World Snowboard Federation General Assembly 2008 24 May 2008 Saint Rafael France
Attendance of GA (12 countries, 19 persons) Meinhard Trojer, AUSTRIA Berhard Foffler, AUSTRIA Tom McIllfaterick, CANADA Danny Buntain, CANADA Jaroslav Bocek, CZECH Republic Remi Forsans, FRANCE Marco Sampaoli, ITALY Jimmi Zanetti, ITALY Shigheru Ishihara, JAPAN Kim Eum Kwang, KOREA Ansis Egle, LATVIA Gunnar Tveit, NORWAY Bjørnar Eidsmo, NORWAY Jens Erik Holmquist, NORWAY Vanja Sinvevic, SERBIA Marko Nikolic, SERBIA Maggie Lawrie, UK Yevgeniy Pavlyukevych, UKRAINE Nataliya Fenova, UKRAINE Date for the General Assembly Saturday 24th May. 0900 1800 WSF General Assembly.2007 On some point the minutes refers to a document which was sent to all delegates before the meeting.
The regular General Assembly dealt with all points according to the Statutes: 1. Appoint a secretary to take the minutes. Danny Buntain was appointed to take the minutes. 2. Appoint 2 persons to confirm and sign the minutes. Nataliya Fenova and Jarda Bocek were appointed to confirm and sign the minutes. 3. Approve the votes and proxies. The number of votes per nations was accepted. Jarda Bocek had proxy from Russia. 4. Approve the agenda. The agenda was approved without any changes. 5. Appoint the scrutineers for the period of the Assembly. Tom McIllfaterick and Gunnar Tveit were appointed the scruteneers. 6. Approve the minutes of the previous GA. The Minutes from WSF General Assembly was approved without any comment. 7. Approve the reports of the President and the Board. The Board Report was approved as it was presented in the document sent to the delegates before the GA. Some presentations were given by Board members and commented by the delegates. Membershipcard in WSF Remi Forsans presented a solution for membership registration in WSF, based on mobile phone technology. Current issues raised by the WSF Members: Languages might be a problem (Korean, Russian, French, Italian, etc.) It needs to be customized to the national associations needs In general, the delegates agree that this is a positive initiative that still needs more work, research and further feedback from the WSF members. World Rookie Fest Marco Sampaoli gave a presentation about the general concept of World Rookie Fest and World Rookie Tour. He underlined that NSAs are in the best positon to get young riders into snowboard through a buttom up competiton. A Rookie ranking is planned to be combined with the World Rookie Tour. A section about Rookie will be developed as part of the WSF web site. The delegates supported and approved the plans for furher development of Rookie tour and ranking. The age of riders is limited to 18 (the year they turn 18 years old). It was commented that a system for quality control is needed (standards/requirements). World Snowboard Day Remi Forsans presented a short report on World Snowboard Day 2007 and plans for the Snowboard Day in 2008. NSAs are encouraged to take part in promoting World Snowboard Day in their nation. Eurosima provide stickers, posters, and the online platform for this project. The date for the Snowboard Day in 2008 is December 21, 2008. The delegates supported the project and expressed a wish to take part in it.
Ranking Gunnar Tveit gave a short presentation on the partnership between TTR and WSF. Included in the presentation was an overview on the current contract in place between TTR and WSF. Highlights from last season were reported along with the current changes to the TTR mangemet staff. Such changes have put the current partnership between the WSF and TTR at risk. To bring in some new perspectives into the discussion about ranking systems, Tom McIllfaterick from Canada presented the Long Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD) as an alternative to a points or ranking system. Emphasis is on developing athletes from grass roots to high performance based on their physical, mental and emotional development versus a points system. Gunnar Tveit reported on the new WSF ranking platform that has been developed to cover WSF Rookie ranking, ranking systems fo all NSAs who want to have a National ranking and ranking systems for an international Snowboardcross ranking. Some conclusions from the ranking discussion: WSF should try to find a solution to further their partnership with TTR specific to a ranking system where both parties respect each other as partners and their role as per the partnership. The existing contract shpould be the basis for further partnership agreements, but adjustments can be acepted. WSF should ask for exclusive rights to manage all 1 and 2 star level events. WSF needs to stay focused on their goal reagrdless of what other international actors say or want, and needs to continue to develop as an international independent snowboard organization. WSF must be be innovative in the deveopment of snowboarding by creating new disciplines, new ways of communication as well as creating new relationships with the snowboard industry. WSF should launch the Rookie Tour and combine this with the Rookie ranking this coming season. NSAs who want to use the National ranking system can buy a license to do that. 8. Approve the reports from each region and each commission. All reports from the WSF committees were approved. WSF Adaptive Snowboard committee Danny Buntain reported on activities for adaptive riders. Two World Cup events took place this past winter. She reported on her meetings with the Interntional Paralympic committee (IPC). The IPC needs to establish an International Federation (IF) for Adaptive Snowboarding to be recognized as a Paralympic Winter sport. The IPC is interested in developing a partnership with, and thus recognizing, the WSF as the international Federation for Adaptive Snowboarding. All WSF Nations agreed that they want the WSF to include Adaptive Snowboarding as a WSF program. The majority of the delegates agreed that they want the WSF to submit a formal application to the IPC to be the IF for adaptive snowboarding which includes adopting WADA. ALL WSF members will need to adopt WADA for the WSF to be recognized as the IF for Adaptive Snowboarding. This topic needs to be reviewed and voted on by all WSF Members this summer. All 8 (CAN, USA, ITA, AUS, NZ, South Korea, Norway, Netherlands) targeted members agreed to be committed to providing adaptive snowboarding programs
within their nation. Danny Buntain to follow up with 8 member nations to do an AUDIT over the next month. WSF Educational committee Jens Erik Holmquist presented a model for education for the WSF. The education covered: 1) coach education; 2) TD education; 3) judges education; 4) adaptive snowboard education; 5) teacher education. Jens Erik underlined the importance of having The WSF name in front of the snowboard education development. In addition, Jens also stated the importance of the education systems being of the utmost quality (this will be done by researching other education systems currently in place). 9. Approve the financial and auditor s report. The financial and auditor s report was approved as presented in the documents. 10. Approve the accounts. See Point 9. 11. Approve the annual membership fee as determined by the Board of Directors. GA decided the following membership fees for the coming season: National Associations with 1-199 members Euro 500 National Associations with 200 799 members Euro 750 National Associations with 800 2999 members Euro 1100 National Associations with 3000 9999 members Euro 1250 National Associations with 10000 and more members Euro 1500
12. Budgets for 2009. WSF BUDGET 2009 (Jan 1 - December 31) Ref INCOMES Euro Membership fees 20000 Ranking fees 13000 Education 2000 TOTALS 35000 EXPENCES 1 Website 2 000 2 Press office, media 3 000 3 Education, materiel 2 000 4 Calendar 1 500 5 Membership services 3 000 6 Administration 8 000 7 WSF operational costs 4 000 8 Accounting 3 000 9 CEO travel costs 2 000 10 General Assembly 2008 900 11 Autumn Board meeting 1 500 12 Board travel expenses 1 300 13 Pay dept to NSA 2 800 14 TOTALS 35 000 13. Assess and vote on the applications for new membership. The following associations were approved as NEW member nations in WSF. AUSTRALIA, CHILE, HUNGARY, PAKASTAN, NEW ZEALAND, AND SERBIA. WSF has no member association from France as AFS does not exist anymore. Remi Forsans reported that a group of people are working to establish a new snowboard organization. The delegates decided that this organization can be accepted as the new WSF member association from France if the Board finds that they fulfil the minimum requirements for an Association to become a member of WSF. 14. Elect the President, Vice-president and treasurer. GA elected for Board in WSF. Gunnar Tveit/NOR President elected for 3 years Alexey Yanvarev/RUS Vice President elected for 2 years Shinzo Tanuma/JPN Treasurer - elected for 2 years 15. Elect up to 3 additional members of the Board of Directors. GA elected for Board in WSF. Marco Sampaoli/ITA elected for 1 year Remi Forsans/FRA elected for 1 year Danny Buntain/CAN elected for 2 years
16. Elect a qualified auditor. GA elected as Auditor Ing. Hana Kollertova, Czech Republic. 17. Elect a Controlling Committee of 3 qualified members. GA elected this Controlling Committee for 2 years. Steinar Arvesen, Norway (leader) Jaroslav Bocek, Czech Rep Shigeru Ishihara, Japan 18. Elect a election committee for the next GA. GA elected this election Committee. Shigeru Ishihara, Japan (leader of committee) Annika Bodemar, Norway Krister Backstroem, Finland 19. Discuss or vote on any other issues on the agenda, which is presented in writing and distributed to the members together with the agenda. Proposal (1) Interpretation of Statutes on election period. The time-line of the duration of how long Board members were elected for were unclear. The election system within the WSF must support a stable situation among its Board members. Using an overlap election system can solve any issues that might result from all Board members resigning at one time. Therefore, the Board forwards the following proposal: President is elected for three years and all members are elected for two years. To ensure the overlaps system works, the following is suggested for the election at the General Assembly 2008: President on election elected for three years Vice-president on election elected for two years Treasurer on election - elected for two yeas Board member 1(Danny) on election elected for two years Board member 2 (Marco) not on elections new election in 2009 for two years Board member 3 (Remi) not on elections new election in 2009 for two years The GA approved this proposal with one change; the President is elected this year for three years, but at a later date will only be elected for two years. The reason for this is because this will bring the election system to an overlap system. Proposal (2) Minimum requirements for an Association to become a member of WSF. It was decided last GA to present at the GA 2008 a proposal of the minimum requirements an organization has to meet to be a member of WSF. According to the Statutes, the members of WSF have to be a national snowboard association and have the GA decide what is needed to be defined as a National Snowboard Association. The Board proposed these criteria: 1. The Statutes of the organization confirm that a. The NSA supports and works for the same mission as the WSF. b. The NSA supports the mission to be open to all who want to be a member of their organization. c. The NSA has a clear system for voting and that all elections and decisions are based on democratic principles.
d. The NSA has an annual General Assembly where a Board is elected. 2. The fees are paid in time according to the WSF Statutes or what the GA / WSF Board have decided. 3. There must be a certain level of snowboard activities done by the Association or by one of its clubs/member units, i.e. at least one event must be organised during the season. 4. Only one association per country can be member of WSF. The statutes of this organization is either full member or affiliated member. If an association cannot meet the minimum criteria to be a full member of WSF, the association can get status as an affiliated member of WSF. If the affiliated association is not able to fulfil the criteria for a full membership after one year, other associations in this country can have the opportunity to apply for the position as WSF member. The Board decides within one month before the WSF GA if a WSF membership position in a country will be opened for other associations to apply. The GA approved this proposal as it was proposed. Proposal (3) Voting system in WSF The voting system at the WSF GA is clearly defined in the WSF Statutes. The number of votes is entirely based on the number of members in the Association. During the 2007 GA some claimed that activities hosted by the NSA should count towards their number of votes. The Board forwarded this to the GA as a proposal where both the number of members and activities are included. It is important that a voting system is clearly defined with an objective criterion for what can count for the number of votes. The Board forwarded the following voting system - valid from 2009. Number of votes at the WSF is based on: 1. Membership as defined by the WSF statutes article 9 a. Informed by the nations in the annual updates as long as we have not developed another system for registration of members. 2. Number of riders registered on the Redesign contract with WSF a. 1-99 riders 1 extra vote b. 100 299 riders 2 extra votes c. 300 more riders 3 extra votes 3. Number of events that is included in a WSF ranking (including TTR ranking) and paid the ranking fee decided by WSF. a. 5-10 competitions 1 extra votes b. 11-20 competitions 2 extra votes c. 21 - more competitions 3 extra votes The GA decided to postpone this proposal to next GA. It needs to be re-evaluated on several levels (i.e. the maximum number of votes a member association can have at the GA). A committee will be appointed to work out a new proposal which will be forwarded at the next GA. Proposal (4) What the World Snowboard Federation stands for. Mission. The mission of the World Snowboard Federation is to support the development of snowboarding at all levels through: Athlete support, Competitive and recreational opportunities, and Coach and judge education.
The WSF also strides to strengthen the relationships between all stakeholders of the sport of snowboarding at an international level through its member organizations. WSF Objectives Objectives of the World Snowboard Federation according to the Statutes: 1. Support and develop all types of snowboarding at an international level 2. Protect and support the rights of its member organizations 3. Develop an internationally recognized educational program with established measures for ongoing development and revisions 4. Support its member organizations in hosting amateur and professional competition at the regional, national and international levels 5. Work together with duly recognized associations with the aim of supporting snowboarding for all 6. Establish internationally recognized competitions rules and regulations to be implemented for all WSF competitions 7. Provide technical and communication support and other relevant services to its member organizations hosting WSF sanctioned events WSF Values The World Snowboard Federation is the only international organization exclusively working to develop the sport of snowboarding at all levels The WSF values integrity and credibility All WSF sanctioned competitions will enable all riders an equal chance at qualifying and a fair chance of winning. The most important values for being involved in sport are usually the values beyond the results; therefore, playing, having fun and the social aspect of snowboarding should be the basis of all WSF activities. WSF as an Organization The World Snowboard Federation is a not-for-profit organization. The WSF is an open organization for all who want to participate in the sport of snowboarding and as a result, all WSF decisions and elections are based on this democratic principle. The WSF wants to develop a flexible and dynamic organization where active involvment, transparency, and loyalty are a basic level of the organization. Focus areas 2008 2010. Snowboard for all. The WSF wants to offer snowboarding at a local level to attract a greater number and diversity of participants. Playgrounds / snowboard parks need to be developed so that children can have fun and progress their technical skills through play and fun while all taking place in a friendly atmosphere and supportive environment. Local competitions should be designed around a fun, non-competitive, and safe format. The WSF will assist its member associations develop local clubs that support the WSF vision of involving everyone in the sport of snowboarding. The WSF will develop a more effective balance between elite level snowboarding and the recreational level snowboarding through a communication strategy. The communication strategy will involve a promotional campaign illustrating a big picture image of snowboarding at all levels not just elite. WSF competitions. In general the WSF will organize snowboard events at all levels, for all age groups,
male, female and for people with disabilities. The WSF will work with all partners that are able to demonstrate benefit to the WSF members. The WSF will continue to offer riders that are 18 years old or younger snowboard competitions at a regional, national and international level through the concept of the WSF World Rookie Fest. The WSF World Rookie ranking will be launched next season and the WSF will aim to have the title WSF World Rookie as the most prestiges title for this age group. The concept of the World Rookie Fest plays an important role in spreading the WSF values of beyond the results image such as playing, having fun and the social aspect of snowboarding. The WSF will begin to develop a concept of a WSF World Championship where ALL of the worlds best riders can compete. The concept must be connected or integrated within the member nations national championships. The WSF will work with the International Paralympic Committee to develop Adaptive snowboard at a national and international level. WSF provider of snowboard development. The WSF will work to take the position as the leader and recourse provider in Sport Development for the sport of snowboarding. This work must be done in partnership with the member associations to share the resources available. Categories of sport development: New sport program (adaptive, women) New formats and competitions Educational programs (coaches, judging, TD, shapers) Programs for athlete development Organizational development WSF as an International integrator The WSF will work to be the gathering force in the in international scene of the sport of snowboarding. The WSF is supported by its member nations, riders, international events and the snowboard industry. There is a need to work more effectively together with other nations to promote winter sport and specifically the sport of snowboarding. For these reasons the WSF will start a re-structuring and integration process that will encompass snowboarding at both a national and international level. This process will attempt to bridge the current gap between commercial snowboarding and instituionalised snowboading. The GA approved this proposal.