E&A Barefoot Council
Minutes
November Meeting “BFE&A 1” of the Region EA Barefoot Council held via Skype from Sunday, November 13 th
a) Record attendance and apologies for absence.
The first “E&A Barefoot Council skype meeting” start at 10am on Sunday, November 13th. Rob Molenkamp (RB),
Svenja Hempelmann (SH), Paul Turner (PT), Evert Aarsten (EA), Christian Antos (CA), Marc Bauwens (MB) and
Nicola Saracco (NS) attend this meeting. Andy Harris is represented the E&A Barefoot Council at the E&A meeting in Bratisalava.
Due to bad internet connection he can’t join the council meeting, but will be informed later. b) Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting. none c) To note any items for discussion under A O B. none
Elections for the E&A Barefoot Council (3-7 members) will be held in 2012 (E&A Statutes). New candidates for election must be proposed by their own Federation at least 45 days before Congress. All Federations shall be informed of the list of candidates at the same time as the Congress Agenda is circulated.
Art 23 of the Statutes mention:
”Only Federations directly engaged in the specific division shall be entitled to propose candidates for Divisional
Councils or vote. ”Directly engaged” means having voting rights for that specific division at the Congress.”
Federations which can propose candidates are: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain,
Ireland, Italy, Netherland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden
Current Barefoot Council Rob Molenkamp (President)
Svenja Hempelmann (Secretary)
Paul Turner (Treasurer)
Evert Aartsen
Nicola Saracco
Marc Bauwens
Christian Antos
Marc Bauwens (RSA) i sn’t able to join the Council meeting as often as he wants because of high traveling costs.
Therefore he will not stand for election. Marc will be invited to our meetings as the representative of barefoot waterskiing in Africa and an advising member.
Andy Harris is available to stand for the Council (email from 10.10.2011). A letter from the British Federation regarding his proposal will be send to the office as soon as possible. The E&A office is informed about the nominations.
President:
ROB MOLENKAMP
E-mail: barefoot@robmolenkamp.nl
http://www.waterskibarefoot.eu
Secretary:
SVENJA HEMPELMANN
E-mail: svenja.hempelmann@hotmail.de

a) 2012 World Championships
The 2012 World Barefoot Championships will be held in Waco (USA) from 26.08.-02.09.2012.
There are still some discussions about the chief judge (CJ) position. The World Barefoot Council (WBC) would like to give the CJ the opportunity to choose his team (assistant chief judge, chief scorer, chief driver, homologator).
The E&A Barefoot Council will send the following officals to this competitions

Bob Gregory (GER) as a scorer

Alain Gautier (FRA) as a driver

Andy Harris (GBR), Peter Norberg (SW
E), Mikael Söderqvist (SWE) and Ludo Vrancx (BEL) as judges
The WBC would like to provide a good result management with instand scoring. Therefore the judge tower will be close to the start dock. The video review will be done by 3 judges (not the boat judges) on shore. b) Items under discussion
Record review: The record review should be done on the competition day at the competition site, but guidelines need to be drawn up (standard how a trick should be performed, who will do the review, etc.).
The record review shouldn’t be done by the boat judges itselves. Introducing of a new homologation level could be a solution.

Record capability B = the recorded run will be send to the world record comittee (old system)

Record capability A = extra officals will be review the record on site
Evert Aartsen will work on a proposal for such a rule in coordination with Paul Turner.
Trick downgrade: The sport should become easier for the skiers and officials. c) Rules
Neck and Teeth tricks are no longer allowed. The rule committee is discussing “one foot turns”. d) Proposals for other rule changes none
a) International and national competitions. i) Analysis of the 2011 season
The E&A Barefoot Council asked every Federation to open their Nationals to international competitors. Such a competition was held in Brielle (NED) with a positive feedback from skiers and officals. In order to coordinate these Nationals Svenja Hempelmann will ask every Federation to give her the contact details of the person who is in charge of barefooting.

Boom Competitions and Shoe-Ski Competitions
Evert Aartsen reported that a boom and shoe-ski competitiion were organised at the Scandinavian Open in
Norway. It was a great sucess with many new skiers competing. England and Italy organised such events with good feedbacks from the skiers. ii) Review of 2011/12 calendar
The Dutch Open will take place from 22.-24.06.2012. (needs to be confirmed)
A scandinavian open wil be held in Sweden. (date and vanue needs to be confirmed) b) EA Open, Jr and Sr Championships. i) Review of 2011 championship events
The 2011 E&A Barefoot Championships were held in Chartres (FRA). It was really good organised by the French
Federation. ii) Format for future
There will be only two rounds for every division (Junior, senior and open). iii) 2012 venue
South Africa was interested to host the E&A Championships
. With the Worlds 2012 in USA many skiers can’t afford to travel to South Africa and America in the same year. Due to those logistic problems the Federation decided in cooperation with the E&A Barefoot Council to withdraw the bid and host the 2013 E&A Championships in October.
George Wimmer (AUT) has been asked to host the 2012 E&A Championships. The Austrian Barefoot Council will have a meeting on 26 th November regarding this Competition. Christian Antos will inform the Council about the decision on the next meeting in December.
E&A Championships

2012 Wallsee (AUT) – not confirmed yet

2013 South Africa – open for bids

2014 Brielle (NED)
– open for bids
Evert Aartsen (FIN) would like to host the 2016 World Barefoot Championships.
Georg Wimmer was asked by the EA Office to pay the medals of the 2009 EA Barefoot Championships
– but he was told by Alex Vigoureux and the EA Office that he didn’t have to. Rob Molenkamp will solve this problem.
a) Review of Officials and updates of eligibility (based on chief judges reports)
With Peter Norberg and Mikael Söderqvist – both judged at the 2011 E&A Championships – we have two new world level judges. Both are qualified to judge at the Worlds 2012 in USA. Evert Aartsen will give their contact details to Rob Molenkamp who will inform them about their nominations.
We are going to have to new international officials in 2012

Paul Turner (GBR)
– international homologator

Juust van Raak (NED)
– international driver

b) Downgrading/Upgrading and impact on roster for 2012
Evert Aartsen who is in charge of the roster 2012 would like to send it to the officials at the end of January 2012.
Therefore he needs the dates of the competitions as soon as possible. The deadline is 15 th January 2012.
c) Plans for next Officials Seminar
The next Offical Seminar will take place in Netherlands in March in combination with the spring E&A Barefoot
Meeting. Rob Molenkamp is organising this seminar and will inform officials about venue, date and agenda
(including the new scoring sytem).
a) 2011/12 Issues none b) Proposals for rule changes (draft to be sent)
none a) 2011 - Man/Woman of the Year
Every member is asked to send in nominations. The voting will take place on 11 th December 2012. b) Review of Coach clinics
In cooperation with Hilmar Wehner the E&A Barefoot Council organised an “Inverted Jump Clinic” in Albaron
(FRA). Under the contruction of top-coach Swampy Bouchard and Oscar Foot Mann more than 15 skiers and coaches from all over europe improved their barefoot skills. The results of this clinic could be seen a few weeks later at the E&A Barefoot Championships 2011, which were held in Chartes, FRA. Skiers landed their first inverted jumps, skied personal bests and national records. The Barefoot Council would like to thank Hilmar,
Swampy and Foot - they are great professionals and the guardian angels for our sport.
The E&A Barefoot Council would like to continue with that program in the future. The Austrian and British
Federation has signalised some interest to organise such a clinic in 2012. Paul Turner and Christian Antos will stay in contact and coordinate the clinic. c) Plans for 2012 i) Under23 competition - the EA Team (sponsored by the council?)
In order to give young skiers the opportunity to compete and to improve their barefoot skills, the council would like to organise under23 competitions. The 8 best under23 skiers from the current E&A standing list will be invited to these competitions (three round competition). The organising country has the opportunity of two wild-cards.

a) 2011 Financial results
Andy Harris has the financial report for the year for Barefoot from the E & A Treasurer. He will scan this and send it to Paul as it is not in electronic format.
b) 2012 Budget plan
a) Feedback from last meeting (A.H.)
There was a general feeling of disappointment that the Barefoot Council was not present in Bratislava.
After speaking with Alain Amade, Andy thinks in retrospect, this was a mistake. Although he understands the reasons, he said that in future, he would prefer that the Council always meets together with the other Councils in
November and if they don't want to meet at the Congress then that is the meeting that they should miss, but NOT the November meetings as they are definitely the most important meetings of the year. It is when the Bureau gets a chance to meet the Council in person and when the Council and the Bureau have the opportunity to discuss important items face-to-face. Andy thinks he's right. Andy recommends that in future the Barefoot Council should agree as a principle that they shall meet formally with the rest of the other E&A Councils in November each year. b) Suggestions for items to be presented at the next meeting. c) EA Athlete of the Year Awards (nominations)
Suggestions for the E&A Athlete of the Year Awards are
Male Clement Maillard (FRA)
– European Trick and Overall Champion 2011
Stefan Wimmer (AUT) – European Jump Champion 2011
Female Hannah Bullard (GBR) – European Jump, Trick and Overall Champion 2011
Svenja Hempelmann (GER)
– European Slalom Champion 2011
Chosen by vote: Clement IIII (Stefan III)
Svenja IIIII I (Hannah - )
The Nomination forms (EA Athlete of the Year) were sent to the E&A office on 10 th November 2011.
Both E&A Barefooter of the Year Awards will be presented at the next E&A Championships 2012.
This year's deadline for IWWF Barefoot AOTY submissions is 1 st December 2011. The E&A Barefoot Council will nominate David Small
– Paul Turner is going to sent the nomination form to Richard Gray (WBC). d) Finances
The E&A Barefoot Council would like to support

Coach clinic

Webpage

Lifestream at E&A Championships

e) Voting power (list to be send to the E&A office before 13th December 2011)
Maximum votes: 3

One vote for having organized in at least one of the four years preceding the date of the Congress a
Qualified Titled Event*, an International Competition or a National Championships with accepted homologation by the relevant E&A Council.

One vote for having had an athlete participate at a Qualified Titled Event* in at least one of the four years preceding the date of the Congress.

One vote for having had an official participate at a Qualified Titled Event* in at least one of the four years preceding the date of the Congress.
*Qualified Events: E&A Championships, E&A Youth Championships, E&A 35+ Championships, World
Championships, World Junior Championships, World 35+ Championships
Voting power by country
Austria: 3
Belgium: 3
Finland: 3
France: 3
Germany: 3
Great Britain: 3
Ireland: 1
Italy: 3
Netherland: 3
Norway: 1
South Africa: 3
Sweden: 3
The list with the voting power has been send to the E&A office on 5 th November 2011.
Congress in Greece
It is now confirmed that the next Congress (2012) will be held in Thessaloniki, GRE. There will be two Barefoot
Meetings. The first one will be held over lunch during the Congress day (confirmation of President,
Secretary, Treasurer, AdminCom Representative etc.). The second will be on Sunday morning (as requested by
Rob) and the meeting room is booked from 9am until lunchtime.
Spring meeting
Rob Molenkamp will organise the spring meeting in March 2012, which will be combined with the offical seminar.
More information will be given to the Council as soon as possible.

Future of our sport / WEBPAGE
The E&A Barefoot Council would like to increase the number of skiers. The first footsteps are already be made in
2011 with the introducing of boom and shoe-ski competitions.
The E&A Barefoot Council realised that the sport needs to be more interested for skiers, spectators and sponsors.
Therefore we worked on a better result management with instant scoring. The intention is to have lifestream at every E&A Barefoot Championships. The E&A Barefoot Council (not the organiser) should provide this lifestream.
Evert Aartsen will try to find somebody who will do it (travel costs and accomidation could be payed by the
Council).
Svenja Hempelmann was at a seminar “NEW MEDIA” (how you can promote yourself or your sport), which was organised by the DOSB (German Olympic Sportsfederation). A good way for promotion seems to be via facebook, twitter or youtube instead of a homepage. You can give the information to many “friends” within a few seconds. Svenja Hempelmann created a facebookpage “Footing across Europe”. Every Council member should become an administrator for this page. With that facebook page in combination with a homepage we would like to build up a barefoot communtity on the internet, where people can share their barefoot experience and stay in contact with each other. The skiers are asked to help with the promotion of our sport. (f.e. Niklas Hedström who is promoting the brand “Barcadi” in europe).
Christian Antos will obtain an offer for a webpage in combination with facebook, twitter and you-tube.
Extreme jump format at the end of EA Chps
We (E&A Barefoot Council) would like to promote the sport more. Nightjump competitions or x-games are good formats for spectators and television. We will discuss this format on the next meetings.
Box
The E&A Barefoot Council provides a competition package (box) containing everything you need to judge and score a competition including a jump video measurement system, this pack can be rented at a nominal cost.
Svenja Hempelmann will give the Federations some information (costs, conditions) about this offer.
Standings/ result managment
Paul Turner is in charge of it.
The next meeting 11th December 2011 at 10am via skype!!!