Secretaries general gather in Paris for tenth conference

Staff from Europe’s national federations were in Paris from 19 April for the 10th Secretaries General Conference.

A total of 56 staff and officials from 43 nations attended the event, which was organised ahead of the Women’s EHF EURO 2018 Qualification Draw held at the headquarters of the French Olympic Committee.

The theme of the conference was ‘Activating the Community’ and participants were given an opportunity to provide ideas, information and best practice examples as well as provide feedback on the support provided by the EHF to its members.

Topics on the agenda included services for federations, grassroots handball as well as event organisation and management.

Keynote speakers were invited by the EHF to address delegates on specific projects and give examples of best practice.

Representatives of the European Olympic Committees/EU Office opened proceedings with the organisation’s director, Volker Hellmund, and its deputy director, Matthias Van Baelen, providing information on both the work of the organisation and also its SIGGS Project.

Former top-class international player, Carlos Prieto Martos, spoke on day two and offered delegates an inspirational presentation on the topic of the ‘social handball community’, grassroots handball also his own project in Wetzlar called ‘Share and Play’.

Keynote speaker for the third and final topic, event management, was the managing director of the Swiss Handball Federation, Jürgen Krucher, who presented a case study of his organisation’s successful initiative around the EHF EURO 2018 qualification game between Switzerland and Germany in November 2016.

In summing up Helmut Höritsch, the EHF’s senior manager responsible for education and development, thanked participants for their positive contributions and acknowledged the strong wish and willingness among the handball community to cooperate and further develop the sport.

In the next step, the inputs and ideas from the conference will be evaluated and will form the basis of future projects and initiatives to further support the work of the members.