International School Sport Federation
| Abbreviation | ISF |
|---|---|
| Motto | We Are School Sport |
| Formation | 1972 |
| Type | Sport federation |
| Purpose | Education through sport |
| Headquarters | Antwerp, Belgium |
|
Official language
|
French, English, German, Spanish[1] |
|
President
|
Laurent Petrynka |
|
Secretary General/CEO
|
Coolen Jan |
| Website | http://www.isfsports.org/ |
The International School Sport Federation (ISF) is a international sports governing body for school sport. Founded in 1972 with 13 signatory nations (all European), the federation has been organising international competitions to encourage education through sport and student athletes. It now has 84 member nations from five continents.[2] It is a member of SportAccord and is recognised by the International Olympic Committee.[3][4][5] It is based in Antwerp, Belgium.[6]
The ISF limits itself to activities with school children between the ages of 14 to 17 (roughly contiguous with high school age).[2] This distinguishes its role from the longer-established International University Sports Federation, which governs student sport from the ages of 17 to 28.[7][8]
The foremost competition held by the ISF is the Gymnasiade – a quadrennial multi-sport event first held in 1974 that features athletics, gymnastics and swimming events. From 2016, the Gymnasiade will be organised every 2 years.
There are 25 recognised ISF sports, each of which has its own championship once every two years.[9] They are called the ISF World Schools Championship (ISFWSC). The first official ISF championships were in football and volleyball, which both took place in 1972, athletics, basketball, handball and skiing championships followed a year later.
Among their other major events are the Pan-American School Games and the World Schools Athletics Championships (also known as the Athletic Cup Jean Humbert Memorial).[10]
Contents
History
Around the mid 1960s, international sporting contests between schools has been increasing. Besides occasional and haphazard meetings between two or more schools, tournaments were beginning to be organised regularly in different disciplines: in handball from 1963, in volleyball from 1969, in football one year later and from 1971 also in basketball. Each of these annual tournaments produced basic regulations and a standing committee.
The large number of international competitions requiring eliminating heats at the national level soon gave rise to a desire to co-ordinate these events, within a specific International Federation. To help promote this idea, the Federal Minister of Education and Arts of the Republic of Austria convened a Conference at Raach in the Autumn of 1971. Here the conditions were discussed for setting up a European School Sport Federation.
After very lengthy debates, the project was approved. However, bearing future development possibilities in mind, the ISF was not limited to European countries alone. A Provisional Committee, the members of which were chosen from among the 21 nations present, was set up, and the meeting of the constituent General Assembly was fixed for 4 June 1972 at Beaufort/Luxembourg. This meeting adopted the Statutes and proceeded to elect the members of the first Executive Committee.
Philosophy
The ISF aims to promote the school sport and to stimulate the establishment of national organisations of school sport. It rejects the interference of any outside influence on the national associations of school sport. It is ready, however, to respond to all demands of information and moral support. The ISF pursues these objectives without any discrimination on political, religious and ethnical grounds.
In the framework of VISION2030, the ISF encourages education through sport. Beyond the usual practice of school sport through competition, the ISF insists on the values that sport brings to young generation.
VISION2030
VISION2030 is a strategic roadmap of the ISF to make school sport more ambitious, more innovative, more accessible, more educational, more worldwide and more transparent. These 6 fundamental elements are based on not only the culture and history of the ISF but also new ideas and passion for young people. New projects and events of the ISF will adapt with this new strategy, to be more professional and creative.
Youth Council has been created with the objectives to get more young people involved by giving them the appropriate responsibility.
School Sport Foundation is another project in the framework of VISION2030. It is an additional tool to support the development of school sport all over the world, especially in the low developed areas.
Structure
General Assembly
The General Assembly brings together ISF’s national school sport federation members which meet every two years. In the assembly, members elect an Executive Committee for a four-year period, and approves the budget and the programme proposed by the Executive Committee. The most recent General Assembly was held in May 2016 at Marmaris, Turkey.
Management Committee
| FUNCTION | NAME | COUNTRY |
|---|---|---|
| President | PETRYNKA Laurent | France |
| Deputy President | DASKALAKIS Stelios | Greece |
| Vice President | AGUIAR Robson | Brazil |
| Secretary General/CEO | COOLEN Jan | Belgium / Flanders |
| Treasurer | FUSENIG Guy | Luxembourg |
| Sport Director | KEVER Norbert | Belgium / German Speaking Community |
Technical Commission
Member of Technical Commission for the term 2016-2020 was appointed on the basis of sports. Each Technical Commission has a President as following.
| SPORT | NAME | COUNTRY |
|---|---|---|
| Athletics | KOUKAL Jaroslav | Czech Republic |
| Badminton | PICARD Laetitia | France |
| Basketball | BOYANOVA Julia | Bulgaria |
| Football | BERCHTOLD Konrad | Austria |
| Futsal | KOSUTIC Josip | Croatia |
| Gymnastics AG | BASLA Carmen | Italy |
| Gymnastic RG | VALENTI Ana Maria | Spain |
| Handball | CHRISTENSEN Tom* | Denmark |
| Orienteering | KEUPPENS Karl | Belgium/Flanders |
| Skiing | STAUDACHER Arno | Austria |
| Swimming | DELGADO Fernando | Puerto Rico |
| Table tennis | SCHIPPERS Pieter | Belgium/Flanders |
| Tennis | BURRAGE Pam | The United Kingdom |
| Volleyball | KRECKE – GIVER Monique | Luxembourg |
*Previous President, 2012-2016
Members
Sports
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Beach volleyball
- Combat games
- Cross country
- Educational games
- Floorball
- Football
- Futsal
- Gymnastics
- Handball
- Orienteering
- Rugby
- Skiing (Nordic and alpine)
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Tennis
- Triathlon
- Volleyball
- Water-polo
References
- ↑ Charter. ISF. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The International Charter of School Sport at the Heart of the ISF. ISF. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ About ISF. ISF. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ Organisations recognised by the International Olympic Committee . Olympic.org. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ Members. SportAccord. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ Contact. ISF. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ FISU Today. FISU. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ Li, Ming et al. "International School Sport", pgs. 291–2. International Sport Management (2012). Human Kinetics. ISBN 978-0-7360-8273-0.
- ↑ Sports. ISF. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
- ↑ ISF Calendar. ISF. Retrieved on 2014-04-01.
