DELTONA, Fla. (August 26, 2022) If you’re launching a fitness app, who better to cheer you on than a professional athlete. Two of them is even better.
Retired Orlando Magic players Bo Outlaw and Nick Anderson were among the dignitaries in attendance for the Central Florida launch of the “Spot” fitness app on Friday evening at The Center at Deltona.
With a tag line of “finding you places to go, things to do and people to meet” the unique application is helping those who want to get active connect with others and discover places to enjoy their favorite recreational activities.
“Today is the first time we’re launching in Volusia County so we’re super excited about it,” said Chief Operating Officer Adam Ben-Evi. “The app is in the app store today. It actually dropped last night, so we’re super excited about that.”
The Spot team has been beta testing the app over the past several months, encouraging users to add locations, and on Friday evening the team revealed the results across Central Florida.
“We’ve been building the app, building the community, going out to get all the spots and locations for all the community to find places to go in their areas. (We have) 10 counties; Flagler, Brevard, Volusia, all the way to Hillsborough in Tampa. We’re focused on 27 different activities and we’re going to expand that as we go,” said Ben-Evi.
Designing the app, Antonio Quinones said his inspiration sprang from a trip north with a kayak in tow and the resulting difficulty of finding a suitable place to launch the watercraft. Helping design an easier way for people access recreational opportunities became part of the app’s foundation.
“We created this app in order to give people a chance to get out there and get active,” said Quinones. “80 percent of America is inactive and we want to do our part to battle the inactivity.”
On hand to help cut the ribbon and officially launch the app were elected officials and Chamber of Commerce leaders from across Volusia County, excited about the new opportunities.
Vice Mayor Maritza Avila-Vazquez was pleased to see the community’s network of trails and parks on the app to draw in more users.
“I’m very excited, this is awesome. There’s a lot of good representation here,” she said. “We want to share more with our residents and we want it to be convenient for them to get to it.”
Representing her district, Deltona Commissioner Anita Bradford said the app is one of many new businesses in West Volusia providing an opportunity to showcase the area’s amenities while creating jobs in the local community.
“We have been expressly focusing on not just jobs, but health,” she said. “We’ve been the best kept secret for a long time. It’s been about (the last) five years that everything has started to develop and now that people know we’re here, we have a lot of businesses wanting to come here, because we do have a great community.”
West Volusia tourism director Georgia Turner sees the app as a segue to the region’s wellness initiative, complementing the business community’s efforts to highlight goods and services already in place.
“We’re just excited whenever we have something that focuses on wellness,” said Turner. “Spot definitely is a wellness and fitness dream for people who want to get out in the world and see what there is to see.”
The app provides an additional benefit many can get behind.
Tying fitness activity into the social connectivity aspect of the recovery landscape, the Spot team selected the Volusia Recovery Alliance as their spotlight charity for the launch. Featuring a silent auction to benefit the organization, VRA executive director Karen Chrapek and recovery peer Stacy talked about incorporating fitness into the recovery routine to help boost mental health and physical wellness at the same time.
“Part of recovery is being active and I think this app will play a key role into the folks that are seeking to get better through recovery, to get out there and physically move,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, a staunch advocate for the Volusia Recovery Alliance.
“One of the things I like about the app is it shows you the bike trails where you’re not going to get run over,” he added with trademark humor, referencing several close calls as an avid cyclist.
“It would have really been good had I had that app in 2017 and 2021.”
Posing for photos and chatting with fans, NBA stars Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw kept the focus on the importance of health and wellness, even for people who are professional athletes.
