Who Am I

John McCormack, MD and founder of SKIP2BFIT

What’s your background?

In 1989 I was the No2 ABA ranked Heavyweight of Great Britain. My passion was boxing and after several more years in the ring I decided that rather than fighting myself, I wanted to start training people instead. A couple of professional qualifications later and I was the man in charge-i.e. solely responsible- for the boxer in the ring.

Why did you move away from boxing?

I was very successful as a trainer, but suddenly realised that instead of being responsible for one life, my passion and commitment meant that I could actually have an effect on many more lives, so I started looking for new challenges. How right I was. To date through SKIP2BFIT, I have directly impacted on the lives of over 150,000 young people.

How did you come up with the idea of SKIP2BFIT?

My path has been an interesting one. After I gave up training full time, I moved into the construction industry. A couple of years on I was managing a team of people.I was good at motivating people even then; being told that my team had managed to build 50% more road than similar teams proved it though. I started realising that I needed to link this passion for people and fitness more constructively and initially worked within personal training, which helped me to motivate secondary school pupils through a structured exercise programme. My real eureka moment came when I discovered a PE cupboard full of dusty, disused skipping ropes. I realised that these basic old-fashioned cotton models needed to be updated in order to appeal to the modern child - used to instant feed-back and immediate results. I decided there and then to create a new generation of skipping ropes for a new generation of children.

And the idea for the logo?

That came to me in the bath. I was lying in the bath trying to think of names for the new skipping programme that was new and refreshing. I was listening to the normal conversations in the house. My wife was shouting up the stairs to my daughter to stop  texting on her phone.  I realised  texting was the young person's  way to communicate with  a language of their own. I translated this and SKIP2BFIT was born.

It must be pretty hard work – what keeps you going?

I am passionate about SKIP2BFIT because it gives people the confidence to be the best they can. Working with Sainsbury’s, Berry World, Winterwood Farms and recently 'Change 4 Life' and of course all our other partners, makes it possible for me to deliver a programme that makes a healthy and confident future generation a working reality.