Promotion, Dissemination, and Practical Application of Results and Findings in the Field of Physical Activity for Persons with Disabilities
@_nafapa
December 2025 Issue #18
NAFAPA News
Meghann Lloyd | Ontario Tech University
Join us July 28-31st for our 18th Biennial Conference at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
The 2026 Award Deadline is March 01, 2026. Learn more about our four awards below.
NAFAPA Communication Updates | Franziska Loetzner | Oregon State University
Early Development Series: Pitching on Paper, Jumping into the Job Market, & Dodging the Desk Reject.
Interested in Hosting NAFAPA 2028?
Call for Application
IFAPA 2025 Recap
This year’s International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA) was a wonderful opportunity to foster growth and unity. ISAPA 2025 incorporated IFAPA, the International Symposium on Physical Activity and Visual Impairment or Deafblindness, The Mental Health Summit, UNESCO-ISAPA International Consultation on Policy Change for Disability Inclusion in Sport, and A Disability Sport and Physical Education trade exhibition. This collaboration supported junior and senior professionals with a variety of focal points in the field of APA. ISAPA 2025 was a great for learning, sharing ideas, and making meaningful connections.
President's Message
I hope that all members of the Adapted Physical Activity Community have had a productive start to the 2025-2026 school year. The NAFAPA board has been active over the summer and fall.
We held our first two Early Career Development Series Webinars! “Pitching on Paper” featured Dr. Emily Bremer, Dr. Sam Logan and myself providing insight for writing that one-page that is often needed for fellowships and scholarships. In our second webinar, “Jumping into the Job Market,” Dr. Megan MacDonald, Dr. Lindsey Nowland, Dr. Nancy Spencer, and Dr. JK Yun gave tips on how to approach the application, interview, and negotiation process when landing that first job. These were a huge success and many thanks to our Members at Large, Dr. Cora Firkin and Paul Warner for moderating these panels. Please join us for the final webinar in the series, “Dodging the Desk Reject” that will be held on February 5th at 6:30pm EST. All of the webinars will be uploaded to the NAFAPA website after the series concludes.
The NAFAPA Career and Student Opportunity site is updated regularly as we receive notice of opportunities. We encourage you to visit that page often. If you have any positions that you would like to be posted here, please email NAFAPA.boardofdirectors@gmail.com.
Our NAFAPA award nominations are open. The Dale A. Ulrich Leadership, Greg Reid Research, Allen W. Burton New Investigator and Patricia Austin Graduate Student awards will be will be awarded at NAFAPA 2026 in Hawaii. For more information about these awards and the nomination process, visit NAFAPA Awards.
As I hope you are all aware, NAFAPA 2026 will be held at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, July 28-31, 2026. The conference website and call for abstracts is now open. Visit the conference website here. See more information later in this newsletter.
As always, please follow us on LinkedIn @nafapa and Instagram @_NAFAPA for regular updates.
Cheers,
Meghann
Call for Abstracts
Important Dates:
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Abstract deadline: February 1, 2026
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Abstract notification: March 15, 2026
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Early Bird Registration Begins: February 1, 2026
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Early Bird Registration Ends: April 15, 2026
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Online Registration Ends: July 14, 2026
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Conference Begins: July 28, 2026
2026 NAFAPA Conference
Dates: July 28-31, 2026
Location: University of Hawai’i at Mãnoa
Address: 2465 Campus Road, Honolulu, HI 96822
NAFAPA’s biannual meeting is an important event to share cutting-edge research and emerging trends in adapted physical activity. It offers participants opportunities for rich dialogue, the development of collaborative initiatives, and constructive feedback on their work. The conference harnesses the expertise of NAFAPA's diverse membership while welcoming new voices and perspectives into the organization. Students gain unparalleled opportunities to present their work, connect with leading scholars, and build professional networks that support their future careers.
We hope to see you there!
Call for 2026 NAFAPA Award Nominations
NAFAPA recognizes outstanding scholars and leaders in adapted physical activity with the following awards. Click the link next to each award for specific information. For general award information, visit NAFAPA Awards.
Award nominations are due March 1, 2026.
Dale A. Ulrich Leadership Award
NAFAPA’s most prestigious honor, this award celebrates a lifetime of leadership and impact in Adapted Physical Activity. Named after Dr. Dale Ulrich, it recognizes individuals whose careers have shaped the field through research, teaching, service, program development, or clinical practice.
Allen W. Burton New Investigator Award
This award honors early-career scholars who demonstrate exceptional promise in the field of Adapted Physical Activity research. Named after Dr. Allen W. Burton, a prolific researcher and mentor, this biennial award recognizes individuals within six years of completing their terminal degree who are actively contributing to the field through innovative, high-quality research.
Patricia Austin Graduate Student Award
This award honors outstanding scholarly research by graduate students in Adapted Physical Activity. Named after Dr. Patricia Austin, a pioneer in Canadian APA education and Special Olympics development, the award recognizes unpublished research papers that demonstrate scientific rigor and originality.
Greg Reid Research Award
The Greg Reid Research Award is awarded to a poster presentation at the biannual meeting. Applicants do not need to apply to be considered for this award.
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NAFAPA Communication Updates from our Secretary
I’m excited to share a few updates on our communications efforts since the last newsletter in March. We’ve expanded our reach by launching new accounts on Instagram (@_NAFAPA) and LinkedIn (North American Federation of Adapted Physical Activity). We have started using MailerLite to send emails more efficiently and professionally.
We chose MailerLite as our email platform to send professional-looking messages to members with minimal bounce-back. It allows us to track metrics (e.g., open-rate, link activation) so we can improve how we connect with you. That said, because MailerLite is a third-party system, some email servers may flag our messages as “unverified” or send to “spam” folders. If you think you’ve missed a message, please check those folders and mark our emails as safe.
Our email blasts have become our most effective tool for reaching members. Nearly 70% of recipients open them, and about 50% engage by clicking links. I’ve been genuinely encouraged by this level of engagement and am grateful for the continued interest in what we’re sharing!
On social media, LinkedIn has become our most active platform. We are grateful to everyone who follows and engages with our posts. Our Members-at-Large have created templates to increase consistency with our branding. We love interacting with member content! Instagram sees less engagement on posts, but our “stories” are consistently well viewed. We’re continuing to adapt content to fit each platform and appreciate your support as we learn what works best.
As we continue building our communications strategy, we’d love to hear from you. We’re looking to feature NAFAPA members in future posts and newsletters, whether you're a student, researcher, practitioner, or advocate. You can nominate yourself or others using the submission form linked at the bottom of all our emails.
We’re learning as we go by testing formats and trying new things. Your engagement helps guide us, so I want to thank you for being part of this process. If you have ideas or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Cheers,
Franziska Loetzner, Ph.D.
NAFAPA Secretary
Early Career Development Series
Pitching on Paper Recap
Dr. Emily Bremer, Dr. Meghann Lloyd, and Dr. Sam Logan gave great tips for scholars to create brief biographies, fellowship documents, and cover letters. The full webinar will be available on nafapa.org after the series concludes.
Dr. Emily Bremer
Dr. Meghann Lloyd
Dr. Sam Logan
Key Takeaways
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Be Early! Develop materials early, get feedback from trusted sources early, and submit early!
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Be Resourceful! Use writing centers, trusted mentors, external reviewers, examples of previous documents, and colleagues familiar with the application process if possible.
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Be Thorough! Pay careful attention to details. Simple mistakes like formatting errors or typos can be the difference between acceptance and rejection.
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Be Compelling! Emphasize value, uniqueness, and merit without being verbose.
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Start and Stay Strong! With limited space to work with, reviewers expect predictability, consistency, and efficiency without redundancy.
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Apply Often! Funding gets more funding. Applying for funding is an acquired skill with a low success rate. The more experience you have submitting applications, the faster you will learn effective approaches for applying for awards.
Thank you again to our wonderful panelists for providing such a fun and insightful experience for NAFAPA members.
Jumping into the Job Market Recap
Dr. Megan MacDonald, Dr. Lindsey Nowland, Dr. Nancy Spencer, and Dr. JK Yun provided comprehensive recommendations from the perspective of hiring committee members and recently hired faculty members. They discussed many topics on applying for faculty positions, including applications, screening interviews, on-campus interviews, and the negotiation process. The full webinar will be available on nafapa.org after the series concludes.
Dr. Megan MacDonald
Dr. JK Yun
Dr. Nancy Spencer
Dr. Lindsey Nowland
Key Takeaways
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Be general yet specific. Committees look for generic information but also individuality and specific research lines in the application materials.
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Research the institution. This can help you stand out during screening and on-campus interviews. Highlight strengths and collaboration opportunities that relate to the position, department, and college.
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Practice makes perfect. Practicing interview strategies can reduce stress and increase preparation for unexpected questions.
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Interviews start and end at the airport. Consider the whole trip an interview. Take breaks when offered, write down notes to ask relevant questions, and take the experience one step at a time.
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Focus on delivery and future directions. Committees may be more interested in the future research directions and teaching style than they are on previous research and teaching content. Your previous research should connect to your future directions, but may not be the focus of these presentations.
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Wait to negotiate. Deans expect one or two back and forth negotiations and try to start with fair offers. There is often little wiggle room for salary, but other items (i.e., moving costs) may be more negotiable Wait to start these conversations until you have an offer.
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Be yourself. It is important to be authentic to find a position that meshes with your and the university’s needs.
Thank you again to our wonderful panelists for providing such a fun and insightful experience for NAFAPA members.
Dodging the Desk Reject
Desk Rejection Hurts! Let us give you some tips to avoid it!
The next webinar in the series, “Dodging the Desk Reject,” will take place on
February 5, 2026, at 6:30 PM ET | 3:30 PM PT. This webinar will feature journal editors and board members to help get that next manuscript into review.
Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn for the panelist announcements! A link to register will be sent to your email when we get closer to the event. Make sure you sign up for email correspondence on our website.
Annoucements
Upcoming Events
NAFAPA 2026
Hawaii, USA
July 28-31, 2026
Join us for the 18th North American Federation of Adapted Physical Activity Biennial Conference, taking place in Hawai'i, USA, from Tuesday, July 28th to Friday, July 31st, 2026. We are delighted to be partnering with the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's College of Education to bring you a vibrant and thought-provoking gathering of experts in adapted physical activity.
Interested in hosting NAFAPA 2028?
The call to host the NAFAPA is now open! If you are interested in hosting the 2028 NAFAPA Symposium, email application materials to Meghann Lloyd at meghann.lloyd@ontariotechu.ca by April 1, 2026. Applications will be reviewed by the NAFAPA Board and applicants will be notified by July 1, 2026.
Follow Us on Social Media
@_nafapa
North American Federation of Adapted Physical Activity
Meet Our Editors
Edward Ramirez is a PhD student at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on on people with physical impairments who use wheelchairs and their motivation, lived experiences, and benefits of participating in wheelchair sports.
Paul Warner is a PhD student at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on the lived-experiences of youth with disabilities in different physical education and physical activity settings and the use of evidence-based practices in such spaces.
