Meet Fitness Trainer Matt Fina

What started out as a way to help a people with disabilities through their physical rehabilitation has turned into a vocation for Fitness Trainer Matt Fina of Westtown, Pennsylvania. Matt joined Fitness Trainers and the Fighting Back Scholarship Program as a physical rehabilitation trainer in November 2000, and say’s: “I’ve enjoyed every minute. Working with the scholarship recipients has helped me as much as the program has helped them.” The inspiration he derives from helping his clients achieve their individual goals has provided Matt with the motivation to continue his work and build it into a promising career path.

Like so many of the people involved with Fighting Back, Matt has a personal story that’s become part of his experience. When a friend and former classmate, Steve Palvo was involved in an accident, Matt told Steve about the program and encouraged Steve to apply for a scholarship. Steve became a scholarship recipient and blossomed during his sessions with Matt, regaining and improving much of his strength. Steve is a die-hard example of the program’s motto, “Courage, Desire and Perseverance” and says: “If there’s an obstacle in my way, I’ll break it down!”

Steve and Matt recently took their show on the road when they spoke together to the fifth through seventh grade classes at Trediffryn-Eastown school in Berwyn for the school’s “Lives Well Lived Day.” Both speakers were thrilled with the level of response and questions from the students. For Matt, spreading awareness about the program is key: “we had a teacher who at one time could have used the Fighting Back program tell us he was unaware that the program existed even though it was in his own back yard.”

Like many of the Fitness trainers, in addition to his non program clients, Matt can be working with as many as 15 Fighting Back clients in a months time. The process for how an individual becomes involved with Fighting Back follows a series of stages. First there is the initial consultation with the client. Following the initial meeting, another meeting takes place including family members, doctors and, or, physical therapists. Based on input from all parties involved the appropriate trainer is designated to the client and a rehabilitation regimen established. Scholarship recipients who receive their grants based on financial eligibility must first submit an application through the scholarship committee.

When asked where he would like to see Fighting Back in the future, Matt says: “I’d really like to see us get our own facility. We’d be able to help more people and raise awareness.” Thanks to trainers like Matt Fina, the Fighting Back Scholarship Program is helping more people achieve a better life through continued physical rehabilitation and the “Courage, Desire and Perseverance” inherent in the program.

Steve Palvo, left with trainer Matt Fina, right.