While recent research has focused on leadership and development in collegiate club and intramural sports participants, many of the findings and suggestions may be deemed applicable to student roles within college fitness and group exercise programs. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to learn about the leadership experiences, motivations, benefits, and perceived limitations to group fitness instruction for students at a small, private, Mid-Atlantic university, and to discover potential influences of these experiences on the overall collegiate experience. The researcher was interested in insights of both current and recently graduated students who serve as group fitness instructors at their college. The researcher interviewed eight participants from one institution selected through convenience sampling. While this study used a small sample from one institution, interviewee responses were consistent, relevant, and may be expanded upon in future research. Participants reported that they improved leadership skills, public speaking, conflict resolution, and developed a campus identity as a result of teaching group exercise. The majority of the participants had not considered the benefits of their experiences in terms of professional development, and relationship building before their participation in the study. These findings demonstrate that campus recreation departments need to provide evidence to students and university administration that their programs not only provide enjoyment and health benefits for participants, but also a litany of “soft skills” and professional experiences that employers will look for after graduation.

中文翻译：

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“让我想成为火花”：以大学生团体健身教练的经历为例

虽然最近的研究集中于大学俱乐部和壁内运动参与者的领导和发展，但许多发现和建议可能被认为适用于大学健身和小组锻炼计划中的学生角色。这项探索性案例研究的目的是了解小型，私立中大西洋大学学生的团体健身指导的领导经验，动机，收益和感知上的局限性，并发现这些经验对整体的潜在影响大学经历。研究人员对现任和即将毕业的学生的见解感兴趣，这些学生在大学担任团体健身教练。研究人员采访了通过便利抽样选择的一所机构的八名参与者。尽管本研究使用了来自一个机构的少量样本，但受访者的回答是一致的，相关的，并且可能在以后的研究中得到扩展。参加者报告说，由于进行小组教学，他们提高了领导技能，公开演讲，解决冲突并发展了校园形象。在参加研究之前，大多数参与者没有考虑过他们的经验对专业发展和建立关系的益处。这些发现表明，校园娱乐部门需要向学生和大学行政管理部门提供证据，证明其课程不仅为参与者提供娱乐和健康益处，而且还为雇主提供了一系列“软技能”和专业经验，供雇主毕业后寻求。