IUF Regional and National Representatives

2. Letter of Proposal

Original 1992 Edition
Below is the relevant part of a letter submitted IUF Revitalization Committee Chairman Ken Fuchs and to the IUF Board of Directors on March 15, 1992.

In pursuit of my suggestions for revitalizing the IUF sent to you in September 29, 1991, I hereby enclose a detailed proposal for establishing a worldwide network of national and regional representatives of the IUF.

To achieve our goal of promoting unicycling throughout the world, I believe that it is important that we appoint National and Regional Representatives for as many countries and regions as possible. I propose that these should be official offices of the IUF, and that a basic definition of these posts be included in the IUF by-laws. The principal tasks of an IUF representative includes organizing national teams to UNICONs, recruiting IUF members, disseminating IUF related information, and helping establish national unicycling organizations.

I invite IUF Revitalization Committee members and other IUF officers and members to examine my proposal and make constructive suggestions or criticisms. The time limit for examining this proposal is April 30, 1992. If I don't hear from you by that time, I will assume that you agree to its contents. Of course, changes can also be made at a later date, but I will begin to implement the initial stage of the plan on May 1, 1992.

3. Letter of Appointment

Original 1992 Edition
Below is a Letter of Appointment for regional representatives, which was issued to several people, including John Foss and Stephan Dressler.

The International Unicycling Federation, Inc. is pleased to confirm that we appoint you to the office of Regional Representative for English-Speaking America, which consists of the countries listed in the document entitled IUF REGIONS AND COUNTRIES. You shall have the right to officially represent the IUF in your region, and to act on our behalf. The principal tasks of a Regional Representative are listed below.

1. To help National Representatives in your region organize National Teams to participate in international unicycle conventions. Typical activities include disseminating information, planning and coordination. If necessary, to serve as liaison between the convention organizers and National Representatives in your region.
2. To cooperate with National Representatives in your region in their efforts to recruit IUF members and to disseminate IUF related information in their respective countries.
3. To engage in various activities to promote unicycling in your region. Specifically, if there are countries in your region that do not have a national unicycling organization, to make efforts to establish such an organization, such as by contacting government departments and requesting their assistance.
4. To serve as the regional correspondent for UNICYCLING, the official publication of the IUF. You are expected to provide the editor of the said publication with information about unicycling activities in your region.
5. If knowledge of English in your region is poor, to translate or summarize important IUF documents, especially those related to international conventions, into the Working Language or other major language(s) of your region. This is especially important if the major unicycling countries in your region do not have a National Representative that is already doing that.
6. To publish a unicycling newsletter in the Working Language or other major language of your region. This is especially important if the major unicycling countries in your region do not have a unicycling publication.
7. In general, to cooperate with the IUF in its efforts to promote unicycling throughout the world.

4. IUF Regional Representatives

4.1 Functions of Regional Representatives

In late March 2000, the details of the functions of Regional Representativeswere discussed on IUF. The version below reflects Jack's and Andy's original proposal, as well as the opinions of Alberto Ruiz and others.

The most important duties of an IUF Regional Representatives are:

1. 1. Shall actively promote unicycling, as by helping establish unicycle organizations in new countries and publicity activities such as the dissemination of IUF information, as by translation into local languages.
2. Shall represent the interests of their regions and of the national organizations within the Central Office of the IUF.
3. If there is no national or other lopcal organization that can elect a National Representative, shall endeavor to select National Representatives for the countries in his/her region.
4. Shall be a full member of the IUF Executve Board, which means that he/she shall participate in discussions on the iuf-discuss mailing list, including voting.
5. Shall be able to readily communicate in English, having an available translator if necessary.
6. Shall supply the Central Office with information relevant to unicycling in the region, such as contact information for unicyclists and national organizations and local clubs.
7. Shall endeavor once a year before December 31 to report on the number of unicyclists in their regions, and endeavor to obtain from national representatives statistics from any conventions held during that year.
8. Shall endeavor to have countries his/er region participate and organize national teams to UNICONs.

4.2 Definition of IUF Regions

For the purposes of IUF Regional Representatives, the world is divided into 15 IUF Regions. Though geographical proximity plays a major role in the defining the regions, it is not the only factor. A common language of communication, to be used in email, newsletters, and regional meetings, is also necessary. The size and composition of 15 regions below have been selected on the basis of three criteria: geography, language, and the importance of unicycling in the region.

The Working Language given below is probably the most convenient language for communicating within that region. The name of the region, like English-speaking Europe, does not necessarily reflect the official national languages spoken in that region; it may often be a default language for lack of a better common working language.

The RR Candidate column is merely a suggestion, not an official nomination, based on my perception (or misperception) of potential candidates for Regional Representative. With a few exceptions, I have not recently verified the intentions of the people named. Nomination of candidates is welcome.

The Countries column indicates the number of countries in each region. A detailed list of these countries, along with the official languages spoken and suggested National Representatives, are given below.

5. IUF National Representatives

5.1 Functions of National Representatives

5.2 IUF National Representatives

Appendix 1 lists presents fifteen tables listing the countries in each of the IUF Regions. These are based on the latest ISO standards, and include their ISO two letter country codes and official language(s).

The Candidate column is merely a suggestion, not an official nomination, based on my perception (or misperception) of potential candidates. With a few exceptions, I have not recently verified the intentions of the people named. Be sure to look for your name in the tables, and to respond if you are interested in the position of National Representative. Nomination of candidates is welcome.

It is important to note that though these tables are comprehensive, listing all the countries in the world today (along with the official languages for reference), the intention is not to establish National Representatives in the immediate future, but to do so gradually as unicycling spreads in the various regions.

Click here, Appendix 1, to see the entire appendix, or on the links in the index below to see the countries by region.

6. Voting Rights

Below is an explanation why I believe it is important for the Regional Representatives to be IUF officers with full voting rights.

6.1 Function of the Central Office

The current IUF board, consisting of directors and other officers, are concerned with the administrative functions of the IUF, such as nomination and election of officers, budget issues, publishing a newsletter, maintaining a website, helping Unicon hosts hold Unicons, the Rules Committee, and the like. The officers are not directly involved, as part of their duties as IUF officers, in promoting unicycling in their regions.

6.2 Why Regional Representatives should have a vote

As seen from the above, the function of the Central Office is administration and coordination, rather than the actual promotion of unicycling on the regional level. The Regional Representatives, whose functions are defined in Section 4.1 above, should have a full vote because:

1. They are (or should be) intimately familiar with the needs of their regions.
2. Since national organizations and local clubs do not have a vote or direct representation in the IUF Central Office, Regional Representatives are in the ideal position to represent their interests.
3. Regional Representatives should play a central or major role in holding or promoting Unicons in their region, which is one of the central activities of the IUF. The authority that comes with an official position in the IUF is extremely helpful in many countries. (It was essential in my activities organizing Unicon X and the World Games Unicycle Convention.)
4. The Central Office often may not have direct and sufficient knowledge of regional affairs to make major decisions and decide on international policy without direct input from the Regional Representatives. (This is perhaps analogous to the Executive Branch of the U.S. government versus the Congress -- thank God we don't need a court system.)
5. The ultimate goal of the Central Office is to help promote unicycling in the world, which consists of the regions. Therefore, direct participation by the regions through an official representative is essential.

6.4 For reference, how the JUA system works

For reference, here is a brief description of how the JUA Board of Directors works. Japan is the largest unicycling country in the world with an estimated two million active riders.

The JUA has had remarkable success in promoting unicycling in Japan. The main success of the JUA has been in promoting unicycling in elementary schools (more than 90%). One of the secret to the success of the JUA is that the Japanese Ministry of Education has officially approved unicycling as a sport, which enables us to obtain large budgets from various sources.

However, as an organization the JUA has failed to represent the needs of unicycle clubs and unicycle competitions, of serious unicyclists that compete in national meets and Unicons, rather than schoolchildren who unicycle casually. This is not the place to go into detail, but the main reason for this has been the following.

With the exception of myself, all or most members of our large Board of Directors (about 20 members) have been mostly out of touch with the reality and the needs of the clubs and other unicyclists. They focused almost exclusively on voting, budgets, politics, getting money form sponsors, and the like, and ignored such issues as judging and racing rules, organizing teams to Unicon, and the like. This is now in the process of changing, and an important step has been taken by establishing the International Committee of the JUA, which will deal strictly with IUF and international matters.

What I wish to emphasize is that the Board of Directors of any unicycling organization, including the Central Office of the IUF, should include members that are directly involved with local activities and that could directly represent their needs.

6.5 An example of Regional Representative's activities

For many years I have been the acting Regional Representative for Asia. Below I will describe some of my activities in Asia, which should serve for reference for the new Regional Representatives that I hope will join us soon.

• Chairman and organizer of Unicon III (1987) in Tokyo.
• Promote unicycling in Japan and serving as JUA executive director.
• Promote unicycling in China. Steve Dressler and I started the sport there in 1992, and I visited China four times up to Unicon X. I also organized the World's First Unicycle Marathon in Beijing.
• Organizing Unicon teams from Japan (every team since Unicon I).
• Promoting unicycling in Korea: Korean Team to Unicon III and I am now working on establishing a club there.
• In November 2000 I helped establish the Singapore Unicycle Club, and hope to organize a team from Singapore to Unicon XI.
• I am helping establish a unicycling school in Israel, and am in contact with Israeli unicyclists. I often give demonstrations there.
• Translating IUF materials into Japanese, such as the IUF rule book, skill levels, etc. At one time there was a Japanese IUF newsletter.
• Writing articles regarding Unicons and IUF business in Japanese for the JUA News.

About the Author

JACK HALPERN

President, The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc.
Editor-in-Chief, Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society
Research Fellow, Showa Women’s University

Born in Germany in 1946, Jack Halpern lived in six countries and knows twelve languages. Fascinated by kanji while living in an Israeli kibbutz, he came to Japan in 1973, where he compiled the New Japanese-English Character Dictionary for sixteen years. He is a professional lexicographer/writer and lectures widely on Japanese culture, is winner of first prize in the International Speech Contest in Japanese, and is founder of the International Unicycling Federation.

Jack Halpern is currently the editor-in-chief of the Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society (KDPS), a non-profit organization that specializes in compiling kanji dictionaries, and the head of the The CJK Dictionary Institute (CJKI), which specializes in CJK lexicography and the development of a comprehensive CJK database (DESK). He has also compiled the world’s first Unicode dictionary of CJK characters.

President Jack Halpern The CJK Dictionary Institute, Inc. Komine Building (3rd & 4th Floor) 34-14, 2-chome, Tohoku, Niiza-shi Saitama 352-0001 JAPAN Phone: +81-48-473-3508 Fax: +81-48-486-5032 WWW: http://www.cjk.org