Venezuelan surfing has a new federation
Thaina Luna, a 37-year-old graduate in Administration, is the president. Former professional Ahmed Pérez was elected vice president.
By Maria Alejandra Peña, from Venezuela
After several years without any direction, the Venezuelan surfing federation came back into existence today, after extraordinary elections were held that elected Thaina Luna, a graduate in administration, as president.
The official elections were supposed to take place in May 2017, however, the people in charge at that time failed to carry them out. Faced with this situation, Venezuelan high-performance surfing athletes, led by the legendary longboarder Ronald Reyes, took the reins and after a long administrative process the entity was reestablished.
“I am more committed than ever to the sport in my country, betting on a well-structured organization, changing paradigms of surfing,” the newly elected president Luna told DUKE.
“For us, the main challenges are to popularize knowledge about surfing, which is the field in which we are working, in order to achieve a real and impartial benefit for all athletes involved in this field. We must have a change of culture in this discipline and begin to promote the sport. It is very important that our athletes have sufficient preparation and performance to bring medals to Venezuela,” he added.
The final list of delegates with voting rights attended the elections held at the facilities of the National Institute of Sport (IND) in Caracas, made up of high-performance athletes such as Francisco Paiva Hernández, Edimar Luque, Armando Colucci, among others; as well as prominent figures from the Venezuelan surfing community and representatives from the Caracas, Costa Oeste Salinas, La Bahía, Waikiki, Chirimena, El Palito and Rocky Point clubs.
Dayana Querales, a member of the IND Legal Advisory Board, attended the election and provided legal advice and supervision throughout the process.
“It has been a hard task. I have been a member of the national team for 27 years. I have seen all the election processes and I can attest that this was a unique process, the first of its kind in history. It was carried out in the most transparent and effective way and with massive participation,” explained Ronald Reyes.
The prominent longboarder added: “Those who want to work should come forward. Surfing is now an Olympic sport and we are here to add and not subtract. The call is for public and private companies, entrepreneurs, surf schools, foundations, coaches, athletes and anyone who wants to join in and contribute to Venezuelan surfing.”
The board of directors of the federation for the period 2017-2021 is as follows:
President: Thaina Luna
Vice President: Ahmed Perez
General Secretary: Beatriz Jaspe
Treasurer: Miriam Perez
Spokesperson: Jesus Camacho
Council of Honor
President: Ingrid Castro
Principal: Juan Carlos Luna
Main: Freddy Lynch
Main: Freddy Arabia
Principal: Nelson Martinez
Main: Nathaly Vidal
Comptroller Council
President: Yaritza Rodriguez
Principal: Luis Gutierrez
Principal: Zuli Oropeza
Principal: David Alvarado
Main: Rafael Benitez
Pictured below is Ahmed Pérez, a Venezuelan professional surfer from the early 2000s, now the vice president of the federation.
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