Next Level Fitness and Nutrition honored the Westgate High School football team on Saturday with one year of 24 hour gym access in recognition of their state championship victory.

Garrick Spain, owner of Next Level Fitness and Nutrition, says that his goal is to provide a constructive outlet for the players to better themselves.

“It’s something that we’ve been wanting to do,” Spain said. “We gave the whole football team a key to the gym, basically they can come and utilize the gym for a whole year for free. That includes the whole staff. It was just about keeping them busy. There’s a lot of things that they can be doing, getting in trouble and things, so I felt that doing something like this can keep them doing things that are productive.”

Spain says that the gym has been operating in New Iberia for years, but has recently become a full-access gym that offers something different than any other business in the area.

“We just turned into a 24 hour gym a few weeks ago. I feel like we are in our own lane. Hats off to the other local gyms, but here at Next Level we have something special — greatness. I want to thank God, my next level team, and I want everyone to come out and support and get a membership.”

Westgate head coach Ryan Antoine said the membership will give his players something to do after school, when options are typically limited.

“It’s huge for our community,” Antoine said. “I appreciate the guy for being willing to do that for our kids, they don’t have that much going on outside of school so it’s giving our kids another avenue to be productive. This is going to be big for us, it’s good for our kids and for our staff. It’s more time for fellowship and to spend time with the kids.”

Antoine said many of the players were already going to Next Level to improve their fitness, and now they will be able to utilize the gym anytime they want.

“Our kids were already coming here, so now they have 24 hour access,” he said. “The kids may have something going on at home or parents have to work, so now they have another opportunity. They don’t have any excuses now, no matter if it’s raining or whatever else is going on. Our kids can come here or we can bring the team here and get some extra work in and get better, that’s what it’s all about.

“I definitely want to thank Garrick and Amber for giving our kids this opportunity and believing in what we are doing. We got with them about two years ago and started a little smaller, just wanting to get better and wanting to partner with them. For them to keep expanding and not forgetting about us, and to play a role in our championship, it’s huge.”

Amber Bessard, who serves as director of operations at Next Level, says that the players will have plenty of benefits included in their membership.

“What we have here is a state of the art facility,” Bessard said. “We have a two-lane indoor track, an outside jungle gym, and an obstacle course. There is nothing else like it here. The whole facility is turf, we have a training area and gym equipment with cardio stations and weights.

“We also have a partnership with Clark Integrated Medical Clinics, so they’ll be here a couple of days a week, working with the players for any injuries they have. That’s a huge benefit for us to have the doctors and chiropractors come here and be available for our clients.

“We wanted to reward the kids for their outstanding accomplishment of winning the state championship for the very first time, but we also knew that giving them access to a place like this would give them a huge advantage. It won’t cost anything for their parents or the school, it’s our way of giving back to them because we want to see that happen again.”

Next Level has a wide array of classes available to its members, including a weekly free session for local athletes of all ages.

“We have toning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have cardio classes. On Saturdays we do free group speed training, available for any sport and any age. It’s to impact the community and give people a chance to see what we offer before they buy into the program.”