Micronesian Sub-Regional Athletes’ Forum gets underway in Guam

The pilot Micronesian Sub-Regional Athletes’ Forum got underway in Guam this week with Mr. Ricardo Blas, Secretary General of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC), encouraging athlete representatives to “stand up to represent yourself and to represent your Athletes’ Commission.”

Mr. Blas reminded participants about the responsibilities that come with being representatives of an Athletes’ Commission (AC) and the important role of sitting on the Executive Board of a National Olympic Committee (NOC).

‍”It is mandated that all NOCs in the world need to form an Athletes’ Commission and the Athletes’ Commission representative must sit on the NOC Executive Board.

“The AC representative is not elected to the NOC Executive Board – they become an automatic member of the EB by virtue of their role of representing the AC.”

‍Opportunities

Mr. Blas said that ONOC is delivering the pilot forum to achieve some important outcomes, key amongst them is “being able to empower athletes to access the different programmes and funding opportunities available to them”.

“It’s about selling ideas to enable your NOC to buy into programmes that you and your athletes want to target.

“You become a champion for your Commission and a champion for your athletes,” Mr. Blas added.

‍‍Programme ahead

The pilot Micronesian Sub-Regional Athletes’ Forum began on Monday 13 March and will conclude on Friday 17 March 2023.

The forum is being held for the first time within the sub-region, with NOC athlete representatives from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam (GUM), Kiribati (KIR), Marshall Islands (MHL), Nauru (NRU) and Palau (PLW) attending.