24 Hour Fitness says it is committed to continuing to promote youth fitness despite ending the after-school program for high school athletes that it has offered since 1992.
The program provided free after-school access to 24 Hour clubs for high school varsity athletes. Participants in the program recently received an email from the San Ramon, CA-based company informing them of its decision.
“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to sustain this program, we have had to make the difficult decision to discontinue our Varsity Program for next year,” 24 Hour wrote in the email.
24 Hour apologized to the program’s participants and encouraged them to click on the company’s website for membership offers.
In a statement, 24 Hour says it plans to redirect its resources to promote youth fitness through partnerships including Playworks, KaBOOM!, the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, HealthCorps and Let’s Move!
“Our goal is to change lives in the communities we serve, and we will continue to support high school athletic programs through equipment donations whenever possible,” 24 Hour said.