When 15-year-old Roman Amosa isn’t going to school or playing some sports, he helps train 150 kids at the gym.
Roman Amosa and his mother Deeyana Amosa founded FitTeens, a free fitness program for children aged 12 to 18 across Auckland.
More than 95% of our members are Pasifika, but many do not play many sports.
Roman just won the Wellbeing Award at the 2024 GirlBoss Awards for her work as FitTeens’ lead instructor. Re: News spoke to the mother-daughter pair about how FitTeens was born and the impact it’s having on the community.
It all started with a diary during the lockdown due to the new coronavirus infection
Roman’s mother, Diyana, has over 20 years of experience in the fitness industry and comes from a family of Manu Samoan rugby and hockey players.
Roman herself plays many sports, including netball, track and field, sprinting and cross country, but she wasn’t always drawn to the gym. Roman said his body changed after experiencing multiple coronavirus lockdowns in Auckland in 2021.
“I lost confidence in playing sports. I didn’t have the strength to continue doing everything,” she said. “It was a big change…I ended up with no one to talk to. I wrote about my sad feelings in a diary.”
Deyana said she had no idea what Roman was going through until she read her diary while cleaning her room and decided to help her. Once the lockdown was lifted, she started training her daughter four to five days a week.
“We were devoted to each other…so every morning, every morning, even if it was raining, even if there was a thunderstorm. It didn’t matter. We were out on the road at 5 in the morning, going to school. I was running before.”
By 2022, Deyana said Roman had become a “force to be reckoned with”, being recognized by the national netball team and winning sports awards.
She wanted to keep Roman in a fitness program to continue his progress, but couldn’t find a program that was suitable for a 12-year-old. So they decided to create FitTeens.
How FitTeens grew from 10 kids to 150 kids in one year
Deyana said FitTeens started with Roman and 10 of his netball friends.
They started in November 2023 by running a four-week block course with three training sessions per week. Deyana rented gym space to train her children and planned to charge them a fee to cover the cost.
Roman said: “By starting FitTeens, we thought we could break down the barriers for people who don’t know what to do. For all beginners who want to learn how to train.”
Deyana said the difference between them is that they incorporate games into their training to make the gym more fun for the kids, and they build camaraderie.
FitTeens received 60 enrollments for its next block course in January of this year, and interest continues to grow.
We currently have approximately 150 members and operate from two locations in Auckland.
they were amazed at the children they attracted
“Our target market overall was just teenagers, but we just happened to have a lot of Pasifika kids streaming through the door,” Roman said.
Deyana said Pasifika and Māori rangatahi feel safe coming to Fit Teens because Roman runs the classes and they may see her as a role model they can relate to. spoke.
She believes that many of these children are recent immigrants whose parents are too busy paying bills and making ends meet to prioritize their health and gym costs. There is.
Deyana also hoped to attract teenagers who were already athletic, but ended up being too intimidated and have never been to a gym or played sports to try something new. The idea was to attract young people who wanted to take on a challenge.
For many of those kids, FitTeens is their only source of exercise, she said.
In less than a year, FitTeens has offered 10 four-week courses and recently opened a permanent Monday class for regulars.
Deyana said the program is funded by Sport Auckland and Active, which subsidizes its costs, and children only have to pay a $50 registration fee to train with FitTeens.
FitTeens keeps Roman even busier
On weekdays when Roman is running his FitTeens course, he wakes up around 5 a.m. to train with his mom, then prepares a meal and heads to school.
After finishing school at 3:20 p.m., she heads home, changes, and packs up for her FitTeens class from 4 to 6 p.m.
She gets home around 7pm, eats dinner, does her homework, and goes to bed around 9:30pm.
Netball also takes up a large part of Roman’s time, as she plays for school, club and national teams, and has competitions on the weekends.
“With FitTeens, I learned how to properly plan and manage my time. I usually follow the motto ‘If you fail to plan, you are going to fail,'” she said.
She said her favorite feedback she’s received is that kids say FitTeens is a safe and comfortable space where they can make friends and feel confident.
In the future, Roman said she hopes to study business in college and apply those skills to growing FitTeens.
“I think FitTeens is one of the most popular youth programs in New Zealand.”
