ASFA award

My certification as a Senior Personal Trainer comes from the American Senior Fitness Association. They recently won a fine award for the work they do. Here is the write-up:

SFA Wins "Best Practice Award"
The American Senior Fitness Association (SFA) has been chosen for the 2009 National Council on Aging Health Promotion Institute's Best Practice Award. SFA earned the award based on its professional education programs, which provide training for older adult physical activity instructors and personal trainers.The National Council on Aging describes the award program as follows: "This award is given in recognition of a program that not only meets its goal of promoting good health, but also demonstrates a creative response to the barriers and issues that confront all health promotion programs." In determining Best Practice Award recipients, the judges consider innovative retention of older adult fitness participants, evidence-based evaluation of program effectiveness, funding and marketing procedures, and the use of volunteer personnel.

Since 2005, three to four community-based fitness programs have received the Best Practice Award annually. However, SFA was selected for its educational training of older adult fitness professionals on an international scale. The association provides distance-learning courses in senior group-exercise instruction, personal fitness training, and long-term care physical activity management.SFA officials will accept the award in Las Vegas on March 17, 2009, at the National Council on Aging and American Society on Aging's annual conference. "We are deeply honored to receive this tremendous distinction," SFA president Janie Clark said.

The American Senior Fitness Association has conducted older adult fitness professional training since 1992. It has been a leader in developing international curriculum guidelines for senior fitness professionals and in establishing senior-specific fitness testing protocols and norms. It has contributed to numerous academic textbooks, scientific articles, and mainstream publications and productions on older adult health and fitness topics.SFA recently launched a new educational program, Brain Fitness for Older Adults, which teaches senior exercise professionals how to incorporate cognitive fitness into their physical activity programs. For more information about SFA professional education programs, click on www.seniorfitness.org.

Working with Elderhostel

Elderhostel has given me the opportunity to reach hundreds of active seniors from across the United States. What a perfect fit for the work I do. I am currently putting together a curriculum for a complete Elderhostel week called "Let's Move! An Active Learning Experience". Outdoor activities in Sarasota County will compliment participation in several different types of exercise classes of interest to seniors. A progressive immersion into Movements for Balance & Strength is the foundation of the course. I think seniors from across the US would be interested in having an active Sarasota vacation.

My involvment in the Pinellas Fall Prevention Coalition training program is coming to an end. Participants have already begun to take the skills they learned in the train-the-trainer program I led to community members in need of falls prevention information and exercise. My experience with this Pinellas group has been incredibly gratifying for me. I thank the Coalition for their vision in which they saw what a difference a concentrated community-wide project can make to seniors. Kudos!