If you follow Ram Barkai on social media, he is nearly always traveling, always smiling, and always doing cold water swims around the world.
But along all those travels, smiles, and swims, the International Ice Swimming Association founder is working hard on developing and guiding the sport.
He writes in the latest ice swimming news report:
1st IISA European Championship
The 1st IISA European Championship held in Oradea, Romania, under the leadership of Paul Georgescu was epic and has generated overwhelming global interest in the 2025 Ice Swimming World Championship in Molveno, Italy. We will announce our next European Championship host city in the next few months.
Worldwide Growth in Ice Swimming
With the worldwide momentum, the IISA’s main focus is ensuring managing swimmers’ safety.
The IISA Board (including Ram Barkai, Jonty Warneken, Richard Broer, Kate Steels, Petar Stoychev, Joe Zemaitis, and Professor François Bonnici) recently met in Molveno [Italy] to discuss the organisation’s strategic direction and prepare onsite for the World Championships in partnership with IISA Italy. IISA globally has grown and continues to grow quickly, bringing with it many responsibilities and requirements. It also requires resources and funding. The outcome of the strategic session was inspiring and generated a lot of work for IISA and its contributors in the future.
IISA Structure and Strategy
IISA was founded in 2009 to set a foundation for ice swimming. The first distance was our famous Ice Mile. From the start, the website focused on creating an online management system and allows for record-keeping and verification systems.
The IISA website stores and links all ice swims, records, events, bios, and related products. It generates certificates, results, and swimming records, all automated in real-time, but it requires significant investment to develop and maintain. We are exploring mobile smartphone application to allow easy entries and access to results and records. It has taken time for IISA to raise funds and fees to be able to run and continue to grow as the sport demands.
IISA is now registered in Switzerland as an international non-profit sports association. The move was made to increase our sports credibility, allow for greater transparency in our operation, and strategically position us for partnerships. This move required a move from private funding of IISA by its founder to a more transparent and sustainable structure, which is required by Swiss law.
Finances
We will publish our finances yearly after our financial year ends on 31 December.
IISA’s approximate expenses are EUR 265,000, with an income of EUR 76,000. This covers no salaries, time or skills, but the actual costs paid to run IISA. Our main costs derive from our unique and ever-evolving website, marketing and branding, legal, and some travel.
Our income derives from Ice Mile fees, Education, and recent international event fees. Our people worldwide volunteer their time and skills for free, including the IISA Board, Chairperson, and all Country chapter Boards and event volunteers. We realise that to grow and achieve our strategic objectives, we must raise funds and develop a sustainable business model. Although non-profit, we cannot continue to grow as a for-loss association.
Membership
We have embarked on sponsorship efforts and looked at other sources to fund IISA. We have looked at our membership structure, and it offers many free online services. We decided we wanted to keep our open membership free. However, we will introduce an annual fee for active IISA Members. What does that mean? IISA has close to 6,000 registered members. Not all are active all the time, yet they have free access to all their previous swims and records regardless.
IISA Global Membership
The new Membership fee is called IISA Global Membership and is simply a membership fee for those who want to participate in IISA Events and benefit from its activity. Existing members who are not active during the year remain free.
The IISA Global Membership (“IGM”) will be charged annually from 1 July 2024. The IGM will be EUR 21 pa. It will be an annual fee you will be requested to pay when you want to enter an event, apply for an Ice Mile, or take any active role in IISA. We want to give time to all swimmers and members to understand the need for growth and resources and have time to prepare. It will be ready by 1 July 2024. The fee is annual regardless of when it is paid, and your IGM will expire every year on 31 June. You will notice your IGM on your bio and everywhere you go.
IISA Ice Mile Attempt Applications
In due course, new Ice Miles will require an Attempt Application.
The application will be simple and require basic information on the coming attempt. The application will ensure you know your attempt’s rules and safety requirements. You must apply at most 30 days in advance, but not less than 48 hours before the attempt. Your country chairperson will receive a notification as a safety courtesy to help you get everything right and safe.
No approval is required unless your attempt is something that goes against IISA’s statutes or policies.
You will be required to pay upfront for your Ice Mile application. I f your attempt is postponed, you will keep credit for six months. If your attempt didn’t go as expected, there will be no refund. Once your attempt is successful, you must apply for ratification and link it to your Attempt Application. We will notify everyone once the new rule is implemented in our system.
Ice Mile fees will also go up to EUR 150 for the first Ice Mile. Subsequent Ice Miles will be EUR 100.
Country Association / Federations
As IISA activities in each country expand and new countries come to the sport, we are looking at enhancing our governance structure at all levels.
IISA is compiling a new Country Association Chapter as part of the current Constitution, as of January 2024. The latest Country Chapter guidance will be similar to the current one, but will be aligned with Swiss Sport Association requirements and linked more tightly to the IISA Constitution. It will specify Country Association structure, requirements, governance and constitution requirements. It will be a guideline for each Country Association incorporation in its individual country and operational guideline.
Currently, each Country Association has a dedicated page on the IISA website. These pages show each country’s ice swims and records to date.
There will add a new page called IISA Country Chairs / Presidents, displaying each country’s Chair, Vice Chair, and Country Administrator. Not every country is eligible to have a Chair/President. Per our new statutes, only countries that have formally incorporated themselves and are affiliated with IISA will have an IISA Country Chair/President.
Each country needs to formalise their structure for governance purposes and national sports funding. IISA will provide these countries with formal letters of affiliation, which should help with government funding.
IISA Committees
IISA Committees are approaching their first anniversary. I want to thank everyone who raised their hands and rolled their sleeves to help us grow our sport and make it safer and more professional.
Some Committees were more active and, therefore, productive than others, and some members had more time to participate and contribute than others. We are working on the Committee’s annual renewal process to ensure our Chairs don’t pull all their hair out chasing their members for meetings and contributions.
If you haven’t been active and participated, we may look to reduce the Committee size and allow active committee members to take part. We ask for a show of hands for those who wish to participate actively in our Working Committees; please provide your name, skills, motivation and the Committee you want to join by emailing internationaliceswimming@gmail.com.
We will refresh the Committees by the end of July 2024.
IISA L2 Accreditation
We have run three courses and have around 30 accredited L2 Event Directors/Organizers. We will run one more course on 24 June 2024. This course is intended ONLY for those actively running IISA Events in any capacity: director, organizer, or administrator. We will have more courses later.
The next Zoom call is on 24 June 2024 from 5 pm to 7 pm London time here.
IISA, World Aquatics, and the Winter Olympic Games Dream
IISA continues working with World Aquatics as part of its vision to take Ice Swimming to the Winter Olympics. The progress is good, and we have established a good working relationship. There is still a lot to be done.
It will be exciting to see the sport we have all built in the past 15 years live on TV in the Olympic Games.
Ice swimmers are often also marathon swimmers and channel swimmers:
- Ram Barkai: Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here
- Richard Broer: Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here
- Paul Georgescu: Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here
- Petar Stoychev: Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here
- Joe Zemaitis: Marathon Swimmers Federation bio here
© Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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