Statement from VP for Sport, Nenad Jeftic, to competition organizers, officials and NMBs 14/07/2020

Dear WDSF members, Dear Colleagues, Dear friends, On behalf of the WDSF Sports Commission, the WDSF Presidium and on behalf of the WDSF in general, as Vice-President for Sport, I address you, our national members, with deep respect and esteem.

Monitoring

Since the beginning of the entire state of emergency, the WDSF closely monitors the course of the situation in all countries, listens carefully to all the information received from its members, and works daily to find a practical way as to when to once again organize national and international competitions.

Actual Situation

We are going through very difficult times and the truth is it unclear how long they will last. Actually, in some countries the virus is not controlled at all and in many others, where it seems to be under control, we are facing a second and even third wave of outbreaks of this extremely dangerous virus.

Risks

According to the latest information from the World Health Organization, out of the total number of infected, which is more than 11 million, as many as 60% of them were infected just during June. You will agree that the situation is really serious and unpredictable. One of the characteristics of our beautiful sport is that we (athletes and officials) need to travel around the world to take part in national and especially international competitions. This fact exposes us to the virus and places us in a high-risk category.

Learning to live with the virus

Many of us work professionally in DanceSport, meaning that we need it to make for a living. We need to learn how to live with this new difficulty and, dear colleagues, we need a lot of effort to deal with it. All of us!

Responsibility

One thing we need to be aware of: The responsibility is not just on the WDSF, neither on just the NMBs or local organizers of competitions. The responsibility of each individual is far greater and everyone must be aware of this fact.

Protection

First of all, we need to protect our Athletes by educating them and their parents, secondly we need to protect our Officials and of course to organize our competitions in well-prepared venues. This will mean offering our maximum support to the Organizers by attending and conducting competitions in the most responsible way abiding with all the health recommendations and avoiding any possible conflict situations.

Recommendation and Restriction

The WDSF Sports Department is working to produce a prescribed range of recommendations and restrictions that will allow the organization of WDSF events in the near future. These recommendations and restrictions need to be seen as an opportunity to restart our Competition System as soon as possible. It is in all our interests to ensure the maximum consensus and support from all DanceSport institutions. Now, more than ever, we need to stick to the updated health guidelines because in these circumstances the recommendations and restrictions will literally save lives.

We will make it!!!

Nothing in our world lasts forever and of course, this virus will be defeated in the future. The question is how we, as the DanceSport family will overcome it. Definitely, we need to do it together by supporting our organizers, protecting the health of our athletes and officials and taking care of our Local and National Federations. Together!

In conclusion, I express my gratitude for your cooperation and patience in these difficult times. We hope that very soon this all will be behind us and we will return to our daily lives, to our competitions, and supporting our hard-working athletes. Take care of your health because it should be the first priority to all of us.

Nenad Jeftic WDSF Vice-President for Sport

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WDSF Sports department has prepared temporary instructions for our competitions´ organizers. The released instructions are sent to give members, officials and organizers an idea about the needed safety regulations. WDSF Sports Department is working on the GUIDELINES with more detailed instructions and restrictions for organizing WDSF competitions.

Temporary Instructions