History

The entity was founded in 1976 under the name “Sportbureau”. In 1981 the name was changed to “Instituto pa Deporte, Educacion Fisico y Recreacion”  or better known as IDEFRE.

IDEFRE played an important role in Aruban sport development. In the period from 1976 to 1980, the institute focused on organizing school sports, recreational activities and promoting sports such as korfball, cycling, running events and walk-a-thons.

In the period from 1981 to 1990 IDEFRE played an important role by organizing a meeting with the sports associations that were members of the Aruba Sport Unie (ASU), to provide information to explore the process of international affiliation and later after 1986 for the establishment of the Comite Olimpico Arubano (COA). In the 1990s, IDEFRE also played an important role in introducing school swimming classes for grade 3 of primary education during school hours.

After Around 1993, IDEFRE along with sister organizations SEDREKO (Curacao) and INDEBON (Bonaire) had revived the annual inter-island school sport competition.

In 1995 IDEFRE also fully participated in the organizing committee for the first edition of the Kingdom Games that was organized held in Aruba.

In the period from 2000 to 2009, IDEFRE paid more attention to the formation of trainers and coaches by organizing training and courses such as a youth coach course, swimming instructor course A and B and Recreation Sports Leader “A” course. In 2002 IDEFRE organized the “Olimpiada Escolar Betico Croes” for the first time. An inter-scholastic special event resembling an Olympic style event gathering an annual average participation of students.

Instituto Biba Saludabel y Activo (IBiSA) is a government organization, initiated in 2012 by the Minister of Public Health, Elderly Care and Sports. This institute was founded on June 1, 2012 to restore the former Department for Sport & Recreation, IDEFRE (Instituto pa Deporte, Educacion Fisico y Recreacion).

The main reason for this reform was to extend and adjust the tasks of the former IDEFRE into trending movements worldwide with the emphasis to promote health and active lifestyle.