Attendants of meeting:
- Mr Zdzislaw Szybowski, Vice President of Polish Deaf Sports Federation, PZSG,
- Mr Arkadiusz Reda, TD of Polish Basketball
- Representatives of Polish Clubs in Cracow , Lodz , Poznan , Warsaw and Wroclaw
- Mr Kjell Gunna, Secretary General of Deaf International Basketball Federation, DIBF
- Observers
Opening of meeting
Mr. Arkadiusz Reda declared the meeting opened, welcomed the guests Mr Zdzislaw Szybowski of PZSG and Mr Kjell Gunna of DIBF and the other attendants.
Polish Championships
After some discussions about planned schedule for deaf basketball activities for Polish Championships next year the discussion went on concerning activities of PZSG.
Dissatisfaction
It appeared that many clubs in Poland are very dissatisfied with the way activities in PZSG are organised and economically supported, at least concerning basketball but also some other sports I could gather. To this end there had been discussions among deaf basketball clubs and people to found a Polish Deaf Basketball Association and it was a strong desire via this new organisation to affiliate and become member with the DIBF.
To further complicate discussions a new Polish Deaf Sports Federation, Polska Federacja Sportu Nieslyszacych, PFSN, with location in Lublin hade been founded. It seemed to me that each federation, PZSG of Warsaw and PFSN of Lublin, had each about 50% of all deaf sports clubs in Poland as members. I was informed that Polish Sports Department Authorities due to economical irregularities within PZSG now are supporting the new organisation PFSN with their annual economical support which PZSG could benefit from before. This means that only income for PZSG now is membership fees from their clubs. Things are complicated further with the fact that PZSG is the only official Polish Deaf Sports Federation recognised by and associated with the Deaflympics.
Introduction of DIBF
After a short time-out for coffee I went on introducing the DIBF and its activities via Power Points-presentation slides which the DIBF uses for introductions. Mr Szybowski was very surprised to learn with how much the DIBF has developed last years with different arrangements such as deaf coaches clinics/development seminars around the world and in Europe , International Deaf Youth Camps, EuroCup for Champion Clubs, European Championship U20 and so on. I explained that all information through the years I sent to the President of PZSG, Mrs Maria Michalczuk and PZSG office in Warsaw but never received any reply from them. Obviously this information was not forwarded further to the Executive Committee.
Membership with DIBF
In discussions during and after introduction regarding membership with the DIBF I made it explicit clear that the DIBF only deals with organisations affiliated to the Deaflympics. Thus for the moment being only a Deaf Polish Basketball Association recognised and accepted by the PZSG or the PZSG itself could obtain membership with the DIBF.
I explained further that the DIBF can have no opinion of whether the PZSG of Warsaw or the PFSN of Lublin will be the most suitable organisation to lead deaf sports in Poland . This is a question for deaf sports clubs and deaf sports people in Poland to solve. This I made quite explicit clear to the meeting.
Meeting
The meeting decided to appoint Mr. Reda and two other representatives from Warsaw to initiate and carry through a meeting very soon with Mrs Michalczuk and Mr Szybowski to discuss the further development and future of Polish Deaf Basketball. The outcome of this meeting will decide further steps and actions of Polish Deaf Basketball.
Mr Reda thanked all participants of the meeting for coming there and closed the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Kjell Gunnå
DIBF Secretary General
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