ICSSPE Executive Board & Development Committee in Berlin

ICSSPE Executive Board and Development Committee Meet in Berlin

For the first time in over two years, the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) Executive Board and Development Committee were able to hold their annual joint working meetings face to face, with the two-day hybrid-event taking place at the ICSSPE office in Berlin Olympic Park from 12 to 13 May 2022.

Elected at the online General Assembly in May 2021, the get-together in Berlin also marked the first opportunity for the new members of the Executive Board and Development Committee to meet and get to know each other in person, following a year of online meetings.

The joint meeting started on Thursday, 12 May 2022 with a presentation of the Sport for the Prevention of Extremism in Youth (SPEY) project, which is set to wrap up in June.

President of ICSSPE Dr. Uri Schaefer and Gerard Esteva, President of the Union of Sportive Federations of Catalonia (UFEC), the entity that leads the SPEY project, opened the day with a welcome, highlighting the strength of both organisations in undertaking social projects and developing relevant methods and tools for the prevention of extremism among youth through sport.

The SPEY project, led by the UFEC and co-funded by the European Commission Erasmus+ programme, combines the practice of sport and the learning of transversal skills with the aim of minimising the risk factors involved in the process of radicalisation in young people. ICSSPE has been a SPEY project partner over the last two years and conducted a systematic literature review.

Milena de Murga, psychologist and criminologist, co-creator and coordinator of the SPEY project and director of the Department of Social and International Projects at the UFEC, presented the programme and its evolution. Roberto Muelas Lobato, a researcher at the International University Centre of Marbella, joined the meeting online and introduced the issues of violence and radicalisation and their significance for SPEY. The presentation was wrapped up by Marcello Corrado, Head of Projects at the European Executive Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA), who presented the Erasmus + programme to all attendees.

For more on SPEY see the project website and save the date for the final project presentation in Brussels on 14 June 2022 – register HERE.

A tour through Berlin’s Olympic Stadium followed the SPEY presentation, before an address by ICSSPE Honorary President Prof. Dr. Gudrun Doll-Tepper kicked-off the joint Executive Board and Development meeting in the afternoon.

The two committees updated one another on all current and planned projects and activities as part of ICSSPE’s Strategic Plan 2021 – 2024 and jointly discussed presentations on ICSSPE membership and communications.

Board and Committee members discussed the various links between sport and the UN Sustainable Development Goals and agreed to increase efforts in monitoring the legacy of sport activities, acknowledging resource pressure and the need for green technologies, including events such as the upcoming Special Olympic World Games in 2023 and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Furthermore, development committee members implemented a working group that will develop a concept for a publication that focuses on the relationship between climate change, urbanisation and the provision of sport.

Former ICSSPE Vice-President Wolfgang Baumann also joined the group in the afternoon before he and former ICSSPE Executive Board member and current Development Committee member Dr Maria Dinold were presented with a thank you for their many years of services and dedication on the ICSSPE Executive board at dinner.

“We appreciate and thank you for your many years of dedication, services and commitment to ICSSPE. The experience and knowledge you have brought to ICSSPE have been invaluable, including your contributions to our current strategic plan, which we developed together with you. On behalf of the Executive Board we thank you very much for your support,” ICSSPE President Uri Schaefer acknowledged the contributions made by Dinold and Baumann.

The meetings continued on Friday with separate meetings of both the Development Committee and the Executive Board. Both groups will meet again online in June and July respectively.

Meeting minutes and presentations will be available for members in the members section once they have been finalised.

Current members of the ICSSPE Executive Board are:

• Uri Schaefer, President (International Council for Coaching Excellence), Israel
• César Torres, Vice President (International Association for the Philosophy of Sport), USA
• Annette Hofmann, Vice President (Deutscher Turner-Bund, International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport), Germany
• Jari Kanerva, Treasuer (Finnish Society of Sport Sciences), Finnland

Further members:

• Katongo Bwalya (National Organisation for Women in Sport Zambia Physical Activity and Recreation), Zambia
• Gerald Fritz (Deutsche Olympische Akademie), Germany
• Sandra Heck (International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport), Luxembourg
• Martin Holzweg (European Physical Education Association), Germany
• David Legg (International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity), Canada
• Maria Beatriz Rocha Ferreira (International Association of Physical Education & Sport for Girls & Women), Brazil
• Detlef Dumon, Executive Director, Germany

The Development Committee, elected in May 2021, comprises the following officers:

• Annette Hofmann, Germany
• Mauricio de Arruda Campos (International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness), Brazil
• Claire Boursier (Mooven), France
• Verena Burk (International University Sport Federation), Germany
• Ruth Crabtree (World Association for Sport Management), UK
• Maria Dinold (International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity), Austria
• Stefka Djobova (National Sports Academy "Vassil Levski"), Bulgaria
• Usha Nair (Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education), India
• Mickey Scheinowitz (Tel Aviv University), Israel
• Junko Tahara (Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences), Japan.

For more on the ICSSPE Operational Structure see HERE.