A very important meeting for all federations affiliated with the Maltese Olympic Committee was held at the M.O.C Headquarters at 7.30pm on Monday 30th June.
The subject of the meeting was “National Governing Body Club Classification & Launch of Clubmark Online Project”.
During this meeting the Youth Directorate explained to all NGBs how this online classification (Clubmark) will operate.
The project objective is aimed at the reorganisation of all the clubs of the Federations affiliated to the M.O.C., by ensuring that modern rules and regulations required by European voluntary services are in place. These rules are mainly directed to the Maltese sports clubs. The second project is the “Talent Identification through Long Term Athlete Development”, a technical formation system which is popularly used all over the world.
The administration reorganisation is directed to help the federations’ sports clubs conform to modern legislation for the benefit of their members. This is a system where the clubs officially recognised by the national federation review their infrastructure, and upgrade the organisation where necessary. For example the clubs review their statutes, they also review their agreement with their coaches and assistant coaches, they ensure that proper risk management and parent agreement are in order, and that they follow the proper directions for child protection. Some of our clubs already have most of these requirements but the M.O.C. will provide the help necessary to those who need help to implement these upgrades.
As most of the administrators have little time to attend seminars, an on line teaching platform has been set up at the MOC and the classification will be administered through MOODLE (CRS) Course Management System.
What is Clubmark?
Clubmark is the MOC development sport structure project, mainly funded by the Olympic Solidarity aimed to help clubs affiliated with MOC National Governing Bodies (NGB) reach higher standards of organization. Clubmark is a cross-sport accreditation for sports clubs with junior sections in recognition of a quality club. It is being introduced by the Youth Directorate of the Maltese Olympic Committee to:
• Ensure sport’s national governing bodies (NGBs) have core common criteria to ensure good practice runs through all development and accreditation schemes.
• To empower parent(s)/carer(s) in choosing a club for their children.
• To recognise an accredited club through a common approach to branding.
• To provide a focus around which (NGB), local authorities and others can come together to support good practice in sports clubs working with children and young people.
Why Clubmark?
A good number of children and young people are members of sports clubs outside school and it is important that these clubs serve young people well. The reasons for this include:
• Ensuring the well-being of young people whilst in the care of adults, other than their legal parent(s)/carer(s).
• Enthusing young people to enjoy sport and active recreation to build a healthy lifestyle.
• Enabling young people to use their leisure time creatively.
• Developing young people’s talents.
• Identifying and developing the most talented young people for representative sport.
Until recently there were few guidelines and little support available to most clubs to develop and assess themselves. Sports clubs that work with children and young people need and deserve support to improve the quality of work they do. Clubmark sets core and common criteria for sports clubs to meet in the following categories:
• child protection
• coaching and competition
• sports equity and ethics
• club management.
Clubmark and national
governing bodies of sport
The basis of club accreditation is that NGB incorporate the Clubmark criteria into their own development and accreditation programmes through which clubs gain accreditation. There is no duplication of effort required by clubs and there is one process and one set of paperwork to complete.
Working towards
accreditation
Clubs working towards accreditation can receive support and advice from the MOC who will be offering generic Resource Packs for clubs to use during their accreditation process.
Running Sport workshops will also benefit clubs developing their policies and programmes. Clubs go through a process of action planning and development as they work towards accreditation.
Achieving accreditation
Each club that achieves accreditation will be recognised and promoted as a Clubmark club; thereby giving it cross-sport recognition and status as a quality club. Clubs will be identified as having achieved Clubmark status on a national database published on the MOC website and other forms of club directories, and will be able to promote this locally.
Maintaining accreditation
Accreditation is usually renewed every four years and there is a simple annual procedure of self-assessment and declaration organised by the Maltese Olympic Committee. Clubmark clubs can go on to develop even better standards of service and programmes to children and young people with further support and advice.
Benefits to clubs
Each club that works towards qualifying Clubmark accreditation will:
• Receive support from sports development professionals.
• Improve the quality of coaches in the club so that their club can be even more successful and competitive.
• Access workshops to capitalise on the latest thinking in relation to motivating young people, protecting them, being accessible to all young people in the community and developing their club.
• Have access to specialist support and materials regarding the recruitment, management, retention and motivation of their volunteer workforce.
Each club that gains accreditation will:
• Be better organised and resourced as a club and able to further develop.
• Increase membership and so ensure the future of their club whilst increasing the competitive pool from which to draw in the future.
• Be networked into local and national sports organisations that can provide further support to Clubmark clubs.
• Be promoted in their local community and on the MOC database.
The Maltese Olympic Committee, will be available to provide clubs with the support and help they will need as they work towards achieving accreditation.
The M.O.C. will publish on their website www.nocmalta. org under the Sport Federation to which they are affiliated, the appropriate grade their club would have achieved, thus giving the opportunity to future members to check the level of the clubs they will be joining.
Qingdao, host of Olympic sailing events, struggles to control algal bloom
China has mobilised thousands of workers to clean up an algal bloom threatening Olympic sailing events in the eastern city of Qingdao.
Officials were quoted yesterday as saying they needed at least two weeks to clear coastal waters.
More than 10,000 workers were struggling to remove algae covering 32 per cent of the coastal sea area set aside for the sailing competitions, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted local officials as saying.
While posing no health threat, the algae has at times blocked sailing routes, complicating preparations for the 9-21 August events, with a closing ceremony on 23 August.
The cleanup is expected to be completed by 15 July, Xinhua quoted the officials as saying at a news conference Sunday.
The blue-green algae blossomed around 1 June in waters off Qingdao on the coast of Shandong province, about 400 miles (600 kilometres) southeast of Beijing. Its bright green strands have smothered beaches forcing swimmers to clear a path with their hands up to several hundred feet (metres) from the coast.
Blue-green algae blooms when nutrients, sometimes caused by excessive pollution, build up in water.
However, Wang Shulian, vice director of city’s Ocean and Fishing Bureau, told reporters the outbreak had no “substantial link” to environmental conditions or water quality.
“The algae is of various sorts, which will prosper under satisfying temperature and salinity of sea water,” Wang, whose bureau is overseeing the cleanup, was quoted as saying. Calls to the bureau were not answered yesterday.
In all, the algae is blooming over an area of 13,000km2 Xinhua said. While 100,000 tons has already been removed by workers using 1,000 boats, steps were also being taken to block more algae from floating into the area, the report said.
“We have stressed... that the priority should be given to the Olympic venue,” Xinhua quoted Yuan Zhiping, an official with the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee, as saying.
The algae alert comes as Beijing and other cities hosting Olympic events are making their final preparations for the 8-24 August Games. Organisers announced over the weekend that all 37 venues were now fully functional, and sailors from 30 countries and regions have already arrived in Qingdao to begin training, according to Xinhua.
Environmental problems have posed some of the biggest last minute concerns, particularly Beijing’s dust and filthy air, compounded by expected torrid heat and humidity in August.
While hardly unique to China, algal blooms have become a constant problem in recent years on the country’s inland lakes, largely a result of severe pollution from industrial sources, farm chemicals and domestic sewage.
About a quarter of China’s population lacks access to safe drinking water and, despite repeated government pledges of a cleanup, the situation is worsening.
Some algae can produce dangerous toxins and if ingested can cause vomiting, respiratory failure and, on rare occasions, death.
Along the coast, meanwhile, red tides of microscopic algae have forced fishing industry shutdowns. The blooms are believed to be caused by both natural factors and human activity. The algae is absorbed by shellfish, which, if eaten, can cause sickness or death.
Olympic Games News
Newly completed National Stadium welcomes guests
China’s National Stadium resonated with cheers last Friday. After years of hard work, the “Bird’s Nest” is now completed. BOCOG president Liu Qi, who is also a member of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, together with Guo Jinlong, vice-secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, Mayor of Beijing and executive president of BOCOG, were present at the National Stadium’s celebratory ceremony.
Liu and Guo unveiled the National Stadium at the ceremony. Chen Gang, vice-mayor of Beijing and also director of the Beijing 2008 project, issued the certificate of inspection to National Stadium CEO Li Aiqing. The participative units also received commemorative certificates from leaders of Beijing.
“After years of effort, the National Stadium is finally completed. We hope that we can provide better services for the Olympic Games with better equipment,” remarked an excited Li. Other builders beside him were eager to take pictures with the Olympic venue, which they considered their “child.”
The National Stadium, known as the “Bird’s Nest,” will serve as the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It is located in the Olympic Green and occupies 21.4 hectares. It stretches 333 meters from north to south and 298 meters from east to west, covering an area of 258,000 square metres. The National Stadium is 68 meters high and holds 91,000 seats. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games, Athletics and Football events will be held in it. The construction of the National Stadium began in December of 2003.
The national stadium is surrounded in a sort of membrane. Unlike China’s National Aquatics Center, or “Water Cube,” another Olympic venue which is also surrounded in this membrane, the “Bird’s Nest” version is curved and double-layered, offering gracefully decorative soundproof, wind-proof, rain-proof, and even UVA protection to its already impressive body.
The outer layer of membrane, completely constructed in November of 2007, was created using 884 individual ETFE panels, covering a total of 38,500 square meters. The inner layer consists of PTFE material. 1,044 panels take up 53,000 square meters of area, whose main purposes are to better the acoustics in the stadium and to support the equipment within the steel frame. This special membrane can also help lighting within the stadium and effectively diminish glare and shadowing, allowing for a more favourable competition environment.
BOCOG executives and leaders from the government of Beijing, namely Ji Lin, Li Shixiang, Liu Jingmin, Zhao Wenzhi, Yang Shu’an, Li Xiaohong, and other representatives from related departments were also present at the National Stadium’s unveiling ceremony.
MIA Olympic Special – What’s On
MIA Olympic Special for the month of July will be aired on Fridays on E22 at 9pm, Saturdays between 18.05-18.35 on TVM, Sunday’s on E22 at 9am and on Mondays on E22 at 12.00pm. This week’s programme will feature the following:
Special Feature
– Shooting
In the first programme of this special series the cameras of MIA Olympic Magazine will take an in depth look at what’s happening in the Shooting field, one of the disciplines to be represented at the Beijing Olympics. The President of the Federation Saviour Portelli together with Shooter William Chetcuti will feature in this programme.
Special Feature
– MOC Directors
M’Therese Zammit as Assistant Chef de Mission will be interviewed in this programme in this first part of a total of five interviews which will feature various MOC directors.
Olympic Archive
A trip down memory lane will make us recall past editions of the Olympic Games.
Schedule available
every week on www.nocmalta.org and on the Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday. Produced in collaboration with E22.