The ISF President, Vice Presidents and Members gathered in Brussels for the ISF Executive Committee meeting to discuss the development of school sport as well as the reappointment of Hrvoje Custonja as ISF Secretary General/CEO.
The ISF Executive Meeting was hosted and led by ISF President Laurent Petrynk, ISF Secretary General/CEO Hrvoje Custonja and ISF Sports Director Josip Kosutic on September 15-17 in the capital of the European Union, Brussels, Belgium.
The meeting brought together all members of the ISF Executive Committee participating physically and online, concluding and planning new strategies and plans for the development of school sports and ISF.
The meeting was attended in person and online by ISF vice presidents Zhang Ailong, Youssef Belqasmi, Antonio Hora Filho, as well as continental presidents representing America, Martin Sanchez, Zeljko Tanaskovic from Europe, Niwat Limsuknirun from Asia and Mamadou Souleymane Kone from Africa.
Also present were EC Assessors: Izem Abdelhafid, Abdulrahman Al-Muftah, Guy Dagan, Stelios Daskalakis, Gino Grajeda, Olabisi Joseph, Ömür Karakullkçu, Raj Kumar Karki, Abdoulaye Bamba Mbaye, Nurzhan Nurakhmetov and Renos Pittalis.
Joining the discussion were the chair of the ISF Youth and Athletes Committees, Mattias Metsaru, Roman Greba from the Ethics and Law Committee, Sophie Bordet from the Integrity Committee, all three also assessors on the ISF Executive Committee, and Diane de Navacelle de Coubertin Education and Heritage Committee.
Approvals, updates and adoptions
On the first day of the meeting, the minutes of the previous Executive Committee meeting were adopted, as well as the state of the ISF’s finances after the approval of the agenda focusing on member relations, preparation for events, and the development of strategies, plans and future concepts.
Calendar finalized, tender procedure open
Concluding the second day of the meeting, members agreed on the final calendar of events for the 2023-2028 sports year due to the closure of the 2022/2023 season. With some events not yet agreed on host status, bidding has begun. The calendar can be found online at www.isfsports.org
Nominations and re-nominations
A new position has been created to better manage the accreditation process for upcoming ISF events. The new Chairman of the Accreditation Committee, Jason Dong from PR China, was elected as its Chairman.
After four years as Secretary General/CEO, Hrvoje Custonja was reappointed to further develop ISF’s goals, mission and vision.
The day ended with the appointment of the new Technical Committee Chairs and a report from the Gender Equality and Integrity Committee Chairs.
The third day focused on creation and development
The meeting of the ISF Executive Committee concluded with various proposals for the further development of the ISF strategy and school sport.
The concept of the ISF Academy has been presented and left open for future improvements and suggestions. The main goal is to centralize ISF as an umbrella organization providing internal and external education, communication and promotion of its members, creating an overall modernization.
To this end, the ISF Development Strategy 2023-2028 was created and its working group composed of members focused on solutions for better educational activities, institutional relations, development of the physical education teacher network and ISF relations in general.
The meeting of the ISF Executive Committee took place during the ISF She Runs Active Girls’ Lead event promoting and focusing on women’s empowerment through education and sport, providing 5 dimensions: sports, education, culture, entrepreneurship and entertainment. The event brought together schoolgirls from around the world in Brussels for a city run, treasure hunt, speech, final conference and design sprint.
The event took place on September 12-17 in Brussels and was supported by the European Commission, the City of Brussels, Vinyl Plus and high-level speakers and leaders from the worlds of diplomacy, sport and education.
The next meeting of the ISF Executive Committee is scheduled for February during the first ISF winter gymnasium in Erzurum, Turkey.
