7 July 2007 - FITA Congress targets the future

FITA Congress targets the future Leipzig, 07 July 2007   The 47th FITA Congress was hosted in Leipzig on July 5-6 and made history in adopting the Archery World Plan for 2007-2012.   The congress delegates were welcomed in a fully archery branded room and this set the scene for one of the most successful congresses of FITA history. It was also the first time that Dr Erdener chaired congress as President.   The Archery World Plan “By 2012, archery will be internationally recognized as one of the important Olympic Sports”, is the vision of the plan.   The ‘Archery World Plan’ aims at ensuring the continued development and growth of the sport of Archery through to the 2012 Olympic Games and beyond. The plan is about connecting all the resources of the archery family (FITA, Continental Associations, Member Associations and all supporters) to become an attractive partner for the investors, the sponsors, the televisions, the Olympic family and the fans. The plan has five targets. Although the work has already started and will continue in all areas, each year will be the focus of one target, such as:   Target 2007: Identity “By the end of 2007, a unified and simplified identity for International Archery is accepted by FITA, Continental Associations and Member Associations”   Target 2008: Events “By the end of 2008, all of FITA’s international events have concrete plans to become more attractive for athletes, spectators, partners, and television viewers”   Target 2009: Promotion “By the end of 2009, International Archery is consistently promoted and widely recognized by external parties”   Target 2010: Partnerships “By the end of 2010, a majority of FITA’s budget is supported by partnerships, other than IOC funding, which help to ensure the future stability and growth of Archery”   Target 2011: Expansion “By the end of 2011, FITA and its Continental and Member Associations have the structure and tools needed to sustain the expansion of International Archery”   Each targets will be divided in several objectives and task forces will be appointed to achieve them. As soon as the Archery World Plan was accepted by the delegates congress delegates gathered in groups of 6 people to discuss the implementation of the plan. This allowed to already achieve a better connection between the member associations represented.   Elections Some of the mandates in the FITA family were up for election and most of the chosen candidates received a true plebiscite:   Council Mr Paulsen (NOR) was re-elected as 1st Vice-President.   Mr Diaz Bazan (ESA) was elected as Vice-President. He replaces Mr Smith (USA) who ended his term and will become the new FITA Treasurer for 2 years.   Mr Gianni Mangino retired as FITA Treasurer after a service of 28 years to FITA. He started as treasurer in the Berlin congress in 1979 and served under three FITA Presidents. He will remain involved in archery being a member of the Internal Audit Committee. At the end of Congress Gianni Mangino was given a well deserved Honorary Treasurer position. It is expected that the Treasurer position will be removed from the FITA Constitution in 2009 and replaced by a different financial and audit structure.   Mr Lindau (GER), Mr Gao (CHN), Mrs Womersley (AUS) and Mrs Medwed (AUT) were relected in their Council position. Mr Kim (KOR) will be the new member of the Council. FITA is very pleased to welcome a member of the most succesful Member Association as part of FITA Council.   Board of Justice FITA Honorary President Mr Gnecchi-Ruscone (ITA), Mr Hur (KOR), Mr Chaplin (AUS), Mr Baharuddin (MAS) and Mr Helfrich (GER) were named on the board of justice. They will have the task to reform the Board of Justice rules which are due for revision and will have to come with new proposals by the 2009 Congress.   Permanent Committees Mr Schulz (GER), Mr Miller (USA) and Mr Cinnirella (ITA) are reconducted in the of the Constitution and Rules Committee.   Mr Bolstad (NOR), Mr Lovell (GBR) and Mr Gotelli (ITA) will join the Field Archery Committee.   Mr Wilmann (NOR), Mr Font Milian (CUB) were re-elected in the Judges Committee and Mr Buhagiar (MLT) will join them. This is the first time we have an officer from Malta in FITA.   Mr Bearman (GBR), Mr Kim (KOR) and Mr Oddo (ITA) are the new members of the Coaches Committee. Mr Oddo was many years ago Secretary General of FITA and is making his return to FITA in a completely new position.   Member Associations Aruba, Montenegro, Palau and Samoa had received the temporary membership since the last Congress in Madrid 2005 and they have been now permanently accepted in the FITA family.   Unfortunately some Member Associations have lost their activity or were no longer in good standing. The Congress therefore expelled Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ghana, Northern Mariana Islands, Senegal and Turkmenistan. The FITA Congress also gave a final warning to Kuwait, Syrian Arab Republic and Zimbabwe that if there is no significant progress in the next two years, they will be proposed for expulsion in 2009. FITA strives to have stronger member associations and with the above decisions, sends a clear message that only active members can continue to be member of FITA.   The Congress accepted an innovative membership fee system that we will not only take into account the size of the association but also the economic level of the respective country based on a UN classification. This will create solidarity between all member associations of FITA while maintaining the same income in membership fees. This income is given by FITA to the respective Continental Associations and helps the continental associations to function.   Administration The Congress approved the 2005 and 2006 accounts and the report of the auditors as well as the interpretations of the rules and the bylaws that were approved by Council.   Other important matters FITA Congress very much welcomed the decision of the IOC to organize the Youth Olympic Games. The FITA President has asked the chair of the Youth Committee to immediately develop with the FITA staff an implementation plan. This will include a change of the FITA Calendar since currently the world junior championships are in even years. If FITA wishes to use them as a qualifier event they would need to be conducted in uneven years. FITA Congress gave a clear mandate to FITA Council to finalize the agreement with IPC for the transfer of governance of Para-Archery to FITA. FITA Congress will however have a final say on this transfer at the 2009 Congress where certain constitutional and rule changes will need to be made to finalize such transfer. FITA is very satisfied with this transfer since Archery is the only sport where para-athletes can compete in conjunction with other athletes in the same event at the Olympics and World Championships. This agreement will also cause a transfer at national level between the National Paralympic Committee and the FITA Member Association. In some of FITA’s member associations this is already the case and the Netherlands offered assistance to all other member associations to complete this transfer. TSE Consulting which is FITA’s partner in the Archery World Plan made a summary of the discussion groups and 98% of the delegates stated that they would welcome change. A majority also endorsed the proposal of the plan that we need to differentiate the competition between compound and recurve. The clear statement was made that FITA is the one that need to make the changes so that change doesn’t manage FITA. A progress report was given by BOCOG and LOCOG and FITA looks forward to very successful Olympics. The layout of the new archery venue in Beijing is exciting and we also welcome the promotional events planned for London at Lords later this year. We also received excellent progress reports of the World Championship hosts of Korea, India and Great Britain. The former 1st Vice President and member of the steering group on the Archery World Plan, Mr Theeuws (BEL) spoke to Congress on the progress of FITA and how FITA is taking the right steps towards the future. FITA also honored several of its outstanding volunteers and officials by giving the FITA Plaquettes Silver : Leif Janson (SWE) Mario Codispotti (ITA) Gian-Piero Spada (ITA) Tom Green (USA) Robert Skip Phillips (USA)   At the end of the Congress the FITA President Dr Erdener stated that “this Congress 2007 in Leipzig was a crucial meeting and sets the right direction for the future of archery. I am delighted that we approved the Archery World Plan 2007-2012 and I think that the working groups have been very productive in their meetings. I am convinced that Archery is on the right road to become an important Olympic sport in the near future.”   See the presentation documents and the photo gallery.   FITA targets a bright future.   FITA Communication Didier Miéville