SMILE for older adults The SMILE training programme ‘The Foundations of Successful Senior Programming’ is designed to help fitness professionals evaluate how they currently provide for senior adults and assist them to create and develop a winning senior programme.
One in twenty of all the people who ever lived on this earth are still alive today and Census figures tell us that there are more people in the UK over sixty than under sixteen. From a commercial standpoint providing for seniors is a massive and growing market. The SMILE programme demonstrates how, by understanding the real and varied needs of this group you can develop a successful senior programme and it provides working examples of how a successful senior programme can grow from very humble beginnings.
An awareness of both national and local health agendas and the ability to develop relationships with local Primary Care Trusts will help operators to tailor a programme of activity for older adults that will meet the specific needs of fitness centres, healthcare providers and seniors alike. Programmes preventing falls, promoting mental health in older people and promoting health and activity are all part of the National Service Framework standards set by the Department of Health, which are intended to meet the aims of the government’s white paper ‘Our Healthier Nation’.
The SMILE programme takes the broader view of activity for older adults, helps clubs to identify how the work they are already doing meets with the government’s agenda, how they progress that work and how they can obtain funding.
What is becoming increasingly obvious with this market is that one size definitely does not fit all. Indeed experts around the world agree that the activities and interests of seniors are so diverse that it is very difficult to pin them down from a marketing perspective. The needs of somebody just turned fifty will be very different from those at sixty, seventy and eighty. This means that marketing, advertising and planning needs to be specific and direct.
SMILE looks at the functional ability of these age groups and how operators can provide for their different needs, goals and objectives. Bridges can be created through educational and social activities that will provide older members with the sense of belonging that is needed for retention. SMILE brings a total wellness approach to programme content including emotional, vocational, educational and most importantly the vital social element.
The aim of the SMILE training programmes is to provide participants with the knowledge and confidence to develop a successful senior programme that will provide ‘total wellness’ for older adults and motivate them to adhere to a regular programme of exercise that will add years to their life as well as life to their years.
Participants will:-
