MINUTES OF WMTS' PRESIDENTS' MEETING, AUG. 25, 2004, AUSTRIA

The 34th meeting of the WMTS was called to order by Dr. Toru Higashi, President. 21 Presidents/Delegates, or their Representatives were in attendance. Dr. Higashi's report stated 402 people attended; perhaps this is the largest number ever. He acknowledged the great work of Drs. Heinz Pflueger and Doris Trubert-Exinger in organizing the Congress. He said Dr. Hans Nerell is stepping down from the Executive Secretary's position, and he has appointed Dr. Jim Manion as the new E.S.

Dr. Manion said he is honored to have the position. He stated he will work hard for WMTS. He acknowledged Dr. Nerell as being a charter member of WMTS, who-to the best of Manion's knowledge-never missed a meeting, and who organized 3 successful meetings in Sweden-1977, 1987, 1996.

New Vice-President. A new Vice-President, Dr. Micaela Hernberg, Finland, has been elected by the delegates. Dr. Boucek, Croatia, withdrew his name from nomination. Dr. Migala, Poland, was nominated too. Dr. Hernberg received the majority of votes. [She will be in office one year; then she will be President-Elect for two years, followed by President for two years. Dr. Gerhard Groell, Germany, will become President next year for two years.]

Report of Austrian Meeting. Drs. Pflueger and Trubert-Exinger reported on the Portschach meeting. There were 254 doctors and 55 spouses who all played tennis, and there were 77 non-playing spouses.

Dr. Pflueger made an earnest plea for better attendance at the scientific sessions in future years. He emphasized the high quality of presentations, the great amount of work and expense involved to arrange the speakers, and the worry that sponsors would see low attendance and withdraw future monetary support. He said that Presidents must strongly encourage their members to attend.

Dr. Pflueger also spoke of a possible "FILA-Connection." FILA helped this meeting by donating shirts to all players and shoes to some. This donation is approximately at the $10,000 level. Drs. Manion, Pflueger, and the FILA representative, Mr. Rohrich, will begin discussions in the next month to see how WMTS and FILA can both benefit from the association. [Poland & Malta, and all others, will become aware of this as soon as possible.]

Report of Next Year's Meeting in Poland. Drs. Migala and Galubinski presented a video on the meeting in Poland, August 20-26-2005. This will be in Gdynia and Sopot, on the Baltic Sea. This area is also close to Gdansk. Plans for the event are progressing nicely.

Report of Malta's Meeting, 2006. Mr. Michael Abele, who was Dr. Angelo Psaila's Representative from Malta, spoke of the plans for the Malta meeting in 2006. He said that already much work has been done in preparation.

Drs. Lon Olsen, U.S.A., and Milkovic, Croatia, spoke briefly about hosting meetings in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Website Discussion. Dr. Balazs Sonkodi, Hungary, presented an important message: WMTS must build an internet community for itself. The site is already in place, but it is not very active. The website address is www.medicaltennis.org

The possibilities for the website are unlimited. Newsletters can be set up. Scientific programs and abstracts can be posted. There can be on-line registration for meetings. Each country can have a sub-site. There can be e-mail databases. There can be slide presentations for upcoming meetings. Sponsorships can be gained for some revenue.

Dr. Sonkodi urged the leaders of WMTS of USE the website themselves and to encourage ALL members to do the same. He closed by saying, "If you are not on the internet, you NEED to get on it".

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

James L. Manion, M.D.
Executive Secretary
World Medical Tennis Society
September 10, 2004

MINUTES OF WMTS' PRESIDENTS' MEETING, AUG. 25, 2004, AUSTRIA

The 34th meeting of the WMTS was called to order by Dr. Toru Higashi, President. 21 Presidents/Delegates, or their Representatives were in attendance. Dr. Higashi's report stated 402 people attended; perhaps this is the largest number ever. He acknowledged the great work of Drs. Heinz Pflueger and Doris Trubert-Exinger in organizing the Congress. He said Dr. Hans Nerell is stepping down from the Executive Secretary's position, and he has appointed Dr. Jim Manion as the new E.S.

Dr. Manion said he is honored to have the position. He stated he will work hard for WMTS. He acknowledged Dr. Nerell as being a charter member of WMTS, who-to the best of Manion's knowledge-never missed a meeting, and who organized 3 successful meetings in Sweden-1977, 1987, 1996.

New Vice-President. A new Vice-President, Dr. Micaela Hernberg, Finland, has been elected by the delegates. Dr. Boucek, Croatia, withdrew his name from nomination. Dr. Migala, Poland, was nominated too. Dr. Hernberg received the majority of votes. [She will be in office one year; then she will be President-Elect for two years, followed by President for two years. Dr. Gerhard Groell, Germany, will become President next year for two years.]

Report of Austrian Meeting. Drs. Pflueger and Trubert-Exinger reported on the Portschach meeting. There were 254 doctors and 55 spouses who all played tennis, and there were 77 non-playing spouses.

Dr. Pflueger made an earnest plea for better attendance at the scientific sessions in future years. He emphasized the high quality of presentations, the great amount of work and expense involved to arrange the speakers, and the worry that sponsors would see low attendance and withdraw future monetary support. He said that Presidents must strongly encourage their members to attend.

Dr. Pflueger also spoke of a possible "FILA-Connection." FILA helped this meeting by donating shirts to all players and shoes to some. This donation is approximately at the $10,000 level. Drs. Manion, Pflueger, and the FILA representative, Mr. Rohrich, will begin discussions in the next month to see how WMTS and FILA can both benefit from the association. [Poland & Malta, and all others, will become aware of this as soon as possible.]

Report of Next Year's Meeting in Poland. Drs. Migala and Galubinski presented a video on the meeting in Poland, August 20-26-2005. This will be in Gdynia and Sopot, on the Baltic Sea. This area is also close to Gdansk. Plans for the event are progressing nicely.

Report of Malta's Meeting, 2006. Mr. Michael Abele, who was Dr. Angelo Psaila's Representative from Malta, spoke of the plans for the Malta meeting in 2006. He said that already much work has been done in preparation.

Drs. Lon Olsen, U.S.A., and Milkovic, Croatia, spoke briefly about hosting meetings in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Website Discussion. Dr. Balazs Sonkodi, Hungary, presented an important message: WMTS must build an internet community for itself. The site is already in place, but it is not very active. The website address is www.medicaltennis.org

The possibilities for the website are unlimited. Newsletters can be set up. Scientific programs and abstracts can be posted. There can be on-line registration for meetings. Each country can have a sub-site. There can be e-mail databases. There can be slide presentations for upcoming meetings. Sponsorships can be gained for some revenue.

Dr. Sonkodi urged the leaders of WMTS of USE the website themselves and to encourage ALL members to do the same. He closed by saying, "If you are not on the internet, you NEED to get on it".

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

James L. Manion, M.D.
Executive Secretary
World Medical Tennis Society
September 10, 2004

Excerpts from Dr. Stanley McCampbell's, "My Memoirs of The World Medical Tennis Society," written in 1991.

"To me it has been a great honor to know and enjoy the friendship of doctors from around the world. It has been the most exciting experience of my life. Doctors... can be assured that if they travel thousands of miles to meetings, they will be certain of a warm welcome, well-organized tournaments and scientific sessions, and a grand, good time. It is an opportunity, unequalled, as far as I know, of enjoying the friendship of interesting, fun loving, sportsman-like doctors who will be friends for life. I would certainly like to do it all over again."