Forget for a moment what you have learned along the way. Forget the thoughts that have filled your mind. Open yourself to what exercise physiology can be if we would just help each other. These are my thoughts today. Who can deny that this is the great need of exercise physiology? This is what all exercise physiologists desperately require.

We need the American Society of Exercise Physiologists with the mark of professionalism and integrity upon it. Too much of our work is made up of doing the same programs, ideas, and strategies day after day. While these have value, they fail to meet our needs today. What is missing is the professional development of exercise physiology by exercise physiologists at all levels. This has always been important. It is critical today because there is power in renovation of our academic programs, how we think, and what we do in the public sector.

Think how thousands of young men and women would be affected if academic exercise physiologists began working together, after all, isn’t that exactly what professors should be doing? This issue is not the ability of one person here or another person elsewhere doing his or her best, but rather our collective availability to our students. We can make a marvelous difference if we come together.

The only variable in the equation is getting beyond our inertia and our staggering years of going at it as we always have done. It is not enough to teach and do research about jumping higher, running faster, or lifting more weight. We must now experience personally in new depths a piercing understanding of professionalism. Don’t we need a break from yesterday’s thinking? Don’t we need something far different and greater for our students?

Instead of staying as we have been, we must assume a new way of thinking. The more we come to understand the need for the professional development of exercise physiology, the more we open our minds to what the ASEP leadership has done to improve our accountability and credibility through accreditation and board certification. And, the more we come together to achieve our vision, we will be judged for doing the right thing for our students.

All of this should be obvious. It is almost as if we know the truth, but we are afraid to walk the walk. No wonder we hear others saying, but “It is too much work to get involved.” How tragic! Individuals uneasy about putting their foot forward because of what others might say or that it is just too big of a job to get done need to rethink their future.

Instead of saying “it is too much” -- now is the time to show ourselves worthy of membership in the evolving profession of exercise physiology. We must not shrink from the responsibility. The ASEP message must be delivered, talked about, and acted upon. This is why you must join ASEP, get involved in the change process, and reach out and experience the professionalism of exercise physiology.