EUSA Convention 2012

Portoroz, Slovenia: November 16-18, 2012 

Portoroz, Slovenia hosted this year's EUSA Convention between November 16 and 18. The convention started with the meeting of the newly-appointed Technical Commission on Friday. The Technical Commission’s Vice-Presidents and Technical Delegates were welcomed by the President of EUSA Mr Adam Roczek on behalf of entire Executive Committee, congratulating them for their appointment and thanking them for their involvement and dedication to the European University Sports Association and student sport in general.


EUSA President Mr Adam Roczek
 
The delegates then first got acquainted with the structure of the organisation, its activities and history, presented by the Secretary General of EUSA Mr Matjaz Pecovnik who also outlined the most important past and future milestones.
 
EUSA Secretary General Mr Matjaz Pecovnik
 
Mr Patrik Perosa, EUSA Sports Manager introduced the main rules and regulations which govern the sports events – European Universities Championships and European Universities Games.

Mr Patrik Perosa, EUSA Sports Manager
 
The members of the Technical Commission attended a reception held for EUSA by the Mayor of Piran, municipality which Portoroz is a part of, Dr Peter Bossman. Mr Bossman welcomed the participants and expressed his satisfaction to be able to host such an event and gave a brief history of the coastal region of Piran. He also shared some personal stories with the delegates and invited them to return again.

Reception with the Mayor of Piran
 
Mr Roczek thanked the Mayor for the reception and stressed the importance and appreciation of local support to the university sports events. He mentioned that in the past Portoroz also hosted European Universities Championship – Beach Volleyball in 2005, and complimented the event and cooperation with the local authorities. As a sign of thanks, Mr Roczek presented a special edition of the EUSA Anniversary book to Mr Bossman.

The Mayor of Piran Mr Bossman and EUSA President Mr Roczek
 
At the Convention, the participants were also welcomed by prof. dr. Dragan Marusic, the Rector of the local university, University of Primorska. Mr Marusic mentioned that the University of Primorska is y young and fairly small university on European scale, but at the same time he stressed that sport has played an important part ever since the university was founded. Indeed, this university hosted the European Universities Basketball Championship in 2002.

EUSA President with the Rector of University of Primorska prof. dr. Dragan Marusic
 
The Convention continues with the main part of the event, dedicated to the organisers of the 17 European Universities Championships, to be held in 2013.
 

After the introductions, meetings with the Technical commission members of EUSA, reception with the Mayor of Piran Mr Bossman and visit by the Rector of University of Primorska Mr Marusic, the EUSA Convention continued until November 18, with departures. 

EUSA Technical Delegates and Commission members were joined by the Medical Commission members, organisers of the European Universities Games 2012 and 2014 and representatives of the Organising committees of the 17 European Universities Championships, which will be held in 2013 across Europe under the auspices of EUSA.


Welcome by the EUSA President

 

The extended composition, with over 60 participants, was also officially welcomed b Mr Adam Roczek, EUSA President, commending the cooperation and preparation of the organisers for their events. He stressed that events such as the EUSA Convention are an important part in the path to success of the event, and wished everyone a fruitful and productive meeting.

Introduction to EUSA by Mr Matjaz Pecovnik

 

Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA Secretary General, continued with the welcome and introduced the representatives of various EUSA bodies present at the Convention: the Executive Committee; the Technical Commission, with the technical delegates of respective sports; the Medical Commission; the Students Commission and EUSA Office – ensuring the organisers that they are all here to assist the organisers in preparing a great event which will offer the students top competitions and other important aspects of European Universities Championships and European Universities Games, which makes them unique.

Participants and audience

 

The floor was then given to Mr Rifaat Chabouk, Operations manager of the 1st European Universities Games which took place in Cordoba, Spain this summer. He presented the main successes of the event; namely the over 2500 participants in over 250 university teams representing over 150 universities at the inaugural edition of the Games. He also presented the biggest challenges they faced as organisers, and expressed the willingness to continue with the cooperation with EUSA and EUSA events organisers, sharing the experiences.

Presentation of the 1st European Universities Games Cordoba 2012 by Mr Chabouk

 

As the next European Universities Games will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2014, the Tournament director Mr Henk Smit as the representative of the Organising Committee of the 2nd EUSA Games gave a short overview on the plans of the 2014 event, drawing on the experiences of the Cordoba organisers and combining it with the local know-how, as Rotterdam is known as the City of sports, with several sporting events having taken place in the city so far.

Presentation of the 2nd European Universiteis Games Rotterdam 2014 by Mr Smit

 

Having observed the largest EUSA sporting events – both past and the future, Mr Patrik Perosa, EUSA Sports Manager introduced the regulations for the European Universities Championships. These contain general guidelines and also specific requirements per sport and can be served as the manual to organising a successful event. He invited the organisers to consult the Technical Delegates and other EUSA representatives to work together in making a memorable and quality event.

Presentation of the Regulations by Mr Perosa, EUSA Sports Manager

 

The medical, hygiene and catering aspects of the events were presented by Medical Commission Chair and EUSA Executive Committee Member Mr Haris Pavletic. He gave the guidelines and recommendation to the organisers in this field and later also met with the other two Medical commission members – Mr Timo Hinrichs and Mrs Abosede Ajayi to discuss future actions and plans.

EUSA Medical Commission meeting

 

An important piece of the puzzle in every event are the volunteers. Mr Zoltan Rakazki presented the EUSA Volunteer programme, which offer the European students the possibility to cooperate in the EUSA events, assisting the organisers directly and adding the international flavour to the event.

EUSA Volunteer programme presented by Mr Rakazki

 

Mr Andrej Pisl, EUSA Communications Manager presented the step-by-step procedure of registration for the European universities Championship and explained the use of the EUSA registration and accreditation system which is used by all EUSA events organisers, assisting them in the organisation of the event and automatically making sure that the registration process follows the necessary procedures.

Registrations and Accreditations system and procedure explained by EUSA Communications Manager Mr Andrej Pisl

 

Last point from the presentations’ side was presentation of the best practice of the past season of the European Universities Championship. On behalf of the organisers, the EUSA Sports manager presented the case study of the 8th European Universities Futsal Championship, which was held in Tampere, Finland in 2011.

Presentations by the Organisers
 

The representatives of the Organising Committees of the European Universities Championships then had a chance to present all of the events taking place in 2013: Badminton (Uppsala, SWE), Basketball (Split, CRO, Basketball 3x3 (Rotterdam, NED), Beach Volleyball (Oporto, POR), Bridge (Kraljevica, CRO), Football (Almeria, ESP), Futsal (Malaga, ESP), Golf (Sant Saens, FRA), Handball (Katowice, POL), Judo (Coimbra, POR), Karate (Budapest, HUN), Rowing (Poznan, POL), Rugby 7s (Sofia, BUL), Table Tennis (Zonguldak, TUR), Taekwondo (Moscow, RUS), Tennis (Bar, MNE) and Volleyball (Nicosia, CYP).

Working groups and study sessions

 

In the afternoon part, the organisers met with the Technical delegates for their respective sports, and went through their progress reports and the plans for their events. In smaller working groups they covered the important sections and steps needed to be made in order to assure a great event. Before the events, additional inspection visits will also be organised, to help as much as possible also on the local level, and to ensure quality conditions for the participants.

Participants of the 2012 EUSA Convention

 

All of the educational and working events took place in the pleasant ambient of the coastal city Portoroz and the Grand Hotel Portoroz. Apart from the official and working parts, the participants were also able to enjoy a boat trip to Piran, sightseeing and social programme.

City of Piran

 

You will find more photos from the event at the EUSA Convention 2012 Photo Album on our Facebook Page. We will soon also publish all of the presentations.