NZ Exercise Head Appointed To World Body

Richard Beddie, chief executive of ExerciseNZ and chief of staff to the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professionals, has been appointed a board of director for the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA).

Beddie, along with Ori Gorfine, president of US Fitness Holdings, will assume positions on the association’s board. Beddie will be representing IHRSA’s Global Health and Fitness Alliance, a group of international senior industry leaders and stakeholders.

The IHRSA is the global health and fitness association which is a not-for-profit trade association representing the global fitness industry of over 200,000 health and fitness facilities and their suppliers.

Founded in 1981, the IHRSA maintains a leadership role in advancing physical activity, which is critical for peak health and to fight the battle against obesity and chronic lifestyle diseases.

The association board chair Chris Craytor said as they move further into a new legislative session in the nation’s capital, the board of directors’ work is critical to helping the association raise its profile and work to secure passage of important legislation.

“Each member’s experience and diverse background helps ensure that IHRSA continues to reflect the important role our industry plays in helping consumers achieve better physical and mental health.

A multi-club owner before taking on his role as chief executive of ExerciseNZ Beddie has extensive governance experience in global exercise and recreation bodies and he is currently vice chair of IHRSA’s Global Health and Fitness Alliance Advisory Council.

He earned both a BSc in statistics and an MBA from the University of Canterbury, specialising in the fitness industry. Today Beddie said he was privileged to be able to help the IHRSA on its journey.

“The last few years made it very clear that more global collaboration was needed for our industry to successfully navigate the lack of recognition of our industry on the health continuum.

“I look forward to working with the rest of the IHRSA board on this and other key issues for our industry. Ultimately it’s all about supporting more people to access the benefits of structured exercise globally.“

Beddie has been a staunch campaigner for years to encourage Kiwis to get more active and reap the benefits of exercising.

New Zealand has an unacceptable level of physical inactivity, according to the first ever World Health Organisation (WHO) report on global physically inactivity last year.

The report says 95 percent of New Zealand girls 11 to 17 are physically inactive compared to 85 percent of boys the same age. For those 18 and over, 45 percent of women are inactive and 39 percent of men don’t exercise enough.

And among Kiwis 70 and over, 62 percent of women and 55 percent of men do not exercise enough.

Beddie says Aotearoa’s people are becoming less active, resulting in rising health costs and lower quality of life for Kiwis.

"New Zealand is actually one of the worst countries in the world for being energetic and exercising. Forty-eight percent of Kiwi adults don't hit global activity targets,” he says.

“But it's even worse among children and teenagers an alarming percentage of them are not active enough. The global average is 21 percent for adults and 81 percent for kids and adolescents.

“Lost production caused by physical inactivity costs the New Zealand economy $2.3 billion a year, according to a Deloitte report this year. New Zealand is often seen as a sports-mad country but Aotearoa is becoming a nation of inactive people.”

The WHO has asked the New Zealand government to collaborate with the exercise industry to improve activity levels. Beddie has frequently offered to help the government.

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