A recent vote was held to elect some of the Executive Board members and to approve the membership fee and budget for 2013.
Financial matters were supported by the Assembly and the following officers were elected:
Robert King- Vice – President
Ute Geßmann – Sport Officer
Carla Hanson – Secretary
Ben Noble – Treasurer.
Thanks to all who voted in these important matters.
We wish you happy holidays and many white cards for 2013!
Be safe and take care.
I´m very happy to announce that Aida International has been accepted as an associate member of the EUF which is the European Underwater Federation. The EUF is an organization of European scuba diving training organizations.
The EUF serves as a forum allowing recreational scuba diver training organisations to meet, exchange ideas and speak with a common voice on important issues like diver safety.
The EUF has a membership consisting of a broad range of European training organisations, including both for-profit and non-profit making bodies. The EUF estimates that its members represent over 3,000,000 divers, 60,000 diving instructors, 5,000 clubs and 2,500 diving schools.
Individual training organisations may apply for full voting membership of the EUF either as profit distributing organisations and non-profit distributing organisations. Organisations that cannot meet the definition of a training organisation can either apply for Associate Membership or Observer status. Two special members also exist: CMAS Europe, which represents the interests of national diving federations located in the European Union and who are affiliated to Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques and RSTC Europe, which represents the interests of for-profit scuba training organisations operating in the European Union. (EUF related Information courtesy of Wikipedia).
On behalf of Aida Board,
Kimmo Lahtinen
AIDA, president
Aida International is very pleased to welcome Aida China and Aida Taiwan to the Aida Assembly. Voting to admit these two new members was unanimous. We are looking forward to seeing the development of freediving education and competition in this part of the world. A hearty congratulations and welcome to our family!
On behalf of Aida Board,
Kimmo Lahtinen,
AIDA, president
We are very pleased to announce that all the doping tests from the Team World Championships came back negative. Thank you to all who participated in this bothersome but important task.
We would also like to remind all Nationals to submit their vote for the 2013 Pool World Championship . We are very glad to have a choice between 3 excellent proposals from Greece, Serbia, and Poland. Please review the bids carefully and cast your vote.
Next month, we will be holding the Aida Executive Board Election.We are looking for candidates for the following offices: Vice-President,Sport Officer, Secretary, and Treasurer. These are positions with voting privileges. Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering to run and would like to contribute to Aida International and the future of freediving !
On behalf of Aida Board,
Media&PR officer Carla Hanson
The Aida Board met via Skype call on September 23. Many important topics were on the agenda that required attention. The first item was the proposal for Enhanced Financial Controls, which was delivered to the Assembly in June. In connection to that proposal, AIDA is seeking two to three candidates to act in an audit committee-like capacity: periodically to review AIDA financial statements and account records to help ensure that AIDA is not subject to misappropriation of funds in the future. Candidates having a degree and relevant experience in the fields of accounting and/or finance are requested to forward a short CV to: Board_AIDA@yahoogroups.com (questions may be referred to: secretary@aidainternational.org).
Jean-Pol François (Education Officer) then provided a report on a group of freedivers in China desiring to obtain AIDA Observer Member status. The Board voted to ask that the Assembly vote on this group’s request to obtain Observer status (only the AIDA Assembly may approve new members). It is exciting to see growth in this market with very large potential.
The next issue which was discussed was No Limits Sled diving. Due to a number of incidents resulting in serious injury or death in connection with No Limits world record attempts, and concerns regarding additional safeguards that may be needed for athlete safety, the Board voted to temporarily suspend for a period of one year (until 30 September 2013) AIDA International’s sanctioning of No Limits world record attempts. During this period, AIDA International, in connection with AIDA Nationals, will review incidents, procedures and other matters relating to No Limits (in addition to other work being done regarding deep and sled diving), and take additional steps relating to No Limits risk management. Please feel free to contact the AIDA Board with any input your National may have on this matter. Please note that this suspension will not limit AIDA’s work on guidelines for diver safety, including No Limits diving: many instructors and athletes use No Limits to train for other disciplines, typically at relatively shallow depths. Please also note that this suspension by AIDA International does not restrict the ability of an AIDA National to sanction, take other action on, or ban No Limits diving and record attempts in that National’s country.
Ute Gessman (Sport Officer) brought up the issue with the CARS system , competition fees, and judges’ points. She will coordinate a group (likely to include Marcello di Matteis and Panagiota Banalou) to consider a competition fee schedule, as well as judge points for small competitions, and will report back to the Board at a future meeting. Ute also provided a report on the recent 2012 AIDA Team World Championships in Nice, France, and issues that affected athletes, staff and others. AIDA will make improvements at future AIDA World Championships, and the Technical Committee will review policies and procedures to set minimum standards to be met at future World Championships. Following the subject of World Championships; the Board reviewed bids for the 2013 AIDA Pool World Championships. The Board will focus on challenges that occurred in Nice, and try to avoid their recurrence at next year’s World Championships. The Board expects to send the bids to the Assembly for vote approximately in the next 10 days.
The next agenda item was addressed by Antero Joki (Technical Officer), who provided an update on the newly constituted Technical Committee, the Judge IOP and update to the Competition Rules. The IOP will be updated first then the Technical Committee will be accepting suggestions for rules modifications.
Then Kimmo provided a report on the AIDA strategy project which encompasses the future direction of Aida and issues which need to be considered with the evolution of our sport. Kimmo also provided an update on the current drafts of the Deep Diving and Sled Diving Guideline, which is being supervised by Rik Roksen( Med/ Science Officer).
The Board reviewed a number of initiatives regarding insurance in various regions and was updated on the publicity efforts for the 2012 inaugural AIDA World Cup Circuit, and media coverage for final 2012 World Cup event, Suunto Vertical Blue. Then the discussion moved on to the final two agenda items, beginning with alternatives to Dropbox for archiving video of world record attempts (Dropbox does not support files the size of videos). Ute and Julien will look into using a YouTube or Vimeo private (i.e. archiving) account for this purpose.
Then closing the meeting; Kimmo reported that the Aida application for observer membership status in the EUF (European Underwater Federation) will be voted upon in their December meeting in Austria.
Any questions , concerns, or comments are welcome. Please contact any Board member.
On behalf of Aida Board,
Kimmo Lahtinen,
Aida president