Film premiere at Haywards Heath gym: blind fitness coach from Burgess Hill shares inspiring story in new documentary

The short film Fitness Is For Everyone: An Adaptive Story was screened at Potential Personal Training’s new premises at 4D Burrell Road at 7.30pm.

It follows the true story of Chris Fair, 35, a fitness coach from Burgess Hill who has retinal dystrophy and is registered as severely blind.

The film shows how Chris has not let his disability stop him and how he won the male adaptive sensory category at the 2022 Wodcelona CrossFit competition in Barcelona.

Wesley Sethi, production lead at Fitness Marketing Agency, who directed and edited the film, said: “It’s about his journey and it’s about his awareness to other adaptive athletes in the event and how more people can be inspired by fitness and do more with their own personal health.”

Wesley told the Middy that he followed Chris to Spain not knowing what to expect and was amazed by Chris’s drive and determination. He said he wanted to ‘really gather the emotions up in the crowd’ and make them think about how they could do more with their own lives.

Wesley said: “It’s one of the best things I’ve worked on. I think it captures something on the emotional level that is always hard to capture because you can't really fake it.”

Ben Davis, founder of the Haywards Heath based FMA, called the final film ‘fantastic’.

“The round of applause at the end was awesome to see,” he said, adding that FMA sponsored Chris and gave advice on how to structure the movie.

Chris, who was previously interviewed by the Middy before the premiere, thanked everyone who supported the film, as well as his friend Connor Chatfield for entering him into the CrossFit contest.

After the well-received screening, motivational speaker and coach Pete Cohen thanked Chris for ‘showing us what is possible’. He also congratulated Potential Personal Training’s owner Maxine Hayes on the success of her business, saying: “What I’ve seen Potential do over the years is create a space where fitness is something that everyone can do.”

Pete then gave a 20-minute talk about inspiration and how people can adopt a positive mindset by focussing on their ideal future selves.

Visit www.potentialpersonaltraining.com, fitnessmarketing.agency or petecohen.com.