KELLEY SZOSTAK is the new President of the WFF UK and promises to bring back the glitz and glamour to the sport.
Szostak has been involved in fitness and bodybuilding since 2003, as a tanner [she owns Physique Spraytans], an athlete and as a promoter. This season she promoted the IBFA Pendle Valley show on June 22.
The World Fitness Federation (WFF) is internationally recognised but has not had a UK schedule since the early 2000s. But since the closure of the NFMUK, the WFF saw a gap in the market and will kick-off their 2025 season with six shows starting with the British Grand Prix on May 4.
Celebrating the achievement of reaching the stage is something Szostak believes has waned in the sport over the past few years. And she is determined to bring back some drama to British shores.
She said: "I have a really strong belief that a very small percentage of people within our wider global community will feel that same thrill as if they were standing on the Olympia stage. You know, with those big screens and the music, the audience and with that whole atmosphere. My thought process is, 'why should that only be experienced by a small number'?
"Why shouldn't your 60 seconds on stage be your time to feel like you are the centre of attention? Like you are on broadway or whatever you want to compare it to. The West End, or this is your Olympia. It's just giving everybody an opportunity to shine.
"It feels like bodybuilding has lost a little bit of its lustre in terms of showmanship with some federations. With some shows, it just feels a bit like a cattle call in a way, for a lack of a better expression. That's not meaning to be disrespectful. It just feels a bit like the focus is more on getting the athletes on stage, get them judged and get them off, rather than making a theatrical spectacle of it."
Part of Szostak's background involves tanning sports models and fitness models in her native Australia. With her experience in marketing too, she moved swiftly into promoting a show with the IBFA, with whom she worked for about a decade, before the opportunity with the WFF UK arose.
Having assessed how the market is operating, Szostak believes she knows what is missing. She said: "With the WFF, the clue is in the name – it's the World Fitness Federation. And something they offer that a lot of federations elsewhere don't is a combination of fitness, bodybuilding, modelling and glamour.
"Now these might seem like they're worlds apart but they're not, they're all very similar. They have a really high calibre of athlete in their wellness classes and they have an incredibly high number of athletes in their bikini classes. I believe their Asia Grand Prix had close to 300 athletes, which is just phenomenal.
"There are federations here in the UK who do the the fitness, fitness modelling and some who do predominantly bodybuilding. But there isn't one that offers all three in one place. The direction I want to take the WFF UK is to be able to offer athletes an opportunity to stand on stage with their peers in an overall competition and feel that they aren't less of an athlete.
"Unfortunately sometimes, in some people's opinion, fitness isn't real bodybuilding, the modelling categories aren't real bodybuilding, the sports model classes aren't real bodybuilding. But that's people's misunderstanding or misconceptions of categories. Those athletes who go into fitness, or those athletes who go into the model classes, train just as hard. So I wanted to give everybody an opportunity."
The WFF UK is set to start with a schedule of six shows next year, with numerous financial incentives – all funded by Szostak.
She said: "I'm planning to have approximately six shows but, given the length of the UK season, it's trying to find them to fit into the calendar and ensure there's not a lot of overlap. You want to make sure you've got good numbers but at the same time you want to make sure you're not clashing with the likes of FitX or PCA.
"The 4th of May next year is the British Grand Prix. That is a pro-am qualifier for the WFF World Championships in the South of France. The two overall amateurs and the two overall pros will receive their flights and accommodation as part of their package. Then every class winner will receive a travel contribution towards their flights to France.
"You've got to speculate to accumulate. You can't expect to draw in crowds and have wonderful spectacular shows without spending a bit of money. A lot of people have said, 'you're putting a lot on the line'. But that's what you do for something you're passionate about. Every business is a risk and you just have to work hard – and I'm not afraid of hard work."
Szostak revealed that one person from a rival federation left her blood boiling recently, when body shaming another competitor. She is adamant that there will be no place for any such rhetoric in her federation.
She said: "I genuinely believe that bodybuilding is for everybody. We had an incident of some pretty nasty body shaming to a female athlete from a male athlete. For me it's like, you don't know that person's journey or what it took them to get on stage. You don't know.
"It's the same with anything. Nobody knows what somebody else has put themselves through to get to that point where they're going to stand on stage. This person said: 'As a federation, we have a responsibility not to put people on stage. It's disrespectful to the other athletes, it's disrespectful to the winner because they're not even in the same category or calibre'.
"It's nobody's position to say who should and shouldn't compete. But it is my responsibility to safeguard those athletes and ensure they are looked after. That's something I really strongly believe.
"Whether that person has gone through a personal transformation, a physical transformation or a mental transformation to stand on stage. Or has overcome adversities, is able-bodied or disabled, they have a place on the WFF stage. Our stage will welcome everyone. We will happily showcase you and give you your time to shine on stage. There is no place for body shaming, not in this sport.
"Some lasses get it [body shaming] because they've gone through a huge transformation. They've gone from being one size to another to stand on stage in bikini or wellness or whichever. But then on top of that you get the other side of the coin, where people feel like they have the right to comment on female bodybuilders and women with muscles. They feel like they can say obscene, horrible things to people, even when they're on the street.
"Some of my closest, most amazing friends are female bodybuilders and that body shaming] is something that we as a federation will not tolerate. We will not stand for it. We will champion people standing on stage."
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