INEFI Celebrates 28th Anniversary with Mass: Rodríguez Mella Highlights Achievements

Santo Domingo – The National Institute of Physical Education (INEFI) commemorated its 28th anniversary with a mass, as part of the institution’s annual activities. The ceremony was led by the CEO, Alberto Rodríguez Mella, who expressed his gratitude to God and the collaborators for the achievements made during his tenure. The Eucharist, officiated by Father Andrés Tapia de la Rosa in the Cristo Salvador parish, in the Honduras sector, served as a setting for Rodríguez Mella to highlight the alignment of INEFI’s work with the government’s vision of President Luis Abinader, focused on education, youth, and integral development.

The institutional effort is framed within the government’s vision of President Luis Abinader, who has placed education, youth, and the integral development of our people as national priorities

Alberto Rodríguez Mella

Rodríguez Mella also acknowledged the effort of technicians, teachers and collaborators, as well as the physical education community nationwide. The CEO highlighted that INEFI has responsibly taken on the challenge of strengthening physical education and school sports as tools for social transformation.

We firmly believe that sport not only shapes athletes, but also better citizens: young people with values, discipline, respect and a sense of belonging

Alberto Rodríguez Mella

Additionally, Rodríguez Mella attributed the progress to a focus on teamwork, planning, and public service. In the mass were present various civil and military authorities, including the deputy director general of INEFI, Elvis Duarte; the advisor César Ruiz; the president of Centro Caribe Sports and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Luisín Mejía Oviedo; the director of Sports of the National Police, general Jacobo Mateo Moquete, and the pilot colonel Osvaldo Pérez Félix, of the Dominican Republic Air Force (FARD). Also in attendance were the technical director of INEFI, Eddy González; the former director of INEFI, Esteban Pérez Polanco; Professor Nelson Ramírez; the president of the Dominican Federation of Professional Baseball Players, Napoleón Calzado, as well as sports leaders, athletes and immortals of Dominican sports.

History of INEFI

The National Institute of Physical Education (INEFI) was created by Law No. 33-98, of January 16, 1998, as a decentralized body of the Dominican Education System, attached to the then Secretariat of State for Education (SEE), replacing the former General Directorate of School Physical Education. The history of INEFI dates back to 1912, when the first Physical Education teachers were appointed. In 1929, the Dominican government appointed the first general director of Physical Education and Sports. In 1959, the General Directorate of School Physical Education was created, dependent on the Secretariat of State for Education and Fine Arts, with the aim of promoting, organizing and supervising the practice of physical education in the country’s schools, as well as the construction and maintenance of school sports facilities. In 1975, the General Directorate of School Physical Education became part of the Secretariat of State for Sports, Physical Education and Recreation. However, in 1978, it was integrated again into the Secretariat of State for Education, Fine Arts and Cults.