GameChanger — a gym specializing in workouts for women and men over 40 — held its grand opening in South Orange Thursday night with a ribbon cutting attended by the mayor and other town officials and community members.
“On behalf of all of our staff and our colleagues, we are here for GameChanger because they are going to be a game changer in this community,” said South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum, joined at the opening by Council members Summer Jones and Councilman Bill Haskins, Village Administrator Julie Doran and South Orange Downtown Executive Director Melissa Hodge.
Mayor Sheena Collum, GameChanger Owner Joe Meglio and his 5-year-old son Anthony cut the ribbon at GameChanger gym joined by other local officials and community members. (Photo by Laura Griffin)
Earlier in the week at the Village Council meeting, Collum announced the grand opening and thanked GameChanger owners for investing in the South Orange with the gym, located at 209-A Valley Street, next door to Playa Bowls on the ground level of the Meridia apartments.
“It’s a beautiful space, and I already see the energy and momentum from people on social media.” she said. “So thank you for making this commitment to the South Orange community.”
A recent GameChanger social media post aimed at growing the gym’s membership described it’s target audience this way: “Wanted: Women Over 40 who struggle with typical gyms and want to increase their strength, energy and confidence in a supportive, intimidation-free atmosphere.”
This is GameChanger founder and owner Joe Meglio’s 11th GameChanger gym, with the first one opening in a 600-square-foot space inside a baseball training facility nearly 12 years ago, when he was just 23. A former college baseball player, he said he got to know the South Orange-Maplewood Community through providing training for Columbia High School and Little League baseball players, and then lived in Maplewood for a couple of years.
“I really like this community, and I knew it is a community-minded town so thought it would be a great location for us,” Meglio said.
The concept for GameChanger’s small group training sessions rather than one-on-one or large classes was born out of his earlier days of training kids in that small 600-square-foot space and bringing that middle aged and older people with workouts geared toward members’ level of fitness, and for some, their joint pain.
“It’s a cool concept,” Meglio said. “It’s the best of both worlds — personal training and community.”
