Dear Friends, a wind of change is blowing through our sports world and right now everyone can feel it. Since my elections, back in 2005, I knew our Federation had to "raise from its ashes", working hardly on its image, its troubled financial situation and mostly on its self-confidence.

I can look behind today and proudly gather at the massive work carried out: attentive contacts with the IOC and the international sports Bodies, common sacrifices to fix the balance, and mostly, a full co-operation from my central committee and from a mass of valuable friends who contributed to the development of the roller sports all over the world.
Last year, at the IOC Session in Singapore, rollersports were on site, alive and kicking, and maybe for the first time, the IOC Members noticed us and started to seriously consider our sports as eligible to enter the Olympic Porgramme... we didn't make it there, in fact no other sports did, and this is a clear sign that the IOC was not ready for the "big step", or at least not enough. As I said, a wind of change is coming directly from the IOC Headquarters and there are reasons to believe that next time it will be for real and we better start working hard, because our dream has never been so close to us. The 2009 IOC Session is probably the most important date ever for us: we need to power up our engines and give a perfect show of all our skills. I can't stress enough the importance of the steady contribution of each and every national federation. The individual growth of the roller sports in every country is the engine pushing our world federation on to its targets. We need to strive harder and to work in tight connection with the National Olympic Committees, in them we will always find the key to the acknowledgement by the IOC, which is the needed requirement to enter the Olympic Programme. Our whole management needs to tune in into a new concept of rollersports where technology, communication and marketing are the combined highlights, as we need to hit straight to the heart of the world media. FIRS is moving in the right direction and I am honoured to say thanks to all of the hundreds of thousands people composing our roller sports movement. Thanks to your support we shall "skate" in the right direction and nothing shall stop us from reaching all of our goals. I wish all of you all the best success in your sports activities, because this shall automatically be the FIRS success and mine.

Yours in sport

Hon. Sabatino Aracu
FIRS President