A Message of Invitation from the Office of the ICHPER•SD President Dr. Dong Ja YANG

As we prepare for the 52nd ICHPER•SD Anniversary World Congress scheduled for Doha, Qatar on May 8 – 12, 2010, I am pleased to write a message of invitation to everyone active in the areas of health, physical education, recreation and leisure, sport and the Olympic Movement, and dance to participate in this world class academic and scientific assembly sponsored by the Qatar Olympic Committee.

The Congress theme – “Quality Physical Activity Education and Science for All: A Gateway to Health and Olympic Caliber Performance” – encapsulates the great purpose of this forum, that is the challenge to bring it all together – HPERSD professionals, institutions and organizations throughout the world, for reexamining and sharing our dimension of beliefs, knowledge and wisdom to build direction for the future through the process of this world congress.

Throughout the history of humanity, across the cultural diversity, the balanced education of the whole child or person in the interrelated and indivisible 3 domains of mental, moral, and physical education has been the accepted goal. Thus the UNESCO’s charter states, “All people should be free to develop and preserve their physical, intellectual and moral powers”. Physical education as movement related education including health, children’s play, dance, fitness exercises and activities, games, recreation and sports are all associated directly with the affective, cognitive and psychomotor domain for the whole person. It is therefore justifiable to rename it “Physical Activity Education” (E.F Zeigler, 2007).

A quality education is balanced education as a whole. It has a sustainable mode of shaping development in coping with the advancement of science. It is therefore a science as well as a quality physical activity education. Physical activity education begins the moment a human becomes capable of movement as a self-exploring movement facilitator and continues withsignificant facilitators as long as he/she lives (D.J. Yang, 1997). Human life is a journey of educational processes from birth to death. Learning is indeed a lifelong process in which physical activity education contributes to the process as an indivisible element of the whole person.

A comprehensive and balanced quality education is the basis of every healthy person as revealed in the definition of health adopted in 1948 by the World Health Organization (WHO) at its inaugural meeting. It states, “Health is a state of
complete physical, mental, and social well-being not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

In 1996, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch wrote, “The Olympic Movement is primarily an educational movement, the mission of which is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic Ideal”. Further, he wrote, “The Olympic Movement seeks to set an example for youth whereby they may learn to observe and uphold universal and fundamental ethical principles.”

In 1997, the author as ICHPER•SD Secretary General wrote, “Sport for peace is an ideal that should be constructed in
the minds of children through a Quality Education for the Whole Child – to include the complete and indivisible domain of physical, mental and moral education” (D.J. Yang, 1997).

Research findings are telling us, “A gateway to health and Olympic caliber performance” begins to take shape with each child’s own pre-school educators (i.e., parents or significant adults) by providing children with developmentally appropriate motor skill instruction (i.e., methods resulting from research and science). This is a critical foundation for health and successful participation in a quality physical activity education, sport and athletic programs in schools and higher education systems – and it may lead to the level of top athletic excellence or Olympic caliber athletic performance.

In this context, we cordially invite you to come to participate in the 52nd ICHPER•SD Anniversary World Congress as a presenter, debater in scholarship and/or taking an opportunity for professional development.

Over a half-century plus 2 years, ICHPER•SD has championed the promotion of quality physical education (including health, movement related physical activity, recreation and dance education) and sport especially in schools and other learning institutions. Moreover, it has been leading the movement for sustainable and vibrant scholarly activities (i.e., research and publications, organizing congresses for presentation and dissemination of findings, and cutting edge knowledge) while exalting the importance of daily physical exercise. We seek better methodologies for staying healthy through an active lifestyle for all global citizens – confidently pursuing that path while keeping in mind the importance of gender equity and enhancing good health for all age groups, despite any mental or physical challenge.

The International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance (ICHPER•SD) is one of the oldest (e.g., conceived in 1950 & founded in 1958), largest (e.g., serving professionals in 204 countries) and most prestigious (e.g., having held 32 world congresses, 29 regional congresses & numerous forums, conferences and symposia) international umbrella organizations. It consists of individual professional members, institutions, national and international organizations in the 8 geographical regions (i.e., Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, and Oceania). ICHPER•SD has been working in a partnership with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 47 years and with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the last 14 years.

We value your participation in this World Congress where we will be updated on new scientific and pragmatic discoveries to create new methodologies and directions for the sustainable advancement of HPERSD professionals. It is our firm belief and experience that, through this world congress, our dimension of knowledge is highlighted and expanded, our search for wisdom advanced, our depth of understanding deepened, and our inquiries in science answered. With these congresses we are in a better position to serve our profession and our program beneficiaries in the Middle East region and worldwide.
ICHPER•SD is truly fortunate that the 52nd World Congress is being organized and sponsored by the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC). Qatar is a beautiful country with many unique tourist attractions and, of course, friendly and interesting people.

May this invitation reach all of those professionals in our fields worldwide!