Presenter: Victor Wang   Thanks my friend

Southern High contacts: Ms. Jill White

Participants : 2-3 PE courses students and instructors

As Tchoukball was one of the invitational sport event in the World Games 2009 Kaohsiung, Victor Wang, who was an ex-player and was the sport director during the 2007-08 period for the World Games, he was also responsible for signing World Games contract with President Daniel Bushbeck for the 09 WG back in 2007. For the love of Tchoukball sport, Victor volunteered to give a presentation/demonstration

to the students and physical teachers of the Southern High School when he visited his family at Guam.

On Nov. 19^th, Victor Wang brought two sets of ITBF approved nets and balls from Taiwan, setting up the presentation in Southern High’s Library for about 100 participants of students and instructors, more than one kind of Tchoukball related video material were shown to the group despite the library facility did not allow online web linkage through Facebook. The demonstration and hands one session playing in the court yard was participated with much more enthusiasm. Thanks to Ms Jill White and all other staff in Southern High, the student had a very interesting Tchoukball experiences first time in their lives.

“Southern High School has the potential to form the first team of Guam”. Victor noted after the presentation. However, there will be more instructional workshop and coaching including equipments needed for Southern High to set the whole things up. Hopefully with the new love of the games from students and the full support form staff, ITBF can help the national level teams to be formed and partaking the regional competition in near future.

Victor Wang

When I got the right to send the mail today, I sent this mail for history and so happy to sent the first mail.Thanks jeff to translate.

I would like to start by thanking everyone for your support, for giving our team an opportunity to work together for Tchoukball. Since 1999, Taiwan has been actively helping FITB in its promotion. After wtc2004, all the major Tchoukball competitions were organized by Taiwan. In 2005, I started promoting Tchoukball in Asia and now there are over 10 countries active in Tchoukball. From the 2007 World Games Warm-Up Championships to the 2009 World Games and the 2006, 2008 Asia Pacific Tchoukball Championships, Taiwan has played key roles. Thank you for giving Taiwan and me another opportunity to serve you.

I also wish to thank Mr. Daniel Buschbeck, outgoing FITB President, Michel Thomann, outgoing Technical Director and the rest of the Executive Committee for their excellent work in the last 6 years. Various structures and procedures are in place for a smooth transition for the work ahead. Next year, we can look forward to the continental championships, beach tchoukball festivals in Africa, America, Europe and Asia. Plans are also underway for the U12 Tchoukball Championships in UAE and the University Tchoukball Championships in Taiwan in 2011. These will be significant milestones for the sport of Tchoukball. We will also focus on the raising of the playing standards of the national teams as well as affordable Tchoukball equipment to help all the national federations in their promotion of Tchoukball.

After 30^th dec, Daniel will give all documents and materials. New FITB will go more fast.

Here is a brief introduction about the new Executive Committee.

Vice-President - Ms Chiara Volonte (Italy)

She is very passionate about the education values of Tchoukball. In Rimini, Italy, she organizes one of the biggest Tchoukball competitions, with nearly 100 participating teams annually.

General Secretary – Mr. Fang Shen Szu (Taiwan)

He is better known as Coach Fang and the best Tchoukball coach in the world. Skill development is his forte and he will be helping the national federation to raise their national teams’ playing standard. Soon he will do a tchoukball training book.

Assistant General Secretary – Mr Jeff Ang (Singapore)

He has impressed with the rapid progress made by Singapore in 3 short years. He excels in communication and will oversee international liaison and strategic execution.

Mr Julio Calegari (Brazil)

Proficient in many languages and widely known by many people, he will spearhead the effort to promote Tchoukball worldwide to achieve our main strategic goal of 35 national federations in FITB.

Mr. Kenny Chow (Hong Kong)

He is an executive committee member of International University Sports Federation (FISU) and also the General Secretary of Asia University Sports Federation. Experienced with the international sports scene, he will be our key person to establish Tchoukball in the universities all over the world, one of our strategic areas.

Mr. Pierre-Alain Girardin (USA)

Clear minded, Pierre’s strength is his planning and organizational skills. He will oversee the strategic development of FITB to improve on the current structure. He will also take charge of a key project – the translation of Dr Hermann Brandt’s work from French to English.

Mr. Gernot Tuerk (Austria)

Excelling in the promotion of youth tchoukball, he will take charge of the development of tchoukball in this key age group, an important aspect for our future.

Mr. Diego Carugati (Italy)

Though young, he is already very sharp and experienced in the various aspects of Tchoukball development. Under the tutelage of Michel, I am sure he will be able to competently oversee the development of Tchoukball referees and competitions.

Lastly me, a person who loves Tchoukball, want to create more history for the sport of Tchoukball. I have had experiences in organizing big scale international competitions.

Every member in the Executive Committee is also holding key responsibilities in their respective countries. The pressure is great but we will do our best for Tchoukball.

We also have various committees such as technical, international promotion, development etc and an important group of volunteers working hard in the background. The team will harness the convenience of modern technology and internet to improve the efficiency of worldwide promotion of Tchoukball and also our communication. Let us work together and do our part to create Tchoukball history. At the same time, we want to welcome passionate and practical people to join us in achieving this together.

FITB is now entering a crucial phase in our history. The number of national federations and high level competitions are increasing rapidly. We want to enter GAISF as soon as possible, by having 35 national federations in our federation. This will enable Tchoukball to be featured in the World Games every four years. We are also hoping to get Tchoukball into FISU, using the educational values of Tchoukball to introduce to the universities worldwide.

Currently the Asia Pacific Tchoukball Federation (APTBF) is working hard to have Tchoukball in the East Asia Games, South East Asian Games etc. Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Singapore will be involved in the SEA Games Tchoukball Championships in Dec 2009. Italy is promoting Tchoukball to the physically and mentally disadvantaged, Hong Kong and Switzerland with their Beach Tchoukball etc. All these achievements are the results of everyone’s hard work. By Feb 2010, when the new FITB headquarter is ready and the Executive Committee had met, we will had a comprehensive strategy in place to use our limited budget to the greatest effect in promoting Tchoukball

“Be humble as a person, be practical in doing work” – this is my guiding principle. We are also actively searching for proactive and practical people in all the countries. If you believe in education, believe in Tchoukball, please get in touch with us. FITB will support you in the initial start up and then equip you with the “fishing skills” so that you can “catch your own fishes”. We hope that we will achieve our dream and create a beautiful future for Tchoukball. Let us all work hard together !

FITB is finding a active and practical people to join us promote Educational tchoukball.

Departure of Daniel Buschbeck, Michel Thoman and Andrew St-Ledger; election of Chris Huang into the presidency of the FITB

Dear Colleagues and friends of tchoukball,

Ten years ago, when we committed to the FITB, our main objective was to try to reinvigorate international tchoukball. After all these years of hard work we are very happy to have achieved results which far exceed our initial expectations. As described in our activity report the list of achievements is very long and it is obvious to all that the dynamism of international tchoukball has radically changed for the better. Today we are glad to see that all elements are united for the development of this sport to continue and even to accelerate!!

Throughout all these years I have dedicated my time, my money as well as the resources of my company “Tchoukball Promotion” in order to develop and organise our sport in a more efficient way. At present, I still wish to continue this work and to maintain my commitment to the FITB. Nevertheless as announced to the National Federations a few weeks ago, I can confirm to you that I have decided for several reasons to leave my position as President of the FITB at the General Assembly that took place in Geneva on 26th and 27th September.

After nine years of work in the Technical Committee and five years in the Executive Committee, Michel Thomann, our technical director, has also decided to leave the FITB. He confirmed that he had wonderful experiences throughout his FITB commitment and warmly manifested his gratitude towards all the people that he has worked with over the past few years.

Andrew St Ledger, our communications director who has accomplished many important things in very little time, has also decided to put a term to his FITB commitment at this GA.

Julio Calegari, our international development director, and Jeff Ang, who has assisted new national federations with affiliating procedures, have decided to maintain their commitment to the FITB Executive Committee. We are very happy with their continued dedication.

Personally, deciding to leave the FITB has been a very difficult choice for me to make, as there are so many projects that I would still wish to help the FITB to achieve. These include : creating new continental federations, continue to bring support all year long to new national federations, improving the mechanisms of financing the FITB, make it possible for tchoukball to participate again to the World Games in 2013 in Cali, manage the official entry of tchoukball as soon as possible into the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations) and the IWGA (International World Games Association), as well as working towards achieving  the recognition of the FITB by the IOC. 

Nevertheless, I am glad to see that a new motivated team has been elected at the head of the FITB during the last General Assembly and that our new president, Chris Huang, has already declared that he would do his best to achieve the above mentioned goals. Before being elected, Chris Huang has also presented his numerous projects for the future and demonstrated his passion for our sport. His commitment to Tchoukball has always been extraordinaire and as new President of FITB he will certainly increase even more its dedication for tchoukball.

I wish him every success in pursuing his objectives, as well as to Jeff Ang (Singapore) and Julio Calegari (Brasil/UAE) and to all the other newly elected members of the FITB Executive Committee:  Diego Carugati (Italy), Kenny Chow (Hong-Kong), Mr. Fang (Taiwan), Pierre-Alain Girardin (USA), Gernot Türk (Austria) and Chiara Volonté (Italy). Exciting challenges await them!

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Jeff Ang, Julio Calegari, Chris Huang, Andrew St-Ledger and Michel Thomann all members of our FITB Executive Committee with whom I’ve enjoyed working alongside these past years. They are all exceedingly exceptional, competent and motivated individuals. Over the years, they have shown a fantastic commitment to our sport and to its development. Their work has been admirable and will serve the FITB for many decades to come. Their contribution has been extremely appreciated and the FITB can be very thankful for their efforts. We were very lucky to be able to gather  them in the executive committee of the FITB.

I would also like to thank Alain Collioud, Gilles Diacon, Michel Favre, Amanda Flores, Carole Greber, Erika Mesmer and Torsten Redies, who all have been, during the past years, key members of the FITB staff.  The huge amounts of indispensable work that they successfully implemented resulted in the proper functioning of our federation.

I would also like to thank the old and new heads of national and local federations, which cannot all be named here, but who are the foundation on which our sport has been able to develop and grow. I have always engaged with them passionately in order to assist with the development of Tchoukball across the globe. The exchanges that I have had with all of them, week after week, month after month have benefitted me very much. Be assured, even if it was from afar, that I have followed, with close attention and genuine happiness each of their successes.

I would also like to thank all the players and coaches at all levels, and especially those at the highest level. Thanks to more practice and to better structured trainings, you have managed to radically improve the level and quality of the sport presented at our international competitions. Watching you play is a great joy at every occasion. I strongly encourage you to maintain your commitment in this direction.

With regards to my future plans, I intend to maintain my commitment to tchoukball on a more local level. I also plan on continuing to help develop our sport on an international level through the means of my company ‘Tchoukball Promotion’. One of my priorities will also be to manage the publication of new pedagogical documents on tchoukball that I have been working on for considerable time. I also hope to be able to spend more time with my family and I am impatient to be at liberty to practice our sport on a more regular basis.

Many thanks to all for these years that have been so rich in emotion and vitality.

Warmest Regards,

Daniel Buschbeck
Honorary President
International Tchoukball Federation

Last week a delegation of around 20 people left Geneva airport to help organizing the Kids Games 2009 in Benin and in the same way contribute once again to the development of Tchoukball in this small country in West Africa. This is the latest development in the nearly five years of work and collaboration of both the FITB and FSTB (Swiss Tchoukball Federation) with partners in Benin.We should soon therefore witness the creation of a new National Tchoukball Federation in Benin.

This is an excellent example of the work of the FITB on the African continent where 5 years ago almost no one played Tchoukball. Several projects have since been launched or supported in Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. And we hope to see soon the creation of National Federations in all these countries.

In this context, Julio Calegari, FITB’s International Development Director, will go again to Accra, Ghana, on 19 August and Lagos, Nigeria, on 25 August 2009 to give Tchoukball trainings to contribute to these developments of Tchoukball in the region. Anyone interested in taking part to these trainings (or any other projects) is welcome to contact Julio Calegari <julio.calegari@tchoukball.org>.

All these projects should culminate in the organization of the first African Continental FITB championships in 2010 that could take place in Ghana !!

It took your FITB staff about a day to digest and fully realize what happened yesterday at the Tchoukball competition finals in Kaohsiung. Here comes a short summary, but you can check the FITB website www.tchoukball.org, the official World Games website www.worldgames2009.tw and the blog www.tchoukballworld.net for a more detailed account of what happened yesterday 26 July in Kaohsiung.

In the women tournament, Canada surprisingly won the bronze medal 45-33 to Great Britain whose defense was not as efficient as during the qualifying games. The Swiss ladies fought hard for about one period and a half, but got eventually distanced by a very strong Taiwanese team, completely and utterly supported by an enthusiastic crowd of fan. The Taiwanese won the gold medal 50 to 37.

In the men tournament, Singapore confirmed its performance of the previous day and beat the more experienced British team by a mere 4 points for the 3rd place, thereby depriving the British delegation of a medal for the first time in years. The Taiwanese team confirmed its supremacy by smashing the Swiss men team 67 to 39. Taiwanese players won the Tchoukball gold medal in front of none other than their own President, who especially came to Kaohsiung for the World Games and saw the two last periods of the game.

The VIP seats were full and, in addition to the president of Taiwan, both the President and the Secretary General of the International World Games Association were in attendance of the men’s final. The sports hall was packed with more than 1700 spectators and many unlucky Taiwanese fans were turned down at the entrance because the tickets had sold out.

After the Tchoukball competition medal ceremony, all players and staff converged to the newly built Kaohsiung main stadium for the World Games Closing ceremony, which was truly spectacular. The colorful dances, lively music and official speeches closed the fantastic and unforgettable experience lived by the Tchoukball delegations and staff during these World Games.

Do not forget that you can also check the results of all games at www.fitbcompetitions.org.

The second day of the qualifying tour was as intense, if not more, than the previous one. A total of 12 games were played which put a strain on players and staff alike. The public was even more numerous than yesterday and loudly cheered for their teams.

Both Chinese Taipei teams did not disappoint their crowd of fans and continued on their winning path ending at the top of their respective qualifying rankings.

The men Singapore team created sensation by winning to the British squad with only a few points difference. On their side, the Swiss men team fairly beat Canada, which meant that the last game of the day between Singapore and Switzerland was decisive to know who would be opposed to Chinese Taipei in the final for the Gold medal tomorrow Sunday 26 July. This game was very tight during the first two periods, with each team taking the lead in turns. The Swiss won thanks to their extensive experience in international competitions and their better physical condition.

In the women tournament, the Singapore ladies were close to qualify for the final for 3^rd place, but contrary to their male counterparts, they finally lost to a more solid British team, therefore ending at the bottom of the women ranking. The Swiss ladies secured their place to play the final for the Gold medal with Chinese Taipei.

These World Games saw the beginning on the international scene of two young Asian teams, Singapore and Macao. Even though Macao lost all their games, they are to be watched during the next years, especially the next Asian continental championships.

Do not forget that tomorrow you can watch all games live on the internet at http://sports.hinet.net/<wbr></wbr>2009wg/schedule.html . 3-4 finals will be played at 10:15 for women and 11:30 for men.  1-2 finals will be played at 12:45 for women and 14:10 for men, Kaohsiung time (GMT+7). Beware, the website is in Chinese, but on the homepage you will see a list of sports also in English. You then simply have to click on the button at the right of the sport you want to see.

The first day of the Tchoukball competition at the World Games 2009 was intense for players and staff alike! No less than 13 games were played from 8:30am to 10:20pm in both the women and men tournaments.

Here are some highlights of today's games:

Both men and women Chinese Taipei teams were very impressive.  They won all their games by playing very quickly, with powerful shots, an extremely efficient defense and good strategic thinking. Kaohsiung people came 'en masse' to support their teams. After loosing to the Swiss for the first time in the Beach Tchoukball tournament of 2007, the women team today fairly beat the Swiss.

Today's surprise came from the newcomer on the international scene, the Singapore men team, who beat Canada in a tightly disputed game. The Singapore players showed a game very similar to the Chinese Taipei teams, though lacking some of their technique and experience.

The day ended with a hotly disputed game between the British and Swiss men teams which could prove decisive for a place in the final for the first place.

Today, Taiwanese staff worked hard and fast to clean, transform, and prepare the gymnasium of the National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU) where the Tchoukball competition will be held from Friday 24 July to Sunday 26 July. They changed the Korfball field lines to Tchoukball ones and added the Tchoukball World Games logo on the floor. The FITB staff set up its own headquarters within the sport hall premises.

All teams came to visit the hall and, most importantly, they had the possibility to practice for an hour and a half each.

A referee meeting and a general technical meeting were also organized by the FITB at 10am and 3pm respectively. It is worth noting that for the first time in a Tchoukball international competition, no referee will also be a player at the competition. Selected referees will be completely dedicated to their important job.

Today’s icing on the cake was the beautiful Tchoukball opening ceremony organized by the World Games in the NKNU gymnasium. The 6 nations represented at these World Games, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Great-Britain, Macao, Singapore, and Switzerland, were presented to the public and officials. The FITB President (Daniel Buschbeck) thanked all the people who supported him and worked for Tchoukball to be a part of the World Games 2009. The Kaohsiung Organising Committee representative officially opened the Tchoukball competition. The ceremony ended with photographers taking official pictures of the national delegations, referees, volunteers and FITB staff.

With the 2009 World Games are running since the 16th July, the moment for the tchoukball players to start their competition is approaching fast.

We invite you to visit this website frequently in the days to come and get the most recent news and results Life from Kaohsiung!

With only 23 days to go until the beginning of the 2009 World Games and 30 days until the beginning of the Tchoukball competitions at this extraordinary event, we wanted to share following information with you:
 
Tchoukball tournament:

• The final list of players participating in the tournament have been definitely selected by their national federations and have been accredited for this event.
• The final match schedule have also been published and you could find it attached to this e-mail.
• For the first time in a Official Tchoukball Championship, none of the players will also be referee at the competition. The team of selected FITB referees will be fully dedicated to their tasks as referees. This very positive evolution for our sport will allow all to concentrate on their main activity.

 
FITB match database (www.tchoukball.org/match/index.php):
On the FITB match database you can already find the first information about the World Games:

• the list of players selected by the national federations to represent their country at the World Games
• the match plan of the event
• we will of course update this database on a regular basis through out the event to allow you to follow in the best possible way the evolution of the tournament

 
Broader World Games 2009:
Kick off is in 23 days and the KOC is in its final stages of preparing this event. On May 20th, 35'000 people took part at the inauguration concert of the Kaohsiung main stadium. An international array of singers of the Vienna State Opera Chorus together with the local choirs, performing the "Ode to Joy" to celebrate the opening of The World Games stadium, provided a dramatic conclusion for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Asian tour on a hot Wednesday night in Kaohsiung. With the contribution of 380 Volunteers and more than 1,200 police staff, the organizing committee intended to rehearse the security plan, volunteer services, and transportation function for the opening and closing ceremonies. The closing ceremony will take place straight after the finals of the Tchoukball tournament.
You can find many more exiting news about the 2009 World Games here.

The tchoukball competitions at the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, taking place between 24th and 26th July 2009, are starting in about 3 months time!  The teams participating at the competitions are in the final stages of their long preparation for this event. And so is the FITB: the FITB executive committee and staff is currently working all the many, many small and big details which have to be taken care off in order to ensure that the participation of Tchoukball at the 2009 World Games is a success - both for the teams participating but also, and as important, for Tchoukball in general !

Check out some videos about the 2009 Word Games
The Kaohsiung Organisation Committee (KOC) has done several promotional videos about the world games.  Have look under the following links - these videos are great to get a feeling about the event taking place this summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GIWJ4Hks9Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwyld61gjIc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0o2DSqC9mc&feature=related

FITB video about tchoukball at the 2009 World Games
The tchoukball tournament will be played in the National Kaohsiung Normal Unviersity Gymnasium (NKNU Gymnasium), which can seat about 800 spectators. The FITB is working to ensure that there are many spectators joining the tchoukball competition.  One of the various efforts is a video to promote our sport. This is broadcasted at public events in Kaohsiung and wherever we get the opportunity to show it.  Have a look - we are sure you will enjoy seeing our sport presented in this way!
http://www2.tchoukball.org/index.php?id=31 -> then select "Promotion video for the World Games 2009 tchoukball competition - Kaohsiung (Taiwan) - 24 to 26 July 2009" and "WG 2009 tchoukball competition - Those games are going to be amazing !! - Message of the FITB President"

Working with the media
The participation of Tchoukball to the World Games 2009 is a wonderful opportunity to get the media interested in our sport.  Thus, the FITB is organizing itself for being able to send information to the media on a very regular basis.  Intense work will be done to raise the interest of Taiwanese media for Tchoukball competitions so as to attract as many spectators as possible.  Andrew St-Ledger, FITB communication officer (andrew.stledger@tagb.org.uk) is coordinating this effort both before and during the event.

Macao replacing Brazil
We are pleased to announce that the men team of Macao will join the 2009 World Games.  Macao, as third of the 2008 Asian Tchoukball Championship, will replace the Brazilian men team.  Unfortunately Brazil could not raise enough money to cover the enormous flight ticket costs for their journey to Kaohsiung.   We are sad to learn that the Brazilian team will not be participating in the event but we are sure that they will be able to join again in a future tchoukball competition.   We also want to wish Macao good luck in preparing for the 2009 World Games.

Want to come and experience this wonderful event - buy your ticket now!
Since the TWG 2009 pre-sale tickets started on April 1, more than 10,000 tickets were sold solely for the opening ceremony itself. The World Games 2009, will have its opening ceremony on July 16 in the newly constructed and eco-friendly Main Stadium located in the northern Kaohsiung.  The organizing committee already unveiled the plan: the international rising soprano Hayley Westenra from New Zealand will be performing, along with spectacular surrounding firework display to bring the ceremony to a conclusion.  The closing ceremony, scheduled just after the finals of the tchoukball competition, will also take place in the Main Stadium.  So don't wait, buy your tickets for the ceremonies, the tchoukball competition or any other sports competitions now under: http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/eng/info_spectators1.php

Interested in getting regular updates about the 2009 World Games?
If you can't make it to Kaohsiung this summer, but still want to get regular updates on the event, you can:
-  visit the official website: http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/eng/index.php
or
- on facebook join the group " The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung": http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=13054066299

In Halver (Germany), the first official FITB friendly game between Germany and Belgium took place on March 14th 2009. The match saw the two teams engage in a very tight match, with the score at 52-52 after 45 minutes. At the end, Belgium won the game 59-55.

This friendly game was not only a success on the field, but attracted also about 300 spectators, keen to encourage the teams and learn more about tchoukball. Attached you will find some pictures of the game as well as articles achieved in the local press. We would like to congratulate the organisers of the successful organisation of this event.

This game highlights the dynamism and enthusiasm with which some regions in Europe discover and develop tchoukball in their area. We encourage all to continue in this direction and hope that there are many more events to come.

We would also like to take this opportunity to encourage you all to organise official FITB friendly games with other neighboring countries.

To be recognised as official FITB official friendly game, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:

1. The games have to be announced to the FITB at least 1 month before the beginning of the event.
2. The refereeing of the games has to be supervised or done by at least one FITB continental or international referee.
3. The games have to be played according to FITB rules, with balls and frames certified by the FITB (Top quality certification).
4. FITB score sheets have to be used. These will shortly be available on the FITB website (www.tchoukball.org) in the download section. In the mean time contact the FITB technical commission if you do not have an official FITB score sheet.
5. Copies of the score sheets, fully filled in have to be sent within 30 days to the FITB Technical Commission (michel.thomann@tchoukball.org, with a copy to erika.mesmer@tchoukball.ch). In order to avoid spelling and reading mistakes, we strongly encourage names of the players to be completed directly in the excel sheet and not by hand whenever possible.

We wish you and your teams joy in playing tchoukball also within the frame of FITB official friendly games.

In 1999 we undertook, with a small team of Tchoukball enthusiasts, to organize again world championships after almost 10 years of absence of international competitions. At that time international contacts were pretty quiet and it is with a slight dose of “madness” that we took the leap! Success of this competition which took place in August 2000 and the numerous projects which were born at this occasion still show us today that the “quietness” of international Tchoukball in 1999 was not a fatality and that if we could properly “light the wick”, it was possible to develop fantastic international dynamism around our sport.


It is impressive today to list the changes that took place in the field of international Tchoukball over the past 10 years!

To mention only 10 such changes, it is indeed important to remind ourselves that between 1999 and 2009:

1. The number of countries able to play Tchoukball at the highest level drastically increased which allowed to approach FITB competitions with a completely new stance and much more suspense;
2. Though it seemed impossible 10 years ago, for the first time in 2007 Tchoukball games were broadcasted live on TV and in Eurovision;
3. FITB’s transparency and efficiency increased thanks to the publication of new FITB statutes and several regulations which clarified the functioning of our international organisation;
4. An FITB referee training course was created and the first FITB referees classes were organised;
5. It is way easier today to find quality Tchoukball equipment in numerous countries across the world;
6. Tchoukball was again invited to participate to the World Games which had not happened in 20 years;
7. The launch of the “FITB match database” on the internet allowed to broadcast information that we were loosing on all FITB competitions since 1984;
8. There are today 3 times more countries in the world where Tchoukball is played;
9. There are now 10 times more international competitions organised by the FITB;
10. International communication is 100 times more intense and regular between federations, players, the FITB, etc.;

And last but not least, it is heartening to realize that we have again found a beautiful confidence in the future of our sport!


However, it is equally important to understand that between 1999 and 2009 some things did NOT change in Tchoukball.

Indeed, the main drive behind the development of Tchoukball remains, and will remain for a long time, the incredible involvement of so many enthusiasts around the world and their commitment without limits to Tchoukball and its ideal. These persons bring life to our sport by being always ready to grab opportunities all year long to share their passion for Tchoukball with the highest number.

Behind all the achievements of these last 10 years you will find people who were able to gather other volunteers and enthusiasts to accomplish big and smaller projects. It is these achievements as a whole that allowed Tchoukball to get where it is today! It is the individual commitment of all these persons which allowed achieving such a phenomenal evolution in world Tchoukball over the past 10 years!

On behalf of the FITB, we wish to congratulate and wholeheartedly thank all these Tchoukball ambassadors!!!

Today it is essential to remind ourselves of what made our strength these past years and remember that our sport still needs all these initiatives and “good will ambassadors” to continue forward. Increasing results obtained by Tchoukball year after year are only possible thanks to this multitude of projects that each one of us undertakes in his/her country, city, club, or school.

We wish for Tchoukball that we will be as active for our sport over the next 10 years that we have been over the last 10. In the future, we could thus get much farther than we dare imagine today!

We wish you all happiness and success in 2009!!!
May you fulfill your projects and achieve anticipated results over the next 12 months!
We will continue to hear from you with great pleasure during this new year, whether in written, photo or video form!!!