Dear Readers

EHFA Update will be delivered to your inboxes once a month. 

Items in our newsletter will cover all issues related to the health and fitness industry, such as, the latest developments at EU level; features that EHFA are currently working on; EHFA Members’ activities and many others.  

We promise not to flood you with mountains of information, but a selection of relevant information.

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Thank you

EHFA Editorial Team

 

In this issue:

The EU has recently come up with two important initiatives for our industry concerning qualifications: 
1. A Recommendation establishing the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and 2. A proposal for a Recommendation on the establishment of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). 

A Recommendation establishing the EQF for lifelong learning was formally co-signed on 23 April 2008 by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union and published in the Official Journal on 6 May 2008. The EQF Recommendation creates a reference framework which will relate different countries' qualifications systems and frameworks. It will act as a translation device to make qualifications more readable and understandable to employers, individuals and institutions, so that workers and learners can use their qualifications in other countries. 

The EQF forms the underlying principles of comparable qualifications that make EREPS (the European Register of Exercise Professional) possible.

It is important to note that since the Commission has no competence over education in the EU, the EQF will be implemented on a voluntary basis. While all Member States have signed up to the framework, the degree of implementation may vary.

At a practical level, the Recommendation sets the target year of 2010 for countries to relate their qualifications systems to the EQF. From 2012, all new qualifications should bear a reference to the EQF, so that employers and institutions can identify a candidate's skills knowledge, skills or competences.

The Commission and Member States are already working together on the practical tasks of implementation.  An Advisory Group, comprising the governments and social partners (employers and trades unions) will coordinate the processes required to relate national systems to the EQF. 

EHFA contributes to the process through ESWDA (the European Sport Workforce Development Alliance), which is coordinated by the European Observatoire for Sport and Employment (EOSE).  

The next EOSE conference on ‘Practical approaches of the Sport sector to the EU VET and workers mobility challenges’ is scheduled to take place in London on 25/26 June 2008. Representatives from EHFA will contribute to the debate. 

ECVET will use the European Qualification Framework (EQF) as the reference level for qualifications.

The proposed new European Credit system for Vocational Education and Learning (ECVET) will improve learner mobility across Europe by ensuring that training completed in one member state is recognised in another.

The plans for ECVET are at the Recommendation stage, and the Commission presented them on 9 April 2008 to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union for approval. Subsequently, if adopted, Member States would implement the initiative on a voluntary basis.

EHFA is seen by the Commission as a possible frontrunner in the implementation process of ECVET as stated by the Commission representative at the launch of the European Register of Exercise Professionals on 7-8 May 2008.  EHFA received support from the Commission through individual calls for proposals on the implementation of EQF and ECVET in its two previous EU projects.

Seventy industry leaders joined representatives of the European Commission for a two day event to mark the launch of the European Register of Exercise Professionals at the North European Fitness Forum organized by EHFA.

The symposium, held in Hilversum, The Netherlands on 7-8 May, saw operators, training providers and exercise professionals explain how the emerging European Register of Exercise Professionals will benefit their business.

Participants had the opportunity to hear, amongst other presentations, of the experiences and successes of the implementation of registers in other countries (especially in Australia and the UK) where the process of certification and registration of professionals in the industry has been beneficial.

Nick Smith of Fitness First said that the Register in the United Kingdom has formed “the backbone of our growth over the last three years, especially in the areas of expertise and professional standards". Working with REPS to assess levels of training in the Fitness First Personal Trainer team has led to a 40% improvement in personal trainer attrition. This improvement directly contributed to a like for like revenue increase in excess of £225k and an additional 9,000 members engaged in personal training. Smith said that Fitness First, with over 550 sites across the globe, improved the levels of training of their personal trainers. The register has made sound business sense for Fitness First who have also seen an 8% improvement in member retention.

Susan Kingsmill, President, Fitness Australia, spoke about the experience of the Register in Australia and the links between EREPS, UK REPs, New Zealand, South Africa, China and the Middle East;  Dag Lee, Interim-CEO, SATS, made a presentation on how you can build a business on standards and Farid Kempenaers spoke about the Belgian experience as the first nation to adopt the European Register of Exercise Professionals.

Gianluca Monte, representing the European Commission, expanded on the EC’s White Paper on Sport and explained the role of the EC in the sports sector.   With regard to the White Paper on Sports he spoke of the aim to have qualifications in the sports and physical activities sector related to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the European Credit System of Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). 

John Greenway MP (UK), Member of the Council of Europe (UK), urged Delegates to understand the core of the EREPS project – it is the job of an industry to take up the matter of its Standards and implement them. 

For more information, or to request a full report which includes the detailed presentation by Cliff Collins, EREPS Director, on how EREPS will operate in Europe please contact thesecretariat@ehfa.eu

 

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), the Brussels based representative body of the European Advertising Industry, told the European Commission that EHFA is a “crucial partner” in the design and delivery of a pan-European Consumer Marketing Campaign.

EHFA will work with EACA on a campaign that urges young people to make the right choices in healthy living. The campaign, which will be run over the internet, TV and various other forms of media, will have the backing of national governments.  It is expected that this initiative will increase awareness of the benefits of physical activity and potentially increase club membership. The campaign will be tested in five countries before its roll-out across Europe. The selected Member States are: the Czech Republic, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

EHFA will work with willing partners in those nations to ensure that the campaign is a success.

EACA is a Brussels-based non-profit association whose mission is to represent full-service advertising and media agencies and agency associations in Europe.

 

EHFA was instrumental in arranging a special meeting of European sport sector associations with representatives of DG Sanco in Brussels.

Joined by the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisations, the Federation of European Sporting Goods Industries, the Federation of European Play Industries and the International Sport and Culture Association, EHFA asked the Commission to pay suitable attention to the need to promote physical activity in its battle against obesity.

Representing EHFA Members, Herman Rutgers, EHFA Executive Director, brought to the attention of DG Sanco his concern that the EU Platform for Action on Diet Physical Activity and Health, the EU’s flagship campaign against obesity, was in danger of failure if it allowed its agenda to be consumed by the debate surrounding the reformulation of foods, restriction on the rights of European advertisers and point scoring from charities.

The EU Commission took this in a positive fashion and has sought to redress this balance at the next meeting of the Platform scheduled for 17 September 2008, which will be entirely dedicated to Physical Activity, and in particular to Youth & Health. 

To aid in its efforts on the Platform, EHFA is calling on its members to make the Commission aware of the activities that the health and fitness sector provide on a daily basis. For more information on how you can “commit to act” and gain EU Commission recognition for your efforts, contact thesecretariat@ehfa.eu

Back in February 2008, EHFA opened up dialogue with the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.

Michal Krejza, Head of the EU Sports Unit within DG EAC, addressed a meeting in Brussels of the EHFA Platinum Partners and Board of Directors including the Fitness Industry Association - UK, Fitness First, HealthCity, Johnson Healthtech / Matrix, Les Mills International, Life Fitness, Pellikaan Construction, Precor, SATS, SkillsActive, Startrac and Technogym.

The result of this meeting was a number of opportunities for EHFA to work with the Commission, to help it develop an understanding of the problems encountered by the industry so that both European Government and the health and fitness industry can work together. 

On 20 March, an EHFA Team met with the Sports Unit of DG EAC to continue these discussions and to build on existing partnerships with DG EAC. These have already seen the European Health and Fitness industry benefit in terms of grants to aid the development of EHFA and the European Register of Exercise Professionals.

FIA Challenges UK Government To Match Action to Words

The Fitness Industry Association of the UK has launched a campaign to make the UK Government match rhetoric to action in the battle to cut soaring rates of obesity in the UK.

Fred Turok, Chairman, The Fitness Industry Association (FIA) called for the UK Government to address the nation’s obesity crisis at the FIA’s ‘Delivering the Public Health Strategy’ summit.

Turok pledged over £200 million of support from the industry and stated that for every £1 the government invested in increasing physical activity, the FIA would invest £2.

Having been confronted by staggering statistics regarding their own constituents’ poor state of health and the under usage of health and fitness facilities, both Andrew Lansley CBE MP, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and Norman Lamb MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health, told the 140 fitness industry leaders and MPs that they welcomed and wholeheartedly supported the industry’s initiative and pledged their support for it.

Andrew Lansley expressed a wish to work closely with the industry and to invest in public health prevention strategies to tackle obesity and all of its associated lifestyle related diseases.

Norman Lamb recognised that to address the public health crisis, health and fitness industry resources must be used more effectively. He said: “For too long we have focused on diet to the exclusion of the other side of the equation, which is physical activity. As a society, if we are to tackle the problem we have to look at both diet and increasing our physical activity.”

The FIA revealed that almost 90 percent of the UK population live only 2 miles from a facility yet 50 percent of the population are either moderately or profoundly inactive, making the UK the second most obese nation in the world.

If levels of inactivity and obesity continue as they are, by 2050, the National Health Service (NHS) will be bankrupt with Government predictions stating that the cost to the NHS of ailments linked to physical inactivity could potentialy reach £50 billion p/a.

Turok said that the UK Fitness industry provides an “asset register” to the UK Government that they could not build themselves: 5,714 facilities, over 30,000 exercise professionals and over 8 million hours of spare capacity existing within the current scheduling of facilities timetables.

Fred Turok, chairman of the FIA, urged the government to see the industry as an invaluable health asset. He said: “We have the capability, the capacity, the trained experts and above all the desire to do something. That is why we have made this public pledge which we hope will be a catalyst for action and help this nation to reverse the frightening public health trends we face.”

SATS Appoints New CEO

The Nordic region’s leading fitness training company, SATS, with a turnover in 2007 of over SEK 1.3 billion, over 100 fitness centers and close to a quarter million members, appoints a new CEO, Jan Edholm, as of 26 May 2008. 

Jan Edholm has an impressive career, spanning Telecom, Film, Publishing and Internet service companies.  “I am really looking forward to joining SATS as CEO. I hope to inspire the 4,500 employees and to contribute to develop and strengthen the company. With its position as the leading training company in the Nordic region, SATS has a perfect starting point to take part in growth and the possibilities that exist within the health and fitness area. We are in a perfect condition to continue the growth and exciting development at SATS”, says 43 year old Jan Edholm.

Jan Edholm takes over from Dag Lee who has been interim CEO of SATS since Andreas Göthberg left the company in early 2008. Dag will continue as deputy CEO of SATS Group responsible for strategy and business development.