Simeon Hart took a short detour during an Italian vacation with his family in late August.  He took the opportunity to visit the office of FSSI – Federazione Sport Sordi Italia (Italian Deaf Sports Federation). Guido Zanecchia, President of FSSI, was on hand to receive President Hart at the office to discuss about golf in Italy.  The meeting was very productive and information was exchanged to strengthen relationship between WDGF and FSSI.

This coming March 2017, FSSI will be hosting their annual general meeting.  President Zanecchia considers inviting the WDGF to the meeting; President Hart said, “I think this is a good way to start and enable Deaf Italian people learn about World Deaf Golf Federation and biennial World Deaf Golf Championships.  This would be a great way to get the word out to attract potential Deaf Italian golfers.” If President Hart is formally invited, he will have the opportunity to give a 30-minute presentation about WDGF and other topics including WDGC and Deaflympics.

During their information sharing, Zanecchia and Hart have realized that there was a Deaf Italian golfer who showed an interest in attending the European Deaf Golf Open Championships (EDGOC) 2015 in Norway.  Somehow, the contact was lost and they are hoping someone could step forward to help re-establish contacts.

In other topics, Hart provided different examples on how FSSI could promote golf in their country.  One of the examples is the IDGU (Irish Deaf Golf Union)’s Par 3 competitions, which is a good foundation of introducing Deaf people with no or little experience to the sport.  FSSI had organised a putting competition last June.  Deaflympics and Paralympics were discussed as well.  “I am pleased to say that Guido is very broad-minded and shared with me throughout the meeting,” remarked President Hart.

About World Deaf Golf Federation (WDGF):  The WDGF is a non-profit organisation, founded in 1994, that serves Deaf and Hard of Hearing golfers with the hearing loss of 55 dB in the better ear.  The WDGF currently has 17 members and is an affiliate member of ICSD (International Committee of Deaf Sports – www.ciss.org).

About World Deaf Golf Championships (WDGC):  The WDGF is the governing body for the sport of golf in Deaf Sports and oversees the organising of the biannual world championships.  The next WDGC is in Dublin, Ireland by July 2018.

About Deaflympics:  The ICSD is responsible for the Deaflympics and oversees the operations of the event every two years, winter and summer in the alternative biennual year.  Golf is now included in the Summer Deaflympics programme and the first appearance will be at the 2017 Dealfympics in Samsun, Turkey (www.2017deaflympics.com).