Plans new administration format with Bureau introduction
Karl Izzo has just announced that he will be running for a second term in office as president of the Aquatic Sport Association. The former Malta waterpolo coach sat down with Valhmor Camilleri on the Sportsdesk podcast to discuss his ambitions for the future…
Since Karl Izzo was elected as president of the ASA three years ago, aquatic sport in Malta has undergone significant changes, which have seen the sport enjoy considerable success in its various disciplines.
The waterpolo national teams have made significant strides forward on the international scene, with the men’s senior national team set for their sixth successive participation in the European Championships.
Athletes in swimming and artistic swimming have put on a strong showing in this year’s Games of the Small States of Europe, while Open Water Swimming is still trying to find its feet after Birkirkara St Joseph stopped operating last year.
Izzo said that he was pleased with the work carried out by the association under his charge in the past three years, but admitted there was still a lot of work to be done, particularly in the disciplines of swimming and Open Water Swimming.
“The past three years have flown by and we managed to do a lot of work,” Izzo told the Sportsdesk podcast.
“I can say that 80 per cent of my manifesto has been completed and it’s quite a feat given the fact that we are talking about a governing body that is responsible of four disciplines.
“Waterpolo is the biggest sport and where we achieved a lot of excellent results while on the other hand, I am not happy with how swimming has developed in the past three years and I am determined to work harder to put this discipline on stronger foundations.
“Artistic Swimming is a growing sport that has secured some great results in the past months, particularly winning gold medals in the GIES while we have big plans for Open Water Swimming as we believe it deserves much more attention as it can provide a lot of satisfactions.”
Waterpolo success
Waterpolo has brought a lot of success to our country in recent years at international level and Izzo singled out the appointment of former international players as part of the ASA coaching staff as a major factor in the national teams’ success across all age groups.
“I was never in favour of the system adopted before my tenure where I, as national coach, formed part of the technical team alongside Anthony Farragut and together we were in charge of all national selections,” Izzo said.
“After my appointment, I immediately set up a strong technical coaching staff, spearheaded by our national coach and technical director Milan Carioca, that has brought a major positive change of how our selections are nurtured.
“Every national selection has a coach, assistant coach, team manager and physio that has provided a more professional sector. The biggest difference has been the appointment of the likes of Jonathan Valletta and Paul Privateer, who had no coaching experience, but I alway knew that they had the knowledge to help our young players fulfil their potential.
“However, I cannot but not thank our clubs who have assisted our drive by bringing to their set-up excellent foreign coaches on a full-time basis and they are in continuous contact with our national team coaches thus ensuring that our youngsters are being looked after all year round.
“All this work is mirrored in the success of our national team who has qualified for the European Championship finals for a sixth time and I firmly believe that there is more to come in the near future if we keep investing in the sport.”
ASA administration
Izzo said that if he is given another three-year mandate he is determined to effect a major overhaul in the governing body’s association as he is planning to merge the association’s Executive Committee and the Council into one body to ensure more transparency and efficiency in decision-making.
“We are planning to replace the current ASA Council and Executive Board structure with an ASA Bureau,” Izzo said.
“This change will ensure that the members of our council will be given the opportunity to see what is being done with the association’s finances, the coaches’ contracts and will have a say in the major decisions taken by the association.
“In the Bureau there is going to be a representative from each club from every discipline and will also include a new vice-president for both swimming, artistic swimming and open water swimming.
“The biggest novelty is that this Bureau will have a chairman and I have decided to give the role to Chris Agius, a person who is synonymous with Maltese sport and respected by everyone. When I approached him he was excited with this new role and I am sure he is the best person to fill this position given his experience.”
In the past two years, the ASA has won the right to host the prestigious Final Four tournament of the men’s Champions League.
Izzo said that next year Malta will be hosting a much bigger event at the National Pool after the association has succeeded in bringing to our islands the Final Four tournaments of both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
“For us it is of great pride that we have been given the right to host the Final Four of the men’s Champions League for a third successive year but we will also organise for the first time the women’s Final Four,” Izzo said. “Hosting such a prestigious tournament has put Malta on the international map of waterpolo with over 4.5 million viewers watching the event on TV – a great advert for our country.
“Added to that, this tournament has left a lasting legacy as thanks to the support of the government and Sport Malta we have installed a new flood lighting system while this year we are going to be a new stand that will further increase the capacity of the National Pool.”
Izzo said that the Final Four tournament will not be the only international waterpolo events to be held in Malta next year.
“The ASA has won the right to host for the first time, the World Cup B tournaments for both the men’s and women’s categories,” he said.
“The men’s tournament is set to host 12 teams, but that number could increase, and will also feature the Russian selection, after they were given the go-ahead to compete under a neutral flag. The tournament will be held a week after Easter.
“On the other hand, the women’s World Cup B will be staged in the last week of April, and hopefully this participation will provide a good preparation for future international competitions.”
Swimming
Turning his sights on the sport of swimming, Izzo made no secret that he is not happy with how the sport has developed in recent years as he feels that the standard of our swimmers is still not good enough.
“I am not happy with how the sport of swimming has developed in recent years,” Izzo said.
“It’s true we won several medals at the Games of the Small States of Europe, but personally I believe that we should aspire to much more than just success in the Small Nations.
“Our goal is to produce swimmers that are capable of achieving qualification to the World, European Champion-ships and Olympics on their own merit and not through a wild card.
“The system is not working and we need to find new solutions to help our swimmers. Our national coach Delon Dannhauser has returned home due to family reasons and we have appointed Emma Swanwick who is currently on probation.
“Our vision is that the national coach visits the clubs and oversees the work being carried out by the coaches in our clubs. The main goal is to try and put a lot of emphasis on the grassroots as in my opinion our established swimmers has reached a level of performance that is difficult to reach a higher standard.
“We do have a lot of young swimmers who possess great talent and we need to focus a lot on them. Added to that, it’s important that provide more coaching education through our agreement with Swimming England.
“I firmly believe that there is a good possibility that we start achieving better results in swimming in the coming years.”
Open Water Swimming
Izzo said that in the next three years he determined to work hard and give a more solid platform to Open Water Swimming.
The sudden closure of Birkirkara St Joseph has left the sport on the ropes as there was a sudden drop in the organisation of open water swimming events.
Izzo said that he is working hard to attract a number of people to strengthen the sport’s administration.
“When the Birkirkara St Joseph Club, the sport suffered a blow, but through my contacts, I found a number of people who will take over the sport, and we will have a vice president of the sport in the Bureau,” Izzo said.
“I have identified people who have great knowledge of the sport that will be involved, and we have also reached an agreement with Transport Malta that all open water events will be held under the auspices of the ASA.
“Added to hard, in October 2026 we will be hosting the Ocean Man, which is one of the biggest open water events held in the world. We had successful talks with the Ocean Man organisers and next year we will be having over 600 swimmers taken part.
“Added to that, we will have the Comen Cup in Malta next year and that will be another major attraction to put us on the international map.”
Izzo said that the artistic swimming has provided Malta with a lot of satisfaction in the last few years and said that it was important to bring more people in the sport’s set-up to maintain the growth.
“The work put in by the artistic swimming national team set-up have been exceptional and we need to push on as this sport is growing,” Izzo said.
“At present, there are two clubs that are practising the sport – Synchro Knights and Sirens – and there is also talk that Exiles and Birżebbuġa are keen to have an artistic swimming club too.
“We are keen to continue to invest in the sport’s grassroots to ensure we have an even better future.”
National Pool
At the end of the interview, Izzo announced that the ASA is holding talks with the authorities so that it takes full responsibility of the National Pool.
“It’s my dream that the National Pool will be managed by the ASA as we are keen to impose our vision on how the venue is run,” Izzo said.
“If we manage to get this done it will give our association a major financial tool that will help us generate the much-needed revenue to continue to invest in all the disciplines that we cater.
“This year, for the first time, the ASA will finish with a profit after several years. It has been achieved thanks to the hard work of my team as we are always looking to attract sponsors that can provide us with the funds, which will be reinvested in our athletes so we can continue to build on the excellent results we achieved in the last few years.”
