While attending the 6th annual American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP) national meeting this past month I came to a rather profound realization.  During the meeting, the young founder of the Wisconsin Association of Exercise Physiologists, Jason Young, gave a presentation regarding the value of creating ASEP affiliated state organizations.  Specifically, Mr. Young spoke about unifying Exercise Physiologists (EPs), he described some of the important topics surrounding EPs, and he outlined the steps to create a state organization.  While listening to this speech, an interesting thought came to mind.  That thought was, “I’ve heard this before.”

I recall the opening speech given at the first ASEP national meeting at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN.  Dr. Tommy Boone stood up on a stage and, in very professional but passionate manner, spoke about the significance of forming ASEP.  Dr. Boone spoke about the need for exercise physiology to become a profession, the contradictions in the field’s evolution, and need for EPs to unite on a single track of accreditation, certification, and licensure.  I cannot recall the exact words of the speech, but I recall a tremendous surge of purpose flowing through me as I listened to that message.  Despite not knowing a lot about exercise physiology at that time, I was captivated by the global mission and value of the organization.  Therefore, I knew I would return for a second listen. 

Well, I got a second listen.  And a third, and a fourth, and they seem to have become countless since then.  You see, I chose to attend St. Scholastica to earn a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology.   Dr. Boone, the chair of that program, made it very clear the first day of class that his speech was not limited to only national meetings.  Those of you who have ever caught Tommy in class, in his office, on the phone, at a restaurant, in the hall, in a hotel lobby, in a hotel bar, and a variety of other places, you have probably heard a form of what he had to say that brisk fall morning in 1998.  Like a chess master pouring over several future moves or a great composer searching his soul for the next great theme of a musical score, it is clear the mantra of Professionalization rips through Tommy’s insides like Ridley Scott’s Alien. 

One should never speak unfavorably about this level of intensity and passion.  What Dr. Tommy Boone feels coursing though his veins each morning is something many never wake up to feel at any time in their lives.  It’s similar to those who have fallen in love.  Once one awakens with a stomach ache and a sense of longing that overpowers all logical thought, one understands that they have discovered another threshold of their being.  Some of us spend our lives with a steady sense of this yearning and consequently, life pulls us to action.  I recall a radio interview with the great author Margaret Atwood, where she said, “I do not write my stories and books because I want to, I write them because there is no way for me to exist without writing them. They simply must be written.”   That often reminds me of Tommy Boone.  His life would have been a lot easier if he had not founded the American Society of Exercise Physiologists and he probably didn’t want to bring that level of stress and isolation to his life.  But want is not the issue, he had to form ASEP.  And with the action, he began to represent something much larger than himself. As Bob Dylan once wrote, “I swear I see my reflection some place so high above this wall.” [1]

This level of passion and intensity is infectious.  Look no further than a rock concert to see how people are captivated by others actions.  At these events, the crowd is cheering and chanting even before the lead act steps on the stage.   In a very small form, academia is the same.  Teachers who are excited about their concepts often have students respond by increasing level of intensity.  Dr. Boone is a fantastic example of this phenomenon.  In a classroom example, I recall Dr. Boone requiring his graduate students to sit-in on his functional anatomy course during the first year of my graduate work.  I wasn’t too fond of the idea.  I was already enrolled in a tough 12 credits and had traditionally preferred physiology over anatomy.  So, needless to say, I was not really excited about being in that course for a variety of reasons. 

Amazingly, I wasn’t given much time to complain about it.  Dr. Boone started the class like a southern preacher four minutes before collecting the offering.  I sat there with my jaw dropped as he forced an image of a trapezious into mind and rotated it around till I wondered if mine was still attached to my external occipital protuberance, dorsal spines from C1 to T12, and the spine of my scapula.  Instruction had never come upon me in such a storm.  I began to perceive that Dr. Boone had a hydrogen bomb of anatomy lectures ready to explode out of him and I was just witnessing the countdown. 

Sure enough, despite four other tough classes, two rental properties, and a failing relationship, his intensity motivated me to study for that darn course.  I’m not going to claim that I earned high grades or that I have even grown to love anatomy, but I now respect the subject and understand its value in an exercise physiology curriculum.   That same respect and understanding grows in his students from Dr Boone’s intensity and passion in a variety of other topics he teaches.  The most notable of these is the professionalization of exercise physiology. 

Tommy Boone talks to a lot of people about the professionalization of exercise physiology. His students, friends, colleagues, wife, children, strangers on airplanes, and his dog; all have probably heard the sermon.  Most sit and politely listen, some staunchly disagree, many appear to remain neutral, and occasionally a select few embrace his ideas. It is the last group that makes it all worth while.   Over the years, Dr. Boone’s excitement has inspired several people to internalize the mission of ASEP and to take significant action.  Several students have graduated from his program and moved to form their own state organizations or take more active roles in ASEP.   And it is with those that young tree of professionalization begins to branch out.

It’s interesting that in order for an organization to be respected by other individuals and organizations, the message must come from others that were not part of the original forming of the organization.  Others must internalize the idea to make it their own for an idea to become accepted. This is simply the intellectual form of natural selection.  If others do not embrace passions and ideas of an individual, then those ideas die with that person.  But, if others begin to embrace the concepts, the message becomes more universally accepted.  People become less skeptical and over time, the ideas transition gradually from radical forms of idealism to well-grounded accepted forms of truth.  Great ideas like democracy, statistics, or musical chord progressions, all have been embraced by others, thus carrying the torch forward and simultaneously reinforcing the origin. 

Watching Jason Young give his presentation at the 6th annual ASEP national meeting brought a smile to my face.  As I listened to his thoughts about the value of the unification of Exercise Physiology, the role of state organizations, and the steps ASEP must take to make Exercise Physiology become a viable health care profession, I knew that I had heard it before. And furthermore, I was happy to see the sequel.  Mr. Young, also a former student of Dr. Boone, had heard all the same speeches I had heard. He had sat in the same classrooms and walked in the same hallways.  But, unlike others, he internalized what he heard and made it his own.  As a result, he wasn’t repeating a Boone rant or serving as a stand-in.  He was speaking from within and the analysis was his own. 

So with Jason Young, Alissa Criffield, Mathew Lehn, and several other young, active members of ASEP, the torch quietly begins the second leg of its journey.  With each slow and tactful step, the professionalization of exercise physiology moves from the abstract to the concrete and from the irrational to the realistic.  I’m not sure many of the members of ASEP even want to fight this battle and experience the upcoming stress and struggles.  But the question is no longer if we want to live with this struggle, The question is, can we live without it?

Reference
1. Dylan, Bob.  I Shall Be Released. http://bobdylan.com/songs/released.html