EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Page 1 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Update from EPFA Executive FIPFA Affiliation All nations need to affiliate to FIPFA for the 2015/16 season. Each NOPF is obligated to pay its annual membership fee: • Full Affiliate: € 500 (with voting rights at the FIPFA Congress and full participation in international events) • Associate: € 200 (without voting rights at the FIPFA Congress and without participation in international events) To get further information, please contact the FIPFA treasurer via email at [email protected] (Abdé Sebiane, FIPFA Treasurer)

Coaching commission After many conversations on moving the development of our game forward, the EPFA executive committee have created a development commission, tasked with improving and upgrading its content on youth development and how we deliver powerchair demonstrations in new countries. Jean-Luc Feydit has been appointed as the new director of the development commission and will lead the association in this area. Jean-Luc has been involved in powerchair football at both grass-roots and elite levels, coaching the national team during their 2007 World Cup campaign, finishing runners up to the United States. He is very passionate about coaching and improving young players. We welcome Jean-Luc and look forward to working with him in the future.

Page 2 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Reminder of EPFA Competition timeline

EPFA Champions Cup 2017 EPFA are currently looking for Host organisations to bid to hold the Champions Cup 2017. All NOPF’s have received information about how to bid and the event requirements. The deadline for applications is 1st October 2015. The Champions Cup 2017 will be a Club competition open to all NOPF’s who are fully affiliated members of FIPFA. Each European NOPF will be able to nominate a club who have qualified through a domestic competition. This competition is hosted by a club with support from their NOPF. If you would like to find out more about hosting the event, please contact @europeanpfa.com

EPFA Nations Cup 2018 EPFA are currently looking for Host organisations to bid to hold the Nations Cup 2018. All NOPF’s have received information about how to bid and the event requirements. The deadline for applications is 1st October 2015. The Nations Cup 2018 will be the European country competition to qualify for the FIPFA World Cup 2020. This event will be open to all NOPF’s who are Full members of FIPFA. If you would like to find out more about hosting the event, please contact [email protected]

** Please visit pages 16 & 17 for information on the EPFA competition schedule **

Page 3 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

FIPFA News

FIPFA U16’s event 15 young players from three nations attended FIPFA u16’s Powerchair Football clinic in Paris at the end of June. Taking place in Vaucresson in incredibly hot temperatures, players took part in 5 days of powerchair football activity, coached by a variety of coaches. As well as plenty of football the players and their families went on various trips during the week in order to socialise and make new friends. The first day was spent getting to know the players and for the players to get to know each other as they took part in different skills and games. Players were tested on basic skills including dribbling, passing and shooting before fun games to finish a busy first day. Day 2 began with a group trip to the Eiffel Tower, the group traveled to the second floor of the tower to see the wonderful views of Paris. An afternoon training session followed in the intense heatwave sweeping through at the time. Water breaks were frequent in order to keep both the players and powerchairs as cool as possible! Day 3 began with a morning training session followed by an afternoon city tour of Paris, visiting the Champs Elysée and Notre Dame. After dinner the players had their second evening session of the week. Despite such a long day the players did not want to stop at the end of the session with coaches having to encourage them to rest before another busy day. Day 4 began with teams being selected for the following day’s tournament. The training session focused on basic tactics and set pieces as each coach got to know their players as a team. After lunch the players visited the Stade de France and the Harry Potter studios, to the delight of some players and their parents! The fifth and final day concluded with a tournament for all of the players, putting their developed skills to the test. Each team played each other, with games even and very tightly contested. After each team had played one another the tournament concluded with third/fourth play- off and a match to decide the overall winner. The final was a close contest, with a narrow 1-0 victory secured by the team coached by EPFA communication Adam McEvoy and President Nicolas Dubes.

Page 4 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

The week concluded with a bus ride to a restaurant for a final camp meal, followed by certificates and photos for all players. All players improved their skills from the start of the week and the standard of play reached a good level. The coaches were delighted with the effort and improvements made by the players during the camp. Both EPFA and FIPFA staff received lots of positive comments from players and their families about the camp, with lots of new friendships made between both players and families.

Page 5 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Page 6 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Update from around Europe

Development event in Portugal

At the end of June our Portuguese colleagues had an opportunity to demonstrate powerchair football, at the 2015 Portuguese National Championship in Coimbra, Portugal. Our Portuguese colleagues took advantage of the opportunity to attend such a big event and collaborated with EPFA to invite a delegation composed of experienced French athletes who have participated in previous powerchair football trainings to visit a week. The objectives were to work with new Portuguese athletes, provide personal training to the members of the Portuguese delegation and most importantly, demonstrating the at a high level of competition at a highly publicized event.

The APCC – Associação de Paralisia Cerebal de Coimbra hosted our EPFA training delegation at one of the Association’s residences and provided transportation to the gymnasium and lunch at the Rehabilitation Center. Daily training was held at the Vale das Flores school and many Portuguese athletes were able to experiment with new equipment and high- performance electric . The demonstration at the National Boccia Championship was made possible by PCA and the Portuguese Handisport Association, and was seen by many, if not all, of the participating Boccia delegation. It was publicized on national Portuguese

Page 7 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com news that evening and a local Coimbra newspaper published an article about the delegation’s visit, they spoke of both Portuguese and international Powerchair Football. At least three associations with Boccia teams showed interest in starting powerchair football teams after taking part and seeing the various demonstration. EPFA hope that Portugal will be able to develop more club teams due to this event and other European sporting delegations can collaborate with EPFA in the same way in the future!

Page 8 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Geneva Cup

On Sunday 6th September, at the Pommier Crisse Gymnasium, the Geneva cup 2015 took place. The cup acted as a pre-season friendly tournament, featuring five teams from France and Switzerland. The competition was organised to promote Powerchair Football in Geneva and Switzerland with the help of experienced players from both nations. Handisport Lyonnais and Chatenay Malabry opened the tournament with a great showcase of the game.

Pirates of Geneva and Vevey Eagles, the two Swiss teams, welcomed French players into their squads for the competition. These experienced players helped their inexperienced Swiss colleagues, supporting them with their technical knowledge and ability. This provided the newer Swiss players the chance to work alongside experienced players and provide a tough opposition to the other teams and their numerous supporters in the stands.

Chatenay Malabry came away as tournament champions, thanks to a 1-0 victory against Pirates of Geneva.

Current professional footballer Christopher Mfuyi, from Ligue 1 club Servette FC, attended and presented the trophy to the tournament winners.

Page 9 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Gabriel, one of the players from Pirates of Geneva said: “Losing in the final does not matter, what matters more to me is being part of this great tournament and being part of the Powerchair Football family!”

The competition was unique as the tournament featured an E- demonstration during a break between games, featuring The Zeka- Rollers Team from Baden against Lauzanne. This was a great example of powerchair football and E-Hockey working together to promote both games for powerchair users. E-Hockey is more established in Switzerland so the Geneva Cup was a great way to showcase powerchair football to people and get more people playing our game!

Page 10 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

European League update

England In the Premiership division was again dominated by Northern Thunder. The team, based in Newcastle, remain unbeaten for the third season in a row. Winning all of their 22 league games, they finished six points ahead of second placed Aspire PFC. The team also claimed the English cup to complete a double success. They will no doubt be favourites for the title for the upcoming 2015/16 season.

In the championship division Muscle Warriors PFC took the title and gained promotion to the premiership, five points ahead of Everton PFC. Everton secured promotion to the top division in their first season at national league level which is an excellent achievement.

Page 11 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Ireland

A lot of positive strides are emanating out of Irish Powerchair Football at the moment with new players, new clubs and a new momentum to go forward. New clubs are developing across , in the West of Ireland in areas such as Leitrim and Galway. The South East of Ireland has seen player combining from Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny and a new club has formed in the South of Ireland in the County of Cork. With many new young players coming along to try Powerchair Football for the first time, the future seems bright. The new league season will be starting in the second week of September, with a Premiership and Championship division. A further division for players of all abilities is also being created for the new season. There will also be a second league which will be made of players in mixed teams who will stay playing for that team for the duration. Adding to all that, new Head Coach Adam Parry will begin to work with the players in September, ultimately preparing a team to compete at the next World Cup. Donal Byrne

Page 12 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Denmark For the first time Copenhagen Badboys won the Danish national championship. The season was full of ups and downs for the team. After losing one of their team members in January 2015, they had everything to prove. Mads Frandsen’s biggest dream was to win the championship and after his passing his team knew that they had to win, for him and themselves. The Strikeforce came to in September and brought new life to the league. In under a year a total of 10 chairs arrived in the country. In the Danish league we went from using private wheelchairs to football chairs, this will greatly help our national team in the up and coming world cup. In the nations cup in Limerick 2014 our national team played in their private chairs, even though the chairs were slow and not up to date, we still qualified for the World Cup. We hope that the new chairs will bring Denmark forwards, and the World Cup will be successful time for us. Pernille Sorensen

Page 13 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

EPFA attendance at SoccerEx in September From September 7 to 9, EPFA attended the SoccerEx Global football convention in Manchester, England. The Soccerex Global Convention is the world’s largest football business event, bringing together global leaders in the business of football to debate, network and do business. EPFA attended to promote and raise awareness of Powerchair Football for the duration of the convention. We also delivered a presentation, entitled ‘Enriching lives using the power of Powerchair Football’. EPFA had a positive experience and met a variety of potential new contacts. We will provide an update in our next newsletter.

Page 14 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

Contact EPFA Email addresses EPFA have recently setup our own domain name and this has resulted in a change of our main contact details. Please see our new e-mail addresses: President Nicolas Dubes: [email protected]

Sports Department Director Sam Bull [email protected]

Communication Officer Adam McEvoy [email protected]

Treasurer Donal Byrne [email protected]

Head of Referees Martin Bevan [email protected]

Page 15 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

EPFA Event Schedule 2016 - 2019

Below is the proposed event scheduled for the European Powerchair Football Association for the time period 2016-2019.

2016:

 Development competition for our newer member nations  EPFA convention for new nations  Minimum of 1 Powerchair football clinic held in a new country  Officials training event  EPFA congress to take place

2017:

 EPFA Champions Cup  Training for match officials prior to Champions Cup  U16 or u18 development camp or competition  Minimum of 1 powerchair football clinic held in a new country

2018:

Page 16 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015 EPFA Newsletter – September 2015 Twitter: @EuropePFA Facebook: EPFA europeanpfa.com

 EPFA Nations Cup  EPFA convention for new nations

2019:

 EPFA Champions Cup  Training for officials prior to Champions Cup  U16 or u18 development camp or competition

Page 17 of 17 Newsletter: August 2015