The International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance (ICHPER·SD) was an outgrowth of an idea first conceived in 1950 by the Board of Directors of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (AAHPER). Under visionary leadership of Dr. Dorothy Ainsworth, Smith College, and Dr. Carl Troester, Jr., Executive Secretary of AAHPER, ICHPER was founded in Rome, Italy, in 1958, by teaching professionals and representatives from 16 countries from the fields of health, physical education, recreation, sport, and dance from 16 countries. The Council now boasts a membership representing over 145 countries, and disseminates quarterly the Journal of ICHPER·SD to all 208 countries and self-governing territories of the world.

From its inception, the Council has been housed in the headquarters of and supported by AAHPER. AAHPER and ICHPER have both had name changes to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD), and the International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance (ICHPER·SD) respectively. A common mission, is shared—one national, the other international in scope.

ICHPER·SD is a membership-based international, umbrella organization with a membership that includes professors, teachers, researchers, coaches, educators and administrators from the fields of HPERSD and other related areas, as well as educational or research institutions and departments, colleges and universities, governmental and non-governmental national and international organizations.

ICHPER·SD has seven (7) regional organizations for mission and program implementation -- Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America and Caribbean, and Oceania. It has two levels of organizational structure-the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors. It has forty (40) ICHPER·SD Commissions of specialization and interest area as well as and nine (9) Standing Committees.

ICHPER·SD works closely with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an IOC Recognized Organization for promotion of the Olympic Movement through selected or grant-funded joint projects. ICHPER·SD holds an “Official Relations” status with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and is a member of the Permanent Consultative Council (PPC) to the Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS), founded in 1976 as a working unit of UNESCO.