Indianapolis, 28 April 2017: Following a meeting between Fédération International du Sport Universitaire (FISU) president Oleg Matytsin, and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Mark Emmert at the NCAA’s headquarters, both organisations pledged closer collaboration aimed at benefitting student athletes all around the world.
“It was very clear from our meeting that both FISU and the NCAA share a common mission: using the positive values of sport to help students achieve their full potential,” said FISU President Oleg Matytsin. “Given this shared focus, it was no surprise that we should find much common ground and I look forward to seeing just how much we can achieve together in the future. It was a pleasure to recognize the achievements of the NCAA in more than 110 years of supporting student athletes.”
“I appreciate how FISU also recognizes the power of sports and the importance of promoting sports in conjunction with the university spirit,” said NCAA president Mark Emmert. “As stewards of athletics at the world’s colleges and universities, our organizations must continue to create the positive experiences and opportunities for students to not only compete but also learn through sports. To meet that charge, I am excited to collaborate with FISU.”
As an initial step towards developing a shared understanding of the benefits and applications of university sports, Mark Emmert will attend the forthcoming Taipei 2017 World University Games. While there, Emmert will contribute to a FISU Conference that will bring together university sports leaders and experts from around the world.
“Our organizations have a special opportunity to facilitate learning through sports in the context of higher education,” continued Emmert. “By providing a well-rounded experience of academics and sports, colleges and universities are best able to promote the success of students. I look forward to our organizations working together to provide a pathway to lifelong success for students around the world.”
While in Indiana, the delegation from FISU and World University Games USA also visited Indiana University, where there they toured facilities and met with student athletes.
“FISU has recently moved to a model of having universities compete directly in some international competitions, while we also maintain our traditional model of national teams in others,” added Matytsin. “This change has paved the way for greater participation from American universities. FISU was delighted, for example, to experience Hoosier basketball tradition at first hand with Indiana University sending a team to our 3×3 World University Championship last year.”
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Notes to editors:
The International University Sports Federation – FISU
Founded in 1949, FISU stands for Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (International University Sports Federation). FISU was formed within university institutions in order to promote sports values and encourage sports practice in harmony with and complementary to the university spirit. Promoting sports values means encouraging friendship, fraternity, fair-play, perseverance, integrity and cooperation amongst students, who one day may have responsibilities and even key positions in politics, the economy, culture and industry.
Open to student-athletes aged between 17 and 25 (for events in 2016 and 2017 the upper age is still 28), FISU’s events consist of Summer and Winter Universiades and the World University Championships. Universiades are multisport events staged in odd-numbered years, while the World University Championships are single-sport events, staged in even-numbered years. Besides its sporting events, FISU stages educational events, such as the FISU Forum on University Sport, the FISU World Conference on Development through Sport, the FISU World Conference on Innovation – Education – Sport, the FISU Sport Education Summit and the FISU Seminars.
With FISU’s motto being “Excellence in Mind and Body”, all events include educational and cultural aspects, bringing together sport and academia from all over the world to celebrate in a true spirit of friendship and sportsmanship. FISU cooperates in developing its events and programmes with all major international sports and educational organisations. As major outcomes of those collaborations, in 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) proclaimed the International Day of University Sport to be celebrated on 20 September, and the Anti-Doping Textbook and teaching materials were developed with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
FISU is composed of 170 Member Associations (National University Sports Federations). The FISU General Assembly elects the members of the FISU Executive Committee, its board of directors. Fourteen permanent committees advise the Executive Committee in their specialised areas. For the daily administration of FISU, the FISU Executive Committee relies on the Secretary General, who is assisted by the FISU staff. FISU’s headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
For more information, please contact the FISU Media Dept. at media@fisu.net, or visit our web site at www.fisu.net.
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