It’s not just a gym: Willy’s triples in scope
by Glenn RittWilly Wetzel was born and raised in Indonesia. He could speak three languages. At 9 years old, he was recruited to help locate secret rebel training camps in return for fighting lessons. At 17, he joined the Dutch secret service to locate leaders of rebel factions.
Eventually, he left that world of danger and intrigue, emigrating to the United States and settling outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he and his son, Roy, ran a martial arts school together.
He died in a tragic accident, but before then, he discovered a prodigy whom he developed into a world champion competitor. She would carry on his legacy.
Three decades and hundreds of miles away, Willy Wetzel’s name is thriving in Orleans and Eastham, managed by his most successful student, Barbara Niggel.
She has employed a lifetime of martial arts discipline to become one of the Lower Cape’s largest employers. At the same time, she has expanded Wetzel’s dream into a nationwide network of schools, the American Fighting Arts Institute, to teach her mentor’s unique style of Indonesian Poekoelan Tjimindie Tulen. Niggel has taken her instruction into the corporate world, developing a list of clients that include the University of California at Berkeley, Nike, the American Heart Association, Providence Hospital Systems, New York University, Nuon and Coldwell Banker.
While her teacher’s name adorns Niggel’s two gyms, she always refers to him as Mas Goeroe Agoeng, which means master teacher in Indonesian, honoring their discipline’s roots. “I began my training in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where I met an amazing teacher of martial arts and life,” she recalled. At only 17, she opened a martial arts school of her own in nearby Lowellville, Ohio. “Little did I know at the time that Mas Goeroe Agoeng intended to teach me his direct art of compassionate balanced action.”
And teach he did. Niggel won her first world title in Caracas, Venezuela, at age 19. She went on to win for eight more consecutive years before retiring undefeated.
“Mas Goeroe Agoeng was fast as lightning,” she remembered. “He taught me about the healing art of Tulen, and the language and culture of Indonesia, his homeland. Another part of his training involved learning to cook Indonesian food. We were quite a team in the kitchen. My teacher was not only my mentor, but also a father figure and my best friend. Poekoelan Tjimindie Tulen is not just a martial art, but a healing art and a compassionate way of living.”
It’s not a gym; it’s a world wellness and conference center
Walking into Willy’s in Eastham is like entering a miniature city. On a particular winter evening, the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater has transformed a squash court into a theater accommodating 60 patrons. A restaurant and bar is open to the public.
During the day, patients come to Cape Cod Healthcare’s Rehabilitation Center, which rents space in the cavernous facility that Niggel purchased in 2002 from owners of the financially troubled Norseman’s athletic center. Members of the Eastham Chamber of Commerce congregate in their rented offices. Three black belts lease out the Golden Dragon. A Tulen Center for Wellness – one of many Niggel owns as far away as the Netherlands – welcomes customers with its spectrum of healing products and ‘Kembali’ services – bio-energy therapy, therapeutic massage, aromatherapy and skin care. Nearby, a vanload of children arrives to scale the Cape’s only climbing wall. Others youngsters show up for their Poekoelan Tijmindie Tulen workouts.
All these year-round enterprises underscore Niggel’s strong belief that a gym membership alone on Cape Cod won’t attract and support the scope and quality of customers she seeks while methodically building a multimillion business that employs 130 full- and part-time staff in two locations.
It was a leap of faith to purchase the Norseman, a facility many times larger than her original gym in downtown Orleans. For 15 years, Niggel had avoided debt, satisfied with her Orleans gym growing about 20 percent every year. Meanwhile, she was able to license 13 Tulen schools across the country and in the Netherlands from her offices in Orleans.
Yet the potential was obvious to her. “The first thing I thought about was health care. The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape & Islands had the Orleans market, but there was nothing past the Orleans Rotary.”
Purchasing the Norseman athletic center, with about 600 paid members, was going to entail a loan approximating $2 million. She put together her “black belt” dream team – a financial analyst from Wells Fargo, an MBA candidate at Tulane University, a branding and identity expert. After 18 months of due diligence, she emerged with a business model that envisioned more of a country club than gym.
While membership would be relatively expensive, the Eastham center would be open for the public – free movies, community workshops, a coffee house and restaurant.
Her business plan not only emphasizes renting Willy’s space to other businesses, but also purchasing property – a law office and storage facility – to enhance cash flow.
Niggel identifies the commitment by Cape Cod Healthcare as the catalyst for her expansion. “Once they signed and they were on board, I knew I could make this work.” They not only help finance the operation, but they combine resources and talents to create an experience bigger than what either party could do by itself.
“There is a great deal of synergy. All these businesses are like-minded. They are about wellness and health fitness. Together, we create an overall brand,” she said.
Less than four years after her acquisition, the two Willy’s locations have more than 2,000 members, some coming from as far as Hyannis to play tennis on both indoor and outdoor courts.
Pricing strategies and the high-end market
For Niggel, two principles influence her pricing strategy: You pay more because you get more. And loyalty is rewarded. “We are probably the most expensive club on the Cape,” she said. “Our prices are our prices. We have done it on purpose. We are the best, and we are not afraid or worried to say it. We redesign every three years. We completely redid our Orleans facility. We have a five-year plan to add a number of different programs, including a major upgrade of our tennis operations.”
Upgrades involve staff as well. Niggel recently recruited Sophie Amiachi, who has competed at Wimbledon, the French Open and the U.S. Open and has been ranked within the top 15 worldwide in women’s doubles tennis. She was trained by Billie Jean King, who has visited Willy’s frequently. Niggel also hired a former university physical education director with a doctorate to manage her training programs at both facilities.
As with many businesses, a key to success is avoiding customer churn. “We have a membership guarantee,” Niggel explained. “As long as you don’t lapse your membership, we will never raise your rate. Why would you not reward your loyal members? If you came to Willy’s 20 years ago [the Orleans facility opened in 1985] at $30, that’s what you still pay. No matter what I add, a wave pool or paddle tennis, that rate is locked in forever.”
Niggel works overtime to avoid becoming dependent on membership. “That is kiss of death for any club.” Instead, she thinks in terms of profit centers and expects them to bring in 40 percent of her income – totally separate from memberships. About 5 percent derives from her recently remodeled Tiger Restaurant, for example.
Recently, she hired a new chef and an event planner so Willy’s can venture aggressively into the wedding business and support corporate events. She also is expanding retail space. “We want to create a Main Street atmosphere with merchandise and spa services – even before you can sign in to use the club and equipment,” she said.
Niggel acknowledges there have been skeptics who have asked why she is taking all this on as she heads into her 50s – “especially way out here in the boonies.”
Because this is decidedly not the “boonies,” she emphasized. Eastham alone is growing 20 percent a year, and businesses have not caught up with this growth across the entire Lower Cape. It’s not just the number of new residents, but their demographic profile. Many are wealthy retirees with the time and motivation to stay healthy; others are second-home owners who are spending two or three long weekends a month in their “seasonal home.” And more people are staying year-round – a reason WHAT initiated a winter series at Willy’s and is building a year-round theater in Wellfleet.
Meanwhile, Niggel continues to develop partnerships and relationships to enhance business. She will be holding more conferences and workshops around her Tulen school network. Some of the 122 people attracted to a recent 16-day martial arts event at Willy’s rented second homes during the late winter and early spring when they otherwise would go unoccupied. “This regional market is really limitless,” said Niggel.
Originally published in the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Cape Business.
11/1/06 UPDATE: Willy's expands into the Mid-Cape - click here for the story
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
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