Olympic medalist expands her reach to inspire more children to get active
Beth Tweddle, the former UK gymnast and Olympic medalist, has sold her two gymnastics centres in Widnes and Bolton to Gymfinity Kids, the UK’s largest children’s gymnastics provider. The deal, which was announced on Monday, will see Tweddle join Gymfinity Kids as a brand ambassador and director of the local community and National Curriculum programmes.
Tweddle, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, founded Beth Tweddle Gymnastics in 2010 with an ambition to inspire a generation and to create opportunities for every child to get involved in gymnastics. She said: “I’m really proud of everything we’ve achieved as a business and the impact we’ve had on tens of thousands of children that have developed a passion for gymnastics at our Centres, Academy venues and National Curriculum Schools.”
Gymfinity Kids aims to open 30 more clubs in the next four years
Gymfinity Kids, which is backed by PureGym founder Peter Roberts, opened its first club in 2017 and has since expanded to nine clubs across Southern and Eastern England, each providing on average 220 gymnastics, Ninja, dance and pre-school classes per week. The business has seen significant growth in the past 12 months with membership increasing 60% and aims to open a further 30 clubs in the next four years.
Jacques De Bruin, managing director of Gymfinity Kids, said: “When the opportunity to work with Beth Tweddle Gymnastics presented itself we jumped at it. Our existing members will benefit from Beth’s unrivalled experience as a gymnast and a coach, we’re adding two new brilliant clubs with strong memberships bases into the business and we plan to roll out the Beth Tweddle Gymnastics community and schools programmes to schools around our existing clubs, supporting even more children to learn to love being active.”
Government’s new strategy for sport and physical activity
The merger comes at a time when the Government has published a new strategy for the future of sport and physical activity called Get Active. The strategy aims to increase participation in sport and physical activity among children and adults, improve health outcomes, reduce inequalities and support economic recovery.
According to the Sport England Active Lives survey, less than 50% of primary school age children are achieving an ‘active’ level of physical exercise each day. The combined Gymfinity Kids and Beth Tweddle Gymnastics group will seek to engage with the Government to join up business, communities and schools to deliver opportunities for more children to get active.
Tweddle said: “Active children are happier and healthier, and gymnastics is a fun and rewarding way to get active. I can’t wait to help inspire the next generation of gymnastic enthusiasts.”
