Report from Sports Director
Dear Friends and Members,
As I am the Sports Director, I would like to invite you to read my report about the last three months.
The Austrian Association of Sports for the Deaf invited me to the Tennis Open in Kottingbrunn/Austria, which took place from 27th to 29th July 2005. This Tennis Open has been very impressive for me. I pay tribute and applause to the organisation and cooperativeness of the Austrians. Thanks!
On 18th and 19th August 2005, I have been at the mangagement team-meeting in Frederick, Maryland, USA. There have been the President Donalda Ammons , Vice president David Lanesman, myself, as the Sports Director and the Executive Director Tiffany Granfors. Additionally invited to the meeting included, honorary member Jerald Jordan, staff member Wayne Langbein, bookkeeping contractor Terry Berrigan and financial consultant Lee Kramer. We continue to do motivational work for the Deaflympics and we want to be visible all over the world through our efforts.
At the moment, there are some Technical Director positions vacant, so I would like to ask you, readers , to support us in finding qualified persons for it. The positions are: Football, Ice Hockey, Snowboard, Karate, Taekwondo and Judo. If you are interested to become involved with us, please contact your National Deaf Sports Federation, the Federation can recommend you. I'd be pleased, if there would be new entrants at Deaflympics.
Now something very interesting. So far, Deaflympics was made up of 16 sports for the summer and 4 sports for the winter. But this is no longer quite correct. Let me explain further:
We've got a good staff member in the secretariat, Wayne Langbein, who explained the changes and the purpose of the changes are to be more in line with the Olympic programme.
Some Examples:
| Winter Deaflympics 2003 Sundsvall | Summer Deaflympics 2005 Melbourne | ||
| Before | Now | Before | Now |
| 4 - Sports | 2 - Sports | 16 - Sports | 14 - Sports |
| 4 - Disciplines | 17 - Disciplines | ||
| 23 - Events | 23 - Events | 150 - Events | 150 - Events |
See selective breakdown example below:
| Sports | Disciplines | Events |
FINA (Aquatics) | Swimming | Men's 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, .... |
| Water Polo | Men's Water Polo | |
| FIS (Skiing) | Alpine Skiing | Men's Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Parallel Slalom |
| Cross Country Skiing | Men's 10 km-free technique, 15 km- classical technique, ... Women's 5 km- free technique, 10 km-classical technique, ... Total of 8 events combined | |
| Snowboard | Men's Halfpipe, Giant Slalom, Slalom | |
| FILA (Wrestling) | Freestyle | Up to 55kg |
| Greco Roman | Up to 55kg | |
| FIVB (Volleyball) | Beach Volleyball | Men's and Women's Beach Volleyball |
| Volleyball | Men's and Women's Volleyball Total of 2 events |
Note that Deaflylmpics' Aquatics, Volleyball, and Wrestling has two (2) disciplines each. To see all of the individual event breakdowns for each sports, please refer to the specific technical regulations under the 6. Events section.
I thank Wayne Langbein for his new breakdown which will clarify our sports classification and to be in line with the Olympic Programme.
Yours faithfully,
Josef Willmerdinger
Sports Director