Quality partnerships in Adapted Physical Activity

Europe and Europeans have been in important roles from early on in creating such a discipline what we call now 'Adapted Physical Activity' (APA).Even before Sir Ludwig Guttman and his successful development starting from Stoke Mandeville Games in the 40's, there has been physical activity for individuals with disabilities.Today we owe a great deal for our ancestors for being so courageous in developing APA movement: from rehabilitation all the way to Paralympic movement.European scholars had also had an integral role in founding our International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA) back in 1973, and later its Symposium series (ISAPA) from 1977 as a forum for scientific debate within practitioners and researchers.The 22 nd ISAPA was organized last June in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA to continue our need for dialogue and exchanging ideas in order to develop the field of APA.The next ISAPA 2021 (see www.jyu.fi/isapa2021) will be held in Jyväskylä, Finland.The theme of the symposium is "Quality partnerships in Adapted Physical Activity: Stronger together!"European APA professionals have cooperated over the years, and have become stronger and productive in various activities including conferences.Continental congresses (European Congress in Adapted Physical Activity, EUCAPA) have been organized since 1986, mostly every even year.Next one will be in Elche, Spain October 2020 (www.eucapa2020.com)which gives another forum for debate.Moreover, educating future professionals in different university level programs have been a very common joint activity within European colleagues.Due to the rather narrow field and a few APA-professionals in academia, it was rational to build programs which were offered in English to different nationalities.For example, the European Master's Program in APA which began in early 1990's has endured, with modifications and name changes, over decades.It is now called IMAPA, a 2-year master programme that combines the expertise of a number of universities and offers students training and expert knowledge in Adapted Physical Activity.