The third international conference "Kinesiology - New Perspectives" was organised and hosted by the Faculty of Kinesiology University of Zagreb, Croatia, September 25-29, 2002, this time in the Hotel Adriatic Convention Centre in Opatija, under the high patronage of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The conference has obviously grown from its modest origins back in 1997 (in Dubrovnik) to a respected meeting of researchers and professionals from Croatia and abroad whose areas of scientific interest pertain to various fields of kinesiology (sport & exercise sciences) and adjacent scientific fields. More than 340 delegates contributed to, and participated in, a three-day conference of plenary and parallel sessions and poster displays.

Ten keynote lectures were presented in five plenary sessions: Challenges in optimising human sport performance by Erich Müller; School PE and sport in Europe: rhetoric and reality - current and future perspectives by Kenneth Hardman; The need and value of collaboration of multiple partners in national and international promotion of Sport for all by Ilkka Vuori; From analysis to coaching by Mike Hughes; Adaptation in sport by Atko Viru, Secular changes in sport by Jan Borms; Contemporary sport psychology by Matej Tušak, Biomechanical properties of tendons by Joszef Tihanyi; Science dealing with human movements - the meaning, the term, the course of development by Wodzimierz Starosta, and Kinesiologists: raiders for the lost paradigm by Roland Renson. The communications were well received by the full audiences and enjoyed by all, irrespective of individual scientific interest.

Eleven speakers were also invited to give introductory lectures in most thematic sessions: the session on Top level sport invited Toivo Jürimäe (Morphological aspects in sport and health), Bojan Jošt (Expert system for talent evaluation from the longitudinal aspect), Maria Bulatova and Vladimir Platonov (Main directions in optimising the Olympic preparation system) and Kenneth Swalgin (Bridging the gap between sport science and coaching). The Physical education section invited Janko Strel (Selectivity and individualisation within the curricula - a basis of further development of school sport). The Research methodology section invited Arnold Baca (Methods for analysing human movement in game sports - potential and limits) and Bojana Dalbelo Bašic (Artificial neural networks and advanced supervised learning techniques); the Biology and medicine of sport and exercise section invited Katarina T. Borer (Health impact of training intensity in older individuals); the Management in sport and tourism invited Zoran Jašic (Globalisation and sport) and Boris Vukoni (Management - the necessity in tourism and sport). The Biomechanics section invited Vlasta Zanchi (Biomachanical analysis of human gait) and Mario Cifrek (Electromyography in muscle fatigue evaluation). All the invited speakers highlighted the states-of-the-art and probable courses of development of particular fields of their interests. The presentations were enthusiastically received by the delegates and accomplished their aim of stimulating debate and furthering knowledge.

Oral communications (91) and poster presentations (97) within the already mentioned themed sections, as well as within the Psychology of sport and Sport for all, fitness and health related activities, adapted physical activity sections were available for those who had papers accepted after peer review. The process of reviewing contributions and setting a programme is a demanding task. The section chairs (Mirna Andrijaševic, Mato Bartoluci, Ksenija Bosnar, Romana Caput- Jogunica, Branka Matkovic, Vladimir Medved, Dragan Milanovic, Marjeta Mišigoj-Durakovic and Nataša Viskic-Štalec) and the president of the Scientific Committee Franjo Prot were responsible for selecting reviewers and coordinating reviews in their area. Each reviewer provided feedback on a number of papers in a very short time. The president of the Organising Committee Dragan Milanovic expresses his gratitude to the invited speakers who also willingly served as the members of the Scientific Committee and reviewers, as well as to the rest of the comprehensive team of international reviewers.

The social programme was also rich and enthusiastically attended by most participants. Maybe too little time was left for less formal modes of interaction. The organiser managed to publish the proceedings book and CD prior to the conference and each participant was provided with a copy with 217 conference contributions.

The conference revealed all the impressive diversity and strength of our field of science(s) and emphasized its interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature. We hope that the noticed growing trend in participation rates and in quality of contributions and debate will be continued throughout the future conferences which are going to be held in a "triennial-cycle-periodization" rhythm.