About Victor De Donder

This is how Victor is a Changemaker:
Referring to the Convention of the United Nations on the rights of children (General Assembly, November 20, 1989), to the Charter for the Rights of the Child in Sport (Public Education Department of the Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 1986) and to the resolutions of the Panathlon congresses of Avignon (1995) and Vienna (1997), Panathlon International has written a "Panathlon Declaration on Ethics in Youth Sport". This Declaration has been accepted by the International Olympic Comittee (IOC) and endorsed by the General Assembly of International Sports Federations (GAISF), by the main international sports federations (FIFA, FIB, FIG, UCI, IAAF...), by the European Olympic Comittee (EOC) and by many national olympic comittees. This Declaration is based on solid scientific research published in the book "Ethics in Youth Sport. Analyses and Recomendations" edited by prof. dr. Yves Van den Auweele of the University of Leuven in Belgium. On November 22 and 23 the Panathlon Congres in Antwerp (Belgium) will discuss this Declaration in preparation of an international conference that will be held on 5, 6 and 7 november 2008 in Ghent. During that conference, international sport federations and national olympic comittees will diiscuss measures to implement the principles of the Declaration on the filed.

The place for which Victor feels a fondness or connection:
A sports field where children can "play". Where they have the right NOT to be a champion.

The change Victor passionately wants to happen:
We want to make sport a safe environment for children. We want to stop as much as possible physical and psychological abuse of children by parents, trainers and other people involved in youth sport.