Woodbridge gym provides scholarships for students

Occoquan Bay Performancenwill expand a non-profit after school fitness and leadership program.

This fitness program is open to children ages of 13-15 years old because at this age, these students are mature enough to support each other, but are young enough that it could leave a lasting impression for years to come.

“As an entrepreneur I have quickly found out that there is more to business life than just making money and I know how important it is to make a difference and be a part of something larger than yourself,” said Nick Mann, co-owner of Occoquan Bay Performance and CrossFit Occoquan Bay located at 1235 Featherstone Road in Woodbridge.

This program is intended to promote fitness by taking care of any monetary fees for the children who are selected to participate. Once this program becomes further established, they plan on reaching out to other gyms and youth that are close to them and pay for their fitness needs as well.

“Our goal with this program is to provide opportunities to deserving youth and make a positive impact on society,” said Mann.

Also, this program provides scholarships for at-risk youth in the community. Currently, this program has four student athletes that are on scholarship.

At the moment, this organization pays for the scholarships out of pocket and with the scholarship fund that gets replenished by fundraisers that the organization puts on such as galas and fundraising competitions.

Scholarship winners are chosen based on need. Currently, Occoquan Bay works with foster care placement facilities in order to provide for student athletes that the families might not be able to provide further education for.  Teachers  can also recommend one or more of their students to be candidates for the program.

This program is designed to be a balance between physical fitness while also improving the academic skills of these students. While the students are there after school, they will also be receiving tutoring help from a certified teacher who can help them with any academic issues that they may be having.

Currently, the gym is working on finding a way for the students to get to the gym from the local schools so that parents are not held responsible for getting their child to the after school program.

In 2016, the gym hopes to have 50 students on scholarship at their gym location, and they also hope to reach out to other local gyms who have interest in the program to have a total of 100 well deserving student athletes on scholarship.