WORLD CONFERENCE ON THE PANATHLON DECLARATION (2004) at GHENT / BELGIUM from 05 to 07.11.2008.

How to implement ethics in Youth Sport?

Representatives from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Uganda, United Kingdom and Switzerland took part. The ISF was represented by Johan Faveere, President’s adviser.

15 persons gave a lecture in connection with the subject of the conference.

Enrico Prandi (Italy)                          Objectives, structure and functioning of Panathlon                                                                        International

Vic De Donder                                  Development of the Panathlon declaration

Paulo David (Italy)                            The human rights of young athletes

Marc Maes (Gelgium)                        Implementation of the Panathlon declaration

Jeroen Maesschalck (Belgium)          A roadmap for an integrity policy in youth sport

Frank Hendrickx (Belgium)               Ethics management in youth sport at policy level

Jim Parry (UK)                                  Ethics in youth sport. The example of the Football                                                             Association Ethics Strategy Group

Kristine De Martelaer and Tine Vertommen (Belgium)       Youth sport and children’s rights

                                                           in Flanders

Ashley I. Stirling (Canada)                Addressing child maltreatment in Sport

Gretchen A. Kerr (Canada)               Sport Administrators as Agents of Child protection

Ivo Van Aken (Belgium)                   A supportive, educational approach in Flemish tennis

Nicolette (HMJ) van Veldhoven (The Netherlands)             Sports in a pedagogical perspective

Petra Moget and Maarten Weber (The Netherlands)            Vulnerabilities, pitfalls and                                                               chances in sport

The conclusions of the conference were summarised in a “Rationale” and in a “formal Commitment”.

Formal Commitment to implement the Panathlon Declaration

on Ethics in Youth Sport

Rationale

We applaud the fact that the Declaration is received extremely well both by the sport

sector and the public authorities. We are also aware that there is still a long way to go

before the principles are put in practice on all levels of our federation. This is a

challenging task because of the complex and conflicting interests involved. However the

Youth Olympic Games offer a unique opportunity to facilitate implementation efforts.

YOG could indeed act as a catalyst accelerating implementation initiatives by each

federation endorsing Corporate Responsibility.

We adopt as a suitable pathway for implementation activities an integrity strategy, which

includes a good mix of a supportive and a compliance approach to tackle the ethical

dilemmas, which the members of our sport federation are confronted with.

An ethical dilemma is a situation where values are at stake and where a choice has to be

made from several alternatives, while good reasons can be given for each of these

alternatives. Intuitions and rules are considered not sufficient to find a solution.

A supportive approach aims to stimulate moral character and improve ethical decisionmaking

skills through e.g. interactive (ethical dilemma) training sessions, workshops,

ambitious codes of values, individual coaching, and similar means.

The compliance approach to ethics management emphasizes the importance of external

controls on the behavior of all members of a sport federation, i.e. athletes, parents,

trainers etc. It prefers formal and detailed rules and procedures. Typical instruments of

this approach include legislation, strict behavioral ethics codes and other rules, control

mechanisms, and control institutions with power.

Formal Commitment

In the pursuit of positive values and in dealing with the potential risks of youth sport we

hereby formally express our commitment to go beyond the endorsement of the Panathlon

Declaration and to submit for discussion and approval in our federation or organisation

the implementation of the following priority recommendations:

1. Our federation or organisation will draw up a coherent integrity policy plan based on

the Panathlon Declaration including a good mix of supportive and controlling elements.

Our federation or organisation considers the long list of good practices and suggestions

published in the proceedings of the November 2008 conference in Ghent as an interesting

pool of ideas for the elaboration of such a policy and will be open to all relevant

suggestions made by external sport governing bodies and youth sports evaluation centres.

2..Our integrity policy plan will target all levels and stakeholders of our federation or

organisation, i.e. children, parents, educators, trainers, sport managers, administrators,

medical doctors, physical therapists, dieticians, psychologists, volunteers, officials,

spectators, media, financial partners and all other important stakeholders. We will

specifically ensure that parents and children are included in the decision-making

regarding their involvement in sport.

3. Our federation or organisation is willing to discuss and share its ideas concerning

current children and youth related issues with sport governing bodies, educators in

schools, academics and top sport managers of other federations or organisations and will

respond positively to the initiatives of Panathlon International, i.e. use their website

www.panathlon.net to communicate and share good practices and attend their follow-up

expert meetings.

4. Our federation or organisation will take the opportunity of the Youth Olympic Games

and all other international youth competitions to promote its integrity policy plan and to

facilitate the implementation of the principles of the Panathlon Declaration.

5. Our federation or organisation will publish its integrity plan and promote the

implementation of the Panathlon Declaration on Ethics in Youth Sport.

Ghent November 7th 2008

PANATHLON INTERNATIONAL, LUDIS IUNGIT,

Villa Porticciolo, V. Le G. Maggio, 6, 16035 – Rapallo, ITALY

tel : +39 0185 230513, www.panathlon.net