The main part of the EUSA related events taking place between March 3 and 6, hosted by ASA Israel in Eilat took place yesterday – the General Assembly of the European University Sports Association.

At the General Assembly, representatives of 36 members - national university sport associations were present. Apart from the delegates and official representatives, the Assembly was also attended by the highest representatives of university sport with guests from the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and the Federation of African University Sports (FASU), representatives from the national and local authorities, university rectors and other distinguished guests.

During the Opening session, the introductory speeches were given by Mr Meir Izahak Halevi, the Mayor of Eilat, Mr Uri Sheffer, the Head of Israel Sports Authority, Mr Mansour Abu Rashid, high general from Jordan and Mr George Killian, the President of FISU. The guest speakers were welcomed by Mr Arie Rosenzweig, President of ASA Israel and Mr Alberto Gualtieri, President of EUSA. Mr Gualtieri also expressed his gratefulness to the representatives of the member countries for participating in the assembly and thanked the delegates and the guests for their presence and contributions at the Assembly and throughout the year.

After the opening part, the Assembly confirmed Mr Gualtieri as the Chair of the Assembly, as proposed by the EUSA Executive Committee. The Agenda and the minutes of the previous Assembly were approved, followed by the Annual Reports. Mr Gualtieri presented the report of EUSA activity in 2010 on behalf of the Executive Committee. As the President of EUSA he also took this opportunity to thank the main partners and sponsors – FISU and Asiana Airlines – which are financially supporting EUSA, enabling it to grow and provide quality services and events to the member federations, Universities and students across Europe. Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA Secretary General presented the report on the past European Universities Championships, accompanied by statistics and data also depicting the participation of women in EUSA events.

EUSA Student Commission Chairwoman, Ms Eleftheria Kallikazarou gave a report on the activities of the STC in the previous year, with emphasis on the Volunteer Programme and the Photo Competition Award. As Ms Kallikazarou’s mandate in STC has finished with this Assembly, EUSA President especially thanked her for the work carried out during her term.



Due to the changes of the physical year of EUSA, adopted at the Assembly in 2009, the Financial report with Annual accounts were given for the years 2009 and 2010 by EUSA Treasurer Mr Leonz Eder. Mr Eder presented the incomes and expenditures of EUSA during the last two years, emphasising the sound and stable operations. The Auditors, Mr Jakub Kosowski from Poland and Mr Zrinko Custonja from Croatia gave a report of the extensive review of EUSA during these two years, and proposed the Assembly to approve the reports, which were then also accepted.



As every year, EUSA attributed awards for best achievement of the past year, inviting all recipients to the Assembly. The Best University Award for 2010 was given to the University of Coimbra from Portugal for the highest participation in the European Universities Championships in the previous year. 11 teams participated in EUSA events, and their students also won titles of champions in two sports. The Enno Harms Fair Play Award was attributed to the Men’s Handball Team of the European University of Cyprus. The team decided not to use advantage in players’ numbers due to the injuries of the opponent team, playing the game with the same number of players, showing the true spirit of sport and fair play. The award for the Most Active NUSA was received by the Polish University Sport Association (AZS) which sent 27 teams to the European Universities Championships in 2010, altogether with 389 participants. They organised three European Universities Championships, and their students won 3 championships titles. Finally, Ms Beate Alderslyst from Norway was awarded for the Photo Competition as the winning photo, chosen by the Student Commission, depicts the joy of competing and being a part of the enthusiastic family of European University Sports.



EUSA Assembly confirmed the modifications of the Statutes as proposed by the Norwegian federation regarding the delivery of the Assembly documents. An interesting discussion followed about the inclusion of students in the EUSA Executive Committee as a result of another proposal of statutes modification. During the discussion, the latter motion was withdrawn, and its concept and intention was added to the Activity Plan of EUSA for the current year.



EUSA President Mr Gualtieri, Secretary General Mr Pecovnik and Treasurer Mr Eder presented the Activity Programme and Provisional Budget for 2011. Among the topics we can highlight the continuation of providing help to less active NUSAs, preparations for the European Universities Games, a record number of European Universities Championships (16) to be organised in 2011, all following a fairly conservative budget, ensuring the stability of the organisation. After discussion of the Programme and the Budget, both were approved by the Assembly, with some amendments as the result of the debates.



The Assembly concluded by the presentation of the EUSA Assembly 2012 by Mr Otmar Kugovnik, EUSA EC member and the President of the Slovenian University Sports Association. He invited all the delegates and the guests to come to Maribor in March 2012 for the next EUSA Assembly, and as Maribor is the venue of the next Winter Universiade, Mr Kugovnik also expressed his hope to welcome all EUSA member federations there. At the end, EUSA President Mr Gualtieri thanked Mr Arie Rosenzweig for hosting the Assembly, and presented him with a symbolic memorial plaque to commemorate the event.



The participants were invited to an entertainment programme in the evening, followed by an optional tour to Petra, Jordan the following day.