Participants
PORTOROZ – Portoroz, Slovenia hosted this year’s EUSA Convention between November 16 and 18. The convention started with the meeting of the newly-appointed Technical Commission on Friday. The Technical Commission’s Vice-Presidents and Technical Delegates were welcomed by the President of EUSA Mr Adam Roczek on behalf of entire Executive Committee, congratulating them for their appointment and thanking them for their involvement and dedication to the European University Sports Association and student sport in general.
The delegates then first got acquainted with the structure of the organisation, its activities and history, presented by the Secretary General of EUSA Mr Matjaz Pecovnik who also outlined the most important past and future milestones. Mr Patrik Perosa, EUSA Sports Manager introduced the main rules and regulations which govern the sports events – European Universities Championships and European Universities Games.
The members of the Technical Commission attended a reception held for EUSA by the Mayor of Piran, municipality which Portoroz is a part of, Dr Peter Bossman. Mr Bossman welcomed the participants and expressed his satisfaction to be able to host such an event and gave a brief history of the coastal region of Piran. He also shared some personal stories with the delegates and invited them to return again.
EUSA President Adam Roczek
Mr Roczek thanked the Mayor for the reception and stressed the importance and appreciation of local support to the university sports events. He mentioned that in the past Portoroz also hosted European Universities Championship – Beach Volleyball in 2005, and complimented the event and cooperation with the local authorities. As a sign of thanks, Mr Roczek presented a special edition of the EUSA Anniversary book to Mr Bossman.
At the Convention, the participants were also welcomed by prof. dr. Dragan Marusic, the Rector of the local university, University of Primorska. Mr Marusic mentioned that the University of Primorska is a young and fairly small university on European scale, but at the same time he stressed that sport has played an important part ever since the university was founded. Indeed, this university hosted the European Universities Basketball Championship in 2002.
The Convention continued with the main part of the event, dedicated to the organisers of the 17 European Universities Championships, to be held in 2013. EUSA Technical Delegates and Commission members were joined by the Medical Commission members, organisers of the European Universities Games 2012 and 2014 and representatives of the Organising committees of the 17 European Universities Championships, which will be held in 2013 across Europe under the auspices of EUSA.
The extended composition, with over 60 participants, was also officially welcomed by Mr Adam Roczek, EUSA President, commending the cooperation and preparation of the organisers for their events. He stressed that events such as the EUSA Convention are an important part in the path to success of the event, and wished everyone a fruitful and productive meeting.
Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA Secretary General, continued with the welcome and introduced the representatives of various EUSA bodies present at the Convention: the Executive Committee; the Technical Commission, with the technical delegates of respective sports; the Medical Commission; the Students Commission and EUSA Office – ensuring the organisers that they are all here to assist the organisers in preparing a great event which will offer the students top competitions and other important aspects of European Universities Championships and European Universities Games, which makes them unique.
The floor was then given to Mr Rifaat Chabouk, Operations manager of the 1st European Universities Games which took place in Córdoba, Spain this summer. He presented the main successes of the event; namely the over 2,500 participants in over 250 university teams representing over 150 universities at the inaugural edition of the Games. He also presented the biggest challenges they faced as organisers, and expressed the willingness to continue with the cooperation with EUSA and EUSA events organisers, sharing the experiences.
EUSA President Roczek presents rector of the university of Primorska prof dr Dragan Marusic a gift
As the next European Universities Games will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2014, the Tournament director Mr Henk Smit as the representative of the Organising Committee of the 2nd EUSA Games gave a short overview on the plans of the 2014 event, drawing on the experiences of the Córdoba organisers and combining it with the local know-how, as Rotterdam is known as the City of sports, with several sporting events having taken place in the city so far.
Having observed the largest EUSA sporting events – both past and the future, Mr Patrik Perosa, EUSA Sports Manager introduced the regulations for the European Universities Championships. These contain general guidelines and also specific requirements per sport and can be served as the manual to organising a successful event. He invited the organisers to consult the Technical Delegates and other EUSA representatives to work together in making a memorable and quality event.
The medical, hygiene and catering aspects of the events were presented by Medical Commission Chair and EUSA Executive Committee Member Mr Haris Pavletic. He gave the guidelines and recommendation to the organisers in this field and later also met with the other two Medical commission members – Mr Timo Hinrichs and Mrs Abosede Ajayi to discuss future actions and plans.
An important piece of the puzzle in every event are the volunteers. Mr Zoltan Rakazki presented the EUSA Volunteer programme, which offer the European students the possibility to cooperate in the EUSA events, assisting the organisers directly and adding the international flavour to the event.
Reception with the mayor of Piran dr Peter Bossman
Mr Andrej Pisl, EUSA Communications Manager presented the step-by-step procedure of registration for the European universities Championship and explained the use of the EUSA registration and accreditation system which is used by all EUSA events organisers, assisting them in the organisation of the event and automatically making sure that the registration process follows the necessary procedures.
Last point from the presentations’ side was presentation of the best practice of the past season of the European Universities Championship. On behalf of the organisers, the EUSA Sports manager presented the case study of the 8th European Universities Futsal Championship, which was held in Tampere, Finland in 2011.
The representatives of the Organising Committees of the European Universities Championships then had a chance to present all of the events taking place in 2013: Badminton (Uppsala, SWE), Basketball (Split, CRO), Basketball 3×3 (Rotterdam, NED), Beach Volleyball (Oporto, POR), Bridge (Kraljevica, CRO), Football (Almeria, ESP), Futsal (Malaga, ESP), Golf (Sant Saens, FRA), Handball (Katowice, POL), Judo (Coimbra, POR), Karate (Budapest, HUN), Rowing (Poznan, POL), Rugby 7s (Sofia, BUL), Table Tennis (Zonguldak, TUR), Taekwondo (Moscow, RUS), Tennis (Bar, MNE) and Volleyball (Nicosia, CYP).
In the afternoon part, the organisers met with the Technical delegates for their respective sports, and went through their progress reports and the plans for their events. In smaller working groups they covered the important sections and steps needed to be made in order to assure a great event. Before the events, additional inspection visits will also be organised, to help as much as possible also on the local level, and to ensure quality conditions for the participants.
All of the educational and working events took place in the pleasant ambient of the coastal city Portoroz and the Grand Hotel Portoroz. Apart from the official and working parts, the participants were also able to enjoy a boat trip to Piran, sightseeing and social programme.
(Source: EUSA)