Kitlocker.com & mettle: Strength in the Community
mettle is a weightlifting, strength and fitness club based in Sheffield. But it is so much more than that.
The club is dedicated to building healthier, happier, and stronger communities through lifting. It offers a variety of programmes such as Olympic Weightlifting, Girl Strong, youth sessions and Strength & Fitness, all aimed at developing fitness, strength, and confidence.
Driven by community, mettle not only provides training and coaching but also promotes positive change and social responsibility. It believes in the power of support and provides opportunities for people to get involved, with a particular focus on helping the next generation succeed.
Through it’s initiatives and training programmes, mettle strives to transform young lives for the better and lift communities to new levels of health and happiness.
Founder Dave Hembrough started his strength and conditioning career in performance sport, delivering to the top teams at Sheffield Hallam University. This included the high performing volleyball team that featured Kitlocker.com founders Mike and Tom. Dave then continued his work in volleyball by delivering to the England volleyball team, along with other world champions and Olympians before moving into community sport and health. But the early friendship with Mike and Tom continued through the years and now combines their strengths to maximise impact in the community.
Back in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic brought crisis to many community sports clubs and mettle was not immune. Unable to use it’s indoor facility, it was forced to move sessions to parks and car parks to continue it’s programmes. However, this was clearly not a long term solution as summer departed and the weather deteriorated, leaving the future of the club in serious doubt.
Keen to offer a helping hand, Kitlocker.com opened their doors to mettle and provided a safe and warm space to continue delivering sessions. Without which, mettle’s programmes and the amazing community that had been built over years would have ground to a halt.
“My co-founder Tom and I have had a strong relationship with mettle’s founder Dave for almost two decades, pre-dating the birth of Kitlocker.com. His passion for what he does and the benefits mettle brings to the community are plain to see. So when we heard that they were struggling to find a home during the pandemic it was a no-brainer for us to offer a space.
“It’s been amazing to see the club grow and develop since they moved in with us and we’re very proud to have played a small part in helping them to achieve that. I also know that many of our employees (including myself) really enjoy using mettle’s facilities and it has turned into a real perk of the job for our staff.
“Sheffield has always been a city of sport and community. This is a perfect example of that.”
Mike Kent, Kitlocker.com Co-founder
“There’s a great synergy between Kitlocker.com’s brand and mettle’s vision. It’s a great relationship, where we offer Kitlocker.com staff training and exercise space in the mornings and the lunch times where they’re working, and then we use the facility evenings or weekends.
“It not only provides mettle with the space, but also provides Kitlocker.com with additional security by having people on site during evenings and weekends. Kitlocker.com gives mettle a great space for our members to train and exercise and get fitter and connect with each other. In an operative business that’s successful and growing, we’re really pleased to be there.”
Dave Hemborough, mettle Founder and Head Coach.
It’s really inspiring to see how the team at mettle are helping to transform people’s lives through the the power of strength training. We’re excited to continue our support for them long into the future.
Contact Us
If you think that we’d be able to help you with your business’s next big project then we’d love to hear from you!
Fill in a few details here and a member of our team will be in touch with you ASAP to get the ball rolling!