Last night I went to a 'working dinner' celebration of the formation of the Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity held at Roehampton Tennis and Golf Club.
Guest of honour was Sport and Olympic minister Hugh Robertson, and after admitting that even he had not received his choice of Olympic tickets, it was down to serious business. 'I want this body of sport to make my job uncomfortable,' he said. Robertson added that the Institute in it's two previous forms - ISRM and ISPAL - had been too reactive, but now that the move had been made to create one creditable, chartered organisation then there was space at the top table for a representation from sports management.
'This industry should be getting it's people into positions of power, chief executives of local authorities and within the higher levels of government,' added Robertson.
This was music to my ears because my new journal - Sport and Physical Activity - is the voice of IMSPA and listening to the minister and seeing the faces around the tables I could see that there is a real potential for both this organisation and the magazine to make a real impact on both the sports industry and the health and fitness of the UK.
