On 15 September, representatives of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and of national sports federations met for the training workshop as part of the RINGS project.  

Emmanuel Kolympadis, Secretary General of the HOC, opened the seminar by emphasising the importance of behind-the-scenes work and proper planning, analysis and programming in sport. Given the relevance of strategic planning, Kolympadis underlined his satisfaction with the project by stating: “The HOC will always participate in similar programmes and will at the same time motivate the sports federations, to promote and develop sports on a scientific basis in order to improve its governance”. 

Dr Norbert Schütte from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz conducted the workshop, during which he highlighted the advantages of strategic planning in sports and analysed the challenges and obstacles presented in its implementation, with some practical tips and tricks. The University of Mainz is Work Package leader of the RINGS Handbook on Strategic Management and Dr Schütte a co-author of the Handbook on Strategic Management of NOCs. 

About the RINGS project 

The RINGS project, led by the EOC EU Office and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Sport programme, is running from January 2020 to December 2022 and focuses on the strategic management of NOCs (ie., change management, public affairs and communications, governance of NOCs). The last phase of the project is to organise national training workshops in each of the 11 partner NOCs. Each of them focuses on the specific themes that are relevant to the national context