The International Fistball Association (IFA) continued the dialogue for the development of sustainable concepts regarding the promotion and dissemination of fistball in the youth sector with its member federations. Therefore, the IFA Youth Commission welcomed on the even of the upcoming IFA 2021 Fistball World Championships around 40 players, coaches and youth representatives in person and online to the 4th IFA Youth Congress 2021.
Under the motto “Fistball goes Youth” the IFA Youth Commission informed about its current activities:
– Fistball 2021 survey – The worldwide situation in the pandemic (see: https://padlet.com/ifayouthcommission/youthcongress21)
– Update of the IFA Strategic Plan 2019 – 2023: Significant general innovations and changes / Strategic targets of the Youth Commission
– The new IFA Youth and Development program
Furthermore, its was the first presentation of our five exceptional nominees for the election of U18 representatives to the IFA Youth Commission:
• Anika Hartl (AUT)
• Mieke Kienast (GER)
• Florencia Schwaner (CHI)
• Adela Lang (SUI)
• Davin Hossmann (SUI)
The election will take place by the participants of the IFA U18 Fistball World Championships in Grieskirchen (Austria) on Friday, 30th of July.
To strengthen the rights of children IFA President Jörn Verleger suggested on the occasion of 30 years of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the UN in November 2019 the election of a U18 representative by the participants of the next U18 World Championships. The event and the election was postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID-19.
Currently 25 percent of the 65.000 Fistball players worldwide in 61 countries are under 25 and half of this group are minors under 18.
With 20 days to go until the RE-START of Fistball on the international level, IFA President Joern Verleger wrote today to the participating member federations:
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for the extraordinary resilience and cooperation shown by all of you in organising these unprecedented World Championships that had to be postponed several times.
The competitions are about to start, and like the athletes whom we serve, we need to keep our efforts and energy focused on achieving the best results.
For that, now more than ever, we have to work together as one team. Each of you is crucial to the success of the 2021 World Championships in Grieskirchen. This event will be unlike any that we have experienced in the past. We are therefore counting on your cooperation and flexibility to ensure their success.
We must all respect the rules set showing our strongest commitment to safe and secure World Champs last but not least as the eyes of the hole Fistball family will be on us. This includes in particular:
1) the obligatory daily testing of all athletes and coaches before entering the sports venue and
2) compliance with the rule access only for tested, recovered or vaccinated persons for all other persons on the sports venue.
Only working together and in compliance with the rules worked out in an exemplary manner by the organizing committee and the Austrian federation, these World Champs could be a light at the end of the tunnel in which we find ourselves.
Looking forward to seeing you soon in Grieskirchen”
The Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee has today published the official Bulletin #4, announced the mascots Vulcan and Vesta and launched the sale of tickets for the 2022 World Games in Alabama as part of its one-year-to-go celebrations.
7 July 2021 marks the launch of our global ticket sales. Tickets are now on sale with more information available through the World Games 2022 website.
The Games will offer athletes and fans that “once in a lifetime” experience as the world reaches for ways to reconnect.
If you connect on social media at @twg2022 the LOC will keep you updated on marketing, promotions and even TWG 2022 merchandise in advance of your trip.
IFA, represented by Secretary General Chris Oberlehner and Theresa Eidenhammer, hosted the last two days the INTERACT Consultation Workshop & Partners Meeting in Linz and hybrid as virtual event. Beside the meetings a highlight was a Fistball workshop lead by Austrian national choach Martin Weiss at the club Linz-Urfahr.
TAFISA (The International Association for Sport for All) Secretary General Wolfgang Baumann and IFA President Jörn Verleger welcomed the participants from around 15 International and European Sport Organisations (IESOs) to discuss ideas “to create opportunities and easy & safe access to increase participation in sport for all and health-enhancing physical activity & physical education to active and non-active people regardless their nationality, race, ethnicity, religions belief, age, language, skin colour, social origin, physical, emotional, mental and intellectual ability, gender, sexual preferences, political, religion or other beliefs and place or type of residence”.
The project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union in 2021 – 2022 is led by TAFISA in cooperation with:
– International Fistball Association
– International Table Tennis Federation Foundation
– World Minigolf Sport Federation
– International Dance Organisation
– Confederazione Boccistica Internazionale
– German Flying-Disc Federation
– Italian Federation of Traditional Sports and Games
– Sports Union of Slovenia
The International Olympic Day was introduced in 1948 to encourage more people to participate in the Olympic games and is based on the three pillars Move, Learn and Discover.
Today we together with our friends from the initiative United Through Sports invite you to share your sport exercise. What are YOU doing today??
Join us in the UTS WHAT’S YOUR DAILY competition!
Share with us a day in your life with a 1-minute video on Facebook or Instagram.
1. Tag @United Through Sports
2. Use the hashtag #WYD2021.
The video can be short, simple and we want to see what is important to you.
Did you know that Fistball is part of the 7th TAFISA World Sport for All Games running June 18-24 2021?
Fistball has been invited as a traditional sport to the sport demonstration and will be on the programm TODAY at 13:52 European Time (CET).
(The Programme will start at 12:00 Midday UTC+1 and will be repeated at 18:00 UTC +1 and on 22 June at 0:00 Midnight UTC+1.)
From 18th June 2021, you are all invited to watch the virtual event on www.tafisalisbon.com/en – a platform that is freely accessible to all.
Day 3, 21st June, will be Schools Day! As with previous editions of the TAFISA Games, numerous schools across Lisbon and Portugal mobilised themselves in the past weeks to discover Traditional Sports and Games and New Sports. Demonstrations by children (but not only) will be shown along with the 3rd session of the Games’ conference on the theme “Healthy Lifestyles for All – Contributions from Sport for All”. Watch it all at https://www.tafisalisbon.com/en/21!
In non-pandemic years the TAFISA Games typically attract up to 50.000 participants and visitors from up to 100 countries, and are sponsored by the International Olympic Committee and UNESCO.
The International Fistball Association (IFA) will conduct the 11th meeting of its Board of Directors today.
Main topic next to reports about upcoming IFA events is the approval of an updated version of the IFA World Games Selection and Qualification Criteria.
The initial version was approved by the board on 4th of November 2018 and has to be updated due to the postponement of TWG Birmingham to 2022 and some travel restrictions concerning the next IFA Women´s World Championship in Grieskirchen.
It had already become clear that it would be difficult to conduct the IFA 2021 Fistball Women’s World Championship in Switzerland in mid-July. As yesterday’s decisions by the Swiss authorities did not bring any significant changes, the organizers in Jona have declared that they are not available to host the World Championship under the current conditions. The International Fistball Association (IFA) has been working on a replacement solution and location for the last few days and can now award the World Championship to Austria at short notice.
“Our Fistball friends in Jona, whom we would like to thank very much for their commitment, have tried in close exchange with the responsible authorities to find a viable solution for the Women’s World Championship. It is with great regret that we have to acknowledge that hosting the Women’s World Championship in Switzerland is not possible,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger.
The direction was already clear since Saturday, May 15, after a coordination between IFA, Swiss Faustball (SF) and the local organizing team (OC). Due to the epidemiological pandemic and the associated regulatory requirements a successful realization of the Fistball Women’s World Championship in July 2021 in Jona became unrealistic.
Further decisions from the Swiss authorities announced for May 26 also did not bring any improvements. After a renewed consultation IFA, SF and OC have therefore come to the joint final decision not to hold the 2021 World Championships in Jona
“Our hearts are bleeding,” said OC head Martin Grögli. Numerous sponsors and partners had wanted to support the project after the World Championship already had to be moved from Chile to Europe at the end of 2020 due to the pandemic.
Grieskirchen steps in
“We are very grateful to the organizing team of the U18 World Championships and the club of our IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner for considering an additional takeover of the Women’s World Champs at very short notice. This is very special,” said Verleger.
“We have complied with the request in order to offer the women’s teams the chance of an international competition – under the safety concepts that have stood the test in Austria -,” said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner, who is also the head of the Fistball section at UFG Sparkasse Grieskirchen/Pötting.
New date: July 28 to August 1
Grieskirchen will now host the Women’s and Men’s U18 World Championships, the U21 European Championship and the Women’s World Championship simultaneously from Wednesday, July 28 to Sunday August 1. The U18 World Championship and U21 European Championship will remain unchanged on the previous date from July 29.
“Of course, the date shift may mean that there may still be changes to the field of participants,” said IFA Sports Commission Chairman Winnie Kronsteiner. “We understand that the situation for the teams is difficult, but on the other hand we hope that the joy of being able to play the World Championship at all will prevail with the teams. We also consider the hosting of the World Championship as a necessary offer for the national teams to focus on a highlight and get back into international play.”
The next Women’s World Championship is not expected to take place until 2024 due to the 2022 World Games, and the 2023 Men’s World Cup.
“Six years between the last Women’s World Championship in Linz in 2018 and the World Championship in 2024 was not an option for us,” Kronsteiner said. Previously, Switzerland had also analyzed moving the event to the fall of 2021, as well as holding a category B World Championship in 2022.
“We will publish more details in the upcoming days and would like to encourage all teams to prepare for the 2021 Fistball World Championships in Austria,” said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner, who is glad that they can offer a stage for women’s Fistball as well.
The SportAccord virtual International Federation (IF) Forum on 25 May 2021 focused on ‘Lessons We Are Learning from a Global Crisis and How Sport and Society Can Emerge Stronger’. An IFA delegation under the leadership of President Jörn Verleger and SG Christoph Oberlehner participated in the event. IFA got the chance to participate at the panel session ‘Moving Foreward, Pivoting And The Lessons We Are Learning’ and presented the updating of the IFA Strategic Plan as a case study.
The 15th edition of the IF Forum started with a Welcome Address by IOC President Thomas Bach and an Opening Address by Dr. Raffaele Chiulli, President of SportAccord and GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations), followed by an Address by Dr. Richard Budgett, Medical and Scientific Director, IOC.
Presentations, updates, case studies and panel sessions provided on several vital topics, including ‘Moving Forward, Pivoting and the Lessons We Are Learning’, ‘A Return to Competition and Lessons from the Bubble’, ‘Athlete Mental Health’, ‘Commercial Approaches for IFs in the New Normal’ and ‘The Virtual Experience and its Home within IFs’. Full program: https://www.sportaccord.sport/iff-2021/official-programme/
The IF Forum takes place annually and targets the specific needs of Olympic and International Sport Federations with a focus on sharing best practices and knowledge. The event is open to International Sports Federation members from ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), AIOWF (Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations), ARISF (Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations), AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport) and GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations) and its Associate Members.
The IF Forum will be an outstanding opportunity for our community to come together to discuss best practice ideas as sport explores strategies to accelerate on the road to recovery.
The IF Forum 2021 brings together more than 300 leaders from over 125 IFs, plus other virtual delegates and speakers.
TUESDAY, 25 MAY 2021 (Central European Summer Time – CEST)
10:30-11:00
PANEL SESSION: Moving Forward, Pivoting and the Lessons We Are Learning
Moderated by: David Eades, Anchor and Journalist, BBC World
Panellists:
• Dr. Maurizio Barbeschi, Senior Adviser to the Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies
• Heike Groesswang, Secretary General, IBSF (International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation)
• Jörn Verleger, President, IFA (International Fistball Association)
• Athlete representative
11:00-11:10
CASE STUDY: Moving Forward, Pivoting and the Lessons We Are Learning
Jörn Verleger, President, IFA (International Fistball Association)
Yesterday, Saturday, May 15th, IFA, SF and the OC conducted a meeting. SF and OC have pointed out that due to the epidemiological pandemic and the associated regulatory requirements, the Women’s World Championship will most likely not be able to take place in July 2021.
“With great regret we have to take note that the Swiss authorities do not (yet) allow the Fistball national teams, especially the teams from South America, to enter Switzerland without quarantine at this point. A mandatory quarantine for teams would not be reasonable,” said IFA President Jörn Verleger.
Further decisions by the Swiss authorities have been announced for May 26. Therefore, on May 26th, there will also be a final decision by the organizers IFA, SF and OC whether to conduct the World Championships in 2021 or not.
“We would like to continue to encourage all teams to prepare for a 2021 World Championships in Switzerland, even if the chances for the World Championships in July do not currently look particularly good,” said IFA Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner.
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