We welcome the recent feature in HCM on Gen Alpha which showed a strong focus by operators across our sector in engaging the next generation (HCM issue 1 2026, p72).

Gen Alpha represents about 11.75 million people or 17 per cent of the UK population, making it an important audience for our sector as current and future users of our facilities.

Over the past six years there’s been a 12 per cent rise in the number of children and young people getting active and understanding this generation’s motivations is vital to ensure our sector is ready to welcome them.

UK Active conducted polling with family insight agency Beano Brain, which found 40 per cent of children aged seven to 14 want to be more physically active and almost half (49 per cent) said they’d like to be fit and healthy as adults.

Our findings also revealed what helps Gen Alpha enjoy being active, with top factors being ‘taking part in activities with friends’ (63 per cent), ‘having a friendly and supportive coach’ (46 per cent) and ‘being in a familiar place’ (42 per cent). This shows the importance that a social, supportive and familiar environment plays in supporting children’s activity.

Gen Alpha represents about 11.75 million people or 17 per cent of the UK  population, making it an important audience for our sector

Insight from UK Active’s recent qualitative evaluation of the Opening School Facilities programme mirrors these findings. Through this programme, schools and leisure facilities built relationships to enable access to activities outside school.

Through focused interviews, we found children built the confidence to use leisure facilities and gyms by being able to access them earlier in life. They were also more likely to enjoy being active in these settings if they were supported with a social community, relaxed environment and friendly, supportive coaches.

40 per cent of children aged seven to 14 want to be more physically active

Next steps for operators

This data provides insight into how operators can improve, adapt or refine their programmes to support participation. Simple steps can be taken to welcome these age groups into our facilities and we encourage operators to use UK Active’s new guidance, Children and young people in gym and group exercise facilities to guide decision-making.

Early, positive experiences with physical activity are vital to children’s healthy development and to building lifelong habits. The physical literacy consensus for England – a statement which provides a shared understanding of why physical activity matters and how it can be developed and supported – highlights that the way children feel when they’re active, who they’re active with and the spaces they’re active in influence their experience and relationship with exercise.

It’s more important than ever that the next generation builds a lasting relationship with physical activity and our sector is ready to play its part in creating lifelong exercise habits.

I read your editor’s letter on sector trends with interest, particularly the growing visibility of GLP-1s in the fitness environment – from PT education to operators directly offering access to medication.

It’s clear that GLP-1s can support positive outcomes when used appropriately, alongside training, nutrition and behaviour change.

Working with operators who are introducing GLP-1 programmes, I’m struck by the clear shift it represents into genuinely clinical territory. This creates opportunity, but also a level of responsibility many operators haven’t historically had to carry.

Once a health club engages with clinical interventions, such as weight-management medication and diagnostics, it’s no longer just about member engagement or growth. It’s about clinical governance, provider-vetting, safeguarding and the quality and continuity of care. Getting this wrong carries reputational and operational risk.

The challenge for operators isn’t so much whether to engage, it’s more about how to do so responsibly, while upholding trust and driving long-term results.

Clinical engagement is not a shortcut to growth. It’s a discipline in its own right

This is achieved by introducing the correct wraparound care and building experiences that are coherent, safe and aligned with their brand.

This is where we see a growing need for infrastructure, not just innovation. As operators move closer to healthcare, they need partners who can help them design clinical programmes, carry out proper due diligence on providers, ensure compliance and reduce the complexity that comes with operating across fitness and healthcare simultaneously.

At HealthKey, our role is to sit in that gap, helping operators build clinically-led health programmes without having to become healthcare organisations themselves.

That includes supporting clinical governance and programme design, while enabling members to access care through experiences that feel integrated with their fitness journey, rather than bolted on.

GLP-1s – and the broader expansion into preventative and clinical services – represent a significant opportunity for the sector, but only if operators approach it with the same rigour they apply to training standards and member safety. Clinical engagement is not a shortcut to growth. It’s a discipline in its own right.