Once again a virtual Annual Delegates’ Meeting was conducted by Badminton Europe.
For the second consecutive year the Badminton Europe Annual Delegates’ Meeting (ADM) was held online. On 1 May 2021, the Badminton Europe President, Peter Tarcala, and the Badminton Europe General Secretary, Brian Agerbak, welcomed the members to the 54th Annual Delegates’ Meeting, which due to the COVID-19 situation had to be organised virtually, which was also the case in October 2020.
- We are now used to the virtual meetings, and I have a good feeling. It ran very smoothly, and I am very happy with the result of the voting and the support from our membership.
- We have a strong unity in Europe, and I am proud of that, and I hope that will continue in the future, Peter Tarcala said.
41 Members attending
Peter Tarcala and Brian Agerbak conducted the meeting directly from the hosting city of the 2021 European Championships, Kyiv, where they are both attending the Badminton Europe flagship event. 41 voting delegates attended the 2021 ADM.
In his opening remarks, Peter Tarcala thanked all members on working on getting badminton to be played despite of the pandemic, and he encouraged the members to continue the great job that they have all been doing for the last year.
New Strategic plan
At the meeting, the Members were briefed on the Badminton Europe Strategic plan 2021-2024, in which the vision, the mission, values and priorities were presented.
General Secretary, Brian Agerbak also introduced the Commission and Committees structure, which are new initiatives for the upcoming years.
- It is important for us once in a while, typically every four-five years, to look at our Strategic Plan and look a bit ahead. It is a rolling plan, so we look at it every year, but to set a direction like we did here, is exciting, Agerbak said.
- We have an ambitious plan and some important topics we are looking at in the coming years. Governance is becoming more and more important these years. In high performance we have a big task ahead of us competing against the Asians. We need to be more entertaining with our sport, we need to support our members and make sure that development is happening in every member association, and we always will have to look at participation, making sure that the grassroots part of our sport is still doing well.
The Badminton Europe Strategic plan 2021-2024 will be online at www.badmintoneurope.com shortly after the ADM.
Replacing of the Judicial procedures
The Members attending the ADM voted for replacing the BEC Judicial procedures with the BEC Disciplinary and Dispute Resolution Regulations with 40 votes against none.
- This is important because with these new ways of doing it, dealing with our Judicial procedures, we are aligning it with the rest of the badminton world. That means if particular offenses are happening in the badminton world they will be managed mainly by BWF, which means it does not matter if it happens in Europe or in for instance Africa or Asia, they will be treated equally.
- We wanted to support that change from BWF, because we feel that it is important that all players are treated equally.
Ahead of the meeting the BEC Board of Directors proposed a number of changes to the BEC Rules, which were all approved by the Members.
BEC elections
At the Annual Delegates Meeting, the Members reelected Andrey Antropov as Badminton Europe Vice-President for the period of 2021-2025.
- I am happy that Andrey Antropov was reelected. Russia is a strong badminton country. Not only in terms of players but also in terms of organising our big events and activities, which are important for us, Peter Tarcala mentioned.
2021 was also election year for two of the Badminton Europe Board of Directors; Chair of High Performance, Richard Vaughan and Chair of Communication & Media, Andrej Pohar. Both were reelected for a new four-year term, which pleases the President.
- When the former top players, administrators and manager supports us, it is strengthening our continent, Peter Tarcala said.
The minutes of the 2021 Annual Delegates’ Meeting will be circulated to all Members in the near future.