IRVINE, CA--(Marketwire -08/29/12)- Burnham Benefits Insurance Services, one of the largest employee benefits brokerages in Southern California and one of the few to specialize solely in strategic employee benefits consulting and brokerage services, has been selected by PEAR Sports as their exclusive partner offering fitness-based employee wellness programs in California and across the United States using the patented PEAR Training Intelligence platforms. Through PEAR's Square One and Mobile products, employees experience an audio-based fitness coaching, training and results tracking system. PEAR provides hundreds of personalized and recommended training plans and workouts designed by a team of world-class coaches.

PEAR products include a wireless heart-rate sensor, foot pod and sport earphones that work together to deliver real-time audio coaching and on-demand audio stats based on how the body is responding to the workout. It also infuses users' favorite music seamlessly into the coaching cues. Users begin with an assessment workout prior to starting a specific plan. The assessment phase reads data on heart rate zones during a moderate 20-minute workout and then calibrates the system to choose appropriate workouts.

"The PEAR system is ideal for employee wellness programs because it's so simple to use and completely adaptable for employees at every fitness level," says Kristen Allison, President of Burnham Benefits, who incorporated the exciting technology into her company's own wellness program before rolling it out to clients . "The coaching and instant feedback are informative and motivating, and the device tracks and monitors performance and health data so users can see just how much they're progressing toward any health goal. It's ideal for motivating employees involved in any number of fitness and wellness programs. Employers know that effective wellness programs can make an enormous positive impact both in employees' lives as well on the bottom line by improving attendance, boosting productivity and reducing health insurance claims."

The PEAR Training Intelligence platform gives each program member access to expert coaching 24 hours a day. Employers committed to cutting-edge solutions can bundle online set-up, implementation and support, a basic reporting package and an initial overview from the Burnham Benefits and PEAR teams.

Gadgets have taken over day-to-day life, which makes PEAR a fitness solution that really drives engagement. It's an easy answer for the growing number of employers asking for solutions that increase participation and focus on physical activity. Because it's customized for the user's fitness level, employers can ensure that their wellness programs aren't pushing employees too hard, but rather encouraging increased and highly effective physical activity.

The new technology is especially well-suited to fitness challenges like Burnham Benefits/Burnham Gibson's PEAR Sport Fitness and Wellness Challenge. The 16-week program placed the two companies' wellness programs in competition with one another, with the winner being the employee who earned the most points based on frequency of workouts, diversity of workouts and workout intensity. The 20 employees who participated for the duration of the program lost a total of 197 pounds, burned 827,529 calories and decreased average BMI from 27.1 to 25.34. The winner received a five-night Maui vacation, including round-trip airfare and a catamaran cruise. The fitness challenge helped gather additional benchmarking data and served as a prototype for additional fitness challenges designed to support clients' wellness programs.

"If you have someone in your ear encouraging you and keeping you accountable, it keeps you motivated," says Catherine Seitz, a 43-year-old mother of four who lost 45 pounds during the Challenge. "With other programs, everyone tries to have a good start, but you tend to say you'll do it later and after a few weeks you start to procrastinate. PEAR is a constant reminder to stay engaged. When I don't have it, I miss it."

According to the 2011 Willis Health and Productivity Survey, an overwhelming number of employers cite improvement of employee participation and engagement as a top goal for their wellness programs. Only 17 percent say they offer comprehensive wellness programs -- a fact that's likely affected by budgets that are unable to accommodate anything more than very basic offerings. The PEAR wellness program is another example of the innovative ways that Burnham Benefits strives to provide employers with effective and affordable employee-benefit programs.

To learn more about the Burnham Benefits PEAR Wellness Plan for your business, call 949-833-2983 or visit http://www.burnhambenefits.com/benefits/pear-sports.html for more information.

PEAR SPORTS: Based in Solana Beach, Calif., Pear Sports is the developer of Training Intelligence, a patented technology that is delivered exclusively through Pear Square One and Pear Mobile products. Pear is a smart biofeedback training system that uses a wireless heart-rate monitor and foot pod to measure the body's response to a workout and delivers real-time coaching to keep users on track with fitness goals. Pear formulates individual training plans designed by a team of world-class coaches based on the user's age, gender, fitness level, aspirations and the latest training science. Interactive audio coaching focuses users on their goals and motivates them to stay on track. On-demand workout statistics include heart rate, pace, cadence, time, distance and calories burned. For more information about Pear Sports and the Pear Square One and Mobile products visit pearsports.com.

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Burnham Benefits Pioneers Employee-Wellness Program Using Cutting-Edge Audio-Based Fitness Coaching and Training Tool

NEW YORK (AFP) - China superstar Li Na has a new man in her life and her husband couldn't be happier.

Ever since Li linked up with Justine Henin's former coach, Carlos Rodriguez, earlier this summer, her career has been reinvigorated with a runner-up spot in Montreal followed by a title in Cincinnati.

It's a success that meant an end to her on-off coaching relationship with husband Jiang Shan, but Li insisted on Monday that her marriage, as well as her career, have both benefitted.

"After I got a new coach I think for both me and my husband it's much easier," said 30-year-old Li after reaching the US Open second round.

"Love is love; coach is coach. You have to separate. After I changed the coach, I didn't say my husband didn't do a good job. I think he's still doing good job.

"But for both sometimes it's too much, you know. Like it's really tough to find a balance between coaching and husband."

Li's triumph in Cincinnati was her first title since her landmark 2011 French Open victory, and her good form continued on Monday when she eased past 20-year-old Briton Heather Watson 6-2, 6-3 to make the second round at the US Open.

It was her first win at Flushing Meadows since her tournament-best performance of a quarter-final run in 2009.

Ninth-seeded Li, who goes on to tackle Australia's Casey Dellacqua for a place in the last 32, believes her win over the 2009 US Open junior champion Watson, was also a victory for mind over matter.

"I am 10 years older than her, so I got more experience on the court. She played very good, but sometimes I had to show her how good I am," explained Li, whose dominance was illustrated by 28 winners to Watson's 10.

Read more:
Li marriage boosted by new man in her life

China superstar Li Na has a new man in her life and her husband couldn't be happier.

Ever since Li linked up with Justine Henin's former coach, Carlos Rodriguez, earlier this summer, her career has been reinvigorated with a runner-up spot in Montreal followed by a title in Cincinnati.

It's a success that meant an end to her on-off coaching relationship with husband Jiang Shan, but Li insisted on Monday that her marriage, as well as her career, have both benefitted.

"After I got a new coach I think for both me and my husband it's much easier," said 30-year-old Li after reaching the US Open second round.

"Love is love; coach is coach. You have to separate. After I changed the coach, I didn't say my husband didn't do a good job. I think he's still doing good job.

"But for both sometimes it's too much, you know. Like it's really tough to find a balance between coaching and husband."

Li's triumph in Cincinnati was her first title since her landmark 2011 French Open victory, and her good form continued on Monday when she eased past 20-year-old Briton Heather Watson 6-2, 6-3 to make the second round at the US Open.

It was her first win at Flushing Meadows since her tournament-best performance of a quarter-final run in 2009.

Ninth-seeded Li, who goes on to tackle Australia's Casey Dellacqua for a place in the last 32, believes her win over the 2009 US Open junior champion Watson, was also a victory for mind over matter.

"I am 10 years older than her, so I got more experience on the court. She played very good, but sometimes I had to show her how good I am," explained Li, whose dominance was illustrated by 28 winners to Watson's 10.

More here:
Li Na marriage boosted by new man in her life

Learning to fly is a metaphor Pamela Hale can use literally. In addition to being a life coach and teacher, Hale is also an author and pilot who uses flying to help people live courageously.

In her recently published memoir, "Flying Lessons: How to Be the Pilot of Your Own Life," Hale takes readers through her own self-doubt and fear by way of seven "flight lessons." The book, which is illustrated with Hale's dramatic aerial photos, also chronicles her fight with breast cancer.

"Since my mother and grandmother had died of the disease, I knew I needed to do everything in my power, using both allopathic medicine and alternative methods," said Hale, 69.

A graduate of both Columbia and Stanford universities, Hale attended Tucson's Tacheria School for Spiritual Direction, where she studied spirituality and leadership, and became certified as a mediator.

At 57, she began a new practice, combining energy healing, life coaching and spiritual counseling from local traditions and those practiced in Central and South America.

"I hope I provide some practical and powerful tools for healing and transformation, and that I do that in a creative way that helps people to love life and themselves, and to heal old wounds, live in gratitude, feel a sense of purpose and passion, and contribute to a healthier planet," she said.

In addition to her book, Hale offers retreats at her family's Rocking X Ranch in Gila County's Sierra Ancha mountains. Her goal is to provide people time to get unhooked from electronics and connect instead "with the life force within."

Here are excerpts from a recent interview with Hale:

Where were you born?

I was born in Sacramento, Calif., where my father was an Army flight instructor, and moved to the Pasadena area when I was 2, after my father was shot down and killed over Germany in World War II. I stayed in the area and brought up my own children in South Pasadena.

Continued here:
'Flying Lessons' leaves fear grounded

By Joyce E. A. Russell, Special to the Washington Post. Joyce E. A. RussellWashington Post In Print: Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently found that employment for career counselors is expected to grow 19 percent by the year 2020. Yet, despite the increased money being spent on coaching by employers today, not as much is published about the effectiveness of coaching. Does it work, and if so, how? What impact does it really have? What do executives really think about it?

Over the years, I've asked executives who have gone through coaching what they think its value might be. Haywood Barney, a technology strategy consultant with IBM, said coaching "provided a structure and plan to accomplish what I saw as my future . . . sort of a road map." Bart Ludlow, project manager at Avian Engineering, noted, "Coaching accurately identifies a leader's strengths and areas for improvement which are critical for all of us to know in order to be more effective."

One goal of coaches is to push leaders to think through issues for themselves. Often, executives experience the positive spillover of coaching. As Doug Riley, vice president of sales at Thomas Somerville Co., said, "Coaching helped me fine-tune attributes that improved both my personal and professional life."

In their roles as leaders, executives often provide coaching to proteges and employees. Yet, as they move up in organizations, they are often not given mentoring themselves, despite the fact that they have increasingly more challenging jobs. Over the years, many executives have told me that they are especially appreciative to receive coaching at this latter part of their professional lives.

But not everyone goes into coaching convinced it will have any impact on them. If those individuals can be turned around to find value in coaching, then we have better evidence that coaching is making a difference.

"As someone who was initially skeptical on the value of executive coaching I have made a 180-degree turnaround," said Elie Ashery, president and chief executive of Gold Lasso. "Coaching helped me gain greater insight into how my peers not only viewed me personally, but my abilities to lead and provide value. With this new insight, I was able to better connect with my management team, board of directors and investors. As a result of these improved connections we performed better as a team and just had our best quarter ever since being in business."

Determining the value of executive coaching is tricky and is often estimated similar to how firms measure the impact of training programs. Metrics can involve any of the following:

Financial results examining outcomes such as cost savings, increased sales or profits, or reduced voluntary turnover or absenteeism.

Business results increased market share, organizational growth, or profitability.

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Executive coaching can provide big benefits, many say

Beating Michael Jordan on the golf course was enjoyable, but Terrell Buckley found it wasnt fulfilling.

They played every day, or at least every one the former NBA great spent in South Florida in 2006. They were joined by the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Cris Carter or Nat Moore, friends Buckley, a former Florida State All-America, made during his 14 years in the NFL before he retired after the 2005 season.

Im pretty good; I was close to being a scratch, Buckley said of his prowess on the links. Jordan had his days, though.

Inevitably, their conversations turned to the latest professional player to run afoul of the law. Buckley had the same talks with another friend, Troy Vincent, a former NFL Players Association president who now serves as the leagues vice president of player engagement.

It hit me that Im doing what probably 95 percent of the people do, you see stuff on ESPN and in the paper and you say, Man, what are they doing? All this money they make and all this and we didnt Buckley said earlier this month after a University of Akron football practice at InfoCision Stadium. I had to sit back and think when I was 17, 18 and 19, I was probably doing the same thing.

Buckley realized he had longed for a mentor while growing up in Pascagoula, Miss. In his mid-30s, he figured out what drove him, and it wasnt just testing his game on the championship course at Fort Lauderdales Grande Oaks Golf Club, where the movie Caddyshack was filmed.

The main thing Ive found out is that the Lord blessed me, I like to help. Im kind of a giver, Buckley said. My momma, my dad, everybody was giving and I want to be a part of that.

So in 2007 he went back to Florida State and finished his degree. He started working in football coach Bobby Bowdens weight room. He served as a graduate assistant, became coordinator of the life skills program for the Seminoles, then went back to the weight room. He stayed on after Bowden retired after the 2009 season. But coach Jimbo Fisher wasnt ready to fire a coach to hire Buckley.

On Dec. 29, Buckleys 17-year-old daughter Sherrell was driving the family home from the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., after a victory over Notre Dame. Buckley was napping until his cell phone rang at about 1 in the morning. It was Terry Bowden, Bobbys son, offering him a job coaching cornerbacks at the University of Akron.

Bowden wanted an answer quickly, so Buckley discussed the opportunity with his three daughters. Sherrell, Brianna (14) and Britney (11) convinced him of the communicative powers of Skype, Google Plus and instant messaging.

Continue reading here:
UA’s Terrell Buckley drawn to coaching to mold men, not just cornerbacks

Right from a young age, basketball has been a huge part of Paul Henare's life.

The 33-year-old enjoyed a memorable playing career - attending two Olympic Games and two world championships with the Tall Blacks, while also spending 17 seasons in the New Zealand national league.

It was with the New Zealand Breakers that Henare achieved the most acclaim, playing in the team's first eight seasons, and ended his time with the club in style, when he was part of their inaugural 2010-2011 Australian National Basketball League championship winning side. He holds the record for the most games played [250] for the Breakers, and was the first player in franchise history to have his number [32] retired by the club at the beginning of last season.

Henare has made a swift and successful move into the coaching ranks, mentoring the Hawke's Bay Hawks in the last two New Zealand NBL seasons. He has won 21 of his 30 games in charge of the Hawks, steering them through to the final in 2011, and the semi-finals this season.

Earlier this year, he was also named as an assistant coach for the Tall Blacks for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela.

Basketball is all Henare has known since finishing high school and he said his ultimate ambition is to steadily climb his way up the coaching ladder and and continue to gain more experience.

"People ask me if I study or have a degree, and my answer to them is I have a degree in basketball. I've been studying the game of basketball for 18 years now," he said.

"I've been goal-driven my whole life. That's a goal of mine. I would love to coach the Tall Blacks one day, and I want to continue coaching professionally."

Henare was this week named as the new fulltime coach of the Southland Sharks for the next two years. He will replace foundation coach Richard Dickel, who will become Southland Basketball's development officer.

Coaching basketball at the elite level has always been at the back of Henare's mind. He began to consider it seriously as his career was winding down with the Breakers, and remains thankful to the Hawks organisation for giving him his first opportunity in the big time, two years ago.

Read more from the original source:
Henare keen to share will to win with Sharks

By Chad Garner

cgarner@sentinelandenterprise.com @CGARNER23 on Twitter

Some coaches burst onto the scene and leave in a blink of an eye.

Others dedicate their lives to teaching and coaching high school students and athletes about the values needed for success in life.

The late Richard Stachowicz -- a born coach and educator -- was that special role model and major influence in many people's lives at Lunenburg High School for 39 years.

Stachowicz, a highly successful boys' varsity basketball coach and physical education teacher who passed away on July 13, 2010, after a battle with Parkinson's disease, will permanently be a focal point in a place he called home for so many years, as Lunenburg High School will officially name the court at Lunenburg Memorial Gymnasium the "Richard A. Stachowicz Court" and unveil the dedication at the first home game of the upcoming boys' varsity basketball season.

"It absolutely is emotional in a lot of different ways," said Stachowicz's son Mark, 44, overcome by emotion. "I shared him with every kid in Lunenburg. He coached a long time, and we all had an investment with what he did. To see an award for that, that the community appreciated what he did and respected what he did, it's a small thank you. This validates the sacrifices we made as a family to do that. It's a nice honor; it validates everything he put in."

The unveiling is a can't miss-event

"It's going to mean a lot," Mark Stachowicz said. "He took so much pride in what he did. I won't have dry eyes, I can promise you that. He was something special for what he did. It was never about him, but it's nice to see that this is about him."

Jeremy Kullman, who played for Stachowicz on the varsity team for three seasons before graduating in 1992, will always remember his late coach as an unbelievable motivator.

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Blue Knights honor a legend

One of the more creative aspects of life coaching is implementing or designing exercises that will help nudge a client closer to answers or clarity on her goals. I have been known to tweak some Ive learned from others, to invent some on the spot and also to get ideas that I fine-tune and develop more slowly.

In the latter category is one I call Witness Protection. Just as it sounds, it is based on imagining oneself having to enter the Witness Protection Program and being given the chance at reinvention. The idea is to dig into your existing life with questions along these lines: Aside from having to sever significant relationships in your life, what would be most challenging? Does the idea of being yanked out of your current life and thrust into a new one bring up excitement or dread?

With the recent release of the movie Hit and Run where a character risks his new identity to help his girlfriend get to Los Angeles, I thought it would be timely to mull this and see what emerges from the exercise.

The idea for this first came to me when I was an avid viewer of the USA Networks In Plain Sight. I was initially drawn to it because I loved the sassy, smart main character of Mary Shannon (so well played by Mary McCormack), a deputy U.S. marshal based in Albuquerque. But as time went on I became intrigued by the way each character handled bungled? embraced? -- the transition into Witness Protection.

What would be your greatest challenge? What would you do?

OK, Ill go first.

How would I make a living? Well, I write in this life. Would that still be possible in a situation where Im trying to keep my identity hidden? Clearly there would be no column that includes my picture. But I wonder if even my writing style would tip off someone, some linguistics expert hired to track me down because I testified against the wrong person. Public writing might have to go. Maybe I could keep it to local features for newsletters or the like.

And then theres coaching. Could I still do that? Again, there would be no website promoting my work that contains my photo. No professional events where coaches gather. No conferences. No advertising my services. What if another coach Ive met through my networking and columnist duties in this life made contact?

Part of me thinks Id resign myself to a mundane money job to pay the bills and then just read myself into a frenzy. The UPS guy would be at my house non-stop delivering packages from Amazon as I went from Virginia Woolf to Philip Roth to Anais Nin. There would be the poetry of Hafiz and Mary Oliver and then maybe Id enter a Janet Evanovich haze.

Did you see what happened there? I didnt learn a darned thing about what Id do to earn a living. That became secondary as I let the fantasy go forth into a stream of consciousness place. What did I learn that I can apply to my current life? That while I am fairly well read, I want to be really well read. I am jealous of voracious readers. What is stopping me from being one? Carving out more time for it. And to boot, when I do it feeds my writing. Win-win.

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What Would Your New Identity Look Like?

23 August 2012 | last updated at 11:36PM

SMK Teluk Kumbar students during the hockey coaching clinic at the schools ground recently. Pic by Ramdzan Masiam

GEORGE TOWN: STUDENTS of SMK Teluk Kumbar got a once in a life time experience when four ex-internationals conducted a hockey coaching clinic at the school's ground recently.

The ex-internationals who conducted the half-day coaching clinic were ex-national skipper Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin, Lailin Abu Hasan, Mohd Amin Rahim and Fairus Wanazir.

Nor Saiful, who is the Tenaga Nasional sports department head, and the three taught the excited students the basic skills of hockey, which included hitting the ball correctly, stopping, scooping and also on how to hold the stick correctly while running.

For the students, aged between 13 and 15 years, it was their first experience playing hockey, said an excited Form Two student, Ahmad Ali.

The clinic was made possible by the state Tenaga Nasional Bhd distribution department and the Pulau Mutiara Kilat Club with the support of Bayan Lepas state assemblyman Syed Ameruddin Syed Ahmad.

SMK Teluk Kumbar principal Norati Mohd Othman said the students were just learning to play hockey and despite no proper coach or guidance, had finished third in the Penang Schools district level competition.

She said the school has boys' and girls' Under-14 and Under-18 teams who were in regular training and with the coaching clinic and assistance from Penang State Hockey Association and Universiti Sains Malaysia, she hoped the players and teachers would be motivated to improve and strive for excellence.

Present at the event were Universiti Sains Malaysia sports and recreation department director Muhammad Mohd Haniff, Penang State Hockey Association secretary and treasurer V. Jayanandhan and K. Sunderason respectively.

Originally posted here:
HOCKEY: Former stars share knowledge