2012 FISU Forum: Overview of day 4

Keynote speaker Dr Jensen

TAIPEI CITY – The fourth day of the FISU Forum was a scenery for the presentation “University Sport as a fertile ground for leadership development” given by Mr. Jorgen Jensen. Coming from the Norwegian School of Sport and Science, during the conference Jensen defined Leadership as “the art of getting someone else to do something because they want to do it”.

The first step of the 4^th day was for presenting conclusion of workshops about gender equality. Some of the recommendations that have been done by the group was to promote that women present themselves confident and courageous. For the participants of the workshops achievement gender equality require more participation of women in sport evens. Mixed teams were proposed.

In the plenary session was discussed that FISU must take the lead role and encourage its Continental Federations to develop gender equality policies and also made the recommendation that the women commission must be made permanent. They also propose some monitoring program in FISU to encourage women leadership like others forms of activities with more sport spirit more participation and involvement.

After those conclusions, Mr. Jorgen Jensen has made a “University Sport as a fertile ground for leadership development”. He started by giving a definition of leadership “creates vision, strategic planning initiative and innovation communicate goals and makes commitment”.

For him leadership is different from management. Leadership is based in the assigned position in organization”. Based on that definition, Mr. Jensen believed that University sport is the ground for leadership development. “Participants learn that common actions increase success. University sport learns people to discuss without entering in conflict with academy discussion and allow them to accept arguments from others and chose actions that do not harm other people” said Mr. Jensen.

The expositor said that to become a leader we need to learn a lot of skills, nobody is born as leaders. “A lot of people have ownership and it is important that leaders don’t evade this, they need to use this in a positive way”, concluded Mr. Jensen. Four students from China, South Africa, Great Britain and USA had also share their views about the topic. 

Workshop session in progress

In the afternoon of Day Four the delegates were given presentations by two of FISU’s International Sport Federation partners. Dr. Ping-Kun Chiu of the World Archery Federation and Ian Wright of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) discussed the history and growth of their respective sports, and their relationships with FISU.

Dr. Chiu, who was an Olympian in archery at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, went over the different events involved in archery, as well as the different types of bows used. He also mentioned that archery has been in five Universiades, including the most recent one, last August in Shenzhen. “Archery is truly a university sport,” Dr. Chiu said. “We teach students respect and teamwork.”

Mr. Wright then informed the delegates about the massive growth the game of badminton has seen since entering the Olympics in 1992. According to Mr. Wright, since entering the Olympics, the BWF’s budget has gone from about $39,000 to about $4 million. This has enabled the BWF to increase its youth programs through initiatives such as ‘shuttletime,’ which brings badminton to children all over the world, some who may not have had the opportunity to take part otherwise. “For a player to reach the Olympics, is shouldn’t matter where they were brought up,” Mr. Wright said.

Different environment to stimulate new ideas

The delegates of the FISU Forum will have the chance to try both archery and badminton for themselves on Friday afternoon when they travel to Taipei Physical Education College for the ‘Give it a Go’ portion of the week.

(Source: Diacounda Sene, Natasha Campos and Justin Fauteux – Students Committee)

Dr. Ping-Kun Chiu (Chinese Taipei Archery Federation) 

Ian Wright (Badminton World Federation)

“It’s a good time to learn to use it for development in my country”
Bashair Alsiyabi, Oman

“Opportunity for Taipei to demonstrate excellent organizational capacity”
Alberto Gilardoni, Paraguay

“It’s been so much fun. The discussions, and workshops are very good, I get so much out of it. I’ve learned new things, but also new ways to formulate thoughts.”
Line Mollerpop, Norway

“We are really enjoying it. We like it.”
Li Chin Fung, Hong Kong 

“The organization [of the Forum] is going very well. The themes of the Forum are a good selection. The only reservation I have is it is really cold and I think the participation could be better with translators. I think people have a lot of knowledge, they just need to express it.” 
Desiree Mora, Costa Rica 

“I think it’s very nice. We know each other’s different cultures and we’ve made lots of friends.”
Nathawong Potimu, Thailand

“The Forum is very inspiring. It’s so multicultural, I get to know the ideas from around the world and bring them home to improve my country’s university sport federation.”
Kacper Czarnota, Poland

“It has opened my eyes.”
Ip Tang Fai, Macau