GENEVA \u2014 A longtime fitness professional and Geneva native finds herself the happy new owner of a downtown fitness center, crediting serendipity with helping keep the community hub alive and well.<\/p>\n
Kari D., a freelance fitness trainer and Geneva Fit Club regular, bought the business late last year. It was around Dec. 10 when co-owner Don Scalise told Kari he was retiring and working toward closing the gym. Don and Patti Scalise created the gym in 2018 and have nurtured it into a respected downtown fixture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shed some tears about it,\u201d Kari said.<\/p>\n
After the initial shock and sadness, Kari began looking to secure another facility where she could train her in-gym clients. She reached out to her friend, Marissa Grillone, who co-owns Wine Country Fitness with her husband, Derek, on Hamilton Street in Geneva. They welcomed her with open arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, now I had a home for my clients to go to,\u201d Kari said. \u201cI could have stopped there, but having this place close kept me up at night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, one morning, Kari envisioned another possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI texted my husband (Pat) and I said, \u2018Should we buy the gym?\u2019\u201d He replied, \u201cLet\u2019s talk about it tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
That talk led to a discussion between the two couples. Kari and her husband knew time was of the essence.<\/p>\n
The timing couldn\u2019t have been more hectic. It was Christmas season. It was also birthday time for Kari and Pat\u2019s daughter. And, the couple had plans to go to Florida right after Christmas.<\/p>\n
The clock was ticking. The deal needed to be finalized at the month\u2019s end. With a few days to spare, the deal went through and Kari bought herself Geneva Fit Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it here,\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cIt\u2019s my happy place. It\u2019s always been my happy place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought a self-sustaining business. It\u2019s all up and running, and Don and Patti made it a great staple in downtown Geneva for me to come in and just take over and do exactly what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the passing of the torch, Kari and Don are working to make the transition seamless and successful. Both are invested in seeing the enterprise continue in good health.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve watched Don over the years do maintenance to the machines,\u201d Kari said. \u201cI\u2019m still trying to pick it up so I can pick up where he leaves off. The older treadmills are in perfect working order because of how well Don maintained them. He is teaching me and mentoring me. Don has shown me how to do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kari\u2019s vision for the future promises steady stewardship and continuity in amenities.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t want it to change too much,\u201d she reflected. \u201cI absolutely love the way that things are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely want to see classes happen within the next 18 months,\u201d Kari added. \u201cIt is always more fun to do exercise with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is thinking through options and gauging membership interest while she moves toward creating group fitness classes. She aims to institute \u201csmall but mighty changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club has a crew of highly skilled, diverse trainers on hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a wide variety of personal trainers here,\u201d she confirmed. \u201cWe go from bodybuilding to active aging personal training. No matter what your fitness level is, we have a trainer for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kari\u2019s practice includes working with active aging individuals, post-injury clients to include stroke patients, and the general fitness population. She holds credentials from the American Council on Exercise and the National Academy of Sports Medicine.<\/p>\n
Kari would like to see Geneva Fit Club become a household name. What she means is that not only is the club a great place to work out, but also that it is dedicated to giving back to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about me, but it\u2019s about the community that we live in and having the gym be a part of that too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Recently, the Lady AP Elite softball team needed a place to train. Kari solved the problem by opening her space to the team as a donation. Now the team trains there twice a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it\u2019s more important to keep my prices where it\u2019s affordable to all,\u201d she added, \u201cand to be able to donate space instead of making money off of kids that need the space. So I would rather not take a paycheck. I\u2019m paying myself in knowing how great it feels inside to be able to give that to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GENEVA \u2014 A longtime fitness professional and Geneva native finds herself the happy new owner of a downtown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[18,525,135,19,17,36254],"class_list":{"0":"post-462121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-personal-trainer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116495835966719344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}