CISM Academy History

            Previous Definition
CISM Academy was a scientific and pedagogical study centre dedicated to research in all areas of physical activity and sport manifestation – high-performance, social, educational and military in the Armed Forces worldwide.

            Previous Objectives

1. Spread new methods of training used by troops around the world;
2. Keep a nucleus of military and civilian authorities in the field of sporting training, medicine and social inclusion;
3. Collect and file information on the modern methods of training;
4. Lead research in specific areas according to the necessity of CISM;
5. Lead symposia in which selected authorities could present studies and material brought up to date in all area of physical activity manifestation;
6. Spread new discoveries, methods and techniques of training for the countries members through technical booklets, symposia and clinics; and
7. Foment and divulge initiatives in the field of the social inclusion by sport.

            Annual Summary
1951 - During the General Assembly in Cairo, according to the initiative of Captain Raoul Mollet (Belgium) and Captain Edmond Petit (France), it was decided to concentrate efforts on activities of physical training studies.
1955 - During the II International Clinic in Portugal, Mafra, doctors and trainers from different countries requested CISM to create a specialized agency to assume the responsibility for the preparation and technical supervision of clinics and research, assuring anticipated compilation of data related to the physical and sports activity.
1956 - Major Mollet was in charge of preparation of the final project for the creation of the the CISM Academy, to be presented during the next General Assembly.
1957 - On 8th September, in France, Canes, the 11th General meeting unanimously approved the project to create the CISM Academy. It started a phase of intense participation for militaries in the scientific sport worldwide.
1958 - With the creation of the C.I.S.M. Magazine, information about scientific CISM activities could be spread and shown to the world more regularity. In all its editions one may find articles written for military about different methods of training created during this period: Interval-Training, Circuit-Training, Cross-Promenade, Fartlek and Power-Training created by Raoul Mollet in 1954.
1960 - The Executive Committee of CISM created the organizational structure and statutes of the CISM Academy, which defined it as a scientific and pedagogical agency dedicated to research in all areas of the physical activity and sports training. The book “Medicine of the Sport” was launched in Italy. Chapter 39, "Military Sports Medicine", written by Colonel G. Tartarelli (Italy), considered articles developed by CISM Academy.
1960 - In Rome the CISM and the Italian Federation of Sports Medicine organized a Congress about the topic “Interval Training”. On this occasion Colonel Lartigue announced that the methods of emergency artificial breath in children, presented in the Clinic of Toledo some years before, had been approved by the French Academy of Medicine and had been sent to the Minister of Health of France as a proposal, so that they were taught in the schools for young people aged between 12 to 13 years. The concept of "Total Training", created by Major Mollet, spread around the world with a help of elaborated plans of training for diverse sports. The method consisted of a set of factors and procedures that objectified the performance of the athlete. It described the development of the organic power in three periods; the physiological conditioning; acquisition of resistance; acquisition of endurance; development of neuromuscular power (strength x speed); technical improvement; psychological work - invisible Training (diet, habits of life, use of the Training Tables, etc.); support of the sports medicine - social intervention (action of school, head, family, headquarters).
1963 - The CISM Academy innovated its activities and started to organize "study sessions" annually in a period of four years. These clinics congregating athletes and researchers had been developed with an increasing success. An important article about the influence of the altitude in the performance, published in the magazine Sport International n° 26 in 1965 called the attention of sports community for the Olympic Games of Mexico in 1968.
1965 - The winter in Europe was known as the great number of activities in the field of physical education and sport research. There were several events organized, such as the 1st International Congress of Sports Psychology in Rome with 400 participants from 34 countries; the 1st International Seminary on "Cinema, Television and Audiovisuals Means to Serve Sport" in Rome, represented by 16 countries; the International Meeting on Collective Sports in France, Vichy, and the International Congress on Physical Training and Rest for Workers in Spain, Madrid (30 represented countries). Results of the “sessions of study” and its conclusions were published in Technical Brochures edited by CISM and its member countries starting from 1966.
1966 - Captain Lamartine from Brazil created a new method of training, Altitude Training. Basically, this method was not restricted to the training in a permanent altitude, but it was intended for passing from one altitude to another, decreasing the partial pressure of oxygen.
1968 - Representative of 28 countries took part in the Symposium "The Military Methods of Physical and Sports training". Amongst the speakers there was a North American Major of the Air Force, the distinguished Kenneth Cooper, who presented the subject: "The Development of One Program of Physical Conditioning".
1974 - Argentina hosted the International Days of Sport Studying. More than 1,300 participants and 22 speakers attended this event. The discussed subjects were - Sports Medicine, The Sport in Community, Military Physical Training. On average, annually they were 10 scientific-sports events organized, such as clinics and meetings of study during CISM World Championships. After many cases of doping, important articles had been published by militaries linked to the CISM Academy in the magazine Sport International, trying to alert on the harmful effect of these drugs on the organism. Also works in the area of the weight training, cycles of training, super circuit of training, and physical training for the sport orienteering had been published.
1986 - The CISM Academy started to face financial problems for implementation of its projects. The Executive Committee, which met in Jordan, decided that the few available resources would have to be directed for the technical assistance to the African countries that would organize CISM events in 1987 and 1988. At the same time, after 32 years of mandate, the idealizer and responsible for the success of this huge project, Raoul Mollet, said farewell to CISM General Secretariat.
1991 - The XLVI General Assembly, in Tanzania, Karibu, voted in favor of a new structure of CISM. The Board of Directors assumed duties of the CISM Academy. Thus, the CISM President became also the CISM Academy President, Presidents of Sports, Medicine, and Finances Commissions became other members of the CISM Academy, and the Secretary was appointed by the Secretary General. This reorganization marked the beginning of the CISM Academy’s disappearance.
1998 – The Board of Director, during a meeting in Namibia 1998, decided to finish CISM Academy activities.
2008 – The CISM web site presents a “Sports and Science Forum” as an open and democratic space to discuss sports related matters in a scientific point of view and built a network to re-create an appropriated environment within CISM to re-launching the CISM Academy.