Roger Coles

World Leisure Community of Excellence Award

The World Leisure Community of Excellence Award approved by the Board is designed to recognize communities worldwide that have made substantive contributions to promoting leisure as a means to enhance the human condition. Recipients can be communities of any size that have undertaken broad-based citizen involvement to promote leisure as integral to the social, cultural, economic and sustainable environmental development of the community. Examples may include:

Qingdao World Leisure Games 2015: beyond expectations

At its Board Meeting in October 2012 in Rimini, Italy, the Board awarded the 2nd World Leisure Games to Qingdao in the Peoples’ Republic of China. With four key objectives, the games exceeded them all: (1) economic development, (2) enhancing the quality of life, (3) mass participation, and (4) enhancing national and international reputation of the city. Themed “In Leisure In Nature”, the games were held for 10 days in September. Seventeen events were held including nine international events, sports climbing, free style roller skating, street dancing, e-sports, marathon, dragon boat, chess, martial arts, and beach volleyball. Eight domestic events were conducted, including equestrian, cycling, fishing, beach football, Chinese chess, Qingdao Gouji (a local poker game), sports dance, a swim-across Jiaozhou Bay, and aerobic dance. These activities were chosen by the local organizing committee in consultation with the WLO Board. Total participants, including those leading up to the games, exceeded 500,000 with 92 countries and regions participating and 100,000 audiences.

An update on the world leisure organization happenings

After a most successful Congress in Durban, South Africa filled with technology, socializing, food, great presentations, discussions, bands and dancing (if you wished), a good time was had by all. At the Congress people were able to skype in for their session presentations and an app was used to show you the sessions and speakers for the day. Themes included: ageing, environment, business management, health/happiness, gender culture, education, society, human rights, tourism, technology, employee wellness society and social cohesion. Again, my thanks to Maliga Nadoo and her committees for a well arranged, informative and vibrant congress. Agreements have been signed for the Congresses in São Paulo in 2018, Pingu/Beijing 2020 and nine cities have shown an interest for the 2022 Congress.

A Farewell and Tribute to Dr Christopher R. Edginton having served 10 years as our Secretary General

Christopher R. Edginton served as Secretary General of the World Leisure Organization (WLO), a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations from 2004 to 2014. He also serves as a Professor in the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services at the University of Northern Iowa, USA. He accepted his new role as the R. J. McElroy Professor of Youth Leadership Studies. This is one of only three endowed professorships in the USA in recreation and parks education profession. Identified as a leading proponent of the application of contemporary management concepts in the recreation, parks and leisure services field (Howard & Crompton, 1980), Dr Edginton has published nearly 300 articles and 30 books focused on the topics of leisure programming, management and organizational goals. Edginton founded the nationally award winning Camp Adventure Child & Youth Services programme, providing high quality, high impact child and youth services on a worldwide basis. The programme serves over 500,000 individuals annually with a staff of 750 and has been offered in 30 countries and US territories at 150 programme sites. Among his honors are the Distinguished Fellow Award and Innovative Teaching Award, Society of Park and Educators; J.B. Nash Scholar Award; National Literary Award, National Recreation and Park Association; Honor Award and R. Tait McKenzie Award, American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; Biennial Distinguished Scholar Award, International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance; Charles K. Brightbill Award; Legend in Parks and Recreation, American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration; and in Mobile at our 2014 Congress, he accepted the Distinguished Services Awards from the United States Sports Academy and the World Leisure Organization. He is a Fellow in the Academy of Leisure Sciences; American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration; American Leisure Academy; North American Society for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance; and the World Leisure Academy and Iowa Academy of Education. The accomplishments of Dr E, as affectionately called by his students, are many as he travelled the world and spoke on behalf of WLO. One of his biggest accomplishments working alongside Dr Derek Casey, former board chair, and the WLO Board was to stabilize and strengthen its financial resources. He continued the development of the World Leisure Expo and International Leisure Development Forum in Hangzhou, China where he was often a presenter. He crafted a new and updated strategic plan entitled, World Leisure Organization – Leisure: Enhancing the Human Condition 2009–2014 (Edginton & Coles, 2009). Dr Edginton oversaw the development and continuation of the World Leisure Games in Chuncheon, Korea and this year in Qingdao, China. He implemented the World Leisure Chapters programme in Taipei, Hong Kong and Quebec. Another major investment was the transitioning of the World Leisure Journal from and World Leisure Journal, 2015 Vol. 57, No. 1, 82–83, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2014.1001170

Advancing the World Leisure Organization in the future

I am both humbled and extremely honored to be writing my first note to the membership/ readership as your new Chair of the World Leisure Organization’s (WLO) Board of Directors. As I look back briefly, I am struck by many accomplishments completed within this past year yet know that the board representing you, the membership, must be proactive, relevant and decisive as we take the next step in enhancing the organisation. At the XII World Congress in Rimini, we emphasised the fact that by 2030 over five billion of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. Thus, leisure’s role in the process of urban development will become extremely important. The planning of urban areas and its relationship to leisure will be a major focus for architects, city planners, government officials, politicians, leisure professionals and citizens in the coming decades. Our three World Leisure Centers of Excellence: Vancouver Island, Canada; Arizona State University, USA; and in 2014, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands (WLCE) are running smoothly and are taking an active role in the planning of the 2014 Mobile Bay World Leisure Congress and we will all meet again in November 2013 at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. It was Rene Dubos in the early 1970s at the United Nation’s Conference on the Human Environment that mentioned “Think Globally, Act Locally” and that is the motto of our WLO Chapters. Our 12 WLO Commissions represent much of the organisations ongoing programming and as such are expected to make major contributions to the organisation’s three main objectives of research, information dissemination and advocacy.

The World Leisure Organization: Promoting Social, Cultural, Economic and Sustainable Environmental Development

The World Leisure Organization is a non-profit, non-governmental association of persons and organizations from throughout the world. The organization operates with consultative status with the United Nations. Through its advocacy, research and educational efforts, the organization promotes leisure as integral to social, cultural, economic and sustainable environment development. Among its programs and services are congresses and regional conferences; expositions and special events, summits and forums, educational and training programs, World Leisure Commissions, World Leisure International Innovational Prize, World Leisure Journal, World Leisure International Scholarship Program, World Leisure Chapters, and World Leisure Academy.