Sports Federation of U.S.A. and Canada holds general meeting, elects officers (06/29/03)

Sports Federation of U.S.A. and Canada holds general meeting, elects officers

by Roman Pyndus

EAST HANOVER, N.J. - A general meeting of the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada (USCAK) took place at the Ramada Conference Center on May 24. Twenty-six delegates representing Ukrainian American sports clubs participated.

The meeting was opened by outgoing USCAK President Myron Stebelsky, who asked for a moment of silence to honor the recently deceased sports activists Yaroslav Petryk, Edward Zarsky, Dmytro Bobelak, Walter Chyzowych and Zenon Snylyk.

The meeting was run by a presidium consisting of Irenaeus Isajiw, chairman; Severyn Palydovych, vice-chairman; and Catherine Matskiv, secretary. A resolutions committee was chosen, composed of Roman Kucil, Yaroslav Kozak and Marika Bokalo. The minutes of the last general meeting, read by Omelan Twardowsky, were approved unanimously.

The reports of the outgoing USCAK officers for the period beginning in May 1997 followed. The first to report was USCAK Vice-President Irenaeus Isajiw, whose activities involved the organization and running of Ukrainian American youth games, as well as participation in the management of the Ukrainian Diaspora Olympiad 2000. Next to report was Secretary Roman Pyndus, who, in addition to normal secretarial duties, has also acted as a liaison between USCAK and sports institutions in Ukraine, and participated in the running of the Olympiad.

Treasurer Alexander Napora informed the assembly about the significant financial contributions of USCAK in support of sports in Ukraine. This includes the $10,000 scholarship fund for students at the Lviv State Institute of Physical Culture; the more than $2,300 fund for the Lilia Podkopayeva Gymnastics Club in Donetsk; two contributions of $2,100 each for Stepan Popel Memorial International Chess Tournaments in Lviv; and $2,000 to aid the Biathlon Federation of Ukraine. There were also numerous other grants, such as those in support of Ukraine's sports papers and leading chess stars, including current world champion Ruslan Ponomaryov and the European girls' champion Anya Muzychuk, among others.

Mr. Twardowsky reported on his activities as press officer. He was also the editor of the annual magazine, Our Sport, and was the compiler and editor of the volume "USCAK and Sports in Ukraine," which was published in 2002. In addition, Mr. Twardowsky participated in the tournament committees of all the major USCAK events.

Marika Bokalo, USCAK swimming director, presented the results of the six USCAK swimming championships, which took place at Soyuzivka during the report period (1997-2002). On a team basis, three of the events were won by Chornomorska Sitch of Newark, N.J.; two by Tryzub of Philadelphia; and one by the SUM all-stars.

A detailed account of tennis activity was presented by the tennis director, George Sawczak. In the report period, there were 23 tournaments - 13 of them at Tryzubivka and 11 at Soyuzivka. The USCAK Championships at Soyuzivka were hosted by the Carpathian Ski Club (KLK). The trophies were funded by the UNA and Soyuzivka, while the money prizes, amounting to about $4,000, were donated by the firm Winner Ford Group of Wilmington, Del., owned by John Hynansky.

In addition to the USCAK championships, the tennis section also has conducted tournaments for the eastern states, as well as local tournaments at the Tryzub Club of Philadelphia.

Dr. Orest Popovych, chess director, was not present, but submitted a written account of the chess activity. Six USCAK chess championships took place during the reporting period. In 1999 Dr. Popovych represented USCAK as a player in the Popel Memorial International Chess Tournament in Lviv. Both he and USCAK President Stebelsky addressed those present at the tournament.

Volodymyr Rudakewych, volleyball director, reported that the only volleyball activity within the USCAK organization took place at the Olympiad in 2000.

Basil Tarasko, baseball/softball director, was not successful in organizing competition in these sports in North America. However, Mr. Tarasko has been very active in organizing and supporting baseball teams in Ukraine, and has served as coach of Ukraine's national teams at several levels.

The last to speak was Mr. Stebelsky, the outgoing president of USCAK. He stressed the contributions of USCAK to the rebirth of sports in Ukraine, in particular the significant financial support for the Ukrainian Olympic Teams at the Lillehammer, Atlanta, Sydney, and Salt Lake City Olympiads. Mr. Stebelsky visited Ukraine in 1999, where he saw to it that an USCAK exposition was established as a permanent feature at the Museum of Sports Fame of Ukraine in Kyiv. He also paid a visit to the Lviv State Institute of Physical Culture, where USCAK has funded a scholarship program.

Amidst the general decline of Ukrainian organizations in North America, Mr. Stebelsky noted a couple of bright spots: the establishment of a new Ukrainian sports club Poltava, in Rochester, N.Y., and the club Karpaty in Ontario, both of which have joined USCAK. Furthermore, he mentioned the successful trip of the USCAK all-star team to Paris in 1999, where they played a friendly match against the Ukrainian all-stars of Western Europe.

After a brief discussion came the report of the Auditing Committee, chaired by Vasyl Ciurpita, which expressed its approval of the work of the outgoing officers. The Resolutions Committee proposed two resolutions, which were unanimously approved: do away with the regional governing boards of USCAK and to allow Ukrainian soccer teams in North America to play in USCAK championships with the same line-ups they employ in their regular league games, i.e., not to ban team members of non-Ukrainian origin.

The Nominating Committee, composed of Messrs. Twardowsky, Kozak, Kucil and Roman Rondiak, proposed the following single slate of candidates to the new governing board of USCAK: president, Mr. Stebelsky (Chornomorska Sitch, Newark); first vice-president - Mr. Isajiw (Tryzub, Philadelphia); second vice-president, Volodymyr Pavelchak (Levy, Chicago); third vice-president, Constantine Choliy (Ukraina, Toronto); secretary, Mr. Pyndus (Chornomorska Sitch); treasurer, Mr. Napora (Chornomorska Sitch), press officer, Mr. Twardowsky (Chornomorska Sitch); and members-at-large: Mr. Kucil (Rochester, N.Y.), Bohdan Red (Karpaty, Ontario) and Mykhaylo Kohut (Poltava, Rochester, N.Y.). Nominated as sports directors were: Eugene Chyzowych, (Chornomorska Sitch), soccer; Orest Fedash (KLK), volleyball; Mr. Sawczak (Tryzub), tennis; Ms. Bokalo (Chornomorska Sitch), swimming; the Rev. Marian Procyk (Popel Club, Buffalo, N. Y.) and Dr. Popovych (Chornomorska Sitch), chess; Severyn Palydovych (KLK), skiing; Mr. Tarasko (USC, New York), baseball and softball.

Nominated to the Auditing Committee were: Mr. Ciurpita (Chornomorska Sitch), Orest Lesiuk (Tryzub) and Catherine Matskiv (Chornomorska Sitch). Nominated to the Arbitration Board were: Yaroslav Kozak (Tryzub), Volodymyr Rudakevych (Chornomorska Sitch) and Volodymyr Simkiv (Tryzub).

This slate was elected unanimously.

Greetings were received from the Lviv Regional Office of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, the Lviv State Institute of Physical Culture, the Lviv School of Physical Culture, and a number of representatives of Ukrainian sports clubs in North America.

The meeting concluded with a banquet, ably emceed by Vice-President Isajiw.

| Home Page |