Do not miss the fourth installment of the articles with which the current President of the International Federation analyzes how these first almost four years have been at the head of the padel governing body worldwide. In this article he will talk about one of the biggest challenges that the FIP has had to face: trying to unite all the institutional padel.
Padel World Press .- Perhaps the most important challenge for our institution at the present time has been to try to ensure that the entire institutional, sports and business padel was under one umbrella.
Saying it is easy, although doing it has not been simple… But for those of us we are sports leaders and we are always attentive and ready to face the challenges that our duties put before us.
There are many ways to travel a path: running, walking, pausing more or less frequent and more or less extensive, looking for shortcuts, sowing, picking fruits, looking to the sides but without losing direction, with closed eyes, guided by the hand, alone or accompanied. There are also those who look at the path ahead and decide not to go through it.
The current Board of Directors and I follow the road at a rapid pace, with the purpose of not wasting too much time on useless waiting and always with the objective of having the time necessary to reason, evaluate possibilities and confront opinions, with twelve eyes that look to all latitudes. That is the richness of teamwork in the Board of the FIP: the diversity of opinions and the need to reach a synthesis after having analyzed all or many of the possible alternatives to a certain behavior.
The Paddle has no owners. We are not sports leaders nor are players or technicians, nor are manufacturers of shovels, tracks, balls, grips, footwear, clothing, software, nor organizers of tournaments, courses, stages, clinics ... They are not the journalists who follow our sport, all with more or less competition.
The Paddle we all are and, therefore, the objective that we all be under the same sun, or protected by the same umbrella, should not be a scandal for anyone and, for the so-called 'leaders', it is something that becomes a 'mission'.
The FIP has proposed recognized training formats, has created a series of levels in addition to collecting and compiling information from the greatest and best 'actors'.
The training activities of National Associations and Federations are officially recognized, although it should be noted that there are important discrepancies between the programs that each one proposes.
The FIP proposes to everyone without distinction their own training programs, which in some cases become integration with what is already done at the national level. In this way we have contributed in the four years of management to train and train people from Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Finland and the United Arab Emirates.
Beyond commercial interests, rights and protections for registered patents, industrial espionage and competition in a free market, with few rules we first launch the idea in a series of open meetings and then consolidate it, giving way to constitution and registration of the International Association of Paddle Producers (AIPP).
This association works to strengthen the presence in the international market of companies that have an ethical behavior, consistent with reality and that are a symbol of quality and safety for users. In turn, they should stand out for the excellence of the service they offer and for being a reference for the International Federation in what relates to the development of new technologies and new materials and, therefore, the needs to adapt the regulations and regulations on admission or use thereof.
Nowadays, with the supervision of people directly involved in the International Federation, the AIPP can offer its members the certainty that the data, information, documentation, etc., are available to all without distinction, in the utmost respect of the privacy, but also in a horizontal and equal distribution of information for the benefit of all. How could it be otherwise, it is an Association that remains open to receive membership applications.
The analysis of the new candidacies of possible associate members, numerous, that are received continuously, obliges us to a meticulous, codified, interpretation and cultural enrichment work, since each country presents different peculiarities and characteristics.
In four years we have gone from 18 to 28 affiliated Federations and Associations and the pace will continue to be accelerated, without breaks, therefore other revenues are expected already during the current year.
This is not due to my management or the work of the current Board of Directors. I am sure that we have facilitated the communication, motivated the nascent institutions and promoted the actions so that their income was made; However, the current development of the paddle in the world is not the consequence of the current management but of having reached the maturation of all those simple initiatives of thousands of people who travel through the different corners of the planet taking from one point to another new ideas and infecting, like a virus, new projects and winning ideas, such as dedicating time and resources to our sport.
The player of any sport is the fundamental ring of the chain of interrelation of subsistence, development and daily life. Is who is in the center and who justifies all other functions and activities but, without them, the person with interests of activity would choose and play another sport because, at present, the sports offer is much wider than in the past .
Without the leaders there would be no organized activity, there would be no game regulations, no competitions, there would be no ranking systems, the allocation of champion titles, or the dissemination of structured institutional activity, or the referees ... There would be no future.
Without the manufacturers, the players would play with their hands and in the open space ... There would be no paddle tennis without paddles or courts. Footwear and clothing from other disciplines would be used and there would be no specific development for our sport.
Without the organizers, the players would always play among acquaintances, without having opportunities to meet other people, to travel, to face other rivals, to win and lose, to win money, to collect trophies or losses, to make a photographic book or a profile on social networks for pleasure or also to find sponsors ... In short, to grow.
The organizers of events, large and small, institutional or private, are the opening of the arms to take the first blow of the palms of the hands, which becomes applause and that every player wants to receive.
Without the press and without social networks, the results, the meetings, the challenges, the criticisms, would lose amplification and resonance and everything would be more domestic.
All under the same sun and protected by the same umbrella. That is the goal we have had and that we have achieved. Each one with its particularities and demands, but all together in a permanent, fluid and positive dialogue.
Daniel Patti
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