Olympic Briefs -- Generations for Peace Under Way, IBAF Considers Women's Baseball

Sixty delegates from 10 countries are attending a 10-day Generations for Peace Camp in Abu Dhabi.

The camp is set for March 2-10 and is a program to bring together leaders of youth from divided communities and to train them to use sport to unite the young.

The delegates from Nigeria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, India, Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia and UAE will attend interactive classroom conferences joined with practical sports covering rules and skills in basketball, football, softball and volleyball.

Several organizations support the camp with coaching and curriculum support including the NBA, English professional football team Brighton and Hove Albion, FIFA and IAAF.

Well-known expert in conflict resolution, Professor Olivier Faure, is helping train delegates.

“To see so many people from a variety of backgrounds and countries come together in one room to discuss peace can only be a good thing,” he said.

“This is the first time I have worked with Generations for Peace and I believe it can make a real difference in communities that need it most.”

Faure is a professor of sociology at the Sorbonne University in Paris where he teaches internal negotiation.

This is the first time the camp has been held outside of Amman, Jordan. More than 150 delegates attended the camps in 2007 and 2008.

“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our great humanitarian, founding partner His Highness Sheikh Hamdan for his invitation to hold our third camp, in Abu Dhabi,” Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, who launched the program in 2007, said.

After training for the Generations for Peace Pioneer Certification Program, graduates return to their countries to train others.

The certification program teaches participants to train other trainers.

The Peace Pioneers are expected to train at least 20 trainers every year, work with at least 100-200 children each year, be an advocate for peace and to promote Generations for Peace and support other peace pioneers.

“We are looking forward to these numbers accelerating further and into new territories after this first camp of 2009 and have HH Sheikh Hamdan for making this possible,” Al Hussein said.

Baseball Reinstatement Proposal Could Add Women

Baseball is considering adding a women's discipline to the sport's proposal for Olympic reinstatement, international federation chief Harvey Schiller tells Around the Rings.

"We talked about continuing to grow the game of women's baseball," Schiller says. "How do you create opportunities for girls who are playing when they're teenagers and want to continue playing?"

Schiller says the discussion was spurred by a Sunday New York Times article about girls playing high school baseball.

"It's coming from our membership," he says. "People picked up the phone in different countries and called me."

Coincidentally, the article came on the heels of softball's refusal to partner with baseball in a joint Olympic reinstatement bid. Softball has offered an elite men's softball discipline as part of its proposal.

For inclusion in the Summer Olympics, a women's sport must be practiced in at least 40 countries on three continents. The most dominant countries are in North America, Asia and Oceania, but women's baseball is also played in Europe and Africa.

Schiller says the IBAF is in the midst of doing a new survey on membership, but has approximately 30 countries playing women's baseball.

The first Women's World Series was held in Canada in 2001. The Women's World Cup, which is sanctioned by the IBAF, has been held three times. Canada won in 2004, Chinese Taipei in 2006 and Japan in 2008. The U.S. has won two silvers and a bronze.

The 2008 Women's World Cup was played in Matsuyama, Japan, and featured eight teams: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Hong Kong, India, Japan and the United States.

VANOC Wants 4,500 Volunteer Performers for Games

Vancouver 2010 organizers are looking for 4,500 individuals to volunteer as performers for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Auditions for the positions will begin in May and a final decision will be reached this summer.

Volunteers are expected to make a significant time commitment when accepting a role. Rehearsals will be held twice a week with each volunteer expected to commit over 100 hours. They will continue through the Christmas holidays to the start of the Games on Feb. 12, 2010.

Anyone interested in being a part of the 2010 ceremonies can apply online at www.vancouver2010.com/ceremonies.

IBAF Announces Green Initiatives for 2009 Baseball World Cup

The International Baseball Federation today unveiled its Green initiatives for all of its sites for the 2009 Baseball World Cup, which will be held across Europe from the Sept. 9-27 and include 22 competing nations.

The IBAF plan for the World Cup includes collection points at all venues for recyclable material, public address and public service announcements involving athletes reminding fans about environmental consciousness, a reduction in the number of official vehicles used at all sites, the use of energy efficient lighting and field maintenance systems and a staff of volunteers at each venue to make sure all green iniatives are being carried out. Each venue will also bear a specially-designed logo designating the site as a green zone during the event.

First round World Cup games will be held in Regensberg, Germany; Moscow; Prague; Sundbyberg, Sweden and Barcelona from Sept. 9-12 The second round will be split between Italy and the Netherlands, while the final round will be in Italy on Sept. 27.

…Briefs

… The International Hockey Federation announced Fernando Riba as its new treasurer last weekend during the executive board meeting. Riba replaces Swiss Jean-Pierre Strebel, who resigned.

The 66-year-old has served as secretary general of FC Barcelona, representative of the Barcelona Olympic Games for the IOC, financial advisor of the IOC and commission member for the construction of the Olympic Museum.

…The Malta Olympic Committee voted in a new director of sport. Mark Cutajar won the election on Friday, defeating John Zammit for the post. Cutajar is coming into the new role after serving as a director of the MOC. Cutajar is most famous in Malta as a sports journalist, heading sport on One TV. He has previous sport administration experience with the Amateur Swimming Association. Cutajar takes over from Pippo Psalia who resigned over a disagreement with the MOC leadership.

…Missing Olympic silver medalist Kenny Egan is returning to Ireland today after failing to show last Friday for Ireland’s international amateur session with the U.S. at the National Stadium. Egan has reportedly been holed up in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Egan won a silver medal in lightweight boxing in Beijing. His grant from the Irish Sports Council could be in jeopardy.

Written by Isia Reaves and Karen Rosen