Five future sports leaders will be in Taipei to help the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in knowledge management – a programme that focuses on sustainability, strategic planning and event operations.

Having a knowledge management programme in place is essential for FISU to help future organising committees develop a customized event plan and then assist in the plan’s execution. To gain an in-depth understanding of a large-scale sport event like the Taipei Summer Universiade 2017 that has 7,900 athletes competing in 21 sports over 12 days starts with compiling mountains of data. Effective strategic planning takes this pile raw data and synthesizes it in a way to discover best practices. With legacy and sustainability at the core of FISU, strategic planning and operational integration for future sports events is underway in Taipei. In total, the Taipei Summer Universiade will rely on a team of 19,000 volunteers.



FISU brought on five future sports leaders to help execute this project in Taipei. Each young leader earned their internship during the Universiade with a stand-out performance at last month’s FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy in Kazan, Russia. Two of the volunteers are no strangers to the European University Sports Association (EUSA) - Ms Anna Edes and Ms Anett Fodor, both from Hungary.



Ms Edes is the Chair of the EUSA Student Commission, did EVS internship in EUSA and has volunteered and worked in all European Universities Games so far. She currently works as Event Manager at the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation.
As a response about her expectations, Anna responded "My expectation regarding our tasks in Taipei is that we will be working closely together with FISU Staff and the Organising Committee which allows us to have a great insight in the work of FISU, as well as in the organisation of the Universiade, ensuring valuable experiences for our future career. I hope that we will have the chance the look behind the scenes and learn a lot while contributing to the success of the event."
Anna continues to explain her preparations: "Before arriving to Taipei, I would like to know as much as possible about the city, the country and the event itself in order to be well prepared for my tasks. I follow the Universiade news every day and I went through the event website, FISU website and other websites that might be useful for us to become familiar with the venues, sports, activities and other details. We are in touch on a daily basis with the other participants who are going to Taipei so that we can prepare together for our role at the Universiade."



Ms Fodor also did EVS internship in EUSA, and has worked at the European Universities Games 2016 in Zagreb-Rijeka. She is currently Secretary General of the Budapest Sports Union.

Anett explained to FISU how she started volunteering. "Hungary has a big tradition in swimming, thanks to its outstanding sport diplomacy the country hosted many professional sport events at the past 11 years. In 2010 Budapest hosted the European Swimming Championship and I applied as a volunteer. Volunteering at this championships was greatest experience I had and I got so crazy for it. I started to travel for other European Swimming Championships all over Europe, spending from my own savings. After a while it became my profession, and today I can say I have worked at six European Championships and three World Championships."
On her future in sports, Anett explained: "I have always sought job opportunities at international federations and my way to university sport has led me to follow through with my high interests in international sport management and diplomacy. After the Universiade to Taipei I will work with EUSA (European University Sports Association) on a strategic partnership project that focuses on gender equality in university sport."



Other international interns to travel to Taipei are Ms Majo Mena from Costa Rica, Ms Shonisani Masutha from South Africa and Mr Timothy King Derry from Trinidad & Tobago.

For more information, please see www.fisu.net and www.2017.taipei.