Retiring ISSF Secretary General Schreiber: “become united again” - Vice-President Gary Anderson steps down: “wish a bright future to our sport”

68th ISSF General Assembly · Munich, GER

Mr. Franz Schreiber shared a farewell message with the Shooting sport family, on his last day of service as ISSF Secretary General.

At the 2018 ISSF General Assembly in Munich, today, retiring Secretary General Franz Schreiber (who did not stand for re-election) shared a farewell message with the Shooting sport family, while at the same time offering his support to the new management for the transition period. 

During his report to the General Assembly, Mr. Schreiber said: 

“I will not stand for re-election. I will fall back to my CEO position. In this position I will be available for a transition period.” 

“Please have only the sport on your agenda. Please leave politics out of your agenda. Please become united again.”

In a farewell message to the Shooting Sport family, which will be published in full in the next ISSF News Magazine, Mr. Schreiber said:

“I did not stand for re-election. Friends and colleagues asked me several times why I took this decision. And indeed, it hasn’t been an easy one,” 

“It is no secret that this four letters, “ISSF”, represented more than simply a job for me. My family has been bounded to the history and to the life of the Federation since President Olegario Vazquez Raña took office in 1980, along with my father Horst Schreiber. I have been serving in the position of Secretary General since 2010 and throughout my career I dedicated 38 years to the federation, which is more than half of my life.”

“When President Olegario Vázquez Raña announced he was going to retire at the end of 2018, I decided not to stand for re-election. I decided that it was time for a change in my life, time to leave space to a new leadership, time to stop and to spend some quality time with my beloved family and to take care of my health.”

“I am proud of the job that I have done and I am grateful for the trust I have been enjoying from President Olegario Vázquez Raña and from the whole Shooting sport family in all these years.”

“In my capacity as Secretary General, I have no doubts that we are passing forward a fully functional, healthy and modern Federation. In these years, our efforts were directed to improve the regulations of the sport, to implement an effective anti-doping system and to state our educational role through the ISSF Academy and the ISSF Workshop for Championship Organizers. We invested in communication, social media, TV distribution, branding and youth programs, in order to keep up with the changing environment. At the same time, the ISSF fostered its transparency and governance, and strengthened its ties with international bodies.”

“While leaving, I wish unity to the Shooting sport family. We are one of the oldest sport, one of the oldest federations in the world, and I am sure that if we stand united, we have a bright future in front of us.” 

“I would like to take this chance to thank all the friends, all colleagues, volunteers, freelancers and the ISSF staff members that have been sharing all this with me in the last 38 years. We had been a great team and we delivered! I would also like to publicly acknowledge thanks and much appreciation to my family for being part of this. My wife Brigitte, my daughter Franziska, my brother Wolfgang and my mother always supported me. Finally and most importantly, I thank Mr. Olegario Vazquez Raña for his leadership, support and trust!”

“Good luck to the new leadership and to the whole ISSF!”

Marco Dalla De

Vice-President Gary Anderson steps down: “wish a bright future to our sport”

68th ISSF General Assembly · Munich, GER

The two-time Olympic Champion retires after being part of the shooting sport movement for 60 years.

As the 2018 ISSF General Assembly meets in Munich to elect its new officers, long-standing ISSF Vice-President Gary Anderson (USA) was not a candidate for re-election. 

The 2-time Olympic Champion, 7-time world champion, and 2-time Pan American champion were first elected in the ISSF (UIT at that time) Administrative Council in 1978, along with President Olegario Vàzquez Raña. He was then elected in the ISSF Executive Committee in 1980 and became ISSF Vice-President in 1990. 

While retiring after serving the Federation for 40 years, 79-year old Anderson addressed a farewell message to the Shooting sport community. The full text of the message will be published in the next ISSF News Magazine edition. 

Mr. Anderson’s message reads: 

“This General Assembly concludes my 60-year international Shooting career that began as an athlete and subsequently encompassed 40 years of service as an elected ISSF official. My farewell message to you is a message of thankfulness for the experiences I have had and the opportunities I was given to serve our sport.”

[…]

“For the past 38 years, I have been privileged to be part of an ISSF leadership team that made the changes necessary to transform our sport into a modern Olympic sport.  Under Olegario Vázquez Raña’s leadership, Shooting changed from being an endangered Olympic sport to becoming a big, highly respected and enduring Olympic sport.  Shooting changed to become a full gender equal sport.  Shooting became a spectator sport, with dynamic start-from-zero finals and real-time electronic targets.  The introduction of new women’s and air gun events changed Shooting into a world sport with universality in participation and governance.”

[…] 

“Now our era as ISSF leaders is ending and it is time for a new generation of leaders.  As we say farewell to the ISSF, I believe President Olegario Vázquez Raña, Secretary General Schreiber and other members of our leadership team can step down knowing the ISSF and Shooting are stronger and better positioned as an Olympic sport.”

“Living through 60 years as an athlete, national federation leader, and ISSF official may seem like a long time, but these years have gone swiftly. I am sincerely grateful for the experiences I have had and the wonderful people with whom I have served. I want to recognize now-departed ISSF leaders who encouraged and mentored me, especially Secretary General Horst Schreiber and Executive Committee members Bjorn Schüllstrom and Bernhard Fischer. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to Olegario Vázquez Raña for the loyalty, friendship and support he has given me. I owe another huge thank you to outgoing Secretary General Franz Schreiber for the close friendship and collaboration we have enjoyed.  A special thank you must go to my wife Ruth Ann and our two children, Kirsten and Erik, who often had to sacrifice time with their husband and father so the ISSF work could be done.”

“And to all members of the shooting sports family, thank you and best wishes for a bright future for our great sport!”

Marco Dalla Dea


Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl
Source = ISSF Website