UPDATE EAA Newsletter of the European Athletic Association European Athletic Association Phone +41 (0)21 313 43 50 Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet 18 Fax +41 (0)21 313 43 51 1003 Lausanne Mail [email protected] Switzerland Web www.european-athletics.org Creation of new working groups Cooperation and EAA President Hansjörg Wirz partnership lead congratulates triple jumper Christian Olsson, the winner of the «Waterford to success Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2003». image, it will be necessary for all the forces making procedure by bringing together Hansjörg Wirz inside the sport to work more closely and some of the best minds in European athle- effectively. An important basis for steps tics, focusing them on a topic and seeing Modern athletics is highly complex. Per- forward will be a common understanding what ideas for addressing the complexity haps those who know this best are com- of the roles and needs of all the partners in of our sport emerged. The proposals and petition organisers seeking to meet the the Athletics Family. recommendations from the working various requirements for a successful groups will be considered by the Council event. The European Athletic Association Recently the EAA brought the leaders of and, where appropriate, brought forward can be proud of the results of its efforts in our Member Federations to Budapest for into guidelines, regulations or new pro- recent years to increase the quality of its our biennial CEO Seminar. A key objective cedures. events, but there is still potential for im- was to help integrate different groups that provement. have been isolated for too long. The par- The overall aim is to develop a widely un- ticipants heard a series of presentations in derstood and supported basis for fruitful One area where development is possible is which experienced representatives from cooperation in the future. in the relationships between the different key groups – athletes, managers, one-day groups inside our movement, including the meeting organisers and coaches – ex- The complete list of working groups and federations, athletes, managers, coaches, plained their roles and the views of their their membership can be found on page 2 organisers and officials. Often difficulties colleagues. The experience was enlighten- of this issue of UPDATE. I am happy to say arise because it is not clear to one party just ing and helped all those present to under- that most of the groups have already how important the work of another is for stand the position and concerns of others. begun their discussions and the chairper- the overall result. In addition, ongoing From the discussions it was clear that there sons have reported a high level of motiva- changes within the sport and society may is a growing acceptance that each party is tion and enthusiasm among their group lead to new expectations and needs on important for the success of European ath- members. the part of some groups and thereby chal- letics and, therefore, there are certain stan- lenge the way we do things. As a result, dards that have to be respected. We are all looking forward to the results of cooperation is not always on the level it this innovative approach and to the imple- should be. In some cases this missing ele- Even before the seminar, the EAA Council mentation of the ideas that emerge from ment is the factor that limits the quality of had decided to create working groups to the process. events and the success of our sport. focus on a number of areas of interest and concern, including those represented by [email protected] To reach a higher level of professionalism the speakers in Budapest. Our idea was to Hansjörg Wirz (SUI) is President of the European in what we do and to continue to build our increase the input into the EAA’s policy Athletic Association INSIDE 2 PEOPLE 8 EVENTS 11 Tasks and Goals of the new The new EAA staff in Bydgoszcz prepares the SPAR European Cup 1/04 EAA Working Groups the Lausanne headquarters April INSIDE EAA working groups and Reflection Commission Questions to the Chairs At its June 2003 meeting in Frankfurt, the EAA Council added The questions 1 a new and innovative concept to the way the association works What do you see as the main tasks for your group? and prepares for the future. Aiming to generate ideas and 2 What are the goals you would like to see your group achieve within the next three years? proposals for improving all aspects of the sport in Europe, it 3 Is there a first priority for your created eight working groups and a Reflection Commission. group’s work? Over the next months, a careful recruit- EAA Legal Working Group EAA Meeting Organisers ment and selection process took place Chair: Clemens Prokop GER Working Group and the members of the nine new bodies Members: Antonios Dracos CYP, Chair: José Luis de Carlos ESP have now been appointed for the 2003 Till Lufft GER Members: Alfio Giomi ITA, Evangelos Meligounakis GRE, Norbert Rokita POL to 2007 period. 1 The working group provides the EAA Member Federations with information on 1 The main task for this working group The new working groups will be consul- legal matters, it is responsible for clearing is to establish a new system for EAA tant bodies of experts and top thinkers legal issues within the EAA and it advises Meetings in order to improve their quali- focusing on specific issue areas such as the EAA Council. ty. We will also try to motivate the or- «coaches» or «the development of ath- 2 It is our goal to fulfil our duties. ganisers and show them that the EAA is more than just an institution on whose letics stadiums in Europe». Each will be 3 The legal working group will work on calendar they insert the date of their chaired by a Council member or a senior a «case-by-case» basis. meeting, it is also a resource that can member of an EAA committee and com- help them from the organisational point prise a maximum of five members. In- of view. How can we do this? In our first stead of a fixed schedule of meetings, EAA Athletes Representatives meeting we want to discuss items that these groups will develop their projects Working Group can benefit all the organisers such as: a) Event presentation system through a combination of written and Chair: Philippe Lamblin FRA Members: Ludmila Olijar LAT, Jos b) Calendar electronic communications and ad hoc Hermens NED, Miguel Mostaza ESP, c) Participation of European athletes meetings coordinated by their respective Attila Spiriev HUN d) Relationships with European Athletes chairs. representatives e) Exchange of working and budget 1 As chairperson of the Athletes’Repre- system The role of the Reflection Commission sentatives Working Group I wish to pro- 2 will be to act as an annual think tank for pose a real collaboration between the The working group’s main goals are to: the EAA, considering experiences and group members for the development of athletics in Europe. a) Raise the quality level of EAA Meet- ideas from all possible sources before ings 2 My aim is to integrate the Athletes’ submitting proposals directly to the b) Increase the participation of European Representatives more into the athletics Council. The commission will be chaired athletes family through some concrete actions to c) Improve relations between organisers by EAA Treasurer Karel Pilny. be started up for the next big events. d) Organise the first EAA Meetings 3 For the four Athletes’ Representatives Seminar To give a brief overview of how they see who make up our small group, the first 3 Our first priority is to be sure that this the roles of their respective groups, the priorities are: working group is and will be useful for a) To list the sectors in which they could nine new chairpersons have been asked our meeting organisers. to answer a standard set of questions. take an active part b) To draft an ethical charter that could Their responses, together with the com- be the basis for a code of practice for position of the groups are presented Athletes’ Representatives here. 2 UPDATE 1/04 INSIDE EAA Stadium Working Group EAA Youth Working Group 3 I would like to see improved under- Chair: Hansjörg Wirz SUI Chair: Toralf Nilsson SWE standing and uptake in Europe of ser- Members: Valentin Balakhnichev RUS, Members: Alfio Giomi ITA, Ildikó vices offered by the IAAF. Even though Ole Petter Sandvig NOR, Till Lufft GER Dornbach HUN, Adam Walker GBR we are at the heart of the athletics world we have managed to remain isolated from a lot of available development ac- 1 To work out proposals to help our 1 The Youth Working Group has been tivities over the years. We have to make Member Federations secure the neces- asked to look at the following areas: sure that the federations take advantage sary stadium facilities for the future and a) Implements for different age groups of opportunities such as the RDC to make sure that those facilities will be b) Competition Programme (national/in- Moscow and the new IAAF Academy. used for our sport. ternational) 2 We would like to achieve a situation c) Motivation to continue in athletics in which all countries in Europe have at d) Situation of athletic education in Europe (schools/clubs) EAA Member Services least one national athletics stadium that Working Group is recognised and supported by the polit- e) Co-operation with schools (curricular ical institutions. and integration) Chair: Nick Davis IRL f) Appropriate competition forms Members: Jorge Salcedo POR, Jean 3 We will first investigate, together with In addition to this the group itself has Gracia FRA, Anna Kirnova SVK the federations, the situation in each added the task of looking at: country and the existing problems they g) The local environment (club structure) 1 face.