26 out of 46 legal members took part in the members’ meeting, who initially voted for admission of candidate members Saldus sporta skolas and SIA “Jūrmalas platijāna” as legal members of the LPF, thus 28 legal members participated in the consideration and voting of further issues.
In the management report, the president of LPF stated that in 2023, LPF has worked successfully in all areas of its activity: “First of all, it should be noted that due to changes in the state support policy, as well as by actively working and applying for various projects, it has been possible to significantly increase the organization’s revenues and exceed 582 000 EUR limit. The increase in revenue has been significant and has already exceeded the 25% threshold for the second year. This, in turn, has allowed the organization to successfully implement not only the usual activities, but also new initiatives, and, of course, to provide greater support to our athletes and coaches”.
For the third year in a row, the focus of LPF’s activities has been the provision of systematic and targeted support to the athletes included in the main team of the LPF national team. In general, nearly 260,000 EUR have been spent on the swimming sports program during the reporting period, which is a significant investment in the development of swimming sports and constitutes 44% of all LPF 2023 expenses.
In the year under review, 32 athletes in various age groups were included in the basic composition of the swimming team, who throughout the year participated in LPF-paid training camps abroad and in Latvia, and also received material and financial support for improving the training process on a daily basis. During the reporting period, several camps were organized both in Latvia and outside of Latvia, while in the international arena Latvia was represented at the European Youth Olympic Festival, the European Games, the European Junior Championship, the European U23 Championship, the European Championship in the 25m swimming pool, two stages of the World Cup, the Nordic and Baltic Championships, In the qualifying tournament of the European Water Polo Championship, in the EU Nations tournament, as well as in the world and European championships for old masters.
In terms of sporting achievements, the 6th place won by Ieva Maļukas in the European U23 Championship, as well as the entry of our husbands Daniil Bobrov and Ronen Kermans into the semi-finals of the European Championship (25m), where they won 15th place, should be noted. It should also be noted that Latvian records have been broken nine times during the reporting period, of which Maļuka has seven individual records and one in the relay together with the RBJSS Rīdzene-DSN quartet, and one more for the Valmiera sports school boys’ quartet. Also, the number of young masters of sports shows the sporting growth – in the reporting period, 15 young swimmers fulfilled the standard of the SM, which is the best indicator again since the change of criteria in 2017, and for Ieva Maċukas, the standard of the international class master of sports as well.
The biggest educational event of the past year was undeniably the acquisition of the right to hold the first “Learn to Swim” conference of LEN (now EA) and the organization of this conference in Jurmala. The conference was attended by almost 200 delegates from 28 countries, among them the president of the continental federation, Antonio Silva, several members of the EA office, former Olympians, academics and practitioners. The conference is an important event and a new initiative to promote water safety and swimming education across Europe and LPF can be proud to be the first to be granted the right to host this important event.
It should also be noted that in 2023 LPF organized the World Aquatics swimming coaching courses, in which 10 new coaches participated, as well as the practical seminar “Testing the physical abilities of athletes and interpreting the results”, in which various theoretical and practical insights were shared by LOV sports doctors Laila Ušacka and Jānis Kaupe, as well as Līga Plakane. The project was implemented in cooperation with RD IKSD and within its framework, athletes were also tested according to the methodology developed by sports specialists. 45 participants took part in the seminar.
After the president’s report, the members of the LPF Audit Committee presented the opinion of a sworn auditor and their report, emphasizing that the committee had the opportunity to fully participate in the work of the LPF Board and get acquainted with the details of LPF’s accounting and reports, which was evaluated very positively. Voting separately for both the president’s report and the auditor’s and audit committee’s opinions, the members gave unanimous support.
At the end of the meeting, the members agreed on convening the LPF review-election session this year. on September 26, and also approved the election regulations. While discussing this year’s planned elections, LPF president A. Platonovs informed the present members that he had made a decision not to run for a third term and called on them to timely search for and address new potential candidates both for the position of president and for the other positions of board members, and to choose the most suitable for the further successful development of the federation.
LPF president Aivars Platonovs: “I am satisfied with what we have accomplished in the past eight years – with the support of our members, we have managed to create a financially stable, well-managed and reliable organization, the central purpose of which is support for athletes. We have been able to create a reasonable model of the Latvian national team with financial and material support for the athletes included in it , and to strengthen the quality of our competition, which is also appreciated by many foreign athletes, we have gained a strong voice both in Latvia and in the international arena, which is counted on. also an independent external audit of the use of funding.
As a result of our active activity, Latvia is also represented for the first time in the commissions of the continental federation (European Aquatics), judges participate in the management of world and European championships, our athletes train in the programs of the international federation (World Aquatics), and LPF entrusts the organization of an important European event in Latvia. This is a clear indication of the reputation and trust of our organization. Also in Latvia, the interests of swimming sports are for the first time fully represented in the executive bodies of the largest umbrella organizations. Of course, not everything is perfect and it still has a long way to go, but I believe that a solid and stable foundation has been created for the further development of the organization and an even brighter future. In September, members will have the opportunity to transfer the leadership of the federation to other hands. I wish to make this decision very carefully and carefully with the best interests of the organization in mind. Thank you for the trust, support and successful cooperation. Keep swimming!”
Resources used:
https://swimming.lv/biedru-sapulce-…
