Dear Delegates and Officers,
Traditionally, with the start of a new calendar year, we express our hope for a good year, for
health and for success. This time, however, it is much more than the usual standardized phrase.
Over the last 20-30 years, there has not been a New Year’s Day that I can remember, which was
welcomed with greater expectations than this one for the upcoming Year 2021. In this context,
my very first message to you is that I sincerely wish all of you and your families a good 2021.
May you stay safe from troubles and most importantly healthy!
For the IFAA, this will be a very important year too:
We need to have our World Council agree on the direction the Association shall proceed for
the next two years.
We all are hoping for the European Bowhunter and the World Field Championships to be
hosted and it is essential that we prepare for possible scenarios.
Our Instructors are looking forward to the renewal of their Certificates / to improve their
knowledge and we must provide them with opportunities to do so.
We all are looking forward to return to the fields and forests again to enjoy the greatest sport
of all. For this to happen we must define structures, conditions etc that are acceptable to
Archers and Authorities alike.
2021 is also the year we need to show that we have learned our lessons – to keep our day-to-day
business running regardless the restrictions imposed and demonstrating to our archers that
Associations can be flexible to provide them with alternative opportunities to practise the sport.
For this we need your support to promote the World Mail Match formats and the challenges we
are going to put forward in the next couple of weeks.
The current global situation requires that we make use of more modern ways of communication.
Being it for executives together with the appointed officers to run the association; you as
delegates to join online workgroups or assist individually to prepare for the World Council; our
Instructor Forum to further develop the successful format of online training courses or our
Archers to help spreading the news and to demonstrate their appreciation.
Since the World Council Meeting did not take place as planned, we have urgent matters pending
to address. Amongst them, the approval of the budget for the Association. We will approach
you in the next two weeks with two (2) postal votes i.e., to approve a temporary budget to keep
the Association functioning and the second is to agree to host the World Council Meeting as a
Web-Based Conference.
You might ask yourselves, why I am not praising our past President, Loet F. Smit in this letter
for all the great work he has done over 25 years which went far beyond of what one would belief
being an obligation associated to the function / office he was in charge with. Loet has asked me
not to do so and who am I to disrespect such wish? So, I am not mentioning how exceptional
the facts are, that he guided the development of the Association for almost half of its existence;
that it was he who had a previously informally operating organisation duly registered and
recognised as an International Association by one of the global governing Makro-Sports
Organisations sanctioned by the United Nations! I only would like to express my deepest
gratitude to him for accepting the role of an Advisor / Consultant to the President to allow me to
benefit from his wisdom.
Yours in Archery,
Martin Koini
IFAA PRESIDENT
President
Martin Koini
Hauptstasse 39
57636 Soerth
Germany
Mobile:
+49 170 22 790 11
E-mail:
martin.koini@t-online.de
Secretary
Marietjie Fryer
PO Box 67109
Highveld Park
Pretoria, 0169
South Africa
Vice President
Stephen Kendrick
26 Portland Street
Worcester
WR1 2NL
United Kingdom
Treasurer
Timothy Stone
14 Doon Street
Kallangur
Qld, 4503
Australia
Chairperson
Technical Committee
Glen Hardman
Director Training and
Coaching
José Luis Martínez
Mail Match Secretary
Grant Gammon
Review Committee
