A REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL BATON TWIRLING FEDERATION
Beverly Johnson, WFNBTA President & Sandi Wiemers, WBTF President
Greetings to all,
Much of the information we are providing below was originally shared in 2018, but we felt it was important to re-share and expand further on more recent developments.
The Executive Committees of the World Baton Twirling Federation and the World Federation of National Baton Twirling Association’s leadership have been very fortunate to work alongside one another since 2013 in a concerted effort towards unification to become one organization together as the
International Baton Twirling Federation. At this stage in the development of the International Baton Twirling Federation, the by-laws have been completed and the IBTF has been registered and incorporated in the United States.
IBTF:
The IBTF is a non-profit organization, organized to foster the development of countries that desire to join in membership, for the advancement of sport baton twirling throughout the world and to provide these countries with the opportunity to participate and contribute to the improvement of the sport of baton twirling.
IBTF VISION:
To become the multidisciplinary governing body for the sport of baton twirling as recognized by the Global Association of International Sport Federations. This includes any use of the baton.
IBTF GOALS:
- To conduct World Championship competitions in each of our governed disciplines.
- The goal of the IBTF is to become the single governing body for the sport of baton twirling internationally.
- To create accreditation mechanisms for coaches and adjudicators of the disciplines we govern.
WHAT IS GAISF?
GAISF is the Global Association of International Sports Federations and is the umbrella organization for all international sports federations as well as organizers of multi-sports games and sport-related international associations.
WHY MUST BATON TWIRLING BE A MEMBER OF GAISF?
To achieve recognition as an official sport which validates acceptance in each country’s sport governing body. In many countries, it is a requirement to potentially be eligible for funding, technical assistance and sports training education methods, and also as leverage for the usage of training facilities. Recognition by Sport Accord provides validation of our sport to potential sponsors and mass media. GAISF is the ladder to Olympic Recognition.
It is critical for the IBTF to gain the required number of federations worldwide in order to apply for GAISF membership. This number presently is 40 countries on at least three continents.
WHY NOW?
The path to be part of the organization that defines our sport in the future is for the WFNBTA and WBTF and any other baton related organization to unite and act as one in the IBTF to achieve that vision.
The concept of the IBTF is to create an organization as a multi-disciplinary governing body for the sport of baton twirling.
Members under the IBTF umbrella are presently WBTF and WFNBTA. Both organizations will continue to exist and operate for now. Our hope is for all member federations to begin working together within their respective countries and to work towards country unification.
Application has been made to the Global Association of International Sport Federations (GAISF) by WBTF. The application process may take a lengthy period of time to gain approval. When acceptance is gained, and our member federations complete unification, then all of the members of WBTF and WFNBTA will become members of GAISF under the flag of the International Baton Twirling Federation.
Everyone must understand the requirements to achieve sport recognition from the International Olympic committee:
- There may be only one officially recognized International Federation per sport
- There may only be one World Championship in any given discipline of a sport. Therefore, we have formed the umbrella organization of the IBTF to organize together all future World Championships in any given disciplines beginning in 2021. This will include a majorette division coming from both organizations.
We have agreed to a 3-year cycle plan beginning in 2021 with two years of World competition that will be held during the first two weeks of August for the various disciplines of both organizations. The third year is off for both federations to hold their own competition (not a World competition).
- The First IBTF World Baton Twirling Championships will be held in August 2021
- The First IBTF World Freestyle Championships will be held in August 2022
- The First IBTF General Assembly will be held in August 2022
Following the 2022 IBTF World Championship, which allows IBTF to complete a full two-year cycle (2021 World Baton Twirling Championships and 2022 World Freestyle Championships), there will be a General Assembly of all the member federations - WBTF and WFNBTA.
The General Assembly will include elections for a new IBTF Executive Managing Committee.
- Both WBTF and WFNBTA will elect their officials for the new IBTF Executive Managing Committee. Neither federation will vote on the officials from the other federation(ie: WBTF countries vote on the WBTF officials, the WFNBTA countries vote on the WFNBTA officials). The newly elected people become the next Executive Managing Committee.
- First task for the new Executive Managing Committee will be to decide which positions the members occupy (i.e. President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, 2 Exec. At Large, 2 Sport Administrators, 2 Technical Chairs, 2 Judges Chairs, 2 Technical at Large
- The existing Executive Managing Committee stays in place until that first AGM.
The preliminary format and schedules are available for download on the IBTF Website at
www.ibtf-batontwirling.org
- 2019 INTERNATIONAL CUP-IBTF GRAND PRIX FORMAT & SCHEDULE
- 2021 WORLD BATON TWIRLING CHAMPIONSHIPS PRELIMINARY FORMAT SCHEDULE
- 2022 WORLD FREESTYLE PRELIMINARY FORMAT
COMMUNICATIONS:
- The IBTF has a quarterly newsletter called REVOLUTION that goes out with updates and information. If you haven’t signed up yet you may do so on the website at www.ibtf-batontwirling.org
- Sign up for the IBTF Facebook page and Instagram to stay current with our social media outlets
- The IBTF has a new website that will launch sometime this summer. Look for news about this in the near future in REVOLUTION and on our Social Media sites.
ITEMS THAT STILL NEED TO BE ACCOMPLISHED:
- WFNBTA must establish its Continental Commissions which were ratified by its AGM in 2018 in order to bring its members inside the organization. Currently, the commissions would consist only of Europe and North America
- WBTF needs 3 additional countries to have the required number of 40 members for GAISF application. WBTF has already established Continental Commissions in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Oceana.
- WBTF must complete their GAISF requirement of receiving official letters of no conflict from the following GAISF members: Federation International Gymnastics (FIG), World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) and International Cheer Union (ICU). Currently, WBTF has received the official letter from FIG and should have the official letters from WDSF and ICU in the very near future when negotiations have been completed.
WHY DID WBTF TAKE THE LEAD ON APPLICATION TO GAISF INSTEAD OF IBTF?
IBTF, as a new organization does not meet the rigid requirements that GAISF imposes for membership. This is the same for WFNBTA. Although NBTA has been established in North America and Europe for many years, it has only been officially established as an international organization since 2013 and by official international federation standards it still does not meet the requirement to be classified as an International Federation; having members on at least 3 Continents.
For all of the reasons above, the IBTF Executive felt it was important for WBTF to move forward with the application process, and an agreement was created stating that if and when the GAISF application was successful, both organizations would become a union as the International Baton Twirling Federation under the GAISF membership.
WBTF did not make this application with the intention of leaving WFNBTA behind or for that matter, absorbing the WFNBTA in the future. The WBTF and WFNBTA Executive Managing Committee has worked very hard together over the past six years to create and develop the future with great consideration and compromise.
This is about the future of our sport for our athletes and our coaches who deserve to be recognized and appreciated as other sports are. TOGETHER we can accomplish this!
Best Regards on behalf of the IBTF Executive Committee,
Official IC / Grand Prix Schedule
It is hard to believe we are 55 short days away from the 2019 Grand Prix in Limoges, France! Below is the official schedule for your reference.
Twirl Nations Clinic - August 7, 2019
Learn from the World's BEST at Twirl Nations 2019.
2019 All-Star Staff for Twirl Nations
Seishi Inagaki - Japan
Jason Travers - France
Chiharu Tachibana - Japan
Danielle Zambito - Italy
Guilia Caporgno - Italy
Fabio Agaliati - Italy
Savannah Miller - USA
Date: August 7, 2019
Location: Zenith Metropole, Limoges, France
Time: 30 minutes after Semi-Finals of the day
Cost: US $40.00 via
WBTF Website by July 15
US $55.00 or €60.00 on-site.
Online payment via PayPal in US funds only
NOTE: PayPal charges the following transaction fees to you:
Sales within the US: 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction
International Sales: 4.4% plus $0.30 per transaction
Group Registration: If registering a group of athletes, please pay for the total number of registrations online, then fill out this form with the name of the person responsible for payment and email a list of the names of those attending the clinic to
info@wbtf.org.
Onsite Registration: Onsite registration for the Twirl Nations Clinic will take place during regular registration hours on Sunday, August 4 & Monday, August 5. There will be no registration period of the day of the clinic and those who have not pre-registered will not be permitted to enter.
