UANA CONFERENCE – CONFERENCIA DE UANA MAY 2010 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

UANA CONFERENCE – CONFERENCIA DE UANA

MAY 2010 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

 

The second edition of the UANA Conference was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (USA) on May 6-9th bringing together the members of the UANA Executive and four of the UANA Technical Chairs as well as the officers of the four zones of the Americas and several of the FINA Bureau Members of the Americas. 

 

Although FINA President Dr. Julio Maglione had planned to attend the UANA Conference, a schedule conflict required his presence at the Pan American Sports Organization meetings in Merida, Mexico on the same dates.  Dr. Maglione attended the inaugural UANA Conference in 2009 and is a past President of UANA, serving two terms in the top leadership post. 

UANA President UANA Godfrey opened the conference held at the International Swimming Hall of Fame with a welcome to aquatic leaders assembled from throughout the Americas and across the globe.  The UANA President greeted FINA Bureau FINA Vice Presidents Husain Al-Musallam, Nory Kruchten, and Dale Neuburger as well as FINA Bureau members Tamas Gyarfas, Eugenio Martinez and Dr. Margo Mountjoy and FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu. Each of the members of the FINA Bureau as well as the four Zone Presidents were members of 13 different educational and colloborative discussion panels.

 

The four Zones were represented by their officers:  the newly elected President of CONSANAT Javier Francisco Lopez; CCCAN Secretary John Eyre stood in for CCCAN President Orban Mendoza; Aquatic Federation of Canada President Bill Hogan and Rich Foster, President of United States Aquatic Sports.  Also in attendance were David Sparkes, the CEO of British Swimming and FINA Press Commission Chair Camillo Cametti.

 

While all of the discussion panels were extremely valuable and thoughtfully prepared and presented, two panels benefited from the opportunity to include guest panelists who were in Fort Lauderdale for the FINA Diving Grand Prix or the Induction Ceremony of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. 

 

UANA Diving - Development of the Sport in the Americas
Participants:  Felix Calderon, Alice Kohler, Steve McFarland, Kelly Stark-Anderson, Kathy Seaman, Tom Gompf
Moderator:  Gordon Peterson
Clavados de UANA – Desarrollo del Deporte en las Americas
Participantes:  Steve McFarland, Kelly Stark-Anderson, Felix Calderon, Alice Kohler, Kathy Seaman, Tom Gompf
Moderador:  Gordon Peterson

UANA Swim Coaching - Issues & Solutions for the Americas
Participants:  Jim Wood, Pierre LaFontaine, Bob Bowman, Murray Stephens
Moderator:  John Leonard
Natacion de UANA – Problemas y Soluciones para Las Americas
Participantes:  Jim Wood, Pierre LaFontaine, Bob Bowman, Murray Stephens
Moderador:  John Leonard

A total of 73 leaders from throughout the Americas were present for the UANA Conference, 42 of the delegates served as participants, moderators or presenters of the sessions.

The UANA Conference was jointly funded by UANA, the Aquatic Federation of Canada, and United States Aquatic Sports. The American and Canadian delegations also included the CEO and/or the President of each of their national governing bodies.

Several of those attending the UANA Conference also watched the FINA Diving Grand Prix which was held less than 200 meters away from the UANA Conference meetings.  All of the conference participants were invited to attend several of the events scheduled by the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) including the Paragon Awards and the ISHOF Induction Ceremony.  The following people were recognized for their contributions:
 
John Leonard - Paragon Award recipient for Swimming
Eugenio Martinez - Paragon Award recipient for Water Polo
Eldon Godfrey - Duraflex International Diving Award
Cornel Marculescu, Internationally Swimming Hall of Fame, Class of 2010
 
During the two day UANA Conference, the Executive Committee and the Chairs of the UANA Technical Committees met to conduct the business of preparing for 2010 UANA events and for the organization of the 2011 Pan American Games.  Reports of the UANA Technical Committees may be viewed at their respective websites at the following link:  www.uana-aquatics.org