The General Assembly of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF) was held on Monday during the SportAccord Convention in Belek, Turkey.
President Raffaele Chiulli opened the meeting by thanking all the Federations for their support during the first year of the new Council in its efforts to move the organization forward for the benefit of sport and its members.
Dr. Chiulli indicated that more than 1.2 billion people are involved in one of the ARISF sports all around the world. We are a large sports family that is demonstrating continue growth and development.
ARISF currently has 34 member Federations, including the newly recognized International Federation of American Football (IFAF), the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) and the merge of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the International Softball Federation (ISF) into the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
As one of the goals of the ARISF Council for 2014, a detailed questionnaire was sent on November 2013 to all ARISF member Federations. All 34 Federations returned the questionnaire which provided ARISF with important data about its members. This data will be used to create a strategic and marketing plan for the future.
ARISF Council member Dr. Harald Vervaecke reported on the results of the survey: the data collected was significant and will assist ARISF in completing its strategic plan. ARISF member Federations are present in over 100 countries, 97% of them organize Youth World Championships, 76% offer programs to a total 2.5+ million athletes with disabilities and all of them conduct programs for coaches, trainers, judges and referees.
During the last year ARISF has maintained positive, productive dialogues with IOC, ANOC, SportAccord and WADA. An example of these dialogues was the agreement with SportAccord for a profit share from the SA Convention. ARISF will continue discussion with the IOC for an increase of the yearly funding.
“Present and future resources” explained ARISF Secretary General Riccardo Fraccari illustrating the 2013 financial report and 2014 budget “are and will be mainly allocated in supporting the development projects of our member Federations, but a new, important attention will be dedicated to marketing and communication, because these are crucial keys for the growth of our organization. I am confident that the budget approved today will be soon revised because of the new resources that will become available.”
The good relationship with the other international sport bodies was testified personally by Marius Vizer, SportAccord President and by the presence of IOC Sport Director Kit McConnell and WADA Regional Director Frédéric Donzé, who spoke about the various possible aspects of cooperation between their entities and ARISF.
ARISF announced that the first ARISF-WADA Anti-Doping Coaching/Training Session will take place on Thursday afternoon, April 10.
President Chiulli closed the assembly with word of thank for the Council members for their outstanding work, the International Baseball Federation for its generosity in housing ARISF headquarters and its assistance in ARISF operations.
On Tuesday April 8, ARISF officially opened its first SportAccord Convention booth.
Photos: ARISF brochure cover; ARISF General Assembly; ARISF stand at the 2014 SportAccord Convention
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