I am extremely excited to welcome you to the 5^th Assembly of the International Motor Development Research Consortium. For those of you who are not familiar with the history of I-MDRC, we began modestly in 2015 when researchers from 9 different countries gathered in the French countryside to discuss how best to move our discipline forward through the 21^st century. Now, we have grown so that more than 130 academic institutions from 20 different countries are represented, with many members planning to participate in this 5^th Assembly. Not even a worldwide pandemic could stop our plans, hosted virtually by Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. Our Organizing Committee has been hard at work for almost two years, with a recent pivot to a virtual format. We are proud of the program we’ve produced, which includes outstanding keynote speakers, symposia, and presentations. Many thanks to our hosts, and in particular, Dr. Antonis Kambas and Dr. Fotini Venetsanou, who have worked tirelessly with ARTION to make this a successful event.

Nancy Getchell, PhD
Past President, I-MDRC
Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology University of Delaware, USA

Dear friends,

We announced the organization of the 5th IMDRC in Komotini, Greece at the 4^th   IMDRC in Verona, in September 2019. However, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out the following year. In the hope that the situation would improve, we withheld the announcement not knowing if the conference would have to be cancelled altogether or held in person a year later. We hoped for the latter.

Unfortunately, it seems that the pandemic will be with us for a long time and bearing that in mind, the organizing committee has made a final decision to hold a virtual conference.   We admit that we are greatly disappointed as we had envisaged the event very differently and planned to offer our unique hospitality, in the form of an ancient theater performance, a tour of the archeological site associated with the mythological Odyssey, a trekking experience in the Rodopi mountains, a lunch by the shore and swimming in the sea at night, ​​and a string orchestra concert at the site of the ancient theater.  We do promise to be available for any future IMDRC event so as to make up for the lost opportunity. As no opportunity should be missed, we have organized a conference that we hope you will find unforgettable. Trying to make the best use of remote technologies, we have invited 4 excellent keynote speakers and have organized 4 invited symposia with outstanding guests that you will definitely enjoy. We hope this conference will be a new start for IMDRC as it is a unique opportunity for all those interested in motor development to meet safely from home. At the same time, we wish it to be only a transitional experience, expecting to meet our old and new friends in person soon, hopefully at the next conference.

We hope you will enjoy our virtual 5^th International Motor Development Research Consortium.

Antonis Kambas
Professor of Motor Development School of Physical Education & Sport Science
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece