2011 IDEA World Fitness Awards Finalists

The IDEA World Fitness Awards highlight professionals who consistently give their all to motivate their clients, their communities and the fitness industry. Join us in celebrating the achievements of the finalists for the 2011 IDEA Program Director of the Year, IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year and IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year. Award recipients will be announced in the July-August issue of IDEA Fitness Journal.

IDEA PROGRAM DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Finalist: Lance Breger, MS

Washington, DC
Lance Breger, MS, is the head private trainer and senior master instructor at MINT in Washington, DC. He co-founded a nonprofit called Infinity Wellness Foundation. This foundation uses its WELLKIDS® program to help prevent childhood obesity in local students, through cardio and strength training, flexibility training, yoga, meditation and nutrition education.

Finalist: Fraser Quelch
Canmore, Alberta
Fraser Quelch, head of fitness and training for TRX®, is also the creator and lead educator of the TRX Suspension Training® program. Quelch and his company are involved in the Wounded Warrior Foundation. Five dollars from every TRX FORCE Kit™ purchase goes to provide wounded warriors with training equipment that will help rehabilitate their injuries and re-integrate the veterans into civilian life.

Finalist: Martin Rooney, MHS, PT
Fair Lawn, New Jersey
Martin Rooney, MHS, PT, is chief operating officer for Parisi Franchise Systems. He is responsible for the training systems, business strategy and staff development for all 66 Parisi franchises. He is also chief executive officer for Training for Warriors (TFW) LLC, where he is in charge of training systems development, business strategy and license development for the TFW system. Rooney speaks on fitness and nutrition at high-school and elementary-school events across the country.

IDEA PERSONAL TRAINER OF THE YEAR

Finalist: JJ Flizanes

Beverly Hills, California
JJ Flizanes is director of Invisible Fitness and co-founder of Getting-Fit.com, a business and results management program for both trainers and clients. From exercise design to implementation, Invisible Fitness provides one-on-one personal training for executives, high-performance clients and high-visibility individuals. The personalized programs employ in-person and telephone coaching in fitness, nutrition and life balance.

Finalist: Jason Karp, PhD
San Diego, California
Jason Karp, PhD, is founder and trainer at RunCoachJason.com, where he spends 20-25 hours per week working one-on-one with clients. He is also founder and instructor of Dr. Karp’s Run-Fit Boot Camp and founder and trainer of the REVO2LT Running Team™. He is the author of four books and has published more than 200 articles in industry magazines and journals and in national and international consumer fitness magazines.

Finalist: Brett Klika
San Diego, California
Brett Klika is director of athletic performance for Fitness Quest 10. He manages a staff of eight athlete performance specialists and maintains a personal training schedule of 35-50 client sessions per week, working with children, adults and professional athletes. To educate people in the community, he gives two to three free lectures per month on youth fitness and performance topics for physical education departments, sports clubs, youth organizations and parent groups.

IDEA FITNESS INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR

Finalist: Leigh Crews
Rome, Georgia
Founder and president of Dynalife Inc., Leigh Crews has worn just about every hat possible in the fitness industry, from instructor to general manager to aerobic competition judge to program developer/educator. In addition to the numerous projects she’s involved with in her local community, she uses GPS Adventure Training, which she created with her husband, as an outlet for philanthropic work.

Finalist: Stacy McCarthy

Rancho Santa Fe, California
As owner and founder of Yoga NamaStacy, Stacy McCarthy offers classes, DVDs, workshops, retreats, corporate events and teacher trainings for the yoga and fitness industry. She is also yoga director and co-founder of the Yoga School of Business and is redesigning the yoga certification program for Miracosta College. McCarthy helps organize Yoga for Hope—San Diego, to raise funds to help with life-threatening illnesses.

Finalist: Krista Popowych

Vancouver, British Columbia
Veteran group fitness instructor and presenter Krista Popowych is the manager of program services for the Richmond Olympic Oval. As program manager, she was recruited to hire, train and develop the staff, services and programs at the Oval. Now, after the 2010 Winter Olympics, she oversees the fitness, high-performance and client-services teams. She also mentors college students and offers free fitness classes for 5- and 6-year olds.

To read the complete profiles of the IDEA World Fitness Award finalists, please see the June 2011 issue of IDEA Fitness Journal.