THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994 TAG: 9406140122
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940615 LENGTH: Medium
They're exercises McCrea teaches in her aqua-aerobics business - H20 FIT.
McCrea, who began her business full time in September, holds swimming lessons and aqua-aerobic instruction at hotel pools for guests or at private homes for owners.
{REST} ``The water is ideal for all ages,'' said McCrea, 36. ``It's fun, and it's like aerobics only your feet never hit the ground.''
Her tools of the trade include what she calls a ``groovy stick,'' which is a 6-foot-long foam-rubber flexible tube that customers use for maneuvering and exercising in the water. There also are Sprint belts that allow patrons to float in the water and jog in place.
Each class, learning to swim or aqua aerobics, is about 45 minutes long and costs $18 for at-home instruction and $25 for hotel pool instruction.
The number of participants is limited according to the size of the pool. For instance, a homeowner could invite four other guests to attend the workout sessions, and the fee would not increase.
The equipment is provided by McCrea at each lesson.
When she decided to go into the business full time, her biggest worry came in finding an insurance company that would insure her. Through the International Association of Fitness Professionals, McCrea was able to find a California company that provided insurance.
McCrea, a former part-time lifeguard instructor, aqua-aerobics teacher, water-safety instructor and swim-team coach with Parks and Recreation, has been certified as an instructor by the U.S. Water Fitness Association since 1985.
She's also a certified aquatic fitness instructor for the city and has a pool operator's certification from the Health Department. McCrea is also a member of the International Association of Fitness Professionals and a member of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association.
Her lifeguard training came from the American Red Cross. She began taking the lifesaving courses at a Virginia Beach recreation center as a hobby.
She has worked as an Oceanfront-area bartender for about 12 years, she said, and spent her days in a recreation center pool swimming.
``I used to just swim laps, but that got boring,'' said McCrea, a Richmond native and Beach resident for the past 13 years. ``It was more of a challenge to take the lifeguard classes.''
McCrea said she was a certified lifeguard for three years before she was hired by Parks and Recreation on a part-time basis.
After 3 1/2 years with the city, and teaching some swim courses on the side, McCrea decided to go into the business full time.
``Some of the women who I taught on a weekly basis wanted me to come to their homes and neighborhood pools to teach,'' said McCrea, a London Bridge Road area resident. ``I figured it was a chance to be outdoors. Plus, my bathing suits are tax deductible now, and that's good.''
Currently, she services about four hotels and seven homeowners.
She said she is hoping to have about 18 customers a week, then, eventually, wants to have enough customers to hire other instructors.
Although she will teach private lessons in private homes, her target market is hotels.
``It's a program a hotel can offer to guests or employees,'' McCrea said.
McCrea has even been hired to teach aqua aerobics to folks who come into town for conventions.
``I really want this to rocket,'' she said. ``Even during the winter, hotels still have guests.
``When people come to the beach everybody brings a bathing suit. So anybody's who's here can do it. And you don't have to know how to swim to take aqua aerobics because there are flotation devices.''
by CNB