Employee Spotlight: Bill Decker

Personal Trainor & Health Coach

APJCC Health & Wellness

► What were you doing before you came to the JCC?
Most of my time was spent between Los Gatos, where I live, and Costa Rica, where I began to study Spanish in 2004.  I was dancing more then (Salsa, Bachata, Bolero) both in Costa Rica and San Jose, auditioning for commercials and industrial films, going to Bikram Yoga a lot (5-6 days per week) and training at a gym in Campbell. I’m very active in a 12 Step program, and I was working with men, counseling them, and also devoting time at correctional facilities talking with the inmates about changing their lives.

► What do you love about your current job?
I absolutely love encouraging people to think about what is possible for them, and how they may actually be able to change their lives and create a better, healthier person. Positive change starts in the present moment, and I get to devote an entire hour to helping a person focus on the task at hand and to give that task a 100% effort. This is no joke for me! This fires me up!

► Which value do you think is the most important to live by and why?
Empathy. When I put myself in the other person’s shoes and view life from their perspective, it is very difficult for me to judge that person, or to become critical. It has been my experience that when I engage with another with a spirit of empathy, wonderful things are about to happen, like acceptance, compassion, trust, and most important of all, love.

► Who inspires you and why?
Bill Wilson, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. No one knows this man. He died in 1971, but his life touched so many millions for positive change because he never stopped believing he could make people’s lives better and healthier. He was flawed, just like me. He had a big ego, just like me but despite his flaws, God found a way to use him to serve others, and to make the world a better place. I’ll never be so great!