ISPAL (The Institute for Sport, Parks and Leisure) is the new, much needed professional membership body for a fast growing, buoyant industry. We are formed from two previous bodies of repute, ILAM (The Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management) and NASD (The National Association of Sports Development).

We aim to continue their missions to a wider group of stakeholders, namely to provide support, advocacy and professional development for those involved in the sports, parks and leisure industries, and to improve significantly on them.

ISPAL will serve and represent this workforce and we aim to offer you, our members, unrivalled value and a great number of benefits.

In order to oversee the delivery of the improvements, ISPAL's new CEO Sue Sutton was appointed in the summer of 2007. In addition, a senior management team has recently been installed to meet our aims.

What we do

The cornerstones of what ISPAL provides for the industry can be summarised as follows:

Education and Training
-ISPAL provides continuing professional development (CPD) for its members as well as offering a wide range of training courses at venues across the country.
-We also offer 'in house' training courses so if you have a particular subject area that you require support and development in for your team, our trainers can visit your offices and deliver the training.
-Our aim is to launch a new professional qualifications scheme for the industry by March 2009.


Conferences and Events
-The Institute will run a number of events in 2008, starting with the Active Leisure Conference in Warwickshire in June. In addition we will also run a National Parks Conference in the autumn (date and venue tbc) and are also looking at supporting a number of other events.
-As well as running a number of major conferences, ISPAL will look to regularly host regional meetings so please continue to take a look at our events calendar to make sure that you take the chance to meet the team in 2008.


Information
-ISPAL offers all members FREE access to the renowned information hub with full time service support, so the next time you need articles on your subject area don't waste time with Google, let us provide you with the exact information you need.
-We also send out a weekly e-zine to keep all our members up to date with the latest industry news and jobs.
-In 2008 ISPAL will launch a quarterly exclusive member's magazine as a tangible benefit.


Shape sector policy
-In 2008 ISPAL will begin to reintroduce specialist networks and offer greater support to the regional ISPAL structure. This will help us to work closely with our members to shape policy in order to lobby government departments on behalf of our industry.


The Senior Management Team at ISPAL

Sue Sutton, Chief Executive Sue joined ISPAL from Badminton England where she had been the National Development Director since 2004. Prior to that, she worked for England Hockey for six years in two development roles.

Sue trained originally as a teacher and worked in a number of teaching and management roles during her eighteen years in education. She qualified as an HMC Inspector in 1998 and also holds a number of coaching and umpiring qualifications.

Jonathan Wilson, Head of Business Development Jonathan comes to ISPAL with a track record in sports marketing having worked at The FA for six years previously. Recruited by The FA in 2001 as part of the inaugural Graduate Management Scheme, he spent eighteen months working across all departments to build a strong foundation of knowledge. In 2003 he was appointed Marketing Manager for the new educational brand 'FA Learning' and was responsible for marketing and commercial strategy.

As Head of Business Development, Jonathan's key roles will be to oversee the marketing, communications and commercial elements of the Institute. He is a Nottingham Forest FC supporter.

Be a part of and shape your industry with membership of ISPAL.