The Contribution of ARIS to the enhancement of sports, physical activity and health in educational settings

In 1998, French speaking researchers interested by physical education and physical education teacher education were invited to attend to an international conference organized in Antibes (France) which specificity was to provide them an original opportunity to emerge from the anonymity experienced in the traditional sports sciences congresses and to assert their belonging to a specific and promising field of study. During the conference, a meeting was initiated by some renowned scholars to determine the interest of the participants about the creation of an association aiming to bring together the Francophone concerned researchers. At the end of the meeting, a group of pioneers was given the task of defining the name of the organisation, its objectives and mode of operation, as well as drawing up statutes to be approved at a constituent general assembly to be held at a first specific conference scheduled for 2000. Given the divergent views on the dialectical aspects of concepts such as education, sport… the group's first challenge was to agree on the designation of the research field and its definition. The concept of ‘Intervention’ was selected and defined as ‘any professional act implementing competences, experimental and theoretical knowledge to serve a purpose in different fields of human movement (school, sports club, active recreation, rehabilitation, infant motor learning…) to the benefit of various people, across the lifespan.’ The Association pour la Recherche sur l’Intervention en Sport – ARIS (Association for Research on Intervention in Sport) was officially founded in 2000. The current goals are: (1) promoting research in the field of Intervention; (2) developing relationships between scholars; (3) helping researchers, and; (4) creating a network with research communities. ARIS organizes events like its well-known biennial conferences; published a number of works, including an anthology presenting the various theoretical frameworks used by researchers in the field, and; maintains a permanent contact within its network through a digital newsletter. More information on https://aris-intervention-sport.org/