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ISRM to launch fitness management training course
The Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) is to unveil a new training course this month aimed at fitness instructors and duty managers looking to take the step up to fitness manager or club manager level.
The Fitness Management Certificate (FMC) will be delivered through a combination of distance learning and seminars and candidates will have access to a personal tutor to guide them through work-based assignments.
Aiden Hall, national tutor for the FMC and creator of the course, said it was long overdue to meet a training need for an industry where high staff turnover and under investment in appropriate management training has become the hot issue.
“The idea for the course occurred to me while interviewing for a new health and fitness facility manager,” he said. “We attracted some very good candidates, however, all of them were trained from a technical perspective, they knew everything about exercise and physiology, but next to nothing about ‘managing’ a facility; such as dealing with staff, choosing and maintaining equipment, marketing, finance, technical information on facilities and aspects of the current and future market.”
“It soon became apparent that there was a definite training gap in the market, one that will, I believe, only widen as the health and fitness market expands.”
Ian Wakefield, business development manager for the ISRM, said he hoped the course would be recognised by the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) for CPD credits by early next year.
The FMC will be launched at the ISRM conference in Bournemouth on 14-16 September. Details: www.isrm.co.uk