Certification clarity helps ensure safety and quality of training
Describing the directory as a “vital tool,” Pattengale
reports that it’s one of the most utilized features of the NFPT Website.
Also generating heavy online traffic is Find an ACE Pro, which encompasses all 50,000 ACE-certified professionals and allows them to supplement their personal profiles. “We have strong privacy measures, and don’t publish anyone’s contact information,” points out Galati. “ACE fields all inquiries and forwards them directly to our professionals.”
Health clubs and other employers regularly consult the database to verify a person’s certification status before hiring, says Galati. Between January and October of 2011, more than 6,000 consumer inquiries were passed along to ACE-certified professionals via the online directory. “I consistently receive inquiries from individuals search- ing for fitness professionals,” says Lawrence Biscontini, a fitness presenter and ACE consultant, “and it’s really helped my business.”
Bobby Morrow, a certified personal trainer and national spokesman for ACE, points out another valuable function facilitated by the search engine. “Nearly two dozen people have contacted me via Find an ACE Pro to ask my advice on how they can become personal trainers,” he explains. “This is a great inroad, a viable point of access, for those who are considering a career in fitness.”
Comprehensive platforms
Launched in 2010, IDEA FitnessConnect, the directory created by the IDEA Health and Fitness Association (IDEA), is a resource that hosts listings for more than 100,000 fitness professionals in the U.S. and Canada, as well as 15,000 classes and events. The service is free to everyone, including individuals and companies that don’t belong to IDEA.
FitnessConnect lets professionals create a profile, including all of their certifications, but each certification listed must be independently confirmed by the certifying body. IDEA currently has 63 partners who validate their certifica- tions on FitnessConnect, including all 13 NCCA-accredited fitness organizations; it hopes to have a total of some 150 such partners by the end of 2012.
IDEA has also extended its reach through partnerships with
fitnessmagazine.com,
sparkpeople.com, and
fitstudio.com, which provide consumers with access to IDEA FitnessConnect from their respective sites. “We feel that one of the most important criteria for choosing a fitness professional is whether or not they’re
currently certified,” explains Kathie Davis, the executive director of IDEA. “IDEA FitnessConnect is the only directory that independently verifies certifications from the various providers to make sure they’re accurate and up-to-date— important indicators of a person’s qualifications and expertise. Moreover, the listing encourages fitness professionals to stay current and better themselves.”
FitnessConnect also allows trainers and instructors to make use of numerous free resources that are designed to engage and retain clients, including an e-newsletter, blogs, and videos. More than 50,000 consumers receive the e-newsletter, which individual fitness professionals can customize.
Also providing the public with a wealth of valuable information is IHRSA’s consumer Website,
healthclubs.com, which provides detailed information on more than 10,000 health and fitness clubs worldwide that employ tens of thousands of qualified trainers. In the final analysis, the emergence, proliferation, and growing impact of online registries will serve to increase the credibility, accountability, accessibility, and public and industry acknowledgement of highly qualified fitness professionals worldwide. —|
– Julie King,
julie.king1@
comcast.net
ihrsa.org |
FEBRUARY 2012 |
Club Business Internat ional 61
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