Bantry secondary school is fit for action with new gym

A BANTRY fitness company that completes contracts worldwide has had the honour of fitting out its local secondary school, Scoil Pobail Bheanntraí.

The recently-completed project is expected to pave the way for the school to introduce Leaving Certificate PE in 2022, after trialling it with transition year (TY) students.

Kaizen Leisure, which is based in Bantry and Derry, designs, supplies, and installs training facilities in Ireland and across Europe.

Niall Moxley and his business partner Daniel McGee – who have over 25 years’ experience in the fitness industry – described how delighted they were when the school’s PE teacher, Pa Curran, contacted them in early 2020, regarding the possibility of setting up a functional training facility in their current gym.

‘Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this was temporarily put on hold,’ Niall told The Southern Star. But last November, the new principal, Marian Carey, gave the project the go-ahead.

After consulting with the school, Kaizen Leisure designed a large, functional training facility that would cater for up to 30 to 40 students at a time.

‘We decided on an eight-station rig that offers the students the opportunity to perform any Olympic lifting techniques, along with adjustable benches, Olympic bars, weight plates and dumbbells,’ said Niall. The new functional layout hugely improved the space available and is in line with modern sports science, which places  major emphasis on functional training to improve the strength and fitness of athletes. Sourcing the correct commercial equipment for the job was a bit of a struggle during the pandemic, but by February the company had completed the entire project after a three-day intensive fit-out. ‘We are delighted with the end result,’ said Niall, ‘and we hope the students love it as much as we do. They have one of the best school gyms in the country and we’re sure all the teams will benefit greatly as a result.’