The 70th Ordinary Delegates' Meeting of the Swiss Dancesport Association at the Bahnhofbuffet Olten on Saturday 13 April was calm and constructive at all times. The delegates from 9 of the 18 member clubs represented 69.5% of the association's votes. They unanimously discharged the Board of Directors under the leadership of President Walter Vogt for the work carried out in 2023 after taking note of the annual accounts and the annual reports.
The meeting elected Henrik Kattrup as the seventh new member of the Board. The managing director of a marketing agency and former ballroom dancer will support the association in sponsorship and as product manager, particularly in terms of external perception. As an "inaugural gift", he immediately presented the association's new brand identity, which was very well received (see separate article).
The 2024 annual programme, which was approved by 242:16 votes, is based on two main themes: Grassroots sport and athlete development. Nadia Wullschleger gave an insight into the Youth+Sport movement and presented an advance copy of the new dance sport teaching material. Brigitte Stäldi, responsible for sports organisation, announced that the introduction of solo classes on the one hand and the cooperation with the SDSC regarding popular sports on the other would be incorporated into the tournament regulations and further training for judges as well as the further development of technical aids as soon as possible.
Walter Vogt and Head of Competitive Sports Oliver Baumann then explained the paradigm shift in the promotion of athletes that Swiss Olympic is calling for. The approximately CHF 35,000 will no longer be used as a reward for results achieved, but will be channelled into a broad-based concept that also includes the dance coaches. The association's medium and long-term goal is to build up a common set of skills that will give athletes, trainers, coaches and judges a common understanding without interfering with the individual organisation of training content. A new, comprehensive dance sport teaching aid and the integration of specialised experts in squad and training courses support this very important project, which should lead several Swiss dance couples to the top of the world in a few years' time.
