Report from Sports Director
I am very happy to inform you with the fact that 3 World Deaf Championships took place this year in 2006 and were very successful in reaching their achievements. Those 3 events were:
- Cycling in San Francisco, United States
- Golf in Edmonton, Canada
- Orienteering in Veszprem, Hungary
We, ICSD, thank all National Deaf Sports Federations who were involved, namely the United States, Canada and Hungary, very much for their warm support and hospitality.
I was happy to have taken part as a representative for ICSD at the first World Deaf Orienteering Championships in Veszprem, Hungary. I would like to thank the National Deaf Sports Federation of Hungary for their wonderful hospitality as much as the experienced technical director, Mr. Marek Mir-Marckiewicz, Denmark for his important part. They all have done everything to make this World Championships happen in a very successful way and it will never be forgotten. All in all about 82 sportsmen, 20 coaches and fans from about 14 countries can take home this wonderful experience and keep them in good memory. Orienteering really is a very attractive and innovative sport. The most successful countries of this year's World Championships have been Ukraine, Russia, and Lithuania. All other countries demonstrated real good sportsmanship and did their best.
If you would like to get more information and results about the first World Deaf Orienteering Championships in Veszperm, Hungary, you can look into the website for more information at www.deaforienteering.org It’s worth checking out!
From 1-3 September in Munich a tennis inspection took place for Dresse and Maere Cups 2007. This was organised by the German Deaf Sports Federation. During the inspection we also took this opportunity to work on the tennis raking list and tennis draw issues that has been unresolved for many years. Guido Giovanetti, ICSD TD Tennis, Josef Willmerdinger and Tobias Burz, Tennis Consultant, sat down and worked on this issue during that weekend and we thought we came up with a good solution. We hope everybody will be satisfied and happy with the result. The information will be shared with the tennis community in the upcoming months. If you do have any further feedback, please share them with us. Please contact us through Guido Giovanetti (tennistd@ciss.org), or Josef Willmerdinger (willmerdinger@ciss.org).
It is only three more months until the 16th Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake City, United States. We still have a lot of work to do. I ask everybody to study the winter sports-rules carefully in order not to have problems and misunderstandings at the Games. It is very important to know the rules well, not only for us, the ICSD, but also everybody who is involved with the Winter Deaflympics.
I would like to point out a few examples:
- Alpine Skiing: Equipment for sporting competition
- Plombs, see Technical Regulations – Alpine Skiing, 9.7. Competition Suits
- Ski Length, see under FIS – Specifications for Competition Equipment and Commercial Markings 2006/2007 B. Alpine Competition Equipment 1.2.1.1 Ski length
- Ice Hockey: 20 Players and 3 Goalkeepers
- For some reason some countries seem to think they can bring more than a total of 23 players (20+3). I would like to refer you to the regulation 8.4 Number of Players. The entire text can be found on our website at www.deaflympics.com and the Ice Hockey regulations have been sent to each Members last March 2006. The rules are very clear.
I want to thank you all for your support and the harmony in the team for the 16th Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake City, United States (1 - 10 February 2007).
We are very happy to announce our new Technical Director for Football, Mr. Christof Niklaus from Great Britain. I wish to thank Mr. Christof Niklaus and UK Deaf Sports for their support! Please read his message in this October 2006 issue.
I continue to work hard on finding Technical Directors for judo and taekwondo. We welcome nominations. Please contact me at willmerdinger@ciss.org or at the headquaters at info@ciss.org.
With sporty greetings,
Josef Willmerdinger
ICSD Sports Director