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Climbing
the AFAA Ladder
By: Pam Archer
This article is provided
for personal use and may not be
reprinted, reproduced or distributed without written permission from
the author.
Feel free to link to it however!
Many of you have asked me
what is involved in becoming
a part of AFAA's educational staff. First, let
me list the various levels on the AFAA ladder:
AFAA
Certified Instructor
AFAA Examiner
AFAA Associate Consultant
AFAA Consultant
AFAA Certification Specialist
AFAA Trainer
AFAA Master Specialist
Secondly, let me explain
what each of these levels means.
(AFAA Certified Instructor is obvious.) and how you achieve each
level:
AFAA
Examiner - You must be AFAA certified. If you
feel you have a mastery of the skills of being a group fitness
instructor or other AFAA specialty, such as Step, KickBoxing,
etc., you may contact the AFAA home office and request an
application. With your application, you will need to include
a letter of recommendation from another AFAA Consultant or higher.
If AFAA has a need for an Examiner
in your area and if you have the desired qualifications, you will
be invited to attend either a networking, where you will receive
training in the examination scoring process, or you will attend
several certifications and practice examine. When the
Lead Specialist feels that you are ready to examine a
certification for real, they will contact the AFAA office and tell
them. Training, travel and
practice examining are all at your own expense. When you are
an approved Examiner, you
can let AFAA know of your availability when the AFAA calendar
comes out. Spaces are filled on
a first to call, first served basis. You will be required
to be on site the last 3 hours of the certification and will be
paid a nominal fee for examining. - $50.00
Associate
Consultant - If you aspire to move further up the
ladder, you can apply to become an Associate Consultant.
First, you must have a 4 year degree relating
to areas of the fitness industry. You must fill out
another application and submit a video of you teaching and
answering specific questions asked of you. The application
and video will be reviewed by the AFAA Board of Certification and
Training and you will be notified if you are accepted. This
is a lengthy process,
it took them 9 months to review mine! Once accepted, you
will be approved to go to Consultant or Examiner Networking where
you will learn the specific
teaching methods of AFAA. You will be required
to go to several to progress to the level of Consultant.
Most of us call Associate Consultant and Consultant
"purgatory", because it is a waiting process and you
don't really have authority to lead a workshop on your own, but
never-the-less, it is a required prior to advancement. And,
of course, all travel and cost of
training is at your expense. You will be paid the Examining
Fee at workshops you assist with.
Consultant
- Basically the same as Associate except that
you have been approved to apprentice with a Master Specialist who
will teach you how to lead a workshop on your own. This
usually requires several certifications.
Some people take years, others move up rather
quickly. (I was one of the lucky ones!) You will
be required to present a program "solo" with a Master
Specialist in attendance before you can be promoted. A
Master Specialist must make the recommendation
to AFAA that you are ready to move
to the level of Certification Specialist. You will
be paid the $50 fee for examining. No travel compensation.
Certification
Specialist - There are Specialists for each type
of program that AFAA offers. I am trained to teach
the Step, Primary and KickBoxing Certifications and programs.
This means that I have been through training,
networking and apprenticing for each of these, and of course hold
AFAA's certification for each to be able to be considered for
training as a Specialist. The
Certification Specialist is the one who leads the program and is
the Lead Examiner at each certification. Travel expenses
such as air-fare, hotel and rental car are paid by AFAA plus you
receive a $200 fee. Are you
shocked? Did I mention that all of your meals come out
of that, which can add up, particularly when you have to be
somewhere 3 days for a one day program! This
fee has remained unchanged for the entire time that I have been
associated with AFAA. I understand they are
working on that, but that is merely a rumor at this point.
Do you also understand now why that , when you
attend an AFAA program, that you get quality presenters? It
is because we love what we do and are obviously
not in it for the money!!!
AFAA
Trainer - An AFAA Trainer is a Certification Specialist
who can also present the two-day training programs, the Teaching
Skills and the Certification. We
get paid $450.00 for a two-day program. Believe me...we
earn every dime! Once again, networking, etc. etc.
etc. to learn the skills to teach the two-day programs.
Master
Specialist - These Specialists are appointed by the
Board and are responsible for training Consultants to become
Certification Specialists. They also must have
a greater availability of their weekends to commit to AFAA.
They receive $50 more for having someone apprentice
with them.
I hope this clarifies and
answers your questions regarding
the AFAA process. If you are serious about pursuing
a career in the industry, AFAA is a great place to do that.
I encourage you to take that next step.
I would also warn you that there is very little glamour
about it and a lot of hard work and dedication is required.
Pam is the owner of Archer Fitness Consultants, Inc. in Kingsport, Tennessee. She is Co-Host of the “Jenny’s Fit In 15” TV show on The Health Network. She has produced six exercise videos and starred in seven. Pam travels extensively training and certifying group fitness instructors for The Aerobic and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and The American Council On Exercise (ACE). Her fitness related articles have been published in American Fitness and IDEA Source magazines as well as numerous newsletters, including her own, Archer Fit Press.
You may visit Pam on-line at http://www.archerfitness.com or e-mail her at
pam@archerfitness.com
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