HISTORY OF SPORTAEROBICS

With little more than a clean pair of athletic shoes, appropriate workout-wear and dedicated effort, inspired athletes around the world have become hooked on sportaerobics. A brief look at the history of sportaerobics offers insights into how far the sport has come in a relatively short time. From its inception in the early ’80′s sportaerobics captured attention and earned the respect of athletes who were drawn to it by the challenge and excitement of its high-performance standard. Sportaerobics was created as a showcase for athletes of all ages to demonstrate excellence in the fitness components of muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and artistic performance skills. Today, it is quite common to refer to sportaerobics as “extreme aerobics” and to talk about its future as an Olympic sport.

In 1983 at the beginning of the aerobics and fitness movement, Sport Fitness International (SFI) founded by Los Angeles sport marketers Howard and Karen Schwartz took aerobics from a fitness activity and created the competitive discipline called competitive aerobics. Sportaerobics, as it is known today was the way for students and instructors alike to test their abilities in head to head athletic competition. Shortly after the development of the rules and guidelines by Sport Fitness International, the first National Aerobic Championship (NAC) was held in the USA in 1984. From 1986 Sportaerobics witnessed a vast and rapid development as countries around the world joined the USA and adopted the rules and judging criteria created for the NAC. In 1989 the non profit United States Competitive Aerobics Federation, USCAF was founded as the governing body for sportaerobics in the USA and the Association of National Aerobic Championships Worldwide (ANAC) its governing body worldwide.

March of 1990 was very significant in the history of sportaerobics – the 1st World Sportaerobic Championship was held in San Diego, California featuring athletes from 16 countries. Today, under the auspices of the ANAC, upwards of 30 member nations administer National Sportaerobic Championships laying the groundwork for the future of the ANAC in their countries. In 1998 youth sportaerobics for 7 – 17 year olds was originated and the first ANAC World Youth Sportaerobics Championship was conducted.

In 1996 the Federation Internationale Gymnastic (FIG) accepted sportaerobics as an official discipline gaining official recognition by the IOC and positioning it for future Olympic games inclusion. Sportaerobics was added to the World Games in August 1997.