The 23rd General Assembly of University Sports Association of Poland (AZS) was held in Warsaw from 12 to 13 December 2009. 153 delegates from the whole country attended the Assembly.
The report on behalf of the retiring Board was presented by Professor Marek Rocki – AZS President. ‘The last 2 years were very special for our federation, we celebrated our 100th Anniversary. It was a great opportunity to look back at our history and confront ideas of AZS founders to modern university society needs’, Marek Rocki said. ‘I believe that values of university sport: fair play rivalry, respect for the opponent, friendship are now even more important than one hundred years ago’. He also expressed how important for AZS the international activity is: 3 World University Championships, the FISU Forum, and 6 European Universities Championships were organized in Poland only in the last 2 years. He thanked AZS members and clubs for their efforts and promised that AZS is going to continue to support the development of university sport on the European and World stage. The report of the President and the discharge of the 2007-2009 Board were unanimously approved by the General Assembly.
As a result of the election Professor Marek Rocki will continue his presidency for the next 2 years. Elected as Vice-Presidents were Tomasz Szponder (Poznan) – internal affairs, Dariusz Piekut (Warsaw) – popularisation of physical culture, dr Lech Leszczynski (Lodz) – professional sport and Adam Roczek (Wroclaw) – international affairs. Apart from them 28 board members were elected.
Presidential, governmental and federations awards were presented as well. Among awarded were members of the FISU Family: Andrzej Hrehorowicz, Technical Chair for Table Tennis, received the Golden Cross of Merit while Adam Roczek, CRS Vice-Chair received the Silver Cross of Merit awarded by the President of Poland Mr. Lech Kaczynski.
AZS was founded in 1909 in Krakow by a group of students of the Jagiellonian University, currently almost 50,000 members practice sport in 234 university clubs. The biggest stars of polish sport are members of AZS, among them: Justyna Kowalczyk – current winner of World Championships and World Cup in cross country skiing, Anita Wlodarczyk – current World Champion and World Record holder in hammer throw, Tomasz Majewski – Beijing Summer Olympics Shot Put Gold Medallist. 20% members of Polish Olympics Team members in Beijing 2008 came from AZS clubs.
AZS President Marek Rocki