Dexter Sia remembers the time when he didn’t make the cut for DLSU’s basketball varsity team. While it was very discouraging, he didn’t harp on the past. In fact, he only looked towards the future. Today, he is the king of his own court. As the founder and owner of Activate Sports Center, a hybrid gym-sports performance center, he has the world of athletics buzzing. “While regular gyms are more focused on bodybuilding, aesthetics, and weight loss, we at Activate are more [dedicated] on performance,” he explains. “We don’t focus on how we look, but on how we perform in sports.” Located at SM Light mall (in Mandaluyong), the sports center has an impressive array of amenities. It has a gym, a basketball court, a boxing studio, a badminton court, and offers classes like CrossFit trainings, Taekwondo and many more activities. Activate is a one-stop shop for fitness junkies.
“The reason I came up with this concept is because I was a regular at another gym, and I could see that some athletes lacked space where they can do their specific sports movements,” he explains while sitting at one corner of his 750 square-feet space. “What happens when you’re an athlete in Manila is that after you practice or train you need to shower and change, then you need to leave and drive to a gym for extra workouts, then after the gym you have to drive to physical therapy. Then you have to go home and cook and eat. Here in Activate, you have everything right beside each other.” No longer do athletes need to go to several venues to complete their routine. The center is fully equipped with everything from food (you can order there or talk to an in-house nutritionist) to recovery (PTs are on standby, or you can opt to do a refreshing ice bath). In addition, Activate Sports Center promotes itself as co-working space for trainers and coaches. For example, personal trainers who don’t have a court or gym of their own can come use the amenities, as long as their students are members or pays the drop-in rate.
While opening was initially delayed because of the ongoing pandemic, Dexter is really proud of where they are today. He talks about the gym goers and how everybody treats each other like family. As the owner, he makes it a point to introduce himself to all his clients. “When people know that the owner is there, they always want to go back,” he shares. “People also like it when they have a relationship with the owner. Even with my family business (the Sia’s own a number of Shell gas stations in Batangas), my dad said, you should never be remote. You need to be there for your customers. Once you gain their trust, that’s when they go back to you. That’s what’s happening in Activate. I’m friends with everyone. I see to it that all my customers know me and I build customer relationships. If there’s a new face or member, even if they’re just on a [trail], I see to it that I introduce myself. I want everyone of all ages to feel welcome. The gym is for everybody.”
Although sports is very much engrained into Dexter, it was still quite a long journey before he truly found his calling at Activate. While he didn’t make it as a college varsity player, he still managed to lead a very sports-centric life. “You can say I’m a frustrated basketball player,” he says with a laugh. In school, he remained friends with all of the athletes even if he didn’t play by their side. Eventually, he became the Student Manager for them, before going on to become the Head of LSAL (La Salle Athletic League). He credits his time with the league as a true learning experience. He learned how to make events, manage players, and create designs—something that he still applies to his new work as the fervent young founder of Activate Sports Center. “I graduated in BS Business Management, but my love for sports never left. It’s really my passion.”
After college, Dexter worked for the family business in Batangas, while dabbling in a few F&B concepts which he opened around Manila-based universities. Eventually, he wanted to strike out on his own. Luckily, things fell into the place when SM Light offered him a large space to create a food hall. The idea of Activate was born while he was working out, and felt unsatisfied with the gym’s amenities. Instead of another food concept, he decided to use the SM space to create his dream sports center. “I talked to some of the professional coaches, and they said what we’re really lacking here in the Philippines is a facility that caters to the core foundations of being an athlete, which is strength and conditioning, skills, recovery, and nutrition.” With that in mind, Dexter began to build his kingdom from the ground up.
Today, Dexter’s life is that of a man of leisure. Sure, it’s tough running a business, but that one cliché that everybody says is also very much true. Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. Mornings at the gym are off-peak hours, giving Dexter quality time to spend at home with his wife and baby. After lunch, he heads to Activate, where he trains young basketball players. He ends the day by doing his own workout, because he says that it’s very important to have time to take care of yourself. If this doesn’t sound like the perfect life, then I don’t know what is. Being a King doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be a busy tyrant. All you need to do is live your best life, and you’ll feel like royalty every day. Dexter is happily blue-blooded, especially when he walks through the courts of his kingdom.
Get in touch with Dexter Sia through Instagram:
@dexsia18
Activate Sports Center:
@activatesportsph
activatesportsph@gmail.com
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