INTERNATIONAL LIFE SAVING FEDERATION

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL LIFE SAVING FEDERATION Gemeenteplein Leuven - Belgium Tel: (32.16) Fax: (32.16) ils.hq@pandora.be Web: ILS NEWS 2004/04 Arrivederci Italy The ILS Commission Meetings, Board of Directors Meetings and General Assembly went very well. The meeting rooms provided by FIN-S allowed ILS to move fast forward and to approve all needed resolutions and recommendations. The World Championships for Masters covered four days and hick-ups were resolved quickly by our Italian friends. All participants at the last World Championships held in Viareggio and Livorno in the beautiful region of Tuscany will remember Rescue 2004 as a masterly organised event. ILS commends the Italian Swimming Federation Lifesaving Section (FIN-S) for having delivered the best Rescue Series ever. All started wonderfully with a magnificent Opening Ceremony on the well-known Piazza Mazzini in Viareggio. Sound, light, atmosphere, smiles, performances, sunset, helicopters, etc all was in place for a memorable evening. Well done Italy. The Conference took place over three days and was attended by over 500 people. Simultaneous translation was foreseen in Italian and English. Very interesting topics on lifesaving were covered and the audience enjoyed the perfect organisation. The World Championships for National Teams saw a record participation with teams from over 35 countries. Australia won the Alan Whelpton Trophy followed by New-Zealand and South Africa. The World Championships for Interclub Teams saw a participation of 191 clubs. The Kevin Weldon Trophy was won by Mr. Price Durban from South Africa, followed by Maroochydore from Australia and by Northcliffe from Australia. Halle Saalkreis from Germany ended fourth. Besides the above championships, World Championships took place for Stillwater Boats and Surfboats. The whole was closed with a serene but beautiful closing ceremony on the Viareggio Beach where a Rescue helicopter picked up the ILS flag to bring it to Australia the next organiser of the ILS World Championships. The results can be found on:

2 WADA: Prohibited List now available The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) seeks to foster a doping free culture in sport. It combines the resources of sport and government to enhance, supplement and coordinate existing efforts to educate athletes about the harms of doping, reinforce the ideal of fair play and sanction those who cheat themselves and their sport. WADA was established as an independent, nongovernmental organisation on 10 November 1999, as a result of provisions of the Lausanne Declaration on Doping in Sport. The Agency s headquarters are located in Montreal, Canada. The 2005 Prohibited List (to come into effect on January 1, 2005) is now available on the WADA website together with a Summary of Modifications for 2005 and the 2005 Monitoring Programme. The ILS Secretary General met David HOWMAN, Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency on 12/10/2004 and discussed the future ILS- WADA relations. New Lifesaving Reel In 1988 Kevin Hoskins from Australia donated a surf reel to ILS that is kept in the Headquarters. During the visit of the Secretary General to the Gold Coast this year, discussions took place to produce a half reel that would be fixed on the wall in the ILS Headquarters. Around the reel, the framed logo s of all member organisations would be placed. In Australia it is called a bitza creating a bit of history along the way. Unfortunately they don t make surf reels anymore. So what you see is what you get. ILS thanks Kevin Hoskins for his nice work and we will give the reel the place of honour it deserves World Games The World Games are the second biggest Multi Sport Event after the Olympic Games and over 30 sports that are not on the Olympic programme are organised during the World Games. The Next World Games will be held in August 2005 in the City of Duisburg (Germany). The 8 nations that will participate in the lifesaving event are: Australia, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, south Africa and New Zealand. The International World Games Association informed us that per the mandate given to them at the annual General Assembly that took place last month in Lausanne, the IWGA concluded the contract with Kaohsiung City for The World Games in Mr. Ron Frohlich, IWGA President said: "The excitement and the tremendous support that the IWGA received from the media in terms of this award of such a prestigious sporting event was unbelievable." President Chen Shui-bian hailed Kaohsiung City's success in winning the right to host The World Games 2009, saying it will contribute to Taiwan's drive to play an even more active role in world sports. On behalf of more than 22 million people living in Taiwan, Chen said, he wants to extend his heartfelt thanks to the IWGA and even to the International Olympic Committee. The World Games are held under the patronage of the IOC. Noting that international sporting events provide a good platform for forging friendships and promoting world peace, Chen said bilateral and multilateral athletic exchanges should transcend political barriers. Kevin Hoskins produced the half reel given on the picture above. He described the origin as follows: the timber parts would be probably close to sixty years old. The bow comes from the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club, the drum disc from Kirra Surf Life Saving Club, the carry handles from Burleigh Heads Surf Lifesaving Club and the metal parts from Southport Surf Lifesaving Club. Kaohsiung's Mayor Frank Hsieh and IWGA President Ron Froehlich signed the contract for the city to host the 2009 multi-sport event. The World Games will take place at existing venues in Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung County, and adjacent Pingtung County in the southern part of Taiwan from July 16 to 26, 2009.

3 More information on The World Games can be found on: The IWGA website: The Duisburg site: The Lifesaving Family wishes Kaohsiung City all the success. International Nivea Cup held in Warnemünde Risk Assessment at European Beaches The European Branch of ILS and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) Blue Flag Campaign agreed a common approach to the Beach Management Criteria in conjunction with the Blue Flag. The ILSE Rescue Commission has developed a strategic system, a standardisation of risk assessment, which will make a significant contribution to the safety at European bathing areas. The organisation shall be in the hand of ILSE, carried out by qualified members of the National Federations. The Risk Assessment shall be tested at several European beaches for the first time in 2005 and shall come into force in From 15 until 17 July the 5th Inter-national Nivea Cup was organised by the German Life Saving Federation (DLRG) in the city of Warnemünde. This competition is by far the largest open water competition in Europe. Warnemünde is situated on the beautiful Ostsea coast of Germany. 15 countries competed as well as 32 German teams with a total of some 400 athletes. Just weeks before the World Championship to be held in Viareggio - Italy, the Team from Wales beat the German National Team followed by the Spanish Team in third place. In 12 of the 20 events the athletes from Wales made it to the top three. The German athletes took 3 golden medals. The teams from the Netherlands, Spain and Italy each won 5 events. In the female general ranking the German athlete Anke Wieland took the gold, just 2 points ahead of Monique Driessen (Netherlands) and Kirsty Edwards (Wales). In the men s category Thomas Garod and Thomas Nicholas (Wales) got first and second followed by the German competitor Lutz Heimann taking third place in the general ranking. The most popular event, the Ironman final, was the last event of this 3 day competition. After a spectacular race the winner was Garod Thomas (Wales) beating Lutz Heimann (BRD) and Glenn Clatworthy (Wales). Pictures and results on: A special training course was organised in the DLRG Training School in Bad Nenndorf/Germany from 25 to 27 June ILSE Member Federations from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain (SLSA), Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and RLSS (United Kingdom) have sent their experts. The course was run by the members of the ILSE Rescue Commission Brian Sims (RLSS UK), Danny Bryant (SLSA GB) and Ortwin Kreft (DLRG) as well as Peter Franz and Thomas Rippel (both from the DLRG). We now have in Europe 38 qualified national Risk Assessors. Other training courses for interested Member Federations shall follow in the next year. News from our members New education website launched Surf Life Saving Queensland has developed a sub website especially for Training and Education. The website is currently in stage one and will be growing significantly over the next few months. Surf Life Saving Queensland is known internationally for its educational activities both to the community and through its own membership and employee network. Through this network there extend two clear areas of education.

4 Beach Safety Education As the leading provider of surf safety Surf Life Saving Queensland extends its educational activities to coastal, rural, indigenous and international (both English and non-english speaking) persons and community groups. Surf Life Saving Queensland provides a range of programmes and educational information through a large amount of communication methods. From commercial advertising, school based programmes, Industry expert advice, Awareness and self survival courses and pamphlets, educational tours and many more SLSQ's educational methods attempt to assist in preventing drownings, marine stinger envenomation, increase beach safety so that an most enjoyable time can be had while in the aquatic environment. Training and Assessment As a registered training organisation through the Australian National Training Authority, SLSQ provides quality based training in over 100 short courses and nationally recognised competencies. Extending from short courses in basic water safety through to Helicopter under water escape training, to full nationally recognised Certificate IV level courses in Assessment and Workplace Training and Professional Lifeguarding, SLSQ has over 17,400 students every year. Through SLSQ's extensive experience in training and assessment, it is sought after by many industry personnel and organisations for its training levels, operating procedures and expert personnel. The url of the website is: South Africa reports on drowning 67 South Africans drowned in This is a decrease of 105 (61%) compared to the year 2002, in which 172 died as a result of drowning. Of the total number of drownings 54 (80,6%) were black; 9% were coloured; 0% were Asian and 6% were white. Of the total drownings 23 (34,3%) were children under 14. Of the 67 drownings 63 (94%) occurred in freshwater situations, 4 (6%) in seawater. The highest number of drownings occurred in dams, 27 (40,3%), canals 16 (23,9%), rivers 10 (14,9%), pools 9 (13,4%), harbour 2 (3%), sea 2 (3%), and water hole 1 (1,5%). These figures are based purely on the information supplied to SALSA by the various police stations around the country. Unfortunately, there have been drownings reported in the press of which SALSA had no official notification. The Association would like to think, that because of its efforts over the past years of the awareness and development programmes that it has instituted, the number of rescues undertaken by its voluntary members and the publishing of drowning statistics compiled by themselves are helping to bring to the notice of the public the very alarming statistics of drowning in South Africa. website: Germany: 549 people saved in 2003 In the year ,600 lifesavers of the German Lifesaving Federation (DLRG) lifeguarded 2,25 million hours voluntarily on the Germans coasts and at inland waters. The number of lifeguards increased by 14,000 compared to people were rescued from sure death by drowning. In 145 rescue operations the lifeguards risked their own lives. With this system of voluntary lifeguard service, which is unique in the world, 1,200 people were saved. In spite of all safety measures, 644 people drowned, most of which drowned in unguarded inland lakes and rivers. The DLRG states that in the future the authorities will have to draw up reasonable safety concepts for these waters. The nice summer weather also had effects on other areas: the number of first aid operations increased from 10,592 in 2002 up to 47,502 in The ILS headquarters received the drowning report of the Life Saving Association South Africa (SALSA). Here is a summary of the report: As a result of many swimming pool closures to cut public costs, the number of instruction courses has decreased. In ,750 swimming and lifesaving tests were taken, which has been the lowest for decades. A downward trend is also to

5 be recorded the formation of lifesaving instructors and lifesaving examinations. Therefore the DLRG has passed a resolution demanding the consistent turning away from this dangerous course of costcutting. In contrast, the development on the examinations of beginners delivered some good news: 64,348 boys and girls obtained a sea horse badge (beginner s level). 104,518 children fulfilled the requirements for one of the youth swimming badges in bronze, silver and gold. This clearly shows that the focus of the instruction lies on the working with children at preschool and primary school age. Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia. St Lucia also had many other first aid, tourism agencies represented at the event. Many ILS delegates attending the ILS meetings presented topics at the Conference. The championships saw the participation of 12 teams from Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. In view of the rising number of deaths by drowning and increasing flood disasters, the DLRG finds it imperative to include lifesaving in the legislation regarding civil defence and disaster management. In its role as one of the largest life saving organisation in the world, with 800,000 members and donators, the DLRG also assumes international responsibility, cooperating with the International Lifesaving Federation and the European regional branch of ILS. In 2003 the DLRG celebrated its 90th anniversary with a special ceremony held at its headquarters in Bad Nenndorf and an International Symposium on Water Safety. Since the year of foundation the DLRG has succeeded in reducing the number of deaths by drowning in Germany by almost 90% per year. Due to the consistent work in swimming and lifesaving, the numbers of swimmers in the population has increased from 3 to roughly 80% over a period of 9 decades. As the biggest private supplier of swimming instruction, the DLRG has played an important part in this context. St. Lucia Lifesaving on the move At the 2003 ILS Board Meetings the St Lucia Lifesaving Association was accepted as a Full Member of ILS. At the recent Board Meeting in Egypt the President of the Americas reported that the ILS Meetings in St Lucia in 2003 had great benefits for the St Lucia Lifesaving Association. In 2003, the St Lucia Lifesaving Association hosted the Caribbean Lifesaving Competitions, the Caribbean Lifesaving Conference and the ILS Commissions and Board Meetings. The Competition and Conference focused on developing lifesaving skills and sport throughout the Caribbean region. The Conference saw the participation of over 120 participants from five island lifesaving associations including; Antigua, Barbados, As part of ILS involved to the Championship with the IOC funding legacy equipment was purchased and distributed to the five Islands at the event. Lifesaving Society Canada assisted in the development of the Association by sending instructors to train instructors, examiners and life guards to enable them to become self-sufficient. St Lucia are now capable of training and examining at ILS Lifesaver level. Certification for training and examining life guards will be the next step in the development process. Hosting the ILS Board of Directors meeting and conference greatly assisted the Association locally, as it made the public and local organisations aware of the importance of lifesaving and lifeguarding. People also became aware that this was not just a local programme, but one run both regionally and internationally. As a result, the Association has not only had persons wanting to participate in courses, but also wanting to become lifesaving instructors and to become involved in the competitive lifesaving. Targeting a Water Safety Programme and Junior Lifesaving are now among the Associations highest priorities as parents want their children to achieve what they were never given the opportunity to do and what they have now been made aware of. Raising funds for the conference was very difficult, but of great long-term benefits. This event increased the level of lifesaving activity all over the Caribbean region. The St Lucia Lifesaving Association thanks ILS for having St Lucia host its conference and hopes that the experience will now pave the way for

6 other developing nations to be given the same opportunity. New President for RLSS United Kingdom At the 2004 Annual General Meeting of RLSS UK in May, Ken White completed his maximum term of 6 years and retired as National President. The involvement of the legal profession was continued when Clive Holland, a qualified solicitor, became the new President of the Federation. Mauritian Branch. Over 150 participants took part in the swim. The first male participant home, Ezechiel Abraham (17 years) completed the course in 54,5 minutes. The first female, Monisha Gujadhur (14 years) finished in 1 hr 4 minutes. The event was well organised with support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Beach Authority. It was reported that the presentation and speeches, in Creole, French and English were covered by MBC television. The British High Commissioner HE David Snoxell, in his speech remarked that he hoped the RLSS swim would become a major annual sporting fixture in Mauritius with an emphasis on safety, lifesaving and controlled swimming rather than on competition and speed. As in previous years, The High Commissioner took part in the swim once again and completed the course in a respectable 1 hour 32 minutes coming 55th. ILS website The photograph shows Clive (pictured on the right) wearing the President's collar, shortly after the presentation by Ken White. We wish Clive all the success in his new mission and we know that Ken White will remain in the ILS family. We would like to include all national and international events in the ILS calendar. Please forward the details to the ILS headquarters. News articles (including pictures) for our news section can be mailed to ils.hq@pandora.be. RLSS Mauritius Sea swim On Sunday 25 April, RLSS Mauritius held its annual 5-kilometres sea swim from Pereybere to Grand Baie. The day began with the presentation by the British High Commissioner, Mr David Snoxell, of 8 torpedo buoys and resuscitation masks to Percy Julien, President of RLSS Mauritius. This lifesaving equipment was much needed by the Newsletter compiled by Dr. Harald Vervaecke - Secretary General Sandra Harthoorn - Executive Assistant