This past weekend I presented the Hydro BLITZ workshop at the Jewish Community Center here in Columbia, SC. It was the high point of my week. Not just because it was well attended and went very smoothly (although that was great too!). At the end of our practical application of the workshop when we were in the pool, the participants who were new to teaching aqua had an opportunity to teach to the rest of us what they learned. We had three new instructors get up and teach for their very first time ever and I saw three AWESOME future aquatic instructors! I absolutely LOVE it when I see a new instructor get up and truly enjoy the opportunity to share their passion with others.

Here we are, in the middle of the month, and it's payroll time again. Boy do I wish that every instructor would sign in!! I manage almost 200 classes during each pay period and it's impossible for me to call people the day pay roll is due and ask them if they taught or subbed out that class. The natural consequence is for them to not get paid, right???? And yet I know that every instructor I have works their behind off to deliver the best class that they can and even I forget to sign in once in a while. UGH! Oh well, thank goodness I don't sweat the small stuff....gotta go and make a phone call....

Let me introduce myself...my name is Laura Rogers and I am a Group Fitness Director. Also known as a Group Fitness Manager and more commonly known as the good ol' Aerobics Coordinator. Ever since I began teaching "aerobics" in 1997, I've always had my eye on the coordinator's position. I wanted to be the director of the show, not just one of it's actors. After several years I had my opportunity to show management what I had, and now I coordinate the land and aquatic group fitness programs at two gyms. There are many joys and privileges of being a Group Fitness Manager (GFM, my preferred term) and there are just as many challenges (aka: headaches!). In these blogs I will share with you both.

Since I'm introducing myself, I'll start with a challenge:

I would like to see the aerobics program viewed as the group fitness program. Why this play on semantics? Close your eyes and think Aerobics Instructor... Are you envisioning a woman instructor with a high ponytail bopping all around the room? If you're old enough, maybe even a thong leotard might have entered your mind. Well, many gym members have that same stereotype too, and that may market to some women....but what about our men? When polled 90% of all gym members prefer to exercise in a group. This will be my only blog where you'll hear me use the term Aerobics Instructor. I prefer Group Fitness Instructor because it's more accurate and it's not girlie.

I'll close on a funny note on this. When visiting a well known gym to market some workshop materials, I asked the front desk for their group fitness manager. They responded they didn't have one. I asked "Don't you have a group fitness program?" and they replied "no". Then I picked up a schedule and said "How about an aerobics coordinator?" to which they replied "Oh yeah, we have one of those!" (oy vey!)