International School Sport Federation

The International School Sport Federation (ISF) is an international sports governing body for school sport. Founded in 1972 with 21 signatory nations (all European), the federation has been organising international competitions to encourage education through sport and student athletes. It has 86 member nations from five continents. It is a member of SportAccord and is recognised by the International Olympic Committee. It is based in Antwerp, Belgium.

The ISF limits itself to activities with school children between the ages of 14 to 18 (roughly contiguous with high school age). This distinguishes its role from the longer-established International University Sports Federation, which governs student sport from the ages of 17 to 25.

There are 25 recognised ISF sports, each of which has its own championship once every two years. They are called the ISF World Schools Championship (ISF WSC). The first official ISF championships were in football and volleyball, which both took place in 1972, athletics, basketball, handball and skiing championships followed a year later.

The foremost competition held by the ISF is the Gymnasiade – a biennial multi-sport event first held in 1974 in Wiesbaden, Germany that features athletics, gymnastics and swimming events. Among their other major events are continental games such as the Pan-American School Games, Euro Schools Football, Asian School Games.

Around the mid 1960s, international sporting contests between schools has been increasing. Besides occasional and haphazard meetings between two or more schools, tournaments were beginning to be organised regularly in different disciplines: in handball from 1963, in volleyball from 1969, in football one year later and from 1971 also in basketball. Each of these annual tournaments produced basic regulations and a standing committee.