Episode #593: Sam Circh on Adaptive Youth Fitness, Watch Me Move NYC, and Building Inclusive Communities

0:01 This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the pleasure of bringing to his first podcast, Sam Kirch. We're going to talk about Watch Me Move NYC affecting thousands of kids in the island of Manhattan and bringing experiences to the childhood education. And on the fitness dynamic, I'm going to stick with that. What's up Sam? Good to see you. That's. That sounds perfect. Thank you so much for having me on. Awesome. So you know Dave Gallen for many years. So we've been talking to your agent for now a short eight years to try and get you on the show. So thankfully we finally worked.

0:47 Thank you. Deal with you. I know it was to talk about. Yeah, of course. You know, talk about how you got involved in, you know, special ed and early education and how fitness has always been a part of who you are from back when you got your personal training certification at ace. And take us forward and where we are today. Sure. So my experience in special ed specifically, I was really lucky. My older brother was invited to volunteer to camp, a special needs summer camp up in Rochester, New York where we're from. And it's a week long camp and the high school that we both went to required 100 hours of community service. So I randomly worked this week long special needs camp at 16 thinking that this would fulfill my 100 hours. I'll get it done in a week, no problem.

1:39 And I kept going back and kept going back and that was 20 years ago. I've only missed one summer in 20 years. And so that was, I was really lucky to have that come into my life at 16 because it didn't like change my perspective on special education or now adaptive education. It informed that whole. It opened my eyes to what these kids can do. At the time, some of these kids were mentally diagnosed as mentally retarded. That's now the language has changed drastically. But that was the language that I used with my friends at that time and just seeing how much they can do and then having to help them through the week. I always kind of knew I wanted to be a teacher, but that was like special ed, it's going to be special ed. So I went into that and then worked at a couple of schools in Manhattan, which is how I met Dave.

2:29 I was working at a school across the street, moonlighting as a bartender there. Teachers, as you know, typically need a second second gig going on. And then during COVID got personal trainer certified and started watch me move because as I was sort of transitioning out of the classroom, I was working at the second private School not super into it. Was picking up coaching jobs here and there. Just seeing that most of the fitness outlets for kids specifically were super. This sport, you can play baseball, you can play soccer, you could basically do a team sport, you can do an individual sport. But if there's somebody in between, there's not really too many options just for a kid to move in, like a fun and safe environment. So I started watching me move. It was.

3:14 It was Covid. I had just gotten my personal training certification. I had really just started working with adults when Covid hit. So all of a sudden, my two certifications, teaching and personal training are, you know, those industries were closed during COVID Started watch me move, did some online things, trying to build it up a little bit. And then once school came back, got into a couple different contracts with schools. I would go in schools, private little schools that didn't have a gym space. They would go to a gym. I would be sort of like their gym teacher. So that was the start. And then that grew into private sessions with kids. I always kind of envisioned a big group of kids outside. Outside makes it a little bit tricky, the weather, you know, but it stayed mostly private. I do small groups with kids. I was primarily based on the Upper east side for quite a while because that was where the last school I was at was. Then during COVID shifted more the clients up to Washington Heights, and now I have a soccer Saturday program up there that two years back was eight kids just randomly started. I frankly never even played soccer. I just run groups of small kids. Well, and in the two years we've been doing it, it's now I have like 36 kids every Saturday, and it's just me putting a bunch of equipment on my back and lugging over to the M4 bus and going up to Fort Triumph park and just doing it. So I've been lucky to.

4:40 Certain things in my life have led me to certain ways and seeing, you know, sort of niche markets that, you know, youth fitness being one of them. New York. These kids, A lot of these kids are maybe over activity, I'd say, but the parents are certainly always looking for things to do after school. So, you know, it's been. It's been. It's been fun, you know, still. Still. Still room to grow, but we're going growing day by day. Yeah. So as of right now, you're, you know, this is a relationship business, obviously. So you're. You're. You're using public parks and. And gyms right inside of schools for this. Exactly. Are there any Large after school activity.

5:21 Like whether it's government or it's like non profit that are catering to these kids. And then you could either have a partnership with them or you're affiliated with them already or if it's kind of like very fragmented, you know, those partnerships, I'm working on them now because at least now that 3K has happened, you know, Universal 3K in New York and then now there's going to be even expanded to 2k. I think with Mondami they're focusing more on, you know, early childhood education. Early just. And then daycare frankly, you know. So I think those opportunities will come more with the public schools. I would love to have a space.

6:02 You know, it's just like you said, I'm a relationship based, you know, I could just with soccer, pay rent for most of the space for the month. But then like, you know, it makes it real tricky real fast when you know you're only bringing in half of what rent would be. But yeah, still trying to realizing I need to maybe partner with somebody else. One of the schools I work at, a small little Montessori school up in Washington Heights, they're, you know, they run an after school and their space is too small. So we're going to try to see if like we as the couple programmers that helped run their after school program, if we could just do it. Because all I always say is I just need the space, like build it and they will come. Like if I have the space, the kids will come. I've been making it work outside and parents will go as cold as possible, frankly, but it doesn't always work. So hopefully teaming up with a couple people and then maybe being able to present to a school if we can use their gymnasium space. I don't know what's available after school, but even a classroom kind of opened up is good enough for 10, 12 kids.

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8:12 So you know what I got, I got a couple of different questions here, but do these kids also play in any kind of leagues or is it typically more of, you know, like structured and, you know, more of just like a small group or. They're, they're actually colleagues. You know, some of the kids that I've worked with have gone on to more structured sports, but the way it's fleshed out and then like with my first contact set from a special needs school in Manhattan, you know, it kind of, most of the clients are the kids that don't quite fit into, maybe wouldn't quite be ready for the baseball team or the soccer team. Aren't quite there yet.

8:58 Some of like the soccer Saturday program, though, some of those kids, I, you know, I'm pretty honest with the parents and I'll tell them, you know, I'm real good with, you know, three to five, three to six year old for soccer. But if your kid's really interested, maybe, maybe you should check adult out, like, you know, a little bit more of an official program. So some of the kids have gone on, you know, they're super soccer stars, they're sock rock. There's, there's a bunch of good ones a little bit more, you know, they have teams that can play other teams. Me, it's just, you know, kids on the field. So mostly I kind of envisioned that it would be a mix of like, maybe elite kids who just like, want to do personal training. They need that extra step. And then kids that need the extra help, it's mostly turned into kids that sort of maybe need a little extra help.

9:38 You know, a lot of the kids in New York City, just core strength is missing from a lot of the kids. I hear it from all the parents. I see it all the time. Unfortunately, with too many kids in the, in the city, parents will bring them to a playground and let them run around for an hour and be like, okay, that's, that's their outdoor time, which is perfect. That's good outdoor time. But it's, it's, it's built for their safety. It's built for them to easily climb and move about. It's not really like utilizing their core unless they're like hanging and really doing the monkey bars, which like kids, I hate to be like back in the day, but like kids used to be able to do the monkey bars and now it's a skill that's like not as there as much. Yeah. So yeah, but my clientele, it's mostly the soccer is a little different to. Some of those kids are so young that like it's just their first group activity ever.

10:25 But mostly kids that don't quite, you know, maybe aren't so interested in you know, the, the real sport thing. So. Yeah. Have you seen. There's a, there's a couple of franchise concepts out there. One's called Kids United, another one's called Kids Strong. Kids United is around organized soccer for I think it's indoor soccer. Guy named Alex out of New Jersey is doing that. And then Kidstrong which was partnered up with several Orange Theory franchisee owners. I know that was kind of getting kids after school doing a lot of confidence building, you know, core training, so on and so forth.

11:08 Do you view if you, you said if you had a location, do you view it as like a, a potential like retail location or if you had a, like a school where you could like take over a field and that's kind of like your, like your, your, your, your domain. You know what we, we were looking at like a spot that would be. The idea would be kind of a sensory gym. I wanted to call, you know, the Watch Me Move center for Movement arts and play and have a sensory gym aspect that throughout the day you can come in with your family and just for a pretty low price. I was hoping you know, rent to be able to use the rock wall and rent to be able to come in, use the space and then around those times in the morning serve who's available. You know, the babies are available in the morning, earlier afternoon maybe have your toddlers and then you know, right after school you can do a full after school program. Also huge opportunity for you know, when kids are out of school. Parents are always looking for something. Especially in New York. There's so many now holidays, there's Eve they just had, you know, there's Juneteenth, these one day holidays that parents forget about. So just that kind of. Not to. I wouldn't want to think of it as a child care center but you know, an activity day with Watch Me move at the center. That type of. That would be kind of the dream. You know, it's just been a, it was a Leap. I wasn't quite ready to. Wasn't quite ready to jump yet. But do you find that these large facilities like the, you know, 92nd street, why that they're receptive to, you know, entrepreneurs,

12:39 coaches like you, or do they kind of employ their own people and programs exclusively? I haven't reached out much, just, you know, I've done. Sometimes a parent will want to do a birthday party on and they'll book the Y and I'll do it and it's, you know, I'm working at the Y kind of separately without them. I've never really done it too much, mostly because it's just stayed me. I have a lot of after school stuff. I have the soccer Saturday. I have one summer camp contract. I'm hoping to expand that. There's a gym you probably you might know on the Upper east side called Asphalt Green. I work with them. I work with them for summer camp. I'm hoping to my first expansion would be really. They have a Battery park city location. It would be nice to get a watchme move coach down there. So there's other ways I was trying to expand, you know, with those specific places. I think they're a little bit more concerned with just we want, you know, 92nd street wide programming here. I would, I think not to say they're not open to working with other people. One some places that have been opening up that are really, really cool in the city and I would love to be a part of. I just don't think they want programming like this. Are places I don't know if you've heard of them. There's a new place called Space Club or Club Space. It's. There's a couple in Brooklyn, huge warehouse spaces that, you know, three levels. That is just the coolest sensory gym, like Trampoline Room. This like it's, you know, and they have like a bar and a cafe. So like, not to say I'm like competing with that, but like when I

14:13 reach out to them and I'm like this is a great space for programming. They're like, well, why would we pay you to do it? We already have. Have this beautiful space here, you know. So I have reached out to some 92nd Street. Why you know, the funny thing about New York though is just I realize, you know, I'm in. I'm up in Washington Heights. I try used to be based more out of Upper east side over west side. Now it's like I'm just kind of seeing that if I could just focus more on Upper Manhattan Which I think there's a dirge. Is that there a deli? I don't know what the right word is, but there's not a lot, any. Any of the younger kids, sensory gym stuff. It's not coming even past midtown. So up upper Manhattan, I do find is such a ripe location for, you know, something. Something like that Stick to. Stick to your neighborhood. There's plenty of density up here. You know, just one idea.

15:02 We had a podcast that David and I met with a group called the. The Athletic Club, I think is what they were called. And they basically do not have. They had bricks and mortar health clubs, but they actually had people become a member of. Of a. Of a team, and then that team would go around and do workouts together. I wonder if, like, there's a way to kind of build like a membership base and then kind of like ported around, you know? Yeah, I think that would, that would honestly be ideal. And I think of it for like, you know, because I'm not a business guy, frankly, but there are certain things I'm seeing, such as experiences, people want to do things people aren't going to the bars as much. They're doing run clubs, you know, So I think honestly those. And I do have a pretty good network like this, you know, soccer Saturdays, maybe if they would be just, you know, walk it out Wednesdays or something with the families. Because I think build a community like in these. In these times, no matter what side you're on, like, I think the people around you become more and more important and the community that you built for yourself. And so that's all we're trying to do. So that's. That's honestly a great idea.

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17:10 To meet the demands of your members. And, hey, let's get people happy, healthy and sweating. And the recovery should be just as good as the workout. Talk about this Rochester camp that you go to for the last 20 years. What's that about? Oh, it's an amazing place. Genesee Valley Rotary Camp. It's really. I feel so lucky to be a part of it. So it's 60 plus years now. They started in 63, and it was fully funded. It's always been free for a week for these kids in the southern tier of Rochester, which is a pretty. Pretty poor kind of area.

17:51 A lot of kids with disabilities and from ages 8 to 21, free for the week. It's at a Boy Scout camp, and they do all the traditional camp things. They're sleeping there in a tent. You know, arts and crafts, archery, riflery. It's one of the few. I mean, they're, you know, 22s, but it's a real camp experience. And I didn't quite see it for what it was when I was 16, but, you know, now growing up there, you know, it's just a bunch of amazing people taking so much time to put that together. It's still free. A lot of it's not, you know, the Rotary International program, you know, it's diminished 80% in those 60 years, you know, so they can't fund it anymore. So it comes down to a couple fundraisers.

18:37 My buddy Jake Miles, who's been working at the camp for probably 25 years, he lives out in Long Island. He does a fundraiser every year. A bunch of other people do fundraisers. Wash Me Move has been able to donate over the past four years, $20,000 to GVRC. So, you know, it's just been. That was. I learned about community from there. And, you know, my wife's. My wife's actually due Saturday, so I think this might be the first year. Thank you. I think this might be the first year I miss. I miss. Well, the second year I miss a full week. But, you know, I hope it's still there. You know, the Boy Scouts aren't doing too well, so they might sell the camp that Genesee Valley ROTOR that they operate out of. But we are being told that it will just move. It will still happen, but. Yeah, it's a really special place, honestly. Yeah. Genesee Valley Rotary Camp. Awesome.

19:30 Is your first child? Oh, yes. Yeah. First child. First child. Yeah. Due officially on Saturday, if you can believe it. My wife knows the gender. I've made it the whole time. I want to be surprised So I have no idea. Oh, wow. Yeah, there's a bunch of drawers I can't look in. You know, things I can't see yet. But, dude, that's like. That's got to be pretty difficult. So I kind of like after a baseball game or something, like, don't tell me who. Who won. It's just. This is eight months of that. That's great. Good for you. Well, look, man, it seems like you're doing great things for. For a lot of people around the city. I know it's not easy being an entrepreneur and kind of, you know, moving around to try to. To create opportunities and experiences for kids. So hat goes off to you for dedicating your life to helping people that. That need it. And I'm sure the people that are around you, you know, get a lot of confidence and it probably helps them, you know, get to get to a good place, you know, as a, you know, it can't be easy these days. I. I really, really appreciate that and I try to, you know, I try to just help the kids feel as good about themselves as I can. It's one of my favorite. I think it was Maya Angelou. She said, all people remember is how you make them feel. Yeah.

20:47 Make people feel good. Awesome. All right, man. Well, look, we do a little bit of business on this end, so as you kind of think through your next set of ideas or venues, if we can be helpful to make some introductions, because I do think you should be able to get some field space that, you know, would be more of a permanent or semi permanent spot for you. We could help you do that. So I really appreciate that. Thank you so much. All right, man. Thanks for coming on, man. Good to see you. We'll get this. Yeah. Let us know the gender and the name of your. Of your child. I'll fill you guys in. Thank you so much for having me. This was fun. Thank you again.

21:34 This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks, your captain speaking. I am the founder and managing partner at Integrity Square. We've been around now for 15 and 1/2 years. We have been helping people like yourselves get capital, do mergers and acquisitions, consulting, strategic advice in the health, active lifestyle and outdoor halo sector, trying to help as many entrepreneurs as possible get to the next level. Take that inflection point to be the force behind your growth. We are helping companies that have at least $3 million of EBITDA, around $10 million of revenue, and we are positioned to help get institutional growth capital or to negotiate deals with strategic partners.

22:19 If you go to integritysq.com forward/isq you can see our capabilities. Deck Happy to set up a consultation at any time that is free of charge and we look forward to helping solve obesity, loneliness and diabetes. Go heal. Sa.