I bring my interests and enthusiasm to work every day

Kelly, 28, has worked for Trafford Leisure for ten years, across various locations in a number of roles. She says: “I really enjoy working for Trafford Leisure, I have found my time at Trafford Leisure very rewarding.”

Born and raised in Manchester, Kelly has always had a passion for sport and leisure. She has played for the both Manchester City and Manchester United Girls Football Teams, has competed for the Harriers Running Club and has even played for the Manchester Titans, an American Football team.  She says: “A career in fitness and health seemed like the perfect fit for me.  It’s a job where I can bring my interests and enthusiasm to work every day.”

When Kelly was 17, she came to Urmston Leisure Centre for her work experience placement.  She loved her first taste of working at a leisure centre and, encouraged by the team at Urmston, went on to do a three year course gaining a Diploma in Sports Science, as well as her Level Two fitness instructor qualification at Urmston College. During her training, Kelly returned to Urmston Leisure Centre, working part time a few evenings in the week.

After completing her studies Kelly continued to work for Trafford Leisure, but transferred to Stretford Sports Village.  Here she became a full time fitness instructor and over five years, led some extremely successful and popular initiatives. Kelly set up a women’s only gym and ran an oversubscribed weight management class. She says: “I love working with people and helping them to overcome their anxieties. The groups I ran at Stretford had a real community feel. It was very empowering, allowing women from all backgrounds and demographics to come to come together, to have a shared interest and motivation.” Kelly’s career continued to flourish, qualifying as a Senior Fitness Instructor and going on to become a Duty Manager at George H Carnall. Here her responsibilities not only included looking after the customers, but the open and closing of the site and the maintenance of the facilities and equipment.

Kelly is now back at Urmston, working as a Health and Fitness Manager and a personal trainer and teaching many high-energy classes including HIIT, Circuits and Abs. She says: “I’m back where I started and I couldn’t be happier.  I love working with people either in 1-2-1 sessions or in a group class environment. I’m engaging with people and teaching them to feel better about themselves. It’s not just about losing some weight or getting a bit fitter, coming to the gym gives people a much fuller life, it allows them to make new friends, to have the opportunity to challenge themselves, and it helps them feel more positive and happy.”

Kelly has worked with many special customers but recalls one of favourites, Janet, who she worked with at Stretford Leisure Centre.

Janet was born with the genetic disorder Usher Syndrome Type 1 – the leading cause of deafblindness – she was deaf from birth and completely blind by the age of 21. Janet wanted to get active, as well as lose some weight and generally get healthier, so she joined Trafford Leisure’s weight management course ran, at the time, by Kelly.

“I had no prior knowledge of British Sign Language,” said Kelly.  “But both Janet and her communicator, Sarah, taught me how to communicate, as well as buying me books and Braille equipment so I could create Janet’s exercise programmes and nutritional information for her and just generally communicate with her as a friend. 

“Within the firstfew sessions we formed a strong friendship and the more I got to know about Janet the more I wanted to learn to communicate with her.   We became firm friends and have many shared fond memories together. She is such a wonderful lady and her positive outlook on life is inspiring.”

Kelly, who’s other great love is her pet dog, a six your old Springador called Joey, concludes: “I have the best job! Sometimes my shifts are quite long, but the hours fly by when you are doing something you love. I’d love to keep on doing what I do, focusing on customer satisfaction and retention. I also dream about running my own animal sanctuary one day.”