INTERNATIONAL SPORT AND CULTURE Association Fast facts and figureS Founded in 1995
55.000.000 people
€1.028.978 income in 2010
143 member organisations
5 continents
12 executives
71 countries
12 employees
11 large-scale EU funded projects 36 EU grants
3 MOVE congresses 13.191 newsletter recipients
10 websites 821 Facebook friends
Working more than 5.915 days for 1 goal : MOVING PEOPLE
12 networks The INTERNATIONAL SPORT AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION (ISCA) is a global platform open to organizations working within the field of sport for all, recreational sports and physical activity. ISCA is today a global actor closely cooperating with its member organizations, international NGOs, and public and private sector stakeholders. ISCA conceives sport as an integral part of civic life and promotes active participation through attractive offers that encourage the citizens’ involvement in sports, health-related exercises, recreational activities, leisure activities and games. ISCA and its members act as enabler of physical activity offers locally, nationally and internationally. Understanding and acting upon people’s expectations and demands is the daily challenge for our members and it is our key task to support them in meeting these demands and in being front-runners in spotting and developing new trends.
“We build international relations between people, cultures, organizations and sectors. Seeing sport as a culture of movement, we develop opportunities for learning, inspiration and action to induce social change.” ISCA Mission statement
GR ASSROOTS SPORT IS TOP OF THE POP Participation in grassroots sport is in fact ‘top of the pop’ and not the bottom of the pyramid as often depicted. The archaic view of a pyramidal sport and physical activity fails to adequately describe the size and functional links between the different actors in sport and physical activity. Just as in music, fashion or art, ‘pop’ describes a popular or widespread trend among ordinary people. Grassroots sport is by numbers and participation levels at the top of popular human activities. Grassroots sport is not the bottom of a pyramid. It is simply top of the pop!
European sport federations
ISCA embraces the recent findings of Prof. J. Scheerder et al. from the University of Leuwen advancing the ‘CHURCH MODEL’, which illustrates more precisely the size and intersections of the different sectors in the field of sport and physical activity. Indeed, ISCA’s member organisations mainly operate in recreational sport and competitive sport.
Elite Sport High level competitive sport
National sport federations Regional sport federations
COMPETITIVE SPORT
RECREATIONAL SPORT
Sport clubs
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