It could be March before the Memorial Sports Centre is able to resume some fitness programs halted because a lack of certified instructors.

Aquafit, Aqualite, Bounce N Burn, Yoga and Tai Chi were impacted after an annual program review was conducted.

“At that time, it became apparent to us that all but one of our staff had certifications that included fitness certification and the appropriate discipline, first aid and CPR,” says Recreation and Culture manager for the town of Fort Frances Tyler Young.

Young says when contacted, the town’s insurance company indicated that the requirement has always been to ensure that our instructors were certified properly.

Young says they have been working since to get instructors with the necessary qualifications.

“We’ve been reaching out to other instructors in the community, those who have certifications, yoga, for example, to see if they’d be interested in coming on board and helping us teach these programs.”

Since the hold on programs, the instructor for yoga now has her credentials and the Tai Chi instructor still needs first aid certification.

Young says they are looking at facilitating a first aid session to take place in February.

“The biggest challenge we have right now is the aqua fitness component. And Amy, who is certified in aqua fitness and all that kind of thing, she is working on a solution through her network, and she presented those to me over the next few days, but it’s going to take time. But the Senior Center is up and operational as of March 1. Yoga Fit is taking place at the center. It’s just the opportunity.

“The biggest we have right now is the Aqua fitness component. Amy, who is certified in aqua fitness and all that kind of thing is working on a solution through her network. She will present those over the next few days, but it’s going to take time,” says

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Young says a review last September identified long-running programs that did not have properly qualified instructors.

The town of Fort Frances is still working to resume fitness programs stopped recently.

A lack of certified instructors was the reason.

Recreation and Culture Manager Tyler Young says they have been looking at ways to get the programs back up and running.

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Young says they also plan to advertise for instructors with the hope of most programs coming back by March.

The town of Fort Frances is still exploring options that allows it to resume certain fitness programs.

They were temporarily halted because the instructors weren’t qualified.

Councillor Mike Behan understands the participant’s frustrations.

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Recreation and Culture Manager Tyler Young says its possible some of the programs on hold could going again by March.