FITA Programme for the Russian Speaking Countries

FITA Programme for the Russian Speaking Countries
Lausanne – 19 September 2007

FITA Development Director Pascal Colmaire in the middle
of the participants at the Coaching Course in Antalya
At the initiative of the FITA President, Dr Ugur Erdener, a programme was designed in order to enhance Archery within the Russian speaking countries. The project targets three major development activities, namely Coaching, Judging and the Athletes themselves. A Judging seminar in April 2007 was followed by a Coaching seminar in May (both in Antalya, Turkey), and this week it is a Youth Training Camp that is being held in Ankara.

Due to the strong tradition of these countries within the elite sport including Archery, FITA decided to give a boost to the region by having a programme that will keep these members of FITA involved in the international arena. Since the collapsing of the former Soviet Union, many of these countries have been facing major difficulties in being competitive in archery.

The overall project is structured in three main activities targeting the major aspects of Archery’s development:

Ø Athletes (especially the youth)
Ø Coaching
Ø Judging

The main objective is to help these countries to raise their standard and competition level, especially to enable them to compete with the elite at the Continental and World level in view of their participation in the Olympic Games.

In order to meet the objective more than 15 countries were surveyed by two Russian speaking coaches. The program was designed with a short and long term view towards the 2008 and 2012 Olympics Games. FITA has been giving assistance to both entry and elite level. Further assistance over the following years is expected (if possible until 2012) pending yearly report from the countries.

The member associations that are beneficiaries of this project are:

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bulgaria
Estonia Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania Moldova
Romania
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

The participants at the Judging Seminar in Antalya
A Judging seminar was held in Antalya, Turkey on 12–15 April 2007. Twenty-three national judge candidates from 13 countries attended the seminar. Mr Victor Stanescu was the lecturer and Mr Zorigto Mankhanov made the translations and the technical explanations in Russian. Both are FITA International Judges.

Following the Judging seminar, a Coaching seminar took place from 20-27 May in Antalya with 23 attendees from 8 countries. At the end of the course a level 1 archery equipment kit (12 bows, 144 arrows, many small items for shooting, repairing, etc.) was offered to each participating country as long as they complied with the FITA donation criteria. The experts for this course were Mr Mario Codispoti, Mr Andre Korlaar, Mr Zorigto Mankhanov, Mr Juan Carlos Holgado and Mr Pascal Colmaire.

To conclude this programme, a Youth Training Camp has just started this week in Ankara, Turkey (17-24 September 2007) with a total of 25 participants from 10 countries. The experts on site for the training camp are Mr Andre Korlaar, Mr Vladimir Esheev and Aliaksandr Svedziantsou.
More information on this camp in a near future…

Mayi Cruz Blanco
FITA Development Department

- Fountain : http://www.archery.org