International Federation ofSports Physical Therapy
Annual Report

Focus on2020

The International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy (IFSPT) is a worldwide Federation which represents national
sports physical therapy organizations. The intention of IFSPT is to be the international resource for sports physicaltherapists to promote the profession. IFSPT is a recognized subgroup of World Physiotherapy (WP). The IFSPT works
with member organizations and their individual members to promote sports physical therapy and safe participation in
sport and physical activity, through excellence in education, research, practice, and clinical specialization.
The main objectives of the IFSPT are to• Promote sports physical therapy worldwide• Advance the professional interest and stature of sports physical therapy• Improve the quality of sports physical therapy in terms of knowledge, skills and professional responsibility• Facilitate efforts to conduct research in order to promote evidence-based sports physical therapy• Encourage communication and exchange of educational and professional information through various media
The actions we undertake to achieve these objectives are• Promoting and advancing the post-graduate education for sports physical therapists and the criteria for clinicalspecialization• Evaluating, developing, and coordinating aspects of sports physical therapy education and practice including; clinicalskills, guidelines, protocols, ethics, and behaviors specific to sports physical therapy• Establishing an internationally recognized body of knowledge specific to sports physical therapy• Encouraging worldwide participation in evidence-based practice in sports physical therapy• Encouraging international scientific research in the field of sports physical therapy and promoting its dissemination• Encouraging communication and exchange of educational and professional information between member
organizations and their individual members through International Congress, conferences, seminars, website andsocial media communication channels.
• Promoting knowledge exchange• Facilitating the development of international networks of all specialty areas in which sports physical therapists
practice including Olympic, professional, elite, disabled, recreational, and other athletic populations• Developing a register of Registered International Sports Physical Therapists (RISPTs)• Promoting communication and co-operation with other healthcare professionals, organizations, agencies andprofessional associations in areas of mutual interest.

Current Board of Directors and Staff, left to right: Carlo Ramponi (Italy), Representative at Large; Colin Paterson (UK), VicePresident; Mary Wilkinson, Director of Marketing; Ummukulthoum Bakare (Nigeria), Representative at Large; Kristian Thorborg(Denmark), President; Luciana de Michelis (Brazil), Secretary; John Fitzgerald (Australia), Representative at Large; Walt
Jenkins (US), Treasurer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Board of Directors and Staff

3-4

Letter from the President

5World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy

6-7

The “New” IJSPT

8-9

Education and Registration Committee Report

10-11

Membership Committee Report12

Research Committee Report

13

Communications, Events and Marketing Report

14

World Physiotherapy Collaboration

15

COVID-19

16

Member Organizations and Contacts

17-18

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF
President - Kristian Thorborg (Denmark)Kristian Thorborg is a Professor, Ph.D., and Specialist in Sports Physical Therapy. Throughthe last 10 years, Kristian has been deeply involved in Danish Society of Sports Physical
Therapy (DSSF), first serving as Editor in Chief for the Danish Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy Journal, then as Board member for education and courses offered under the Danish
Society of Sports Physiotherapists.
The last three years he has been Chairman twice for the scientific committee for the Danish
Sports Congress. In 2015, he was appointed Board Member of the Research Committee for
the International Federation in Sport Physical Therapy Research Committee.
Vice President - Colin Paterson (UK)Colin is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton being Course Leader for the MSc
Advanced Physiotherapy. Colin has extensive experience of both physiotherapy education
and working in all aspects of elite sport including Olympics, Paralympics, CommonwealthGames and Home Country Sports Institute. Colin is currently Vice President of the ACPSEM,
the UK's sports physiotherapy professional network, and he still sits on their Education andExecutive Committees. Colin is currently undertaking his doctorate in the area of sports
physiotherapist's continuing professional learning.

Treasurer - Walter L. Jenkins (USA)Walt Jenkins is the current president of the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy(AASPT), the largest member organization of the IFSPT. Walt has served in many leadershiproles with the AASPT since he joined as a student in 1983. Walt was previously with Eastern
Carolina University as a professor and department head, as well as Nazareth College in
Rochester, NY, before taking the position as professor and department chair at Georgia
Southern University. HIs interests lie in mentorship, education and expanding member benefits.

Secretary - Luciana De Michelis Mendonça (Brazil)
Luciana has been a SONAFE (Brazilian National Society of Sports Physical Therapy)
associate since 2007 and has always engaged to help her profession grow. She took part in
the Organizing Committees of three SONAFE's Conferences. Moreover, she now has six
years of dedication to SONAFE's Executive Board. She is the first female president of
SONAFE (2016-2017), in a country with many restrictions to women's participation in sportand politics. Luciana is a teacher in a Federal University in Brazil (Universidade Federal dos
Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri - UFVJM) and develops research in the Sports Physical
Therapy field. She was the coordinator of a Postgraduate Program in Rehabilitation and wasa visiting professor at UGENT ( Ghent, Belgium).

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Member-at-large - Carlo S. Ramponi (Italy)
Carlo Ramponi started to work in sport rehabilitation a few months after completing his
Physiotherapy degree, working with professional athletes and or teams. His principal
interests are muscle injuries, ACL and shoulder instability rehabilitation. He works as part of
the health team in Kinè rehab center, in national teams and in sports clubs. He has also
been involved in professional association committees for many years. Carlo is a former
president of the Group of Italian Sports Physical Therapists (GISPT). The GISPT is a younggroup which started in 1997. They achieved IFSPT Membership in 2009. Carlo first joined
GISPT 10 years ago while he was completing his Postgraduate Certificate (PGC) in SPORT
Rehabilitation at the University of Genoa

Member at Large - John Fitzgerald (Australia)
John Fitzgerald is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland, and owns a successful group of physical therapy clinics in Australia. He is the founder and CEO of Active Rehabilitation Physiotherapy.
John has been involved with the National Committee of the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Group for the past nine years. He served as a physical therapist for the CommonwealthGames in 2018, and was the physical therapist for the Brisbane Broncos, the Brisbane Bullets, the Queensland State Of Origin Team, the Queensland Firebirds and the Fiji Netballteam.
Member at Large - Ummukulthoum Bakare (Nigeria)
Ummukulthoum Bakare is a Doctorate Candidate in Physical Therapy at the University of
Witwatersrand in South Africa. She is a founding member of the NIgerian Sports Physiotherapy Association and has been active in the development of FIFA 11+ training in her native
country and across Africa. She received her Bachelor of Physical Therapy and her Masters ofPhysical Therapy from the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, NIgeria.
Ummukulthoum has worked as a physical therapist since 2001, and has won several
awards for her service, locally, regionally and internationally..

Staﬀ
Mary Wilkinson - Communications, Events and Marketing Manager
Mary Wilkinson is president of Opus Design Group, a marketing-based creative company inIndianapolis, Indiana. Mary’s background spans many consumer and business to businessfields; however, she has worked in the healthcare field for 35 years, and with physicaltherapists for 25. Mary’s responsibilities for the IFSPT include marketing strategy andexecution, communications with both member organizations and outside organizations,
event execution, marketing support for member organizations, and strategic planning consultation for the Board of Directors. She also is responsible for graphic design and website
management, as well as coordination of RISPTs. A many-times-over award winner for her
creative and marketing campaigns, Mary began work with the IFSPT in 2005, becoming theMarketing Director in 2011. She has served under every president of the IFSPT.

4LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTThe International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy (IFSPT) is as a worldwide Federation which represents national
sports physical therapy organizations, increasingly being recognized as the one as a leading international organization
within the sports medicine field. More and more countries apply for membership, and today IFSPT is truly an international organization with member organizations from all continents.
One of the main drivers of the recent visibility and success of the IFSPT has been the World Congress in Sports Physical
Therapy, which began in Bern in 2015, then was held in Belfast in 2017, and in Vancouver in 2019, and now will beheld in Denmark in 2022. The initiative of hosting a World Congress has brought sports physical therapists to meet inperson and networks to form in practice so that IFSPT today, compared to ten years ago, is a much stronger
organization with great contacts all over the globe. The potential of the World Congress in Sports Physical Therapy istremendous, and so far, this has together with IFSPT been executed by some of the “smaller” IFSPT countries. Imagine
what will happen if the World Congress at some point goes to the United States or Australia,
where Sports Physical Therapists as a specialty has a long-held tradition, or to exciting
continents like Asia or South America where the role of Sports Physical Therapist is
evolving rapidly and where specialty pathways will be emerging in years to come.
Our intention in IFSPT is to be the international resource for sports physicaltherapists to promote the profession, and together with our member organizations we wish to promote sports physical therapy and safe participation in
sport and physical activity, through excellence in education, research, practice,and clinical specialization. In 2020, we have accredited more IFSPT Registered
International Sports Physical Therapists than ever...281!... which is a good signfor the profession that sports physical therapists want to achieve the highest level ofclinical competencies possible and be recognized globally.
Another of the big breakthroughs of 2020 for IFSPT is that we have been able tocollaborate directly with global research centers that focus on Sports Physical Therapy, in a way that we together canhelp promoting newest sports physical therapy ideas and research. It is our intent that form of collaboration will expand, especially as the translation and dissemination of scientific evidence can travel faster than ever before withsocial media being one of the most important sources and facilitators of this. Through this work we also hope to bringnational sports physical therapy organizations and national sports physical therapy research programmes together andlift each other up, instead of working in separate silos. This topic is of outmost important to the IFSPT and “Translating
Science into Action” will therefore also be the main theme at the next World Congress in Sports Physical Therapy in2022 in Denmark. We hope that this annual report will provide an insight to all the great work that IFSPT does together
with its member organizations and provide strong evidence that we as Sports Physical Therapist have “the Power toMove the World.”
Kind regards,

IFSPT President
Kristian Thorborg

5The World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy is presented biennially by the International Federation of Sports
Physical Therapy (IFSPT) in conjunction with its member
organizations. It is designed for sports physical therapists
and other disciplines who train and rehabilitate active individuals of all ages, genders, abilities and level of participation. The Congress was developed to provide highquality education using current research, the most expert
presenters and the newest methods to restore all active
persons to play.
PAST CONGRESSES
Past congresses have welcomed 500-800 sports physicaltherapists from all seven continents.
This unique and groundbreaking event also hosts the
IFSPT General Meeting, drawing individuals from all
IFSPT member organizations to the congress.
In 2013, while meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, theBoard of Directors of IFSPT agreed to create the World
Congress, beginning in 2015. In 2014, the Board accepted Switzerland’s proposal to host the first World Congress. Over 800 people attended the First World Congressin Bern, Switzerland in 2015, almost twice the number ofattendees expected.

FUTURE CONGRESSESAt the Third World
Congress, the IFSPT
was excited toannounce that
Denmark waschosen to host the
Fourth World
Congress in August2021. Sadly, theCongress will be delayed by one year due
to the continued presence of COVID-19, and will
be held in Denmark in 2022
rather than 2021.
The dates are 26-27 August, 2022. Denmark is far into
the planning and organization for the Congress, with astellar group of speakers in place.

Belfast, Northern Ireland was the location for the Second
World Congress and its United Kingdom hosts, in theiconic Titanic Building in 2017. A maximum attendance of
500 were on hand for this successful Congress.
In 2019, Canada ably hosted
the Third World Congress inbeautiful Vancouver,
British Columbia to
another sellout crowd.
Networking was ahuge focus of thisevent, allowing
attendees plenty ofopportunity to connect
with each other, thespeakers and theexhibitors.

IFSPT plans to host a virtual General Meeting in 2021 to
abide by our by-laws. More information will
follow.

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7

THE ‘NEW” IJSPTIt has been a busy year in 2020 for everyone involved
with the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy.
The International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy(IJSPT) celebrated its fifteenth year in existence and has
remained an international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing the latest research and clinical cases
related to clinically relevant evidence, trends, andpractices. Its purpose is to advance and improve therehabilitation and care of athletes and recreationally active individuals throughout the world.
Throughout 2020, the IJSPT continued to experience
considerable upward growth, with submissions again
rising 15% from the previous year.
IJSPT highlights include• 364 manuscripts submitted for review• 107 manuscripts published• Sixty percent rejection rate (manuscripts under review
and/or revision not included in submission/rejection
numbers)• Submissions from USA: 53%• Submissions from rest of world: 47%. The top fivecountries submitting were Brazil, United Kingdom,
Australia, Denmark, Italy/Spain (tied)• Average number of days until all reviews are received:
31 days from date of submission; 74 days to point ofinitial decision• Average number of days from submission toacceptance: 154 days
• IJSPT remains archived in National Library of Medicine(NLM) and Pubmed• Worldwide subscription base: ~25,000 individuals• IJSPT ranked in the top five in clinical usefulness
among leading publications in related fields• 1.8 million unique users in 2020
• Over 2.8 million article downloads in 2020
Additionally, the journal is in the final year of being
evaluated by Reuter’s/Clarviate for an impact factor. The
journal has already been accepted on their emerging citation index. The journal is already indexed with ResearchGate, EBSCO, and CrossRef.
Beginning January 1, 2021, the IJSPT will be publishedby the North American Sports Medicine Institute (NASMI)
as an open access publication rather than the American
Academy of Sports Physical Therapy. IFSPT members will
be able to access the Journal prior to open access publication.

In order to access IJSPT issues early, IFSPT members
must register at this link:
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/Yq3YLwl
Member Organizations may also provide the IJSPT with
their member rosters for easy upload to the e-mailsystem to assure their members have access via theirmailbox.
A SPECIAL ROLE FOR IFSPTAs an official publication of the IFSPT, beginning with the
February 2021 issue, a segment entitled “International
Perspectives” will appear in the IJSPT, authored by IFSPT
members. This special feature will address topics ofparticular interest to the international sports physicaltherapy community, based in research and evidencebased practice.
EDITORIAL BOARD(at time of publication; ongoing)

Executive Editor in Chief/Publisher
Michael L. Voight, PT, DHSc, OCS, SCS, ATC, CSCS
Belmont University, NASMI
Nashville, Tennessee – USA
Editor-in-Chief
Barbara Hoogenboom, PT, EdD, SCS, ATC
Grand Rapids, Michigan – USA
8

Managing Editor
Ashley Campbell, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS
Nashville, Tennessee – USA
Director of Operations
Mary Wilkinson
Indianapolis, Indiana – USA
Associate Editors
Terry Grindstaff PT, PhD, ATC
Robert Manske PT, DPT, MEd, SCS, ATC, CSCS
Phil Page PT, PhD, ATC, CSS
International Editors
Colin Paterson
University of Brighton, Brighton, England, UK
Luciana de Michelis Mendonça, PT, PhD
Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e
Mucuri - UFVJM, Brazil
Kristian Thorborg, PT, PhD
Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre
Hvidovre, Denmark
JOURNAL BACKGROUND
The International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy isa peer-reviewed journal relating to all aspects of sports
physical therapy.
The American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy(AASPT), formerly the Sports Physical Therapy Section(SPTS), created the North American Journal of Sports
Physical Therapy to address current physical therapy
trends and practices to improve the care of therecreationally active individual, as a benefit formembers.

The first issue was released February 1, 2006. Beginning
V4N1, the Journal became an online publication and allarchives were posted on the NAJSPT website.
On January 1, 2011, the journal became the International
Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, and served as a benefit of membership for countries around the world for asmall fee. It is an official publication of the International
Federation of Sports Physical Therapy (IFSPT).
The journal is currently indexed by PubMed, CINAHL andSport Discus.
In 2021, there will be considerable enhancements as we
continue to expand the focus of the journal even more.
These enhancements include• A new interactive website (www.ijspt.org)• A new submission and content management portal
which will allow for a timelier review process, betterinteraction with authors, and “online first” capability to
get the manuscripts into the literature faster.
• As previously stated, the Editorial Board will also
include prominent international researchers, physicaltherapy thought leaders, and physicians. To date, theresponse to be involved has been overwhelming.
• Going forward, IJSPT will keep its main focus on
original research, systematic reviews/meta-analyses,
case studies, and clinical commentaries.
• IJSPT will have a greater presence in social media
beginning in 2021.

9

EDUCATION AND REGISTRATION COMMITTEEThe IFSPT education and registration committee includes
Chair Colin Paterson (UK), Bakare Ummukulthoum (Nigeria) and Walt Jenkins (US).
The focus of the IFSPT education component of thisgroup is to promote educational material and share educational resources relevant for sports physical therapists
among members.
The registration component of this group works tosupport Member Organizations in developing their own
professional developmental pathways, support countries
in gaining RISPT approval for pathways, and promoteindividuals who become Registered International Sports
Physical Therapists (RISPTs).
The main achievements of 2020 were
• A new registration review sub-committee was set up
and a call for volunteer members was put out. This
committee will independently review new applications
for RISPT approved pathways, ensuring a transparent
assessment process. Sub-committee members are

Colin Paterson (UK), Maria Constantinou (AUS), Bente
Andersen (DEN) and Sian Knott (UK).
• IFSPT has been working with four countries in Asia,
South America and Europe who are currently
developing their pathways in line with IFSPT’s RISPT
requirements.
• Belgium successfully submitted their pathway and they
became the thirteenth member organization with anapproved pathway. Congratulations to the Belgium
Federation of Sports Physiotherapy!
• There are currently 281 RISPTs worldwide. In 2020
55 new RISPTs joined the list.
Viewed by country, the RISPT list is as follows- Australia: 47- Canada: 81- Denmark: 9- Ireland: 5- Italy: 2- Norway: 5- New Zealand: 1

REGISTEREDThis is to certify thatJohn Sm
SPECIALIST

has demonstrated excellence in the profession
according to the criteria set forth by theInternational Federation of Sports Physical Therapy
and has been designated a Registered International Sports Physical Therapist
This day, 3 December, 2020
byKristian Thorborg, President
Registration is in effect through 3 December, 2025

- Sweden: 10- Switzerland: 1- United Kingdom: 25- United States: 95• During the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, IFSPT
intentionally focused on sharing educational resources
relating to COVID-19, with a focus on sport andexercise resources, via our social media outlets(Twitter and Facebook). Thank you to the member
organizations who also shared resources and cross10

posted. The sharing of educational material amongst
member organizations is a priority of IFSPT but thisdoes require member organization involvement tomaximize the impact. We now have over 4,700 Twitter
followers and over 3,700 Facebook followers, alongwith Instagram and LinkedIn accounts.

newsletter of examples from the UK and US, with a callfor other member organizations to share what they do forthis group of members. No other examples have been
submitted to date. The committee intends to continue tohave a focus on early career development and sharingof good practice and support for this group.

• A survey was developed to investigate the educational
needs of sports physiotherapists around the globe, witha focus on developing countries, to enable the IFSPT
best channel resources on how to support sports PTs
education. The survey is intended to be in phases.
Phase 1 was disseminated in Africa in two languages
that are widely spoken in the region (English andFrench). Other developing countries will follow suit.
Currently, we have 27 countries represented in the
IFSPT Africa focus group and the work to review the
feedback from phase 1 is currently ongoing.

• On the IFSPT website we have a new free courses
section https://ifspt.org/free-courses/. We want to sharefree educational courses that member organizations haveproduced. Currently the UK is the only link on this tab
despite calls for sharing of resources. Please get incontact so we can add more resources you offer to thewider IFSPT
community.

• The committee wanted to look to develop and sharegood practice relating to early career sports physicaltherapists, to compliment the work we currently do withRISPTs. Good practice was shared in the IFSPT11MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEEThe IFSPT Membership Committee includes Chair John
Fitzgerald (Australia), Carlo Ramponi (Italy), Colin
Paterson (England), Luciana DeMichelis Mendonca(Brazil), and Bakare Ummukulthoum (Nigeria). This IFSPT
group’s priority strategic goals are in growth,
increasing resources, and increasing membership value
and benefits for our Member Organizations and their
Registered International Sports Physical Therapists(RISPTs).
Our main activities during 2020 have included:• Planning, constructing, conducting, and completing ananalysis of a comprehensive membership survey. The
results will help our committee to determine the goals
and focus of our efforts moving forwards. All but eight
Member Organizations participatedIt was discovered that many of the requests ourMember Organizations have for the IFSPT are already inplace...our MOs are simply unaware of theseopportunities despite coverage on the website and in
our newsletters. Outside of these suggestions, however,there were additional requests:

John Fitzgerald, Australia. The marketing focus willcontinue to be driven by Mary Wilkinson, who is our
Communications, Events and Marketing Manager.
• Supporting the Secretary, Treasurer andCommunications, Events and Marketing Manager toupdate our membership database and contact details.
See back of annual report for an up to date roster.
• Managed applications for membership of IFSPT andwelcomed new countries: Indonesia, Morocco andZambia.
To help your Membership and Communications
Committees to better serve you, we have shared a list ofavailable benefits to our Member Organizations in our
December newsletter. If you missed it, go to
http://ifspt.org/newsletter-archive/ and locate theDecember issue.
The Membership Committee looks forward to working
with you to help your Member Organization takeadvantage of all of the
IFSPT’s member
benefits.

- Marketing research and assistance- Increased access to educational tools, free of charge
or at a nominal cost.
- A free Journal with access for all IFSPT members(stay tuned!)- More collaboration with research- Further enhancement of the website as a portal forlearning- Broader distribution of newsletters andcommunications• Merging our Membership and Marketing committees toallow more focus on our members and membershipbenefits. The membership focus will be directed by
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RESEARCH COMMITTEEThe IFSPT research committee includes Research Chair
Luciana DeMichelis Mendonca (Brazil), who took over the
position from President Kristian Thorborg in 2020, Bakare
Ummukulthoum (Nigeria) and Kristian Thorborg(Denmark). The main focus of the IFSPT researchcommittee is translation and dissemination of research
relevant for the sports physical therapist. The IFSPT
research committee has also been involvedin the planning and execution of research surveys and consensus statements during 2020. It has in 2020
worked towards bringing relevant
national scientific sports physicaltherapy research environments
and scientific journals to work
closer together with national
IFSPT member organizations to facilitate more research translationand dissemination.
The main achievements of 2020 were
• Scientific programme planned for World Congress inSports Physical Therapy in Denmark, 2022. More than
thirty speakers have been invited and the distribution of
the invited local scientific committee chaired by
Kristian Thorborg and invited speakers were 50/50 withregards to gender representation. Diversity in ethnicity,
age and topics have also been considered in relation to
speaker invitations. Congress attendants are expected
to be between 700-1000 participants.
• Consensus statement planned on “The Sports Physical
Therapist’s Role in Promoting Physical Activity.” At thispoint, invitations have been sent. British Journal ofSports Medicine has agreed to collaborate on form andpublication of this work, which will be held the day
after the World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy inDenmark. It is expected that 20-30 experts will
participate.
• “Sports Medicine Student Showcase,” an online
international congress event hosted by La Trobe
University Sport and Exercise Medicine ResearchCentre, Melbourne, Australia in collaboration withIFSPT was held, welcoming around 1000
participants.
• The American Academy of Sports
Physical Therapy (AASPT) Team
Concept Conference in December
was hosted in collaboration withIFSPT. Due to COVID-19, thisconference was held online rather
than live. Over 650 individuals
participated in all or part of the online
conference.
• Continued research dissemination
collaboration with International Journal of Sports
Physical Therapy (IJSPT) secured and currently three
IFSPT members serving on IJSPT editorial board.
• Survey on injury prevention among 414 injury
prevention experts, including sports physicaltherapists, was conducted by Luciana de Michelis
Mendonça in 2020 as a collaboration between Ghent
University and IFSPT. This work is planned to be
published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal in 2021.
• Dissemination of relevant research articles andpodcasts on social media (Twitter, LinkedIN and
Facebook). More than 300 social media posts fromIFSPT have been made in 2020, which is a large
increase from 2019. It is planned for 2021 to further
expand our social media presence.

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COMMUNICATIONS, EVENTS AND MARKETING

Communications, Events and Marketing are essential fora global organization such as IFSPT. In the early days,
communications were sporadic and marketing efforts togain new member organizations as well as make member contact were the burden of the Board of Directors. In
2005, professional assistance was sought to preparecollateral materials and display elements for conference
use. At the same time, the existing website, which was
created by an IFSPT member, was restored and information revised.
In 2011, the Board of Directors chose to contract Opus
Design Group to provide regular communication andmarketing support. Mary Wilkinson, president of Opus
Design Group, was named Marketing Director, a role she
fills to this day. From 2011 through 2019, many changes
to marketing and communications tools were made. A
regular newsletter to member organizations, a revamped
website, establishment of social media channels. andimproved communications not only between IFSPT and
its member organizations, but between member organizations as well.
Marketing works closely with the Board of Directors on
many projects, and with the President, Vice-President,
Treasurer and Secretary in evaluating initiatives andhelping to maintain administrative systems within theFederation.
Activities in 2020 also included• Consistent newsletters, sent every other month, withnew features• Reaching out to member organizations to solicit
articles and information for our newsletter and website• Marketing has served as a strong support for all three
past World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy, and is
involved with the Danish group in preparation for the
Fourth World Congress in 2022. Graphic design,planning, social media implementation, organization,
onsite support and sourcing exhibitors are all part ofmarketing’s activities.
• Prepared documents for Articles review by the Dutch
Chamber of Commerce. All paperwork has been
completed and received by the Dutch organization.
Changes are expected to be approved legally in 2021.
• Management of the RISPT process for the Education
and Registration Committee, including application
processing, reminders for renewal, production anddissemination of certificates and maintenance of theroster.
• Support for the Membership Committee in
distributing and collating results from the Member
Organization survey.
• Improved social media presence, increasing activity
over 300%.
Marketing is anxious to hear from your Member Organization (MO) so that we may share your activities withyour fellow MOs! Please submit news and articles toMary Wilkinson at mwilkinson@ifspt.org. In addition, any
MO that wishes to have our newsletters sent directly totheir members, please feel free to send a simple Excel
spreadsheet including first name, last name and email,and we will send the newsletters and our communications to them on your behalf! We will not use theseemails for any other purpose.

• Revamp of the website to include new information andrevised verbiage for clarity

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WORLD PHYSIOTHERAPY COLLABORATION

In 2020, World Physiotherapy (WP) began holding subgroup meetings, organized by World Physiotherapy President
Emma Stokes and Tracy Bury, Deputy Chief Executive. The primary goal is to support the subgroups in their strategicplan, governance and financial issues. This can include something as simple as how to collect payment for the group’s
dues to complex planning processes, while offering the opportunity to share experiences and ask for advice.
The subgroup meetings commenced in July 2020 and have occurred monthly, with one delegate from each subgroupattending. There are fourteen groups in total:• Acupuncture• Aquatic• Cardiorespiratory• Electrophysical• HIV/AIDS, oncology, hospice and palliative care
• Manual/musculoskeletal physiotherapy• Mental health• Neurology• Occupational health and ergonomics• Older people• Paediatrics• Pelvic and women’s health• Private practice• SportsIFSPT has attended all meetings to date, with various board members participating. Also, due to COVID-19 World
Physiotherapy is the link among the subgroups to discuss about online conferences and online meetings. Sharing goodpractice and learning from each others, experiences which will valuable for future IFSPT meetings we will hold virtually.
IFSPT has also aligned with World Physiotherapy’s diversity and inclusion initiative, to expand the collaboration withsports professionals of all genders, races, nationalities and walks of life. IFSPT supports efforts to increase diversity,
equity, and inclusion to better serve the federation, the profession, and the world.
IFSPT has renewed its commitment with sharing World Physiotherapy information with its members. Throughsocial media, our website and our newsletters and e-communications, we bring the information you need from ourparent organization.

15

COVID 19

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, it seems as if all of 2020 has been cancelled. Many IFSPT Member Organizations wereforced to postpone, cancel or take their annual meetings, which we all value to gain experience, network and grow in
our practices, online. The IFSPT’s own Board Meeting, scheduled for March of 2020 and aligned with the IOC World
Conference in Monaco, fell victim to the ravages of COVID. The Fourth World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy,
scheduled for August of 2021, was postponed to August of 2022 in order to assure that global health is restored before
gathering our Member Organizations together again. Hands on physical therapy was, for a time, replaced by virtualtherapy. Sports have been severely limited or completely cancelled to prevent the spread of the virus. Without exception, all of our Member Organizations have been affected in major ways: financially, professionally and personally.
At IFSPT, we have focused on expanding our international reach by working hard to provide useful resources via social
media. As each country and region is in a different COVID-19 situation and stage, providing global guidelines about how
to return to sport, in a safe and efficient manner has not been possible. With rapidly changing restrictions, best practices, and online clinical options, IFSPT has tried to share useful resources on this issue through our website and social
media.
In addition, IFSPT has supported or partnered with those Member Organizations who have chosen to pursue virtual
education. We have also linked sessions or courses, where available, to our website under Resources.
Our social media platforms on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have been very active with information. IFSPT also built a
COVID-19 Resource page on our website, which we continue to update and add to as information becomes available.
Go to www.ifspt.org/COVID-19.
In addition, World Physiotherapy has developed a resource that is available to our members regarding physical therapy and activity. https://world.physio/resources/covid-19information-hub.
We’ve linked this resource to our web page as well.
Find out what is going on through the resource for sports physical therapists
worldwide.
Twitter: @IntFSPT
Facebook: @ifspt
LinkedIn: International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy
Website: www.ifspt.org
Please help us to continue to share information with our Member Organizations and all sports physical therapists andmedical professionals worldwide.

16

MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS AND CONTACTSIFSPT Member

Country Name Contact

Contact E-mails

Argentina

Andrès Romañuk

info@akd.org.ar

Australia

John Fitzgeraldjohn.fitzgerald@activerehab.com.au

Austria

Karl Lochner

sportphysiotherapie@physioaustria.at

Belgium

Erik Witvrouw

Erik.Witvrouw@ugent.be

Bulgaria

Rumiana Tasheva

rumiana_tasheva@yahoo.com

BrazilChristiane de Souza
Guerino Macedo

vicepresidente@sonafe.org.br

CanadaPaul Hunter
Samantha Lee

nandphunter@me.com
slee@physiotherapy.ca

Chile

Juan Pablo Délano

juanpablo.delano@sokide.cl

CyprusKallis Kalli

sportsphysiocyprus@cytanet.com.cy

Denmark

Karen Kotila

kk@sportsfysioterapi.dk

Finland

Simone Kallonen

simone.kallonen@suft.fi

Germany

info@ag-sportphysiotherapie.de

GreeceIgnatoglou Despoina

ppta@otenet.gr

Hong Kong

Alex Ho Yee

hoalex@vtc.edu.hk

Indonesia

Syahmirza Indra
Lesmanaabdurrasyid.88@gmail.com
fisioorindonesia@gmail.com

IrelandDan Horan

CPSEMchair@ISCP.ie

Italy

Andrea Piazze
Elena Dovetta

presidenza@gissport.it
segreteria@gissport.it

17

IFSPT Member

Country Name Contact

Contact E-mails

Japan

Prof. Kiyokazu Akasaka
Mina Samukawa

msaka@gunma-u.ac.jp
mina@hs.hokudai.ac.jp

Luxembourg

Jérôme Pauls

mail@sport-kine.lu

Netherlands

Marloes van Lierop

info@nvfs.nl

New Zealand

Michael Borichmborich@gmail.com

Nigeria

Bakare Ummukulthoum

nspa@nigeriaphysio.org

NorwayMaria Sommervold

idrettsfysio@fysio.no

Portugal

Adérito Seixas
General Emailaderitoseixas.apfisio@gmail.com
apfisio@apfisio.pt

Saudi Arabia

Dr. Ali Al Barrati
General Email

Albarrati@ksu.edu.sa
spta@ksu.edu.saSouth Africa

Elaine Burger
General Emailsport-treasurer@saphysio.co.za
sports@saphysio.co.za

South Korea

Yushin Kim
Pilsoo Choi

Yushinphd@gmail.com
pschoi65@hanmail.net

Spain

General Emailinfo@aefi.net

SwedenTobias Wörner
General Emailtobias.worner@med.lu.se
idrottsmedicin@fysioterapeuterna.se

Switzerland

Mario Bizzini

secretary@sportfisio.ch

TurkeyAydan Aytar
Gül Baltaci

aytara@baskent.edu.tr
gul.baltaci@guven.com.tr

United Kingdom

Rachel Spanneradmin@physiosinsport.org

United States

Walter L. Jenkins
Mark DeCarlowjenkins@aaspt.org
mdecarlo@aaspt.org

ZambiaOswell Khondowe

oswellkhondowe@gmail.com

18

The International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy
www.ifspt.org
Twitter: @IntFSPT
Facebook: @ifspt
LinkedIn: International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy
Website: www.ifspt.org