Martin Doulton appointed FISU Oceania President

Martin Doulton, Director of Team Monash at Monash University, has been appointed President of the Oceania Executive of international university sports federation FISU (Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire).

Confirmed in his role FISU Oceania's Annual General Meeting in Sydney, Australia during the five day Australian University Games, Doulton replaces outgoing President Ray Preston.

Commenting on his appointment, Doulton stated "I am humbled to have been elected as President of FISU Oceania ... and hope that over the next four years I can live up to the expectations – especially my own - that holding this position entails.

"I have really appreciated the support of Australian University Sport, FISU Oceania members and FISU colleagues over the past four years of involvement in FISU Oceania and I would like to acknowledge the efforts of outgoing President Ray Preston and retiring exec member Dr Ian Murphy in getting FISU Oceania to this point."

Doulton, a Director of Australian University Sport (AUS) organisers of the Australian University Games, added that he is looking forward to working with the additional newly elected Executive Committee members, consisting of Alifereti Cawanibuka (Vice President), Kelly Blas (Secretary General), Michael White, Eric Michalak, and Lipine Perestene along with the support provided by Don Knapp, Toni Lourens and the rest of the AUS team.

He explained "I am positive that our commitment to the FISU family, which is to make sure we finish our term with FISU Oceania being in better shape than when we started, can be achieved."

The meeting in Sydney also enabled student representatives from the Oceania region to attend and observe the General Assembly and then take part in a strategic planning session that will lead FISU Oceania into the next 12 months and beyond.

Commenting on the planning session, Doulton highlighted “from our stable administrative base we now need to focus on reviewing and refreshing the CUSF Strategic Plan for 2015-2019 in line with the FISU direction. This future may well include:

1. Resourcing of NUSF support programs at sub regional level eg in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia through a Regional Development Funding Program
2. Roll out to all members of Capacity building Education based programs such as the My Unisport event and Team management seminars
3. Ensuring all current FISU members in Oceania maintain their membership of FISU for the 2015-19 mandate period and support sustainable membership growth
4. Support and strengthen intra-continental interactions between members via the sport, administration and student networks
5. Build and then strengthen relationships with other Continental organisations so that closer interactions and possible partnerships could well provide mutual benefits and gain a better return on our resources than if we did things alone eg ONOC, WHO." 

With student being the backbone of the FISU community and the focus of its mandate to promote university sport, FISU Oceania is committed to ensuring its students have an active voice on the FISU Oceania executive. 

Doulton concluded "one thing that we all remain committed to is having the voice of our most important stakeholder group, our students, heard on the Executive Committee. 

“With a plan to formalise the Student Commission by January 2015 I am keen that a nominee from this group will be welcomed into the Executive Committee soon after.”

Members of the newly elected FISU Oceania Executive Committee to serve for four years are:

President - Martin Doulton (Australia)
Vice President - Alifereti Cawanibuka (Fiji)
Secretary-General - Kelly Blas (Guam)
Committee Member - Eric Michalak (New Caledonia)
Committee Member - Michael White (Northern Mariana Islands)
Committee Member - Lipine Peresetene (Samoa)
Ex Officio - Don Knapp (Australia).

In addition to his roles with Monash Sport, AUS and FISU Oceania, Doulton is a FISU Executive Committee member and a Board member of VicSport.

Globally, FISU is organised by continent based associations.

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