Horizon Leisure and Hampshire FA partnership to offer gym memberships for grassroots footballers

Horizon Leisure has partnered with Hampshire FA to provide gym membership opportunities for grassroots football communities in Portsmouth and the Southeast of England.

Local football communities will benefit from discounted rates on adult and junior gym memberships at Horizon Leisure Centres, including Havant Leisure Centre, Waterlooville Leisure Centre, as well as its newly opened health and wellbeing facility in Guildford.

As a charitable trust, Horizon Leisure is committed to providing accessible and affordable wellbeing provision. Its goal is to create enjoyable experiences that motivate people to enhance their health and wellbeing; positively influencing their lives. Horizon Leisure provides a wide range of sporting and leisure opportunities, including gym, group exercise, swimming, racquet sports, indoor sports courts, soft play, health checks, GP health referrals and an extensive community health programme.

Mike Lyons, CEO, Horizon Leisure says: “We are excited to partner with Hampshire Football Association FA) to provide discounted memberships for our local footballers.  As a charitable trust, community is at the core of all we do. We don’t have owners or shareholders to pay – so any profits we make are reinvested into the wellbeing of our local community by continually improving our sport, leisure, and wellbeing offer.  This new partnership with Hampshire FA aligns with our charitable objectives.”

Additionally, from January 2024, the partnership will also include a new membership that combines an offer from Horizon Leisure and the Front Lawn Recreation Ground in Havant. This combined membership will give new members use[SL1]  of the 3G pitch and tennis and netball courts (pay and play slots), as well as all the benefits offered in the gym membership.

Horizon Leisure will also provide a mobile ‘wellbeing hub’ offering free health and wellbeing checks for grassroots football. The wellbeing hub will operate on specific dates of the year when Hampshire FA football events and competitions are hosted at the Front Lawn Recreation Ground.

Lyons continues: “The health and wellbeing checks are a great opportunity for the footballing community to check-in on their wellbeing and give their bodies a MOT. The health checks, hosted by the Horizon Leisure experts, will include blood pressure tests BMI, peak flow and also a general wellbeing questionnaire. The health coach will then provide you personalised advice and guidance based on these results and there is also an option to upgrade to a glucose and cholesterol test.

The Horizon Leisure and Hampshire FA partnership unites two organisations with a compatible vision for the community. Horizon’s vision of ‘making lives better’ is in keeping with Hampshire FA’s vision of ‘using the power of football to build a better future for all communities’.  

Neil Cassar, Hampshire FA’s CEO says: “We are pleased to join forces with Horizon Leisure and to increase and improve the offer for our members. The varying membership options compliment both organisations in achieving the very vision they set out for their communities. Specifically, the joint membership option launching in January will offer new perks that we cannot provide in isolation. We look forward to working closely with the Horizon team and hope our members, as well as Horizon’s own, will see the value in it as well.”