Tongan trainer scoops top gym award

The 2024 Exercise New Zealand awards were held in Tāmaki Makarau at the weekend, with Les Mills Christchurch picking up Supreme Facility of the Year and Chain Facility of the Year.

Tevita Siulangapo said the award was a collective effort by his team.

Speaking to John Pulu on PMN Tonga, Siulangapo said every gym feels they have a special culture, but prided himself on changing the demographic at Les Mills since he began as manager in 2022.

“I look in the mirror, and I see myself, and [back] then I didn't see that sort of person across the gym.

“Fast forward 2024 today, I'd say our gym would be one of the only gyms across New Zealand that is a representation of our entire population.”

Siulangapo said they now have managers and instructors representing Tonga, Sāmoa and Papua New Guinea, to India, Korea and Japan.

“Just trying to get more representation, not only on the mic, but people who are leading fitness.

“So then they go off into their communities in church, also in their sports clubs and they try and get more and more of those people into the gym.”

Les Mills has 12 locations across the motu with more than 11,000 members.

For Siulangapo, fitness began as a passion, but opportunities opened up when he moved across the Tasman in 2016.

“In Australia, I moved from being someone who was a subject matter expert delivering fitness to someone in an operational role, then I came back home, and now I'm purely just in the business side of fitness.

“I've gone through the usual journey that most of us do, 5 a.m. starts, personal training and teaching classes, and now here I am just pushing buttons in my office.”

Creating a legacy

Siulangapo said the underlying goal is to do work that will lead to generational change.

“So that our children, when they come through their teens, move into health and fitness, and then when they're in their 20s, it's part of their life.

“Because the usual journey for us Pacifica is we're amazing at sports, so then after the sports is finished, we don't really do anything.”

Siulangapo said we don’t have to give up what we love to be healthier, and having conversations about health and creating change is a collective effort.

“Doing it for our rangatahi, doing it for our children, we want them to be here longer than we are.”