President - Mrs. Laetitia Dekker (The Netherlands) Secretary - Mrs. Jan Gildea-Smith (Australia) Treasurer - Mr. Mark De Carlo (USA) Member-at-large - Mrs. Bente Anderson (Denmark) Member-at-large - Mrs. Nicola Phillips (UK) Member-at-large - Mr. Mario Bizzini (Switzerland)
(from left to right) EB with new members (October 24, 2009): N. Phillips, M. Bizzini, L. Dekker, M. De Carlo, J. Gildea-Smith, B. Anderson
(from left to right) EB Members until October 2009: J. Esteves, M. Voight, H. Langberg, L. Dekker, M. De Carlo, J. Gildea-Smith, J. Urrialde, G. Baltaci

Administrative Services Team Mark De Carlo		Finance Committee - Mark De Carlo (Chair) Audit Subcommittee - Daan Spanjersberg - John DeBlasis Strategic Planning Committee - Mark De Carlo (Chair) - Laetitia Dekker		Governance Services Team Bente Anderson		Articles Committee - Laetitia Dekker (Chair) Ethics Committee - Vibeke Bechtold (Chair) Nominating Committee - Bente Anderson (Chair)
Education Services Team Nicola Phillips		Professional Development Committee - Nicola Phillips (Chair) - Laetitia Dekker - Mark DeCarlo - Nicola Phillips - Margaret Grant (consultant) - Tara O’meara Publications Committee - Jan Smith (Chair) - Laetitia Dekker - Mario Bizzini - Karl Lochner Research Committee - Peter McNair (Chair) - José Esteves - Erik Witvrouw Scientific Congress Committee - Michael Voight (Chair) - Gül Baltaci - Stephen Much - Mark De Carlo - Henning Langberg - Robert van Cingel - Mario Bizzini - Laetitia Dekker		Membership Services Team Jan Smith		Awards Committee - Nicola Phillips (Chair) - David Hunter - Henning Langberg - Terry Malone IFSP Olympic ResourceCommittee - Laetitia Dekker (Chair) - Jan Smith IFSP Paralympic Resource Committee - Nevin Ergun (Chair) Membership Committee - Jan Smith (Chair)

Article 1: Name
1.1 The name of this Federation is the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy, hereinafter referred to as the IFSP.
1.2 IFSP is an international and non-governmental Federation of national organisations of Sports Physiotherapy. National sports physiotherapy organisations that are recognized by their national Member organisation of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) are eligible for membership in the IFSP.
1.3 The IFSP has its seat in the Netherlands in Spaarndam; the postal address is as follows:
Dr. W. Nijestraat 93
2064 XB SPAARNDAM
Nederland

Article 2: Mission Statement
IFSP is a world-wide Federation representing national organisation of sports physiotherapy. The efforts of IFSP are directed towards Member organisations and their individual members in serving athletes of all ages and abilities through excellence in education, research, practice, and clinical specialization. The intention of the IFSP is to be the international resource for sports physiotherapists and to be recognised as a Subgroup of WCPT.

Article 3: Objectives
The objectives of the IFSP shall be to:
3.1 Promote Sports Physiotherapy worldwide.
3.2 Advance the professional interest and stature of Sports Physiotherapy worldwide.
3.3 Improve the quality of Sports Physiotherapy worldwide on the level of knowledge, skills, and professional responsibility.
3.4 Facilitate efforts to conduct research in order to promote evidence based Sports Physiotherapy.
3.5 Encourage communication and exchange of educational and professional information through various mediums.
3.6 Utilize organisational structure and policy to promote international harmonization in order to achieve the overall mission of the IFSP.

Article 4: Means
4.1 Carry out the functions of the WCPT as set forth by the bylaws and in policy statements as they relate to the IFSP.
4.1.1 Give support to WCPT in events and matters where Sports Physiotherapy is involved.
4.2 Encourage high standards of Sports Physiotherapy by:
4.2.1 promoting and advancing Harmonisation of Post Basic Education and criteria for clinical specialization.
4.2.2 evaluating, developing, and harmonizing current worldwide clinical skills, guidelines, protocols, ethics, and rules of behaviour specific on Sports Physiotherapy.
4.2.3 establishing an internationally recognized body of knowledge specific to Sports Physiotherapy.
4.2.4 encourage world-wide participation in evidence based practice in Sports Physiotherapy.
4.3 Encourage international scientific research in the specific field of Sports Physiotherapy and promote opportunities for the spread of knowledge of new developments.
4.4 Encourage communication and exchange of educational and professional information between Member organisations and their individual members as well as communication among and exchange of their students, teachers and programs through:
4.4.1 International Congress
4.4.2 Seminars
4.4.3 Web Site
4.4.4 Web based scientific magazine
4.5 Encourage working visits between individual members of the Member organisations.
4.6 Facilitate the development of international networks of all specialty areas in which Sport Physiotherapists practice including Olympic, professional, elite, disabled, and various other athletic populations.
4.7 Develop a list of registered or board certified specialists in Sports Physiotherapy.
4.8 Facilitate job rotation.
4.9 Promote communication and cooperation with other health care professionals, organisations, agencies and professional associations in areas of mutual interest.

Article 5: Structure
5.1 The business of IFSP shall be conducted through:
- the General Meeting
- the Executive Board
- Committees

Article 6: Members
The IFSP membership shall be composed only of national organisations of Sports Physiotherapy who are recognised by Member organisations of the WCPT. For IFSP business purposes, a representative elected from within that organisation shall represent a Member organisation. Only one national organisation of Sports Physiotherapy per country may be eligible for membership.
6.1 An organisation is considered to be a member of the IFSP on: successful completion of the IFSP Registration Form, acceptance of the applying organisation by the EB, payment of the membership fee on receipt of an invoice from IFSP in accordance with article 10.
6.2 Categories of membership
6.2.1 Founder may be granted to representatives included at the first Executive Board (EB) of IFSP, who were instrumental in the development and implementation of IFSP. Once all founders have been recognised officially by the first General Meeting of IFSP, this category should be deleted.
6.2.2 Full members are the National organisations of Sports Physiotherapy who comply with Article 1.2
6.2.3 Honorary membership may be granted by the EB or voting representatives at a General Meeting, to individuals who have enhanced the federation or have rendered valuable services to Sports Physiotherapy through unique or long-term service or have merited special recognition for their work in a parallel field.
6.2.4 Special membership may be granted by the EB or voting representatives at a General Meeting to individuals or other National organisations. Special memberships may be conferred by a (2/3) majority vote of the voting delegates.
6.3 Only full members can be part of the EB and have the right to vote at General Meetings.
6.4 Termination of Membership. Membership may be terminated under the following conditions:
6.4.1 A member may terminate its membership by giving six month previous notice in writing to the Secretary of the EB and by paying all outstanding subscriptions.
6.4.2 The E.B. may terminate membership where the E.B. considers:
6.4.2.1 A Member organisation has ceased to meet the requirements for membership.
6.4.2.2 The conduct or policy of a Member organisation is detrimental to the best interests of the IFSP or will bring the IFSP into disrepute.
6.4.2.3 The voting membership can lodge an appeal against the termination of the membership of this Member organisation at the General Meeting, provided that this appeal is lodged within 2 months after receiving it’s notification. During the period of the appeal and pending the appeal, the Member organisation will be suspended. A suspended member has no voting right.
6.4.3 Upon receipt of a complaint from 2 Member organisations, the EB shall:
6.4.3.1 Notify the Member organisation of its intention to consider the complaint at the next regular meeting.
6.4.3.2 Notify the Member organisation of its rights to be heard by the EB. The member must report to the full EB within two weeks of the hearing.
6.4.3.3 After the report the EB can dismiss the complaint, or if any disciplinary action should be taken, their recommendations will be presented to the General Meeting and a two third majority vote will decide the issue.
6.4.4 Default in payment of dues. If the dues have not been paid prior to the start of the General Meeting of the current year, the Member organisation shall cease to be a member from the date, without prejudice however, to its liabilities to the IFSP. In exceptional circumstances when non-payment has been due to currency difficulties, the EB shall have the power to waive or suspend the provisions of this clause.
6.5 The Member organisation which has been excluded from membership based on Article 6.4.4. default in payment of dues, may apply to the EB for reinstatement, provided that no more than two years have elapsed since the termination of it’s membership and provided that it is still eligible and that appropriate annual dues for the intervening period are paid in full, the EB shall decide if the Member organisation will be reinstated as a member of IFSP. Article 6.4.2.3. also applies to this decision of the EB.

Article 7: Duties of Member Organisation
It shall be the duty of the Member Organisation:
7.1 To comply with the articles
7.2 To comply with requirements of membership adopted by IFSP at a General Meeting.
7.3 To send at least one representative to a General Meeting.
7.4 To do all in its power to promote the knowledge of and active interest in the objectives of IFSP.
7.5 To reply to all inquiries and questionnaires from the EB as quickly as possible or within the time limit specified by EB.
7.6 To keep the EB informed of any events or developments in its country of interest to the IFSP such as changes of outcome criteria of registration or standard levels.
7.7 To pay the subscriptions in accordance with article 10.

Article 8: General Meetings
8.1 Requirements
8.1.1 A General Meeting shall be held in conjunction with an international congress or scientific event or at least once in every four (4) years if no congress is held. The date, time and place will be determined by the EB.
8.1.2 The presence of the voting delegates from a majority of the Member organisations constitutes a quorum.
8.1.3 An extraordinary General Meeting shall be called by the EB at the request of 1/10 of the voting membership.
8.1.4 Not less than three (3) months prior to the date of General Meeting, all the members shall inform the EB if they will or will not attend.
8.1.5 The General Meeting shall be cancelled by the EB if at six (6) weeks prior to the date of the General Meeting, it is determined that there will be no quorum.
8.2 Functions
8.2.1 Receive reports of the EB.
8.2.2 Approve annual membership fees.
8.2.3 Grant and terminate memberships.
8.2.4 Elect and delete the EB members.
8.2.5 Amend the articles of IFSP.
8.2.6 Consider motions submitted.
8.2.7 Conduct any business that promotes the objectives of IFSP.
8.2.8 Conduct any business that is not assigned to the EB by law or these articles.
8.3 Notice
8.3.1 Notice of the General Meeting including time and place shall be given to members at least 6 months before the date of the meeting, except in the case of Extraordinary General Meeting when two (2) months notice shall suffice.
8.3.2 Any proposals or material for the General Meeting must be received in writing or by e-mail by the EB at least three (3) months before the meeting.
8.3.3 EB must send all Member organisations the agenda and all proposals at least one (1) month before the General Meeting.
8.4 Conduct at General Meetings
8.4.1 Each Member organisation shall be entitled to one voting delegate and five non-voting delegates. The voting delegate must be a member of Member organisations and have a written mandate from the Member organisation. All the non-voting delegates have the right to speak and present motions.
8.4.2 Any matter adopted by General Meeting that must be voted on will require the simple majority of votes. The method of voting will be either by a show of hands or balloting if requested. A quorum at any General Meeting of the IFSP shall be considered present when greater than 50% of the voting membership is present.
8.4.3 Minutes of the meeting shall be circulated to members within 3 months of the date of the General Meeting.
8.4.4 Observers may attend the meeting except the meetings, or parts of meetings, that are determined by the EB to be for delegates only.
8.5 Special Meeting
8.5.1 The EB may decide that a special meeting on an emergency basis may be required and held by Internet conference meeting or by telephone conference call.
8.5.2 On issues requiring a decision:
8.5.2.1 a vote may be taken by Internet conference meeting or by telephone conference call, with full knowledge of the EB.
8.5.2.2 a mail ballot may be taken, provided that this is a unanimous decision of the voting membership, with the full knowledge of the EB.

Article 9: Executive Board
9.1 Structure and Powers
9.1.1 The EB consists of elected officers who are the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a minimum of 1 and a maximum of four Representatives-at-large.
9.1.1.1 The EB shall be elected through a simple majority vote at the General Meeting as outlined in 8.4
9.1.2 Qualifications: Only individuals from Member organisations who have been members in good standing for a period of two years immediately preceding their election, and who have consented to serve, shall be eligible for election to office.
9.1.3 Tenure:
9.1.3.1 The term of each EB member shall be four years or until the election of their successors.
9.1.3.2 Members of the EB shall assume office at the end of the General Meeting.
9.1.3.3 No member shall serve more than two complete consecutive terms on the EB.
9.1.4 Duties: The EB shall, in addition to the duties otherwise imposed by these articles:
9.1.4.1 Carry out the mandates and policies of the IFSP as determined by the membership.
9.1.4.2 Direct business and financial affairs on behalf of the IFSP (in accordance consistent with the articles and policy direction of the General Meeting), be responsible for all property and funds, and prepare a financial report and submit that report to the membership at large at the next General Meeting.
9.1.4.3 Create, appoint, and determine functions of all committees.
9.1.4.4 Make provisions and set conditions for holding scientific meetings and approve the program time and place.
9.1.4.5 Perform any other duties to advance the objectives of the IFSP.
9.1.4.6 Review the activities of the Member organisations
9.2 Meetings
9.2.1 The EB shall meet at least once annually.
9.2.2 Extraordinary meetings may be requested by a majority of the EB and shall be called within two (2) month stating the agenda, if the EB has to meet. In exceptional conditions there can be an extraordinary meeting by Internet conference meeting or by telephone conference call within two weeks.
9.2.3 A quorum of 5 members is required to conduct business. Any matter adopted by the EB that must be voted on, will require the simple majority of votes. The method of voting will be either by a show of hands or balloting if requested.
9.2.4 Expenses of the EB members of IFSP business shall be borne by IFSP according to the policy agreed by the EB.
9.2.5 The Secretary shall provide notice of the place, date and time of the annual Meeting(s) of the EB at least 3 months prior to this meeting.
9.3 Nominations
9.3.1 Nominations must be received in writing at least 3 months prior to the General Meeting and shall meet the approval of the nominee’s own Member organisation. The EB shall send to the Member organisations the list candidates with supporting documentation one (1) month before the General Meeting.
9.3.2 No more than two members of the EB may be from the same Member organisation. In such circumstances, they can only count as one vote in the EB.
9.4 Elections
9.4.1 The EB appoints the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer.
9.4.2 In the event of the resignation or death of the President, the Vice-President shall fill the unexpired term. The EB shall elect another member as Vice-President.
9.4.3 In the event of the resignation or death of one of the other EB members from the EB, the EB appoints another eligible member as replacement.
9.5 Details
9.5.1 The President shall preside at all meetings of the membership and EB. Reports requested by the WCPT Executive Committee shall be submitted by the President.
9.5.2 The Vice-President shall assume the duties of the President if that person is absent or incapacitated.
9.5.3 The Secretary will keep the minutes of the General Meetings of the membership and of the EB.
9.5.4 The Treasurer will manage the finances of the IFSP according to policy and report the IFSP financial status in writing to the members and the EB.
9.5.5 On all (financial) matters, for which the EB has given prior approval, the EB appoints the President and the Secretary to be dual signatories on all documents.
9.5.6 The Representative at-large positions will assist the EB in formulating the yearly strategic planning process.

Article 10: Finances
10.1 The fiscal year of IFSP shall be January 1st to December 31st.
10.2 Annual Dues: Annual dues for each Member organisation shall be calculated utilizing the following formula: $300 US dollars will be charged for up to 250 members of the Member organisation. For each additional 250 members $150 US dollars will be added.
10.2.1 Member organisations shall pay the annual fee as decided by the General Meeting in US dollars. Membership fees are due on or before the 31st of March of each year.
10.2.2 New member fees are due within 2 months of acceptance of membership.
10.2.3 Revisions of the dues can only be accomplished through amendment of the charter.
10.2.4 The EB shall have the discretion to decide a special fee structure in cases of special membership categories.
10.3 A financial report shall be given every year to the voting membership for approval, either at the General Meeting and if no General Meeting is being held, by email or postal mail. The voting membership have to give formal approve of this financial report by email or postal mail within 1 month after the date of this financial report. Consent is assumed if no response is received within this period.
10.4 The voting membership have to give formal approval of the actions of the EB every year, either at the General Meeting and if no General Meeting is being held, by email or postal mail within 1 month after the date of report of the actions of the EB. Consent is assumed if no response is received within this period.
10.5 IFSP shall accept, hold, invest, reinvest and administer subscriptions, gifts, legacies, requests, funds, grants and any sort of value without limitations.
10.6 Limitation on Expenditures:
10.6.1 No officer, employee, or committee shall spend any money not provided in the budget allotment except by order of the EB.
10.6.2 The EB shall not commit the IFSP to any financial obligation exceeding its current financial resources.

Article 11: Language
11.1 The official language of IFSP is English, and shall be used for all meetings and documents of IFSP.
11.2 The working languages of English, Spanish, and French may be used for correspondence, for papers for the General Meetings and for publications. Translation costs will be the expense of the member organisation requesting the translation.

Article 12: Articles and Dissolution
12.1 Amendments: These articles may be amended by any of the following methods:
12.1.1 By vote, in an Extraordinary General Meeting called for this purpose, provided that:
1. Any proposed amendment had been submitted in writing to the EB at least three (3) months before the date of the meeting on which the action is to be taken, and 2. Copies of the proposed amendment have been provided to each voting member at least one (1) month prior to the Extraordinary General Meeting at which the action is to be taken.
12.1.2 By mail ballot to the membership at large conducted in a manner so as the results are made available for the next General Meeting of the IFSP, provided that this is a unanimous decision of the of the voting membership with the full knowledge of the EB.
12.1.3 By WCPT mandate and made mandatory upon all sub-groups shall automatically be placed in the IFSP bylaws.
12.2 The EB has the authority to make editorial changes to these articles as necessary.
12.3 The dissolution of IFSP shall be considered at an Extraordinary General Meeting called for this purpose.
12.4 A 2/3 majority vote is required for the dissolution and 2/3 of the Member organisations must be represented at the meeting by their voting delegate.
12.4.1 A resolution to dissolve shall be mailed to each member of the voting membership no less than three (3) months before the meeting at which the vote is to be taken.
12.5 If such a Motion is carried, a referendum shall be called within 60 days to confirm or revoke the vote to dissolve.
12.6 Any funds remaining shall be divided amongst the Member organisations of IFSP in accordance with the rate of members.

IFSP has business partnerships with 2 large publishers of academic journals: Elsevier (who publish Physical Therapy in Sport) and JOSPT: the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. Details of these partnerships can be found below.

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Elsevier



All member organisations of IFSP are entitled to a 15% discount off the journal subscription rate, and have the option to supply journals to all of their individual members, at a more beneficial price. This should be done by contacting Elsevier directly, however please contact a member of the Publications Committee if you have any questions.

In addition to this, if a member organisation takes up full-member subscription, they will be eligible to nominate an individual to join the journal′s International Advisory Board.

Recognized Journal status
IFSP designates Physical Therapy in Sport as an officially recognized Journal of the Federation, and therefore worthy of the attention of its members. In return for the above benefits to members, IFSP will promote PTiS as such, and this designation will be displayed on the IFSP website and e-newsletter for the duration of the agreement.

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JOSPT



The Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy offer the following benefits to members.

Special discounted subscription rates
Individual members of IFSP member organisations will receive a discounted rate of 15% off the Journal′s current subscription price (220 USD instead of 260). For this they will receive 12 print issues of the Journal, and online access to all articles published since January 1994 for the duration of their subscription.

These prices are correct as of 2008, however may increase without notice. Online journal option IFSP member organisations have the option to supply online access to the journal to all of their individual members, at a more beneficial price. This should be done by contacting JOSPT directly, however please contact a member of the Publications Committee if you have any questions.

Recognized Journal status
IFSP designates JOSPT as an officially recognized Journal of the Federation, and therefore worthy of the attention of its members. In return for the above benefits to members, IFSP will promote JOSPT as such, and this designation will be displayed on the IFSP website and e-newsletter for the duration of the agreement.

The purpose of this award is to acknowledge and honor a sports physiotherapist, IFSP-HvU Award sculpturewhose contributions to the profession have been truly outstanding.

This is a an honorary and prestigious award, of a charter from IFSP (see example) and unique engraved bronze sculpture. The sculpture is made especially for this purpose by a Dutch artist, and the winner′s name plus date are inscribed on the sculpture.

The nominee will have promoted the profession of physiotherapy and the speciality of sports physiotherapy in a professional and dedicated manner worldwide, and be a member in good standing of a member organisation of IFSP.

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Selection Criteria
The nominee shall have made a significant contribution through an advanced level of clinical knowledge and experience, served as an accomplished role model and provided incentives for other sports physiotherapy clinicians to reach their highest clinical potential.

The nominee shall have also made a contribution to sports physiotherapy worldwide through scientific or clinical research activity, teaching or professional volunteering.

Each national member organisation of the IFSP is invited to nominate candidates from any member country of IFSP for the IFSP-HvU Award of Sports Physiotherapy. The nomination materials shall consist of the approved IFSP application form along with a minimum of 3 letters of support from professional colleagues or other sports healthcare providers detailing the reasons for the nomination. The nominee′s curriculum vitae must also be included in the application materials.

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Selection Procedure
Nomination materials shall be submitted to the IFSP Awards Committee. The Awards Committee shall consist of a maximum of 5 members, including:
- 2 sports physiotherapists, selected by the Executive Board of IFSP, based on nominations from national member organisations
- Maximum of three of the most recent winners of the IFSP-HvU Award of Sports Physiotherapy.

The Awards Committee will review the nominations and recommend the most qualified candidate to the IFSP Executive Board. The Executive Board shall select the award recipient. Deadline for submission of the nomination materials for the IFSP - HvU Award is the 1st September yearly.

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Notification of the Award
The IFSP President shall notify the award recipient and seek to obtain written confirmation of acceptance. An attempt will be made to keep the award selection confidential until the announcement at the General Meeting.

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• Submission guidelines
• Winner 2001
• Winner 2002
• Winner 2003

For any questions, please send an email to:

info@ifsp-world.org

- Author: Mario Bizzini

- Foto: Julia Glatthorn, Mario Bizzini, Andreas Lütscher

- Webmaster: Andreas Lütscher

• Sports Physiotherapy Australia (Australia)
• Fachgruppe Sportphysiotherapie Austria (Austria)
• Bulgarian Organisation of Sports Physiotherapy (Bulgaria)
• Faggruppen for IdraetsFysioterapi (Denmark)
• Arbeitgemeinschaft Sportmedizin im Deutschen Verband fue Physiotherapie (Germany)
• Panhellenic Physiotherapist Association SportsPhysio Section (Greece)
• Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited - Sports Specialty Group (Hong Kong)
• Hungarian Sports Physiotherapy Group (Hungary)
• Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine (Ireland)
• Gruppo Interesse Specialistico Sport AIFI (Italy)
• Japanese Physiotherapy Association - Sports Group (Japan)
• Societe Luxembourgeoise de Kinesitherapie du Sport (Luxembourg)
• Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fysiotherapie in de Sportgezondheidszorg (Netherlands)
• New Zealand Sports and Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Association (New Zealand)
• Nigerian Sports Physiotherapy Association (Nigeria)
• Norwegian Sports Physical Therapy Association (Norway)
• Grupo de Interesse em Fisioterapia no Desporto (Portugal)
• SASP National Sports Group (South Africa)
• Seccion National de Fisioterapia Deportiva (Spain)
• Sports Physical Therapy Section (IM/LSR) (Sweden)
• Swiss Sports Physiotherapy Association (Switzerland)
• Association of Turkish Sports Physiotherapists (Turkey)
• Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine (United Kingdom)
• American Physical Therapy Association Sports Physical Therapy Section (United States of America)

There are a number of benefits to organisations, by becoming members of IFSP. These include:

• Increased credibility
• Increased promotion
• Increased recognition
• Communication with other sports physiotherapy groups worldwide
• Sharing resources
• Collaboration on projects
• Support of strategic planning
• Improved service to members of IFSP member organizations
• Influence on the development of the quality, education and the clinical practice of sports physiotherapy worldwide

Individual members of your organisation will also appreciate the following financial benefits:

• Discounted entry on all international IFSP conferences
• Lower fees for mentor support
• Discounts on e-learning masterclasses and short courses offered on the SPA educational portal
• 15% discount on Elsevier journal subscriptions
• 15% discount on subscriptions to the Journal of Sports Physiotherapy
• For full member organisations, individuals will enjoy reduced price registration as an IFSP accredited sports physiotherapist

Please read all of the instructions, and when you are sure you have understood them completely, complete an application form and send to IFSP (address on form).

Download the application form now >>

Existing Members
- The IFSP representative for each country is responsible for sending their membership numbers as of 1st January for the membership year to the treasurer of IFSP
- The treasurer of IFSP will then generate an invoice in Euros based on the above calculation and forward that to the IFSP representative of the country
- Payment will then be sent in Euros by the country with any bank transaction handling costs to be covered by the member organisation

New Members
- The country expresses interest in joining IFSP and is sent a registration form. Once completed the form is reviewed by the IFSP Board.
- Upon acceptance of the country by the Executive Board of IFSP, dependant on fulfillment of the criteria for membership, the country will be sent an invoice for membership based on the number of members specified in the registration form. Potential new members will be reviewed twice yearly by the EB. The membership fee will be adjusted to account for a member joining in the second half of the year.
- The IFSP treasurer should receive payment of this amount in Euros with the addition of the banks handling fee within 2 months.
- The country will then be deemed a financial member of IFSP.

Rejoining Members
- Member countries that have not renewed for the year by the 31st March will be deemed to be unfinancial.
- Renewal of membership will be dependant on the country becoming financial by settling any debt of membership from the previous year and paying the current year′s membership by 31st March.

Annual Dues

Each Member Organisation must pay an annual fee to IFSP. For 2005 this amount is 300 Euros for the first 250 members of the organisation, and 0.60 Euros for every member thereafter. These rates are decided by the voting membership. Membership numbers of the organisation are taken as those at the first of January in the calendar year of membership.

Fees must be paid in Euros by the 31st of March each year. New member fees are due within 2 months after acceptance. Members who do not pay their annual dues by March 31st may be charged a late fee of 18% for that year.

- Revisions of the dues will only be accomplished through amendment of the charter.

Please read the guidelines thoroughly before completing an application form.

The name of this Federation is the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy, hereinafter referred to as the IFSP.

IFSP is an international and non-governmental Federation of national organisations of Sports Physiotherapy.

Only national sports physiotherapy organisations that are recognised by their national Member Organisation of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) are eligible for full membership in the IFSP. Only one national organisation of Sports Physiotherapy per country can be eligible for membership.

Special membership may be conferred by the Executive Board or a two-third (2/3) assent of the voting delegates at a General Meeting, to individuals or other National Organisations.

For IFSP business purposes, a representative will be elected from within each organisation.

The duties of the Member Organisation are:

- To comply with the articles
- To comply with requirements of membership adopted by IFSP at a General Meeting
- To send at least one representative to a General Meeting, preferably every year, but at least once every three (3) years
- To do all in its power to promote the knowledge of and an active interest in the objectives of IFSP
- To reply to all inquiries and questionnaires from the Executive Board as quickly as possible and within any time limits specified
- To keep the EB informed of any events or developments of interest to the IFSP in its country, such as changes of outcome criteria for registration or standard levels
- To pay the subscription fee in accordance with the articles of IFSP

The IFSP has its seat in the Netherlands in Spaarndam.

Postal Address:

Dr. W. Nijestraat 93
2064 XB SPAARNDAM
Nederland

Accreditation
A system used to acknowledge that professionals have met specified criteria for the achievement of defined competencies above described levels or standards; in some countries this involves registration - the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapists aims to achieve registration of all Sports Physiotherapists.

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Advisors
International Sports Physiotherapy representatives who provide a global perspective in their review of draft documentation produced during the SPA Project.

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Benchmark Statement
A description of the nature and characteristics of sports physiotherapy, defining the attributes¹ and capabilities that an accredited² sports physiotherapist should be able to demonstrate and representing the threshold standards to be achieved in each of these demonstrated competencies. (Based on the definition of the QAA, 2001, in EU-WCPT, 2003a)

1 Attributes are an individual′s qualities, characteristics, or traits.
2 Discussion arose regarding the use of the words accredited and registered. It was felt that the use of registered would make the document irrelevant until a register is developed; the word accredited allows international flexibility, while emphasising the importance of monitoring and developing the competencies of Sports Physiotherapists - an outcome of the project is to develop transparency of national provision . The definition can be re-negotiated in the future.

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Competencies
Competency statements describe effective professional behaviours that integrate specific knowledge, skills and attitudes in a particular context.
(Dutch Ministry for Education, Culture and Science; Netherlands, 2002)

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Consultant
An individual who delivers a specific piece of work that is necessary to a work package and cannot be delivered by either the work package team or the expert group.

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Core Group
The core group are responsible for delivering on all outputs of the SPA-Project, including the results and dissemination of results to the wider Physiotherapy community, ensuring that the project has the intended impact described in the project proposal. This group represents countries with well-developed systems and less well-developed systems, and is led by a Project Manager with overall responsibility for the process.

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Exercise
Exercise is a physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive and purposive in the sense that improvement or maintenance of one or more components of physical fitness is an objective. 
(Caspersen et. al, 1985: p. 128)

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Expert Group
The expert group is composed of representatives of Sports Physiotherapy employers and employees in the contexts of sports, leisure, recreation and education, from different European regions. Experts will provide guidance in the development of the Benchmark Statement, professional competencies and standards, their evaluation, and related educational portals.
Note: Representatives from countries outside Europe may be invited to contribute as External Experts, where the expert group can be enhanced by the input of individuals with international expertise who participate on a self-funding basis.

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Learning Outcomes
Explicit statements of learning intent that can be evaluated for the degree to which they have been achieved.
(based on description from Quality Assurance Agency: Jackson, 2001)

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Physical Activity
Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure .
(Caspersen et. al, 1985: p. 126)

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Registration
A system used to register all professionals who have met specified criteria for the achievement of defined competencies above described levels or standards - the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapists aims to achieve registration of all Sports Physiotherapists.

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Sports
Recreation, pastimes, play, games or activities involving physical exercise.
(Adapted from: The Chambers Dictionary, 1993)

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Sports Injury
Sports injuries are a series of undesired events occurring in the interplay between individuals and environment during physical activity, competitive or recreational, resulting in physical impairment or ailment, because the human body or part of it was subjected to force(s) exceeding the threshold of physical endurance. The result of an injury is the alteration, limitation or termination of participation of an athlete in the respective activity for at least one day. Notable severity of an injury is considered one that shall have a physical effect lasting at least one week. 
(Petridou, 2001)

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Standards
Minimum threshold levels of performance in relation to competencies that will ensure a professional has achieved the expected level of ability to meet the description of sports physiotherapist.

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• What is a sports physio?
• Where do SPTs work?
• What do SPTs do?
• Find an SPT

Portfolio Approach to Learning
The definition and unification of standards, curriculums, competencies and professional profiles is an important issue to sports physiotherapists. This underlies the SPA project, with one of its main outputs being an audit toolkit. The aim is to utilise this to adopt a portfolio approach to work-based learning.

The audit toolkit will be piloted in both the workplace and university setting, to ascertain whether an accreditation model can be used to evaluate both formal and non formal learning. The non formal workplace testing will adopt a portfolio approach to assessing learning.

Testing of the audit toolkit will commence in March 2006 and conclude at the end of December 2006.

Use of portfolios is being promoted as a means to encourage continuous professional development in a structured manner. This will help further skills, knowledge, practice, clinical judgement and clinical decision making for life long learning. It is hoped that it will come to be used as one method for evidencing common competencies and standards for registration to the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy.

Portfolios can be used not only to provide evidence of skills, but also by sports physiotherapists for sports physiotherapists. They may be used in annual appraisal, to self benchmark again competencies, to identify learning needs and formulate learning plans. It is also envisaged it will be possible to submit them to universities to gain assessment for credits at Masters level as evidence of prior experiential learning. Finally, they can be used alongside or in place of formal learning to promote fitness for practice and place value on learning in the workplace.

The expected result of the toolkit testing is a body of evidence to support its use as a valid method for the accreditation of Sports Physiotherapists, thus providing a test tool for accrediting both formal and non-formal learning post-graduation.

Video master classes will be held on the web to facilitate use of the portfolio approach in evaluation of the tool in non formal settings. This class will include partners, experts, and sports physiotherapists from the membership of the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy.

The portfolio provides evidence that the sports physiotherapist has met agreed standards of proficiency. It is likely that a portfolio will demonstrate this in a number of ways, explicit to different competencies.

Once the audit tools are adopted, they will be tested against a post-basic and postgraduate programme of education (pilot for formal learning in the Netherlands by the Hogeschool Utrecht) and also with portfolio development (pilot with the National Sports Academy (NSA) in Bulgaria for non-formal workplace learning). Students and sports physiotherapists will be asked to use the portfolio and to collect their documentation to search evidence of compliance with the standards.

For further information and some examples of portfolios see:
http://www.edusite.nl/portfolio
Use of Portfolios as a means of Assessing and providing Feedback on Clinical Performance

The SPA project benefits from the input of a group of sports physiotherapists working with athletes at different levels of sport, as well as in the field of general sports injury prevention. They are consulted about project documentation, as the group whom the portfolio based learning and assessment will most affect.

For the purpose of portfolio development, the project envisages the organisation of a Workshop by the NSA with the above-mentioned group of sports physiotherapists. This will help acquaint them with its essence and way of implementation. After the final approval of the portfolio by all the partners it shall be tested with the sports physiotherapists for non formal learning.

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Dissemination/ consultation:
The project team also plan to organise seminars with representatives from the Bulgarian Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, owners of fitness centres, Chairmen of sport federations and organizations, coaches and athletes. In this vein a round table was organized by the NSA with the participation of representatives from the Bulgarian Ministries of Youth and Sport; Health; and Education.

SPA partner QMUC will offer an online course on portfolio development in the future.

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• Online tutorial

What is the Competency Document?
One of the main outputs of Sports Physiotherapy for All - the SPA project - is to establish core European (EU) standards for the accreditation of educational and professional qualifications for Sports Physiotherapists. This will lead to harmonisation of postgraduate education throughout the European Union. This will ensure greater awareness of their roles in sporting and leisure contexts, in relation to injury prevention; treatment; and health promotion.

The SPA Project has developed a set of core competencies, which describe the roles and behaviours of a sports physiotherapist. Standards have then been developed to describe the level of achievement/attainment expected in each of these.

The final document is available to download from our Publications section.

The document will:
• Help sports physiotherapists to plan their professional developme
• Give guidance about the design of educational programmes
• Give employers a better understanding of what they can expect of sports physiotherapists.

Professional motibility in Europe will be enhanced as a result.
Competency statements describe effective professional behaviours that integrate specific knowledge, skills and attitudes in a particular context (Ministry for Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands, 2002). Together with associated standards and an audit toolkit, competencies allow sports physiotherapists to provide evidence of their abilities.

The document will also inform stakeholders, including competent authorities and professional regulators, sports organisations and committees, employers and educators.

Eleven competencies have been developed, which are designed to demonstrate behaviours expected at a Masters level. Guidance is provided in relation to the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are integrated in demonstration of the behaviour described by the competency.

The competency statements provide a basis for development of associated practice standards and an audit tool. These will enable sports physiotherapists to provide evidence of their competencies and to identify directions for professional development.

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Examples of Competency Documents
The following will give some further information and examples of competency documents throughout the world:

Europe
• European Region of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy Benchmark Statement

What is the Audit Toolkit?
To support the SPA Project′s goal of standardising professional qualifications for Sports Physiotherapists throughout the European Union, an audit toolkit will be developed.

This is an instrument which will measure systematically the competencies of a sports physiotherapist. These competencies include: professional skills; knowledge; and attitudes; and relate to the services delivered by sports physiotherapists.

The audit toolkit will assess individuals formal and non formal learning against threshold standards for each competency.

Evidence of achievement of these can be articulated through the learning outcomes achieved from formal postgraduate programmes of study or from non-formal learning in an individual′s portfolio. Examples of documentation in a portfolio include learning goals, plans and attainment of these through any of the following:

• Video of a specific sports physiotherapeutic treatment;
• Personal reflection;
• Feedback from sports physiotherapy colleagues;
• Patient feedback;
• Case report;
• Development of a guideline for treatment;
• Article for a scientific or professional journal;
• Plan for supervision;
• Quality case plan; or
• Action plan to encourage interdisciplinary working.

It is likely that a portfolio will contain a number of examples explicit to different competencies. The portfolio provides evidence that the sports physiotherapist has met the standards of proficiency.

The audit toolkit can be used by the sports physiotherapist to benchmark themselves against each of the competencies to identify individual performance. It can also be used as an assessment of future learning needs, enabling development of a personal development plan for continuing professional development/ life long learning.

To check if the documentation within the portfolio has met the standards, it will be possible for some competencies to use the core standards for patients record audit, the core standard continuing professional development / lifelong learning audit, the core standard peer review and the patient feedback audit (see Clinical audit tools, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, 2000).

The audit toolkit is an instrument to enhance professional development, not to identify negligent practice or to gain evidence for disciplinary purposes. The audit toolkit is designed to facilitate life long learning in Europe and beyond. The audit toolkit will help sports physiotherapists provide the highest standards of care.

It is also an instrument that can be used within an accreditation¹ system for sports physiotherapists. This would ensure competencies are being achieved in short accredited courses as well as postgraduate programmes of masters study.

1 Accreditation Accreditation is a system used to acknowledge that professionals have met specified criteria for the achievement of defined competencies above described levels or standards. In some countries this involves registration. The International Federation of Sports Physiotherapists (IFSP) aims to achieve registration of all Sports Physiotherapists. This activity will be taken forward by IFSP and is out with the remit of the SPA project.

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What is required to be done to support it?
It is necessary to describe the standards extremely carefully and precisely: which behaviour in which context, which level, which indicators. Questions such as what are the critical factors for success?  need to be asked and identified and how you can measure this?  needs to be explicit.

Engagement and involvement of key persons and key organisations are required to set, disseminate, promote, adopt and implement the standards and the audit toolkit. Following the adoption of the competency document, standards for practice will be developed. In conjunction with this, the audit tools will also be developed as a consultation process. Documents will be disseminated in published format for comment through this website and by post/-email, to project stakeholders such as:

• All member organisations of the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy;
• Private employers;
• Project partners such as the World Confederation for Physical Therapy;
• European National Physiotherapy Organisations;
• National Olympic Committees; and
• National Sports Federations that have signed a letter of intent.

Once the audit tools are adopted, they will be tested against a post-basic and postgraduate programme of education (pilot for formal learning in the Netherlands by the HvU) and also with portfolio development (pilot with the NSA in Bulgaria for non-formal workplace learning). Students and sports physiotherapists will be asked to use the portfolio and to collect their documentation to search evidence of compliance with the standards.

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Literature in Dutch:
• Portfolios (2002), Erik Driessen, Douwe Beijaard, Jan van Tartwijk, Cees van der Vleuten, Wolters Noordhoff,Groningen/Houten 2002 p. 1-150, ISBN 90 01 85101 0
• Artikel Protocol Portfolio Scoring, uit de serie praktische artikelen Onderwijsinnovatie juni 2004, Gerard J.J.M. Straetmans, toetsdeskundige bij de Citogroep Arnhem.
• Dutch article also published as a book (series Higher Education Practice): Werken met een elektronisch portfolio, J. van Tartwijk, E. Driessen, B. Hoeberigs, J. Kösters, M. Ritzen, K. Stokking, C. van der Vleuten, 2003, ISBN 90 01 85103 7, Wolters-Noordhoff (Groningen/Houten)

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• Audit Tools

What is the Literature Review?
The Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (FMH - Faculty of Human Movement Studies) will carry out a Mapping Exercise of the available literature in the area of Sports Physiotherapy. The objectives will be to review the present state of evidence through systematic scrutiny, and map the availability, or lack of, accordingly. This will inform sports physiotherapy researchers, students, educators and professionals, and identify gap areas where more research should be targetted.

A systematic search will be done in the academic databases of Pubmed, DARE, the Cochrane Library and Pedro. The following keyword strings will be used to discover the widest range of relevant articles from the selected databases: (Physiotherapy OR Physical Therapy OR Rehabilitation OR Therapy) AND (Sport OR Sports). The search will be limited to systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

They will then produce a database for use by sports physiotherapy professionals and education sector, in Microsoft Access format. This will include full descriptors of articles selected according to the criteria set, and will include the following:

• Title
• Author
• Type of article
• Databases article can be found in & URL if available

They will also be classified according to which of the sports physiotherapy competency topic areas they cover, and hopefully stimulate research into areas which are lacking.

What is the Educational Portal?

To support the SPA project goal of standardising professional qualifications for Sports Physiotherapists throughout the European Union, an educational portal able to deliver standardised online courses has been developed.

The educational portal is based on a feature-rich Learning Management System (LMS) with an XHTML 1.0 Strict WCAG Priority 3 compliant interface - called EifFE-L - entirely developed by University of Genoa. EifFE-L has been published as open source in the SourceForge repository, under a GNU-GPL License.

The EifFE-L Portal is a multilingual e-learning environment that adheres to the ADL-SCORM standard. It has an accessible interface in compliance with the guidelines set by the W3C - World Wide Web Consortium, and the provisions of Italian Law No 4 of January 9th, 2004 "Provisions to ease the access of disabled people to information-technology tools (Stanca Law)", as well as the Decree of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology dated July 8th, 2005 "The technical requirements and the different levels in order to access information-technology tools", published in the Official Gazette No 183 of August 8th, 2005.

The main characteristics of the SPA educational portal are: portability, accessibility, open source, multilanguage front-end, conformance to e-learning standards. With this technology the partners would offer to a broader audience their professional competencies and products of SPA project (guidelines, ATK, e-portfolio).

Here you can find the latest version of the Audit Tools formulated by experts in the field to assist you with creating a comprehensive portfolio for sports physiotherapy.

These tools will ultimately be tools will be incorporated into an electronic portfolio system for you to use, however at the moment they can be used by people currently preparing paper portfolio documents.

SPT Audit Toolkit User Aid - short version
SPT Audit Toolkit Document

Supporting documents

Combined checklist for Sports Physiotherapist and Assessors
Patient Feedback Questionnaire
Patient Record Data Collection Form
Pilot Utility of specific Audit Tool
Peer Review Feedback Form
Percentage threshold of Standards to be met

Documents for countries without National Quality Assurance

Quality Self Assessment System for Master Programmes in SPT
Appendix 1: Assessment Sheet
Pilot Utility of QSAS for Master Programme in SPT
Pilot Utility of Appendix 1 QSAS for Master Programme in SPT

Documents for countries with National Quality Assurance

Appendix 1: Assessment Sheet
Pilot Utility of Appendix 1 QSAS for Master Programme in SPT

The final document which merges the competencies and standards documents is now available. It was voted to be accepted at the IFSP General Meeting in Oslo on 21st June 2005. What is this document for?

Download complete PDF

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover

Executive Summary

Contents & Introduction

Benchmarking Process

Definition of a sports physiotherapist

Competency 1 - Injury Prevention

Competency 2 - Acute Intervention

Competency 3 - Rehabilitation

Competency 4 - Performance Enhancement

Competency 5 - Promotion of a Safe, Active Lifestyle

Competency 6 - Lifelong Learning

Competency 7 - Professionalism and Management

Competency 8 - Research Involvement

Competency 9 - Dissemination of Best Practice

Competency 10 - Extending Practice through Innovation

Competency 11 - Promotion of Fair Play and Anti-Doping Practices

Future Directions in Benchmarking

References

Glossary

Appendices & Acknowledgements

The fight against doping in sport

Introduction

In the present World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) doping definition, doping means taking any substances which meet two out of the following three criteria:

• performance enhancing;
• risky to health; or
• contrary to the spirit of sport

With the inclusion of the ‘spirit of sport’ criterion, the present list also contains substances that are not performance enhancing at all.

However, because some (i.e. corticosteroids) are frequently used medicine, athletes have to apply for a therapeutic exemption. This results in much paperwork. Unfortunately this may distract the focus and resources from the real performance enhancing drugs (i.e. androgenic anabolic steroids, stimulants and epo).

Therefore in the WADA doping definition the performance criterion deserves a more prominent place.

Are all drugs performance enhancing?

One group of drugs on the doping list is narcotic analgesics (strong pain killers). Based on available evidence, performance will rather deteriorate when taking these substances. In addition, unlike over the counter medicine, these strong drugs can only be obtained with a prescription of a physician, who is medically responsible. So, based on the performance decreasing properties they do not belong on the doping list.

Another substance on the doping list that can be challenged is insulin. It has been shown that there are no physiologically significant effects on muscle growth to be expected from insulin administration in combination with glucose and/or amino acids. Rule makers should realise that to lay people that the presence of a drug on the list suggests it has a performance enhancing effect. Therefore the ban on insulin may encourage some to experiment and use it.

However administration of insulin, in particular in a non-laboratory situation, has a serious risk of uncontrollable and even lethal hypoglycaemia. This is especially true in healthy athletes, because physical activity and athletic training increase insulin sensitivity. Since there is no performance enhancement, and detection is still problematic, maintaining insulin on the list may jeopardise athletes′ health more than taking it off.

Another substance which presence on the doping list can be questioned is glucocorticosteroids. There is no scientific evidence of performance enhancement; rather a decrement is to be expected. An argument for maintaining glucocorticosteroids on the doping list is assumed misuse in sport. If there is evidence for misuse, proper education may be a better alternative for decreasing misuse than maintaining it on the doping list.

Although there appears no performance enhancement of cannaboids, its presence is mainly based on the conviction that athletes should be examples of healthy behaviour and use of cannabis is not a good example of healthy lifestyle. Although the latter will not be disputed, misconduct outside the sports arena should not be treated as unfair play, but be solved in a different way. Only in particular sports where decreasing fear is crucial should they be banned.

Can the fight against doping be won?

It would be naïve to assume that doping can be banned from sport completely. However, when performance enhancement and health risks become the leading criteria, the focus will be on the substances that really create both an unfair playground, and put the athlete′s health at risk. If for some sports performance enhancement can be expected from a particular drug, the ban can be restricted to those sports only.

In the fight against doping the importance of education should not be underestimated, since the knowledge of athletes is often inadequate. (Sports) physiotherapists do have an important role and responsibility here. They should be aware of the current anti doping rules and regulations and play an important role in the education of athletes in anti-doping matters.

We are regularly out on the web, and come across many sites useful to those interested in sports physiotherapy. Each month we focus on a different theme and assess the best web resources out there, then list them here with a brief description for your enjoyment.

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