A Chance Meeting, A Long Term Relationship: Chamber Networking Pays Off

Submitted by Jessica Sharp, Principal, Maven Communications, LLC

Last April Sal Sandone, founder and headmaster of Zhang Sah Martial Arts, found himself with a bit of a challenge. Zhang Sah, a nonprofit that combines the benefits of martial arts with education, was seeking funding to support its programs for at risk youth, but many funders were asking for specific data on the health benefits of martial arts. As a Master, Sandone knows the physical and spiritual benefits that the practice of martial arts provides, but there is little hard data to back it up.

Little did he know, his luck would change with a chance meeting at an April Chamber event. During the opening networking session, Sandone started a conversation with Sarah Walmsley, vice president of marketing at Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness. In charge of the marketing efforts for eight clinics throughout the Greater Philadelphia region, Walmsley was very interested to hear about Sandone’s conundrum. Excel had recently started offering Parisi Speed School, a proven industry leader in sports performance enhancement for children ages 7 to 17. Part of the Parisi program is to test every child before, during and after for key physical attributes and improvements.

After realizing that the two businesses might be able to work together to provide Zhang Sah with the necessary information to move forward with funding initiatives, Walmsley and Sandone set up the first physical assessment day, which would be the first in a yearly assessment program between Zhang Sah and Excel Physical Therapy and Fitness.

In June, 50 Zhang Sah students showed up at the gym to be assessed for adiposity, core strength, BMI and flexibility by five Excel physical therapists. The students were excited and eager to see where they scored on the national FitnessGram benchmark, developed by the Cooper Institute, and Sandone was happy to see the first of ongoing data being collected to demonstrate the correlation between fitness dimensions as positive outcomes of Zhang Sah martial arts.

The students will be tracked by the staff at Zhang Sah over the next year and will then be assessed again by Excel physical therapists. In addition to using the data for grant applications, Sandone hopes to release the first research study on the physical benefits of Zhang Sah martial arts to be used to improve the program and support the outcome of the kids that come to the program.

The April Chamber event provided more than just a networking opportunity for Walmsley and Sandone, the chance meeting has provided a long term relationship which will continue to benefit both businesses in the future.

Visit the Chamber’s events calendar to learn of more about upcoming networking opportunities. To learn more about all of the other membership benefits, visit www.greaterphilachamber.com/grow or call our Member Relations team at 215-790-3880.