Frankfurt, Germany – The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) Executive Board met over three days from March 24-26, 2017. Over 20 different topics were discussed during this meeting, including competition plans, relationships with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Alliance of Independent Recognized Members of Sport  (AIMS), and SportAccord, finances of the WMF, and reports of the Continental Federations and other participating parties.

The Executive Committee consists of members from 8 different countries (Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Kenya, United States, China and New Zealand), spread over all 5 continents (Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania).

Dr. Gerhard Zimmermann, WMF President, expressed his compliments to the members of the Executive Committee for their important work during the last period and informed in detail about the development regarding the IOC recognition process, the position of WMF within AIMS and the participation in the upcoming SportAccord Convention in Aarhus (Denmark).

A large part of the meeting was spent talking about the future strategy of WMF, an update of the media and marketing plans, the value of the input of the WMF Special Committees, the activities to be part of Multisport Events and the start of a worldwide Grand Prix tour.

A permanent seat of the WMF Youth Officer inside WMF Executive Committee will be proposed to the Delegates’ Conference 2017 and the WMF Youth Committee would in future report directly to the Executive Committee, if the motion is approved. Greg Newport (United States) was appointed on recommendation of the American Continental Federation as the Representative for America inside the Athletes’ Committee.

The financial report for 2016 and a draft of the budgets for 2018 and 2019 were discussed and it was decided to forward them to Delegates’ Conference for final approval. In addition, the detailed reports from the Continental Federations were received and appreciated.

Other discussions included motions for Statutes and Rulebook changes, Anti-Doping development in education and in general, support projects for members as well as membership strengthening and expansion.

The World Adventure Golf Masters 2018 was provisionally awarded to Horní Bezděkov (Czech Republic). The awarding is provisional until the Championship Contract has been signed. Preparations were done for the next meeting of the WMF Executive Committee (September 16th 2017) and the WMF Delegates’ Conference (September 17th 2017), which both will take place at Zaton Holiday Resort (Nin, Croatia).

Last but not least the organization of the upcoming European Grand Prix, World Adventure Golf Masters, World Championships General Class and a first World Championship for deaf players at Zaton Holiday Resort (Nin, Croatia) was prepared.

Full minutes of the meeting will be available in the following weeks.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organization of 63 Minigolf sports associations worldwide with Continental Associations in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Over 1,000 championships courses are approved for official competitions and over 1,500 international minigolf tournaments are held each year. Millions of players all around the world like to play minigolf as a private leisure activity and in public competitions.