Page 3 - AASP Spring Newsletter 2015

President’s Message

Robert J. Schinke, EdD, CRC, Laurentian University

The irst quarter of this year- The present phase of the Strategic Planning process has been

long term has been a whirlwind ongoing since the 2014 AASP Conference when our Student

affair. AASP is thriving, and the Representatives, Dolores Christensen and Eric Martin, and I met

momentum we are presently with the student membership to identify their perspectives on

experiencing is thanks to the AASP’s (and the broader domain’s) future challenges, in a Town

membership as much as the Hallmeeting.Wefeltitcorrecttoholdtheirstmeetingwithour

leadership. A few of the current student members as they are not only the present, but also the

highpoints follow, with others future leadership and rank and ile of AASP. Moving next to our Robert

SCHINKE
coming in the next report.
most established members, the second Town Hall meeting was

conducted with AASP’s Past Presidents and Fellows. Since then,

two additional town halls with the general membership have

followed (December 2014 and January 2015). Having completed Through the efforts of Mark Aoyagi (Research and Practice

the promised number of meetings, we quickly realized there were Division Head), Amanda Visek, and many others, AASP will

expand its boundaries through its inaugural virtual conference
no international voices within the irst four sessions. As such,

we called a ifth meeting, exclusively for international members, on Wednesday, May 20. This educational offering will be a

to gain their vantage. Our international members are a valued half-day affair, with leading experts speaking on research-to-

and solid number within AASP – 432 in 2014. Through these ive practice topics related to youth sport. Additionally, AASP Past

meetings, more of our members voiced their views during the President and eminent scholar-practitioner, Dan Gould, will

launch of a Strategic Planning process than ever before.
facilitate sessions. For those unable to attend the conference

live, the content will also be recorded so sessions can be made

available for streaming at a later date.

During a quiet, late autumn run, before the snow settled onto

the Northern Canadian grounds where I live, I pondered the

importance of membership engagement and how next to engage One important piece to this year’s puzzle has been the continuation

members within Strategic Planning. We have identiied core of AASP’s Strategic Planning process. When I ran for election,

competencies that could provide a diversity of perspectives to I didn’t realize my term would be the juncture, or bridge, from

the strategic planning team, such as students, professionals the current strategic plan to the next. With help from AASP’s

management company, several strategic planning facilitators
from various career stages, scholars, full-time consultants,

international members, and members from marginalized groups. were interviewed during last Fall’s Eboard meeting. Rick Weaver

However, during that morning run, a few questions troubled (Amarion Solutions), who you will get to know shortly, quickly

me. Would the leadership choose who these core members emerged as the best possible it for our Association.

might be? If so, what would be the risk of including people

who were identiied by this group over members who might

AASP Newsletter // Spring 2015 // President’s Message

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