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Home News FISU Executive Board wraps up first day of meetings in Lausanne

FISU Executive Board wraps up first day of meetings in Lausanne

FISU 2 March 2018

 

 

LAUSANNE — With the city covered in snow from a Siberian cold front that shut down much of Europe, FISU President Oleg Matytsin began day one of the 2018 Executive Meeting with a warm remembrance of the late Honorary FISU President George Killian.

 

The New York, USA native, who held the FISU presidential post from 1999-2011, passed away at the age of 93 late last year. The former and honorary FISU President, also presided over the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and was an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member, leaving behind a storied history of promoting University Sport.

 

A two-term president, Mr. Killian oversaw 14 Summer and Winter Universiades, which corresponded with the growing influence of sport on Asian university campuses. While on Mr. Killian’s clock, FISU came to China for three Universiades (Beijing 2001 and Shenzhen 2011 Summer Universiades and Harbin 2009 Winter Universiade), with the Beijing games being the first major multi-sport event to take place in the country. Mr. Killian is widely regarded as one of the most influential leaders in FISU’s history.

  

“George was a great friend and a great teacher,” President Matytsin said. “He was involved with FISU since 1971 and presided over our federation for over 10 years. He was a great ambassador, helping open the door for new countries and continents to become members of international University Sport. George will be greatly missed by all of us.”

 

The fitting tribute ended in a long pause of gratitude amongst all FISU members.

  

FISU’s Healthy Campus programme draws interest

Following a report from FISU Treasurer Bayasgalan Danzandorj, FISU Secretary General Eric Saintrond delivered a comprehensive overview of FISU initiatives and activities. Of particular note, the Secretary General piqued the interest of the executive committee members when speaking about the emerging FISU Healthy Campus programme.

 

“FISU’s mission is to work for the health and well-being of students and this is how we help them become the leaders of tomorrow,” Mr. Saintrond said. “Working hand-in-hand with universities to make sport, physical activity and healthy living a big part of students’ lives is central to our mission.”

Treasurer Bayasgalan Danzandorj reporting on FISU’s activities from a financial standpoint 

TOP Sponsors as future marketing partners

FISU brought on new marketing expertise to reinvigorate FISU’s TOP Sponsor and partnership programme efforts over the past year. The big takeaway from a deep dive into the last five years of data is that both FISU’s brand and that FISU-related events carry a much larger value than has been currently considered. The data shows that there are a significant number of direct and indirect benefits for future FISU partners.

 

“We have been tasked to take FISU into a new era,” the marketing presenter Akhynzyanova Sculptor said. “You have the numbers, and a long and clean history as a sports organisation ready to move forward.”

 

Digital-First Strategy

 

For sports fans, it’s no long just about watching the game itself; they want to be part of it. With the key FISU audience of university students moving away from traditional linear broadcasting for digital media mediums the federation has made strides by welcoming a digital-first mentality within its communication efforts.

 

 

To assist FISU’s aim in becoming a leading International Federation in digital media, FISU Media brought in David Jullien to present on the avenues, opportunities and potential content production plans.

 

 

2017 was a time of notable growth in digital media for FISU. With a move to more video and live streaming for a more fan-centric approach during the second-half of the year contributed to FISU’s social media channels experiencing +1,000 percent growth in reach, +1,800 percent growth in interactions, and +300 percent gains in followers.

 

FISU Global Strategy 2027

Since FISU’s founding in 1949, the federation has been the key instigator to expanding the role and reach of University Sport worldwide. Sports values and sports practice run in perfect synergy with the University spirit.

 

The main outcome FISU works toward is for students to use the vital tool of University Sport to help them reach their potential in life, thereby becoming tomorrow’s leaders at a local, national and international level. For this to happen, FISU has to be recognised by commercial sports stakeholders as the gateway that communicates directly to 180 million University students every year.

 

To achieve this, the FISU Executive Committee created a 10-year global strategy commission in March 2016. On the eve before the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, FISU presented a draft of its global strategy at the nth General Assembly. After taking in recommendations and feedback from the University Sport membership, the federation unveiled the finalised FISU Global Strategy 2027 to attendees and online during Friday’s meeting.

  

Sport Management Committee Report 

Paulo Ferreira, Director of World University Championships and World University League presented on the revision of documents, regulations and addition of FISU Recognised Sports. These sports are identified and have been admitted as being of interest to the University Sports Movement and can have their events endorsed by FISU, but are not part of the disciplines that make up the different FISU Sports properties: the Summer and Winter Universiades, World University Championships and the University World Cup.

 

Committee for the Development of University Sport (CDSU) Report

Speakers from the development report, from left: Tarmo Jaakson, Lilia Barieva, Leonz Eder and Shen Zhen.

FISU First Vice-President and CDSU Chair Leonz Eder presented on the committee’s works with CDSU Vice-Chair Shen Zhen, FISU Educational and Development Chair Lilia Barieva and FISU Education Manager Tarmo Jaakson. Since the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, a highlight of the CDSU team’s work included the FISU-FISU America Strategic Dialogues in Goiania, Brazil and the FISU-NUSF Seminar at the Gold Coast, Australia.

  

Mr. Jaakson presented on the FISU Financial Help Programme 2017, noting that 51 countries received financial support for the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade. Each country receiving support from this programme received travel, accommodation and fees for three delegation members (one male and female student-athlete and one sport official).

  

FISU Help athletes who won medals in Taipei included Burkina Faso (one silver medal), Cuba (one gold, one silver medal), Mongolia (one silver medal), and North Korea (two gold medals).

 

Education Report

Education Chair Verena Burk presented on the Education Committee with FISU Educational and Development Chair Lilia Barieva. A highlight of their work came at the FISU World Conference on Student Development through Sport during the Taipei Summer Universiade. The main theme of the four day event that took place from 27-29 August in Taipei City was Globalising and Universializing Participation.  

 

Coming up is the FISU Forum from the 6-10 August 2018 in the upcoming Winter Universiade city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The Siberian city has a particular interest in innovation, with the main forum reflecting this with the title “Student sport: springboard for innovative leadership.”

 

The second key educational FISU event is the FISU World Conference on Innovation – Education – Sport 2019 in Krasnoyarsk which will take place from 5-7 March 2019

 

FISU is involved in two scholarship programmes. Interested students should check out the Master of Sport Administration at the Russian International Olympic University and the Dream Together Master at the Seoul National University.

  

Media, Marketing & Communication Report

 

As the front porch of the international University Sport Movement, FISU Media plays a vital role in promoting physical activity on the campus and in the community. From the revamped FISU website, social media channels, traditional print media efforts to the broadcasting and live streaming of events, FISU has reached the largest audience in history through each of these efforts. 

 

 

FISU Media Marketing and Communication Chair Verena Burk led the Media Marketing & Communication presentation with FISU Media Manager Torin Koos and FISU Marketing Manager Adelia Faizulina contributing to the report.

 

 

A noteworthy point in the Mr. Burk’s broadcasting report came with the audience figures from the Almaty 2015 Winter Universiade. 365 million people tuned in watch the 11-days of winter multi-sport competition, cementing the event’s status as a premiere winter sports property.

 

 

During Mr. Faizulina’s report, the marketing manager dug deeper into the numbers from Almaty 2017, the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade and 3×3 FISU World University League – 2017 Finals that took place in Xiamen, China last September.  It’s also worth noting that 65 million people tuned in to watch the four day 3×3 Basketball tournament.

 

 

During the media portion of the report, Mr. Koos spoke about what FISU needed to focus on if they wanted to reach their full potential in promoting University Sport, saying that: “At FISU we own a rich calendar of events. In fact, every two years we put on over 60 events. We own these events. Now we need to own the conversation around these events. Doing this takes planning, collaborating, risk-taking, executing and a little money and moxie at every stage of the process.

 

 

“The outcomes from this, though, are incredible,” added Mr. Koos. “When we do this, we will have positive effects on everything we do. From sports to education events, from gender equality to the Universiades, how we tell the story of our events and engage with our audiences goes a long way in determines our effect on the international University Sport Movement.”

 

The FISU Media member then outlined the audience numbers in 2017. Particularly noteworthy were the analytics in digital media. During the Summer Universiade in Taipei FISU reached over 25 million people on social media, an increase of 50-fold over previous Universiade numbers.

 

 

To capitalise on FISU’s recent digital media growth — and recognising that technology and online video is changing what it means to be a sports fan, FISU Media recommended adopting a digital-first strategy to help the organisation listen and interact with fans. For assistance in developing this this area, FISU Media enlisted David Jullien to present to the FISU executive committee members an actionable digital-first strategic plan. 

  

Student Committee Report

 

FISU Education and Development Director Lilia Barieva presented on the 2017 Student Committee actions, which included the Youth Leadership Seminars that took place in the Athlete’s Village during the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade.

 

Gender Equality

 

Gender Equality Chair Rosaura Mendez led the presentation alongside Vice-Chair Penninah Kabenge and FISU Transfer of Knowledge Manager Julien Buhajezuk. 7th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport will take place from the 17-20 May 2018 in Gaborone, Botswana.  The University Sports community will be well represented there with four people attending.

  

Cities in Motion

From the 2016 Lausanne in Motion event

In 2018, there will be two Cities in Motion: Lausanne and Monash, Australia. In 2017, the Monash in Motion event drew over 1,200 participants and raised nearly 20,000 AUS dollars, in addition to playing a vital community building role.

 

In the Olympic capital city of Lausanne, the event will take place on 22nd September in the Ouchy neighbourhood along the Lake Geneva waterfront. “Everything is in progress and we will be ready in September,” said FISU World University Championships employee Fiona Testuz.

 

International Day of University Sport  

Last year, 36 nations participated in organising events. This is down from the 60 participating countries from the inaugural International Day of University Sport in 2016.

 

“Personally, I am very motivated to making this more active with FISU Members,” said Tarmo Jaakson, the new FISU Development Manager. Mr. Jackson comes to international University Sports leaders with a wealth of experience in the National University Sport Federation (NUSF) members having been the Secretary General of the Estonian NUSF.

  

Future Volunteer Leaders Academy and Ambassadors Programme The young volunteer leaders wore traditional clothing to the Opening Ceremonies of the FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy 

The Summer Universiade city of Kazan, FISU with host the FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy 2018 with the cooperation of the authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan (Russia). General Advisor to the FISU President, Igor Sivov, presented on the upcoming second edition of the Future Volunteer Leaders Academy, set to take place from 14-22 June.

 

At the 2017 event, five individuals won internships to work for FISU at Taipei 2017 that happened later that year. Five other participants won an immersive weeklong English language course in Cambridge, USA.

Igor Sivov presented on a trio of FISU projects that included the Future Volunteer Leaders Academy, FISU Ambassadors Programme and FISU Torch Relay 

During the Academy 2018, the coursework will be centred around the principles of volunteer management and the launch of the FISU Ambassadors programme, one of the most ambitious and promising of FISU’s special projects.

  

The Academy’s aim is to increase participation and involvement to the public to FISU activities and events, thereby promoting the values of sports and making healthy lifestyle choices.  

 

Claude-Louis Gallien bestowed with FISU Emeritus Honorary Member award

 Former FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien was honoured with the Emeritus Honorary Member award by current FISU President Oleg Matytsin. University sport has been a way of life for Mr. Gallien for over 50 years, with a career palmares that includes competing at the 1967 Summer Universiade in Tokyo.

  

“I believe its very important to say that when you have an honour, make sure that you think that you have to share this with a lot of people,” said Mr. Gallien upon receiving the distinction. 

  

Winter Universiade 2023 FISU Evaluation Committee Report

 

The FISU Winter Univesiade team, led by Winter Universiade Supervision Committee Chair Marian Dymalski, visited Lake Placid, USA for a six day site visit to evaluate their bid to host the 2023 Winter Universiade.

 

Joining Mr. Dymalski on the evaluation trip to America’s Adirondack region in northern New York were Eric Saintrond, Roger Roth, Milan Augustin, Paola Matringe and Torin Koos.

  

Known as America’s first winter sports destination, the FISU delegation visited a host of sports venues and accommodations. The region has a storied sports history, one that includes hosting the 1972 Winter Universiade and holding the 1932 and 1980 Olympics. During the visit, Dymalski and company said it was quite apparent that the area’s sporting tradition was alive and well, 46 years since the city hosted the Winter Universiade.

  

“On behalf of the Evaluation Committee I want to say we had a first class visit to Lake Placid,” Mr. Dymalski said.

 The historic ski jumps of Lake Placid tower over the Adirondack Region – and look to set new history in 2023 when the FISU Winter World University Games return to North America after four decades away