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The Serbian Coaches Association organized an international seminar for coaches at Zlatar, Serbia. The coaches discussed issues in Serbian Athletics and the ways to improve coaching and selection of young athletes. The coaches were also presented with Serbia's athletic program, goals and expectations in 2009.

The speakers among others included Dr Julian Karabiberov from Bulgaria, dr Dane Korica, vice president of the EACA and Igor Radisic, EACA Member Website Services Manager. Our EACA representatives at the seminar, Dr Dane Korica and Igor Radisic spoke about the Glasgow Conference and about the issues facing European athletic coaches. The Coaching renaissance brought in a lot of interest from the coaches and the Coaches Charter was hailed once again by all Serbian coaches as the right step forward in improving the status of coaches throughout Europe. The EACA website also occupied the coaches attention as they were presented with a plethora of opportunities and resources available for members at the EACA website.

The EACA website has received numerous applications in the days after the Glasgow Conference as the interest of coaches from all over the Europe for the organization continues to grow. Coaches from all over Europe have recognized the value of the services that the EACA continues to provide for its members in its continuous effort to improve the status of coaches throughout the continent. The EACA team continues to work around the clock to meet the growing demands for the EACA services and will meet this growing demand with even more contents available for its members on its website.

Technical and Presentations are NOT available at www.eaca08.co.uk. The presentations are available only for members on the members area of this website (Official EACA website located at: www.europeanaca.eu). To go to the members area please click here or use the menu on the left side of your screen and click on the link Member's Area.

At the 2008 Glasgow Conference, Mr. Clyde Hart, director of track and field at Baylor University located in Waco, Texas, was named honorary member of the EACA. Mr. Hart was the coach of athletes such as Michael Johnson, the gold medal winner in the individual 400 meters at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics and the world record holder at at 400 meters with a time of 43.18s, as well as athletes like Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson to gold medals in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. He also coached Greg Haughton, who won bronze at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and he currently coaches Sanya Richards, the top-ranked female 400 runner in the world in 2007. Mr. Hart was also a state champion miler at Hot Springs, Arkansas and graduated from Baylor University in 1956. The decision to make Mr. Hart honorary member of the EACA was applauded by the delegates present at the conference after an outstanding presentation Mr. Hart gave to everyone present.

The 2008 EACA Conference, 31 October – 2 November, was an outstanding success.  305 delegates from 32 countries (26 European) made this our biggest to date.

The conference was opened by Scotland’s Minister for Communities and Sport Stewart Maxell, and a civic reception was hosted by Bailie Gibson in Glasgow City Chambers.

The conference was the perfect occasion for announcing record figures of EACA members – 3,747.  These figures will continue to climb steeply, as EACA shifts from being the European Athletics Coaches Association, to the European Alliance of Coaches Associations.  In the next years there will be active promotion of creating national coaches associations in every EA member nation.

The conference has, by tradition since 1960 rotated around Europe to give nations the benefit of having international coaches and coaching experts to enrich their own programs.  However, this makes EACA vulnerable to criticism from EA when absence of professional administration and cost of travel lead to low numbers of delegates.  EACA council has, then made a decision to have a fixed location for the conference at least until 2012 and probably 2014.  The location will be as this year, Glasgow, and the conference will be developed to establish the EACA Festival of Coaching.

EACA is indebted to UK Athletics, Scottish Athletics, Dallas Trust, Glasgow City Council and EA for supporting the conference.  The technical content of presentations is available on www.europeanaca.eu.

Clyde Hart delivered an excellent account of his approach to coaching and conducted a 400m specific workshop.

Yannick Tregaro explained his philosophy of coaching, outlined the year plan for jumpers and discussed the changing fortunes of Swedish athletes.

Bingshu Zhong gave a detailed account of the Chinese coach education program.

Ken Porter proposed a new paradigm for club athletics

Frank Dick introduced the Coaches Charter and challenged coaches to take a stronger position in European athletics.

The workshops reviewed the Olympic Cycle; examined technical trends and issues; and made recommendations for reversing Europe’s regressive performance trend.

The dates for 2009 are to be finalized.  The choice is 30 October – 1 November or 7-9 November.

EACA’s Council for 2008 - 2012 are:

President:                 Dr Frank W Dick (GBR )

Vice President:         Dr Dane Korica (SRB )

Vice President:         Prof. Peter Bonov (BUL )

Secretary:                 Lorna Boothe (GBR )

Treasurer (Hon):       Conrad Milton (GBR )

Member:                   Dr Elio Locatelli (ITA )

                                 Dr Wolfgang Ritzdorf (GER )

                                 Dr Jitka Vinduskova (CZE )

                                 Vadim Zelichnenok (RUS )

                                 Jarmo Makela (FIN )

EACA’s Festival of Coaching Manager appointment is Ewen Cameron (GBR / Scottish Athletics )

The Alliance Foundation Group is:

Dr Frank Dick (GBR )

Dr Elio Locatelli (ITA )

Dr Dane Korica (SRB )  

Henri Leglise  (FRA / AEFA )

Adolfo Rotta (ITA / ASSITAL )

EACA Council elections were held in Glasgow on November 2nd 2008 at the EACA Conference. All proposed delegates and council members were elected unanimously. Mr Frank Dick was reelected for the position of EACA president whose candidacy was proposed by Serbia and seconded by Bulgaria. Dr Dane Korica and professor Peter Bonov were reelected to their positions whose candidacies were supported by Serbia and seconded by Bulgaria. Mrs Lorna Boothe was reelected General Secretary of the association as her candidacy was supported by the president and seconded by Czech Republic.

The Serbian Coaches Association has officially joined the EACA bringing more than 80 new members into the organization. In its application for the membership the Serbian Coaches stated that the believe that they would benefit greatly from membership in EACA, its education, expertise and the experience that can be found within the existing EACA membership and all with the aim of improving athletics in Serbia and in Europe.

The president of the EACA, Mr. Frank Dick, welcomed the Serbian coaches stating his content that one of the biggest Coaches Associations in this part of Europe has joined Europe's oldest coaches association.

The vice president of the EACA, dr. Dane Korica, stated that this is a big move forward to raising the level of coaching in Serbia and another step in the right direction to uniting the coaches in Europe.

The president of the EACA, Mr. Frank Dick issued his report for 2008. The entire report can be obtained here.

EACA Website has registered over 250 members in the first few months of its launch and the current numbers of new members that gained its membership via the new website stands at 262. The website also helped bring members from outside Europe, bringing members from all over the world. All of this rising interest of the Coaches from all over the world to join the EACA is bringing new levels of knowledge and expertise to the organization and a variety of coaching methods to be shared in the upcoming conferences. The EACA is currently an association of over 2000 coaches from almost every European country and the membership numbers keep rising constantly.

Athletics International magazine now available in Member's Area of the website.

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