During the recently-held Monaco GSSE, Anthony Chircop and Edwin Attard, president and general secretary of the MAAA respectively, attended three meetings which could have an important bearing on the future of local athletics.
The first meeting was with E. Locatelli, director of Members Services of the IAAF. The focus was on IAAF courses for both coaches and technical officials.
Locatelli explained that the IAAF is currently restructuring its coaching courses so that there will now be five and not three levels of certification.
It was confirmed during the meeting that the MAAA will organise an IAAF level one coaching course in Malta during the first two weeks of September. The IAAF will send two instructors for this course which will be partly funded by the Olympic Solidarity programme.
Later this year, the MAAA is also planning to hold a technical officials' course. An IAAF lecturer will be coming to Malta to conduct this course.
In the meantime, it was confirmed that both Lamine Diack and Pierre Weiss, president and general secretary of the IAAF, will be attending the EAA Calendar Conference which is being held in Malta in October.
The second meeting that the two MAAA officials had in Monaco was with Hansjorg Wirz, the president of the European Athletic Association (EAA).
The meeting discussed the administrative problems being faced by Maltese sport at present as well as the technical assistance the EAA could give to the MAAA for the development of the athletics facilities when the local association assumes full responsibility of the Marsa racetrack.
The third and last appointment for Chircop and Attard was the annual general meeting of the AASSE (Athletic Association of the Small States of Europe), which was held inside the administrative offices of the Louis II Stadium in Monaco.
The meeting was mainly devoted to the changes planned to the EAA calendar of events. Changes to the EAA competition system were analysed in detail, particularly those affecting the European Cup and the European Championships.
During the meeting, a report submitted by the MAAA on the participation of the AASSE in this year's European Cup was approved.
MAAA secretary Attard also chaired a discussion on the participation of the 2007 Combined Team of the Small States of Europe in this year's European Cup.
Top post for Chircop
At the end of the meeting, the delegates elected a new Executive Committee. Iceland's Jonas Egilsson, the AASSE outgoing president, did not seek another term in office and proposed Chircop to take over as head of the association. The latter had been the general secretary of the AASSE for the last six years.
Chircop was uncontested for the presidency of the AASSE. Alex Bodry (Luxembourg) and Antonios Dracos (Cyprus) were elected vice-presidents and Tony Jaegar (Liechtenstein) assumed the role of general secretary. Attard was confirmed as the selector of the Combined Team of the AASSE.