BASRaT’s progression as a global profession

It was nearly two decades ago when we made our first serious commitments to be part of a global profession. I recall those first meetings with our transatlantic colleagues; we were a small, unrecognised profession from the UK with not much to offer other than enthusiasm and endless questions.

Roll forwards to October 2025 and the WFATT World Congress in Dublin; BASRaT is now one of the International Arrangement partners and a globally recognised accreditation body, regulator and professional association for Sport Rehabilitation and Athletic Therapy.  Events like the 2025 World Congress have always been invaluable opportunities to work together, share experiences and expertise and develop our professions that not only benefits our members, but also the patients and systems we all work with.

This latest congress is a reminder of how far we have all come, we had leaders and members from across world and although there are only currently four IA partners, we expect that number to increase significantly over the next couple of decades and the current partners will be supporting aspirant professions wherever they can. This congress also represented a collaborative renewal and revision of the WFATT global strategy during the Leadership Summit, with a clear focus on supporting the development and recognition of our worldwide profession. All the previous WFATT Presidents have done excellent work laying the foundations for this, with Dr Brian Zeller now stepping down after a busy and very positive term and Dr Matthew Kutz will now be taking up the mantle as WFATT President and we look forward to working with him to continue to advance our profession, wherever you are in the world.

For this Congress, BASRaT also organised and coordinated the Woman in Sport and Healthcare project. There were excellent presentations from the IA organisations, with Eve Ralph from Her Game Too representing BASRaT and the UK, with a look at the fantastic work they have been doing and what we can all do going forwards to make the environments we work in more inclusive. See Her Game Too for more details of their work and the BASRaT dedicated webpage here.

We are delighted to announce that the next World Congress will be hosted by BASRaT at the Surgeons Quarter, Edinburgh on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd October, 2027. More details to follow!

Steve Aspinall, Chief Executive of BASRaT.