A community petition to the management of Belgravia Leisure, City of Sydney, and Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre to reinstate Mateo Arias — a valued instructor who helped build one of Green Square’s strongest, most vibrant, and connected fitness communities since Gunyama first opened its doors to the public.

We write as long-term members and attendees of Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre regarding the removal of Mateo Arias, a highly respected, loved and deeply valued fitness instructor who taught at Gunyama Park since it first opened its doors to the public early 2021 and helped shape the vibrant, loyal, and connected fitness community that exists there today. For many of us, Gunyama fitness meant Mateo’s classes.

Mateo is not a cookie-cutter instructor. He is a uniquely gifted and exceptionally skilled dancer whose energy, charisma, passion, and authenticity transformed ordinary fitness classes into something truly special. Week after week, he brought people together through pure energy, joy, music, movement, and human connection. His classes had a magic that cannot simply be replaced by another instructor on a timetable. People did not attend his classes only for exercise — they came because Mateo created an atmosphere that uplifted people emotionally and mentally, while building genuine friendships and a strong sense of belonging within the community. Unlike many group fitness classes where attendance changes regularly, Mateo built an incredibly loyal and consistent community of attendees who showed up every week, year after year. Many of us met through his classes and formed lasting friendships that extended beyond the walls of the studio. 

As organisations that publicly promote inclusion, participation, community wellbeing, and corporate social responsibility, we believe both Belgravia Leisure and the City of Sydney have an important responsibility to recognise and support individuals who create such a significant and lasting positive impact within the community.

Mateo’s classes were consistently full, with members travelling across Sydney specifically to attend. The loyalty, attendance, and community he built over many years speak for themselves — this was clearly not a performance issue.

If this decision was driven by internal management matters, then at a bare minimum the community behind these classes should have been consulted. Despite years of overwhelmingly positive feedback and a deeply loyal member base, members were given no voice, no communication, no opportunity for input and our feedback/emails remain unanswered. The result has left many shocked and deeply disappointed, with some members reducing or cancelling their memberships entirely as a direct result.

We respectfully ask Gunyama Park management, Belgravia Leisure, and the City of Sydney to reconsider this decision and work towards reinstating Mateo Arias to Gunyama Park. Reinstating Mateo would also demonstrate a genuine commitment to community engagement, member wellbeing, and listening to the voices of the community that helped make Gunyama Park such a positive and connected place.

We sincerely hope this community will once again have the opportunity to come together at Gunyama Park.