Community Outreach

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) held a conference call to discuss organizational efforts to promote HHS's landmark Physical Activity Guidelines. The call, which attracted over 700 participants, featured four speakers: Dr. Bill Kraus of the American Heart Association, Dr. Jim Pivarnik of the American College of Sports Medicine, Sheila Franklin of the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, and IHRSA's standard bearer, Joe Moore. Melissa Johnson, executive director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, acted as moderator.

Joe's comments highlighted the commercial fitness industry's enthusiastic embrace of the Physical Activity Guidelines, especially as a tool for community outreach. In fact, IHRSA's Guidelines Report, a 6 issue email newsletter to help IHRSA members implement the guidelines within their communities, has been one of the most popular IHRSA offerings since its inception in October. The call strengthened my belief that commercial clubs are at the forefront of promoting physical activity on a community-wide level.

I can't shake the feeling, however, that clubs are still undervalued by the public and not recognized, generally, as "community" facilities - or, rather, front of mind community resources for typical Americans. Earning that recognition, I imagine, will be one of the great industry struggles of the next decade, requiring continued substantive outreach and intensified public relations at both the national and local levels. To be sure, there are already some fantastic examples of clubs that are entrenched in the minds and affairs of their local communities, and their achievements should be celebrated and studied, but my hunch is that there's still room for explosive growth on this front.

I'd love to hear about what clubs are already doing - and ideas for what they could be doing - to become front of mind community resources...

- Tom Richards