2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting Bucharest, Romania Sunday, June 15, 2014 At 9.50am prior to the start of the AGM, the Honourable Vasile Gliga, Member of the Romanian Parliament and President of the WDSF Romanian Federation addressed delegates and welcomed them to Romania for this AGM. As part of the preparations for the AGM, Mr Gliga explained that a DVD had been prepared to explain the history and development of DanceSport in Romania. The DVD was played for delegates who expressed their gratitude by acclamation after it ended. 1. Call to Order The President called the 2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting to Order at 10.00. On behalf of the Presidium and Members, Mr. Freitag welcomed all participants to the meeting. The WDSF Long and Distinguished Service Award Mr Freitag explained that the Long and Distinguished Award 2014 was given by unanimously agreement of the WDSF Presidium to Ron Froehlich, former President of the International World Games Association (IWGA), on the occasion of the last SportAccord meeting in Belek (Turkey) on April 2014. Mr Freitag read an extract of his speech in giving the award to Ron at the SportAccord meeting in Belek: “On behalf of the World DanceSport Federation, I express our sincere and deep thanks to you for all of your work in supporting DanceSport in your capacity as President of the International World Games Association. We have no doubt that it was the trust, courage and vision that you displayed Siège social: Zinggentorstrasse 4, CH-6006 Lucerne, Switzerland WDSF Office, C. Orient 78-84, Floor 2, Office 1508172 Sant Cugat, Spain TEL: +34 93 544 23 92 · FAX: +34 93 583 11 04 · E-Mail: [email protected] www.wdsf.net · www.worlddancesportfederation.org as IWGA President that was responsible for the huge and ongoing success for DanceSport in the World Games. As you would remember, it all started at the 1997 World Games in Lahti (FINLAND) when you and the IWGA Board agreed to include DanceSport for the first time as a demonstration Sport. Since then, DanceSport has been incredibly successful as a Full Medal Sport in all of the following World Games. I thank you again for all the outstanding support that you have given to DanceSport and WDSF on many different levels and not only in connection with the World Games. In gratitude for this collaboration, we would like to present you with our prestigious WDSF Long and Distinguished Service Award. We know that throughout your long and distinguished career in the world of sport, your first concern has always been the welfare of the athletes. It is therefore a logical extension of your longstanding support for the athletes that I have asked Ashli Williamson, a current World DanceSport Champion and an active representative of our Athletes Commission to present this Award, because the athletes are extremely grateful to you for your very generous help over very many years.” ACCEPTED BY ACCLAMATION Mr Freitag provided a special welcome to: Honorary President of WDSF PD Peter Maxwell Honorary Life Member Heinz Spaeker President of WRRC Miriam Kerpan-Izak President of WCLDSF Jeff Bartholomew Vice-President of IFC Robert Huber IPC Wheelchair Technical Committee Grethe Andersen WDSF Professional Division Director Verena Sulek Chair WDSF Disciplinary Council Daniel Stehlin Chair WDSF Athletes Commn Zoran Plohl 2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting 15th June 2014 Bucharest (ROMANIA) page 2 of 34 Vice Chair WDSF Athletes Commn Ashli Williamson Vice Chair WDSF Anti-Doping Commn Herbert Waller Chair WDSF Educational Commission Natasa Ambroz Chair WDSF European Commission Antero Koponen Mr Freitag also welcomed new Presidents: Mr. Robert Ong, Singapore (Present) Mr. Johnny Lekens, Belgium (Present) Mrs. Adele Hyland, Australia (Present) Mr. Yang Chen, USA (Present) Mr. Andrey Pasha, Ukraine (Present) Mr. Jan Toots, Estonia (Present) Mr. George Gachechiladze, Georgia (Not present) Mrs. Elena Shamal, Belarus (Not Present) Mr. Tommy Shaughnessy, Ireland (Present) Mr. Khwezi Chonco, South Africa (Not present) Mr Freitag also welcomed new WDSF Full Members: Ireland Belarus Excused from this meeting: Mr. Rudi Baumann, Honorary Life President of the WDSF 2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting 15th June 2014 Bucharest (ROMANIA) page 3 of 34 Mr. Freitag thanked Delegates and continued with the meeting by confirming that according to Article 21 of the WDSF Statutes, the meeting will be conducted at all times in English. Delegates were requested to make sure they went to the microphone to speak and to speak loudly and slowly. In accordance with a decision of the Presidium, it was decided that as President Mr. Freitag would conduct the meeting to the end. Mr. Freitag confirmed that unless the meeting was delayed, a coffee break should occur at 11.15 and lunch break should occur from around 13.00 until 14.00. 2. Roll Call and Ascertainment of Votes 47 Full Country & 3 Associate members plus 15 members represented by proxies. Plus 1 Honorary Member – Mr Heinz Spaeker (1 vote) TOTAL NUMBER OF VOTES -- 131 50% + 1 majority -- 66 2/3 majority -- 88 ATTENDANCE OF MEMBER BODIES & ASSOCIATE MEMBER BODIES: Full Member Bodies Represented (2 votes each): Albania (Proxy to France), Argentina (Proxy to Spain), Armenia (Proxy to Moldova), Australia, Austria, Belarussia, Belgium, Canada, Chile (Proxy to Switzerland), China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Georgia (Proxy to Romania), Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland (Proxy to Denmark), India (Proxy to HK), Indonesia (Proxy to Singapore), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyz Republic (Proxy to Switzerland), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg (Proxy to Belgium), Macau, Macedonia (Proxy to Serbia), Malta, Malaysia (Proxy to Singapore), Mexico (Proxy to Spain), Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, U.S.A., Vietnam (Proxy to France), Wales (Proxy to Scotland). 2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting 15th June 2014 Bucharest (ROMANIA) page 4 of 34 47 Full Members were represented and 15 by proxy. Associate Member Bodies Represented (2 votes each): WRRC, UCWDC & IFC. 3 Associate Members (six votes) Honorary Life Member (1 vote) Mr. Heinz Spaeker Other Federations represented (no vote) International Paralympic Committee Wheelchair DanceSport (IPC) 3. Approval of the Agenda The President asked members to approve the Agenda as proposed and circulated. UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED 4. Allocation of Time Mr. Freitag said he believed that a balance needed to be achieved to provide Delegates the right to discuss matters while at the same time being efficient in the conduct of the meeting. As a result, he proposed that each speaker could speak for a maximum of 3 minutes on a subject. The mover of any motion will be allowed 6 minutes’ initial argument and further time to respond at the end of debate. UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED 5. Appointment of Scrutineers The following Delegates were nominated by the Presidium to count votes when necessary to determine the outcome of a Motion: Sabrina Sim, Singapore Wayne Crowder, USA Tirogaone Mojatale, Botswana, 2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting 15th June 2014 Bucharest (ROMANIA) page 5 of 34 Herbert Waller, Switzerland UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED 6. Confirmation of the Minutes of the 2013 Annual General Meeting There were no objections to the minutes of the last AGM, therefore they deemed to be passed unanimously without amendment. 7. President’s Report Delegates were referred to the detailed written report on the WDSF website and the AGM booklet. Mr Harald Braaten from Norway expressed concerns relating to the treatment of IDO and BatonTwirling. He hoped that the AGM could decide which organisations could be accepted and he wanted the WDSF membership of these two bodies to be reconsidered. Mr Freitag explained that members can continue with BatonTwirling and IDO even if they are not accepted by WDSF. However, Baton Twirling and IDO were not prepared to sign new Associate Membership Agreements with WDSF. It was not WDSF which excluded the two bodies. Mr Denis Kuznetsov from Russia explained that the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sochi Games included 400 DanceSport athletes. This was very hard work and a major achievement for DanceSport. It was however incorrect for the WDSF President to only mention in his report the work of Anastassia Titkova. Denis explained that Ms Titkova was just part of a team under President Yudashkin of the Russian Federation. Mr Freitag publically expressed his sincere thanks for Mr Yudashkin and all the team for their excellent work with Sochi and the Paralympics. They were both a wonderful success for DanceSport. Mr Faruk Bozoglu from Turkey expressed his Federation’s concerns that they were not advised of the SportAccord meeting in Belek, In addition, they had no information relating to the conduct of next 2015 Urban Games. Turkey would like a better communication and sharing of information from WDSF. Mr Freitag agreed that he will advise members when and where the next meetings occur. 2014 WDSF Annual General Meeting 15th June 2014 Bucharest (ROMANIA) page 6 of 34 Mr Hinder explained that the decision by SportAccord to conduct the Urban Games was only made at the Belek meeting. Fleming Riis congratulated Mr Freitag on a great report. Mr Riis asked for further information of a new federation being interested in joining WDSF. Mr Freitag explained that UDO which covers the Street Dances is considering working with WDSF. However, at this time only very preliminary discussions have been held with UDO. UNANIMOUSLY ACCEPTED 8. First Vice-President’s Report Delegates were referred to the detailed written report on the WDSF website and the AGM booklet. Mr Hinder provided an additional remark that WDSF now had a new two year TV contract with IEC to cover the Grand Slams. To be clear, WDSF now has two distribution contracts with IEC.