Mr. Lance E. LEE, President, IGC Japan Ltd.

Can you remember what you wanted to become when you were a child? An astronaut? A jet pilot? Most people have had their childhood dreams destroyed by the time they are 25, says Lance LEE, instructor and President of IGC Japan Ltd., a business combining gymnastics and confidence building to help children lead better lives. With approximately 500 children from walking age up to 12 years, IGC teaches exercises and gymnastics in 30~60 minute classes.

The children, 70% girls and 90% foreign, leave classes feeling excited, happy and with a new found sense of confidence. Lance says "Parents realize their children are being taught to feel good about who they are and gymnastics just happens to be the vehicle we are using."

Lance first came to Japan in 1974 with the U.S. Air Force and worked as a consultant for a U.S.-based investment firm before switching to teaching Physical Education in 1977.

In 1976, he was working out in a gym on Yokota AFB when two young boys came and started watching him train. Lance finished tumbling workout, left, then returned when he realized he had forgotten something. He found the boys imitating his previous actions. Lance suggested, "If you come back each week I will teach you how to tumble." The boys did - but they kept on bringing friends. "Two months later I had 30 kids all wanting to learn how to do forward rolls and cartwheels all for free because I had never considered making gymnastics a business," Lance recalls. To cope with demand and expectations of the gym manager, Lance started his own business. He had 200 students.

How does the combination of gymnastics skills and confidence building assist children? "I don't think they really assist the children unless they go hand-in-hand with good instruction in the form of what the children are being told when they start, perform or complete the skill," Lance explains. "We teach our instructors how to work with children - that makes all the difference. I think to be able to look in a child's eyes and tell them they have done the skill well - and mean it - fills the children with such confidence." he says.

The biggest issue he faces is working with staff, only because they are part-time, and letting the business grow. "Finding qualified staff is difficult since most jobs are part-time. Not only do we need qualified staff, but I need to train them, keep them motivated and teach them how to work with the kids," he says.

Lance has managed other companies in the past and one of his biggest difficulties was not having a good mentor and choosing to face obstacles on his own. "One way to get a mentor is by asking," he says. "Most of the time we get what we don't ask for but if I had asked for more help I think the hardest times would have been a lot easier."

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