Report from Sports Director

Summer Technical Directors

From 3 to 10 October 2008, the fifteen Technical Directors (TD) for summer sports and I were in Taipei / Chinese Taipei for site visit.

This was a very good experience for everyone, especially for the TDs as they gained much better knowledge.

Athletics Badminton Basketball Beach Volleyball Bowling Cycling Road Football Handball Judo Karate Orienteering Shooting Swimming Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Volleyball Water Polo Wrestling	Barbara Søndergaard (DEN) Martin Bogard (GBR) Yaakov Keren (ISR) John Knetzger (USA) * Bobby Skedsmo (USA) Christof Niklaus (GBR) Mario Torcolini (ITA) Antoine Damien (FRA) ** Marek Mir-Mackiewicz (DEN) Mac Adam (AUS) Reed Gershwind (USA) Nyiro Zsolt (HUN) Jung-bae Park (KOR) Tobias Burz (GER) John Knetzger (USA) Reed Gershwind (USA) Mehmet Bilgili (TUR)
*   We didn't get any messages from Ulf Hanson! So Wayne Langbein took over and we must find a new TD for bowling. ** Francois Khalef resigned-because of occupational reasons; Josef Willmerdinger assumed the role during site visit

Tiffany and I attended the 1st visit and Site Inspection of 2009 Taipei Summer Deaflympics during April 2007.  We got promises that we would be very satisfied.  We demanded urgently that until the next Site Inspection in October 2008 as many facilities as possible would be completed, so that we could see and check if everything was alright.

We are all inquisitive and curious what the Site Inspection of Taipei 2009 had to offer. Of course we hoped the best, and that all sport facilities would have been completely arranged. We only have 10 more months until the 2009 Summer Deaflympics start in September 2009.  We wished the Taipei Organizing Committee good luck and best of success.  When we started the inspection of the sport facilities, we unfortunately had to discover disappointing news that many of those were not completed and even not up to par with international standards.

Some examples are as follows: There were no Beach Volleyball courts, Tennis courts and Football pitches were not well-maintained.  Orienteering, Swimming and Water Polo venues were very far away from the city center.

Some public facilities would be finished very late: for example the Athletics stadium should be finished by April 2009, Football – April to July 2009, Basketball – January 2009, Badminton – January 2009, Shooting – December 2008 to January 2009, and Tennis – April 2009.  That is why we are not completely content with the development of these sports facilities.  The time from now until the Summer Deaflympics in September 2009, is very short.  The Taipei Organizing Committee now has an enormous work to do, but also for our TDs, there is plenty of work.  We are of course concerned and disappointed with the development of these sports facilities.

All TDs and I will continue to work very hard to achieve a successful 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei. We try to do our best by working together with the Taipei Organizing Committee. The draw of basketball, football, handball, volleyball and water polo took place on Friday 10 October 2008 in Taipei Arena. (see website - www.2009deaflympics.org/en/press/event/20081010_a.htm)

No World Deaf Championships, No Deaflympics
In former times there were just World Games for the Deaf. In 2001, the name of our quadrennial event changed to Deaflympics. Therefore, we must organize world deaf championships. Before 2001, we had a few World Deaf Championships, for example Golf, Karate, Taekwondo, and Judo.

After the 2005 Summer Deaflympics in Melbourne, ICSD organized many World Deaf Championships in many various sports.

The World Deaf Championships that were held after 2005 are:

• 2006: Cycling, Golf, and Orienteering
• 2007: Basketball, Swimming, Badminton, Dresse and Maere Tennis Cup, and Futsal
• 2008: Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Football, Volleyball, Athletics, Golf, and Wrestling

We see that there is a growing need and interest for more international competitions, in addition to the Deaflympics. We want to prove to the world that we can hold a very good competitive sporting event. That's why we want to construct a clear structure in future. The greatest aim of all athletes is Deaflympics, after that follows the World Deaf Championships, after that follows the Regional Confederations Championships.  All kinds of sports have to show that they belong rightfully to the Deaflympics.  That means that every kind of sport has to have a World Deaf Championship before athletes can participate in the Deaflympics.

Now let's work together in organizing more World Deaf Championships!!!

For your information - Deaflympics shall only carry out the sports same as in the Olympics.  There are three (3) exceptions in the Summer Deaflympics, as follows: Bowling, Karate, and Orienteering.

Sportingly yours,

Josef WILLMERDINGER
ICSD Sports Director