Team acac:
During my eighteen years in Charlottesville, following the 2019 Men’s Basketball team toward their eventual NCAA title was easily my favorite sports memory. As I watched a couple of the current team’s games this week, I was inspired to look up a few of the extended game highlights from that awesome run, which in turn led me to think a little bit about our acac story as well.
While winning a title is a big deal, and the team was amazing, with many players going on to have NBA careers, how the team persevered may be the most lasting memory of that championship. Throughout the tournament, the team overcame very difficult circumstances to pull out improbable victories. The last three games of the tournament featured late deficits and incredible shot making by the UVA team.
What will always be notable about that team is how they rebounded from what was a humiliating defeat the year before, with most of the same players. In 2018, they became the only number one seed in history to lose to a number sixteen seed, and the game wasn’t even close. During the unveiling ceremony for the team’s national title banner in 2019, Coach Tony Bennett held tickets from the loss and the finals victory in his hands, saying “Defeat against UMBC [in 2018] bought us a ticket here.”
A few lessons come to mind as I relate this journey to ours over the past few years. First, a big thank you to all of our long-term team members. For those who have been with the company throughout the last 33 months, the hardship and difficulty you endured will also buy us a ticket to future success. Second, that success is not given, it is earned and must be maintained. Every day we all need to be at the top of our games, as an off day can hurt even the very best teams. As we enter a very busy time of year, it is more important than ever to deliver great value and service. And third, memorable moments have long time horizons. Even now, I can remember where I was during some of the key moments, and of course some of the plays themselves. You all have an opportunity to create positive experiences for our members and guests, some of which will last a lifetime.
Around the club, we are starting to see some new equipment moving in, with more to follow early in the year. Supply chain issues appear to be easing, which is a good thing. After a few years of lighter purchasing, you can all expect more significant equipment upgrades in 2023. Summer camp is also going on sale in a few days, too, hard to believe it is that time already! Our membership has been relatively flat throughout the fall, but we are seeing some individual clubs post strong sales numbers. I will send everyone a new total membership goal for 2023 in January, so stay tuned.
Thank you to all of our team members, members and guests who once again responded with great support to the giving trees in at our clubs. Many local kids will now be able to celebrate Christmas with presents under the tree because of our community’s generosity.
Before we get to all of the amazing things our team has been up to lately, I wanted to wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season. For those who are traveling, may you do so safely. For those who are inviting family and friends to town, guests are free the week after Christmas so I hope you bring them to the clubs!
Best wishes to you all and cheers to a successful 2022,
Chris
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Wow – what a festive theme for all our awesome submissions this month! Thank you to the clubs for contributing your good news.
Adventure Central
Crozet Park Youth Program Manager Mason Thompson and Adventure Central Afterschool Counselor Allie Mays got engaged! Congrats to them both!
Roy House, Youth Team Member at Adventure Central, continues a family tradition and spends his first season as the Santa bringing joy to all – HOHOHO!
Holiday luncheon
Albemarle Square
New Faces at Albemarle Square
Help me welcome Samantha “Sam” Selig as our new Aquatics Director and Daniel Edwards as our new Personal Training Director.
Sam comes to us from being an acac member, usually using the Downtown site. She’s a southern gal from Mississippi and graduated from University of Virginia while working several years at the UVA Aquatics Center. By the way, she cheered at UVA, has a husband and two kids. Daniel comes to us with a thirst for getting back into personal training. He had his own training business and spent several years as a trainer with Lifetime Fitness. Daniel has a wife and 3 kids. They both come in with much enthusiasm to serve our acac community. Let’s continue to support them and help in any way we can.
We honored the tragic events at UVA by asking all team members to wear Orange and Blue. Our PREP Team wore GM Mike Battle’s jerseys from years ago
Albemarle Square Friendsgiving
Holiday Fun
Member Magic, cocoa bar with Nurse Patti
Flannels & Flapjacks Event was a hit!
AS Giving Tree & delivery truck
Holiday decorations around the club
Downtown
Surprise BBQ DT for Barb C (prep director) and Jordan K (PT director)
What an amazing FIRST ANNUAL Downtown Friendsgiving!!
FACTS…….
-We did NOT have enough tables for ALL the food, drinks & desserts
-We did NOT have enough room at the tables for the MANY team members who participated (the picture only highlights about HALF of the attendees, including some surprise guests).
-We did NOT anticipate the amount of FUN our team would have.
Thank you to Chris and Courtney (the Turkey Fry Queen) for organizing. Thank you to Sandra for getting all of the materials. And thank you to all who participated to make this a successful and delicious event.
A fun team holiday lunch!
Flannels & Flapjacks event
Giving Tree & Festive Team
Richmond
On November 12th, several of us teamed up and took part in the Spirit Challenge at the Richmond Marathon. Our purpose: Cheer on the runners. Our goal: Let Richmond know we’re the most fun bunch of fitness people around. Our Mission: Accomplished! Thanks to team members, Lucia, Lindsey and Julie for helping those runners push through to the finish line. HUGE shout-out goes to mega-cheer star, Julie D., for making it through the entire day’s event with the same level of enthusiasm and spirit with which she started. This is someone you definitely want on your cheer squad, for sure! Special thanks to coordinators and fellow team cheerers, Amber and Dotty, from Midlo, for putting this one together for team acac! Spirit Team members from both Richmond clubs came together with a tent and lots of cheer for runners at the Richmond Marathon
Collectively acac Short Pump and Midlothian raised over $19,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond. That’s a lot of dough! Thanks to all who made our 30/ $30 campaign a fundraising success!
Short Pump
T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Accomplishes More, as was the case here, also, when the big salt delivery came recently. Everyone available dropped everything to pitch in and get it done. Way to go, gang! Thank you!
Ike and the Short Pump “Thankful Tree” – team members shared sentiments of gratitude
Angel Tree gift delivery
Relocating (Avery) & retiring (AJ)
This week, we also say a fond farewell to KZ Manager, Avery Del Campo. Avery will be relocating to her hometown in southwest Va. early next year, so she’ll be leaving us at week’s end. I am sure I speak for all of us when I say how wonderful it has been to have Avery on our team. She, too, receives considerable praise from our members for her consistent level of service excellence, her warm smile and sincere greetings, on a daily basis, providing that genuine member care at member services and leading her fantastic team in KZ. We wish you all the very best in your future endeavors and are so grateful to have had you as part of team acac! Good luck, Avery!
When I hear the word “retired,” I think of just being tired again, lol. Not in this case. I think you could bottle and sell the energy that this guy has when he’s on point, as acac housekeeping team member and sure-to-be-missed, soon to retire, A.J. Johnson! We’ll miss you like crazy but happy for this new chapter in your life. In just a few short months, I knew right away the significant impact A.J. had on this club. Members and team, alike, constantly praise his work ethic, attention to detail and genuine good nature. Enjoy your retirement and many thanks from all of acac! “He’s one-of-a-kind and will be hard to replace!,” says member, Chip B. Don’t we know it! A series of video messages from current (and former) team members were viewed by A.J. and the group, who came to wish him well. Thanks, team and Lisa S., for assembling that!
Short Pump celebrated their 10th anniversary with 10 days of Member Magic, including a selfie booth.
Lucia and Lindsey serving up a hot chocolate bar for our members
Some festively decorated holiday doors
Midlothian
Veterans Day: Veterans enjoyed free coffee and donuts in the morning. A special TaijiFit class was offered for member and non-member veterans in the afternoon. And, 25 flags were collected for proper retirement.
Thanksgiving Recipes – The team compiled their favorite recipes and provided them to members the week before Thanksgiving, which the members were very thankful for!
Midlothian Member Grace Conner turned 95 on November 6 and celebrated with her water class a few days later. She attends water exercise at least 1 day/week. She is one of the kindest, sweetest and most positive ladies you will ever meet.
Member Hilda Urban won a beautiful quilt sewn by member Polly Oliver. Polly donated the quilt to raise funds for our annual Ber’s Bowl event (to be held in February). The quilt raffle raised $966. All Ber’s Bowl funds go to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer Research.
Team Luncheon
Midlothian hosted a Holiday Luncheon for all team members. The department heads cooked a huge spread of delicious holiday favorites including three smoked turkeys! Several team members walked away with fun raffle prizes. And, Santa even made a visit.
West Chester & Eagleview
Great job Heidi for creating such a fun Phillies-inspired workout for members – this is why acac is so special – because of YOU!
December 3 holiday event in the Eagleview Town Center. Our Group Exercise Director, Sarah Carkner, stole the show with a FLASH MOB she put together! Sarah, along with a group of acac team, members, and friends, walked onto the stage one by one until they all broke out into a choreographed dance. It was awesome – a great surprise to end the event. Way to promote acac in the most fun way possible!
Holiday luncheon
