Inspiration in the Wingate Fitness Center

The Director of the Wingate Fitness Center offers inspiration to many City College of New York students, faculty members and staff who take advantage of this free gym. Hector Santana introduces us to James Versailles.

” I enjoy this. Like, I love to see progress.” James Versailles said.  For seven years, Versailles has overseen and directed what goes on in the Wingate Fitness Center on The City College of New York (CCNY) campus. 

Versailles started his career in the gym as a CCNY student looking for a place to work out. “I was a small kid, so I was like I might as well be strong,” Versailles explained. He began to help other students until the director stopped him because he was not a certified personal trainer. “People would ask me for help and since I had been working out myself, I started giving them routines. Then he approached me and he was like, you can’t do that. You know, it’s a liability issue,” he said. Still, after he saw Versailles’s passion for helping others, the director offered him a job as a student assistant. The opportunity led Versaille to one position after another until he got the top job.

 “I love to see people get better. And you find it in the most subtle ways sometimes like it can be or the individual who’s not used to working out. And then they pick up that habit, and they tell you their life is so different,” Versailles said.

Student assistant, Amy Anunagba takes a few minutes away from handing out equipment to praise Versailles. When she first went to the gym, she needed help. “First of all, I started from an injury. He pretty much helped me to recover from that in terms of the approaches to take when working out, and how to recover and stuff like that,” she said.  

Jesus Owoo, another student assistant, said that Versaille is a modest person and that he helps the students he works with.“He’s the type of guy, you know, who would like to teach students and give them credit for doing the work,” Owoo said.

In addition to helping train students, Versailles works with the student assistants, coordinates the fitness classes that the center offers to students and staff of CCNY, and makes sure that the machines are maintained. “We try to do our best to engage as many people as possible so they could, you know, just get the benefits of working out,” Versailles explained.

“It’s the student space and we are here to ensure that everything is safe and nobody gets injured,” Versailles said. He hopes to continue to have a gym that is COVID-free, a place where students can go work out, meet their fitness goals, and feel safe.