gyms, health clubs, and fitness centres have been at the forefront of this trend; it’s interesting to see a company like Weight Watchers taking part.”
Wello works much like the ride-sharing services that connect drivers with passengers, such as Lyft and Uber. In this case, the app makes use of browsers and webcams to connect trainers with people looking to get fit. Such digital systems offer the ability to scale quickly, providing a particular advantage to companies that use technology to provide health-management functions.
Weight Watchers is a Fortune 500 company that reported revenues of $1.72 billion for 2013.

Healthcare

New Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Commission Seeks Collaborators

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By now, you’ve probably heard of the report recently released by the Vitality Institute, a New York-based organization made up of leaders in both the public and private sectors. Their main focus is to strengthen the evidence base of what works and what doesn’t in health promotion and disease prevention. The report, Investing in Prevention: A National Imperative, offers recommendations on these topics. A particular recommendation that has people talking is one that some may find controversial: Companies should report their employee health metrics just as they report their financial earnings.
Eighty percent of non-communicable diseases could be prevented, the report states. Preventing these diseases by 2023 could save the United States between $217 billion and $303 billion per year—about five percent to seven percent of annual healthcare spending. How do you prevent the diseases? By collecting data on individuals’ health profiles, identifying who might be at risk, and presumably then encouraging healthy habits.
Any time an individual’s private data is collected, it’s controversial. But the report seems to argue that health-related data isn’t merely private—the information that it contains could reveal ways to help strengthen society at some of its most fundamental levels. “The consequences of non-communicable diseases have short- and long-term effects by forcing individuals to exit the workforce prematurely due to their own poor health, or to care for ill relatives,” the report states. “Lower productivity and higher absenteeism, combined with soaring costs of treatment, impede innovation and crowd out productive investment in education and research and development.” In light of that, the Vitality Institute argues, it’s imperative that we know the state of health of America’s employees.
Why should you care about all this? The commission that put together the Vitality Institute’s report represents high-powered public- and private-sector organizations, such as Microsoft Corp., IBM, AARP, Humana, Johns Hopkins University, Qualcomm, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. These organizations have promised to carry out four initiatives meant to revolutionize the prevention of diseases and the promotion of health in the United States. To launch these initiatives, the commission is seeking collaborators — and what businesses are better positioned to collaborate than gyms, health clubs, fitness centres, and sports centres, which already work toward disease prevention and health promotion? Now is the time to get involved.
In addition to building a Corporate Health Leaders Program comprising evidence-based workplace health promotion training courses for small, medium, and large employers, the commission also plans to “convene a workshop on ethical, legal, and social issues with respect to the use of data collected by personal prevention technologies.” Another initiative aims to strengthen leadership and advocacy through networks. All in all, these are sweeping ideas that could have a huge impact on the future of fitness in this country. That’s where you come in. And here’s an interesting idea for you: What if your company were one of the first to voluntarily begin reporting employees’ health metrics? You’d sure get noticed.