The genesis of this initiative came from a desire to assist practitioners in their quest to become informed and to better serve athletes
The recognition that there was a need to provide such a resource for coaches and practitioners in the Information Age stemmed from the personal experience of Paul Gamble, the founder of Informed Practitioner in Sport, during the course of his work in elite and professional sport in various parts of the world.
These experiences convinced Paul that many of the issues and difficulties that arose between coaching, support staff, and the athletes themselves could be ameliorated or eliminated if all parties had the benefit of a broader perspective, deeper understanding of the process, and perhaps most important, better awareness of each others' respective areas of expertise and roles within the process.
With this end in mind, Informed Practitioner in Sport was originally launched to provide online continuing education and professional development specifically aimed at practitioners working in the area of sports injury. These courses were accredited by a range of certifying bodies and professional organisations worldwide, including American College of Sports Medicine, National Athletic Trainers Association, Canadian Athletic Trainers Association, Australian Physiotherapy Association, and the New Zealand College of Physiotherapy.
The more recent iteration of Informed Practitioner in Sport has broadened the scope to better fulfill the original aim: Informed Practitioner, Informed Coach, Informed Leader. Our target audience encompasses those who posses a genuine desire to seek greater understanding in order to better inform their practice and support athletes to achieve. As such, our audience transcends professions; we speak to coaches, to practitioners across all disciplines, to those in leadership positions and others who support the athlete (notably parents). To this end, we aim to provide content that is relevant to each of these respective players in the process.