The new Institute for Sport, Parks and Leisure (ISPAL) – which launched on 1 September – was formally unveiled to the sector for the first time at Leisure Industry Week (LIW) in Birmingham last week.

The new organisation, formed through the merger of the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management (ILAM) and the National Association of Sports Development (NASD) will comprise a core membership of sport. parks, leisure, physical activity, fitness and play professionals, but will also extend to including people working within the groundsmanship, countryside management, arts and tourism sectors.

Introducing ISPAL to senior industry members at the Leaders in Leisure Dinner held as part of LIW, Bev Smith, chair of NASD and ISPAL board member, said: “The role of sport, leisure and green space is more important now than ever before. They contribute to improved health and wellbeing, to social cohesion, to the regeneration of our communities and cities and to economic development.

“Government has acknowledged their significance and an increasing number of government policies and funding streams recognise the positive difference they can make. It falls to those of us working in the sector to rise to the challenge of delivering on agendas as diverse as combating obesity, improving delivery of leisure services in local authorities and the private sector, nurturing the next generation of elite athletes and increasing participation in coaching and volunteering.

“It is people who make the difference and those people are the professionals and aspiring professionals. The sector itself is diverse and has traditionally lacked clarity of definition and understanding. It is due to this diversity, and the complex range and nature of the challenges we now face as professionals that ISPAL, a new cross-sectoral body, has been created.”

Smith added that ISPAL will work to improve the stature and profile of the sector, to demonstrate the levels of skill, expertise and knowledge which exist within it and to make it more attractive as a career choice.

“The sector has traditionally suffered from a lack of investment in people,” she said. “Indeed, we would argue that a culture of random professional development has been fostered, rather than one of continuous professional development.”

ISPAL is scheduled to be fully operational by spring 2007 and aims to set up a working base in each of the Home County capitals within a short space of time.

The organisation has received statements of support from the minister for sport, Richard Caborn; the Fitness Industry Association (FIA); sports coach UK; Business in Sport & Leisure (BISL) and the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association (CLOA).