The ISSS was founded in 1985 and was then registered as an Association under Swiss law in Zurich, Switzerland.

The Association was constituted with an Executive Board that effectively runs the Association between Annual General Meetings, at which times a new Board is elected.

The first Executive Board comprised three persons - Mr. Cay Hegerman (chairman) of the Norwegian Building Research Institute (Norway), Mr. Hans Jorg Kolitzus (treasurer) of the Institut fur Sportbodentechnik (Switzerland) and Mr. Vic Watson (secretary) of the Centre for Sports Technology (England).

To separate special grants or funding, which may be variously donated for specific tasks, from the financial affairs of the Association, the ISSS Trust Fund (TSSS) was founded in 1987.

The TSSS is controlled by three trustees elected at each AGM.  The first three trustees elected were Mr. Werner Krems (Austria), Mr. Martin Henriksen (Norway) and Mr. Rudolf Meuli (Switzeland).