UIPM Secretary General’s message: Striding into the future with our 5E strategy

In March 2022 I wrote about the expansion of UIPM’s strategy with the addition of Evolution as a fifth keyword, turning 4E into 5E.

So how have we evolved as a multi-sports movement since then?

First it is worth looking at the exciting developments in Education, Equipment, Education and Empowerment that have already made 2023 a year of great progress and achievement for so many of our global stakeholders.

Education

There will be a record number of courses delivered under UIPM’s Coaches Certification Programme (CCP) and Judges Certification Programme (JCP) in 2023.

Demonstrating the expansion of this global educational umbrella, which enables so many coaches and judges to begin and continue their personal development, courses are scheduled to be delivered in more than 24 nations across four continents this year.

The JCP focuses mainly on countries which are hosting a major competition, either at global or continental level. That is why judges will be certified in China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Great Britain, Greece, Indonesia, Kyrgzystan, Mexico, Poland, Spain and Türkiye.

Meanwhile the tentacles of the CCP spread even further across the continents, with South America included (Venezuela) and more presence in Africa (Burkina Faso, Chad and Guinea) and Asia (Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates).

All of the above CCP courses are at Levels 1 and 2, but there will also be an online Level 4 course for the most experienced coaches in the programme.

Equipment

Earlier this year we launched equipment tenders for Obstacle Competition and Training Sets that will benefit the organisers of all three under-age UIPM World Championships that will become the first to include Obstacle as an integrated discipline of Modern Pentathlon in 2023.

The tender enables UIPM, as a ‘service provider’, to buy equipment in bulk and provide it to NFs at reduced rates, helping organisers to arrange high-quality competitions, and supporting nations focused on sport development to start their activities with the Obstacle discipline.

The three aforementioned competitions are:

• UIPM 2023 Pentathlon Under 17 World Championships (Alexandria, EGY) – July 12-16
• UIPM 2023 Pentathlon Under 19 World Championships (Istanbul, TUR) – July 26-30
• UIPM 2023 Pentathlon Junior World Championships (Druskininkai, LTU) – September 12-17.

Expansion

We are all hoping for good news from the International Olympic Committee later in the year, as mentioned previously in relation to the IOC Session and the sporting programme for Los Angeles 2028. But the IOC already came with some good news recently.

This relates to the confirmation that UIPM’s E-Laser Run game will be included in the Olympic Esports Week in Singapore in June 2023. A booth will be set up in the free play zone and E-Laser Run will have the status of a demonstration E-sport.

Meanwhile the UIPM family continues to grow, as we seek to welcome more and more countries into the Modern Pentathlon community. The new Obstacle discipline is truly a powerful enabler in this regard, because many countries had been previously limited by the requirement to provide horses for athletes to become full pentathletes.

We are in advanced talks with many nations about the creation of a new National Federation that can then apply for membership of our Union.

Empowerment

All of the Obstacle-related resources released at the start of the year were designed to enable National Federations, competition organisers, athletes and coaches to get started with the integration of Obstacle at all levels except senior international competition.

We have already seen a number of Obstacle-integrated Pentathlon tournaments organised and promoted by NFs in Portugal, France, Lithuania, Belarus, Spain, Germany, Korea, and China. Check back here every month for reports and updates!

Evolution

Any seasoned Modern Pentathlon viewer who watched the recent UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest on UIPM TV would recognise that our TV product has come a long way. The new 90-minute format introduced for the Paris 2024 cycle and the partnership with International Service Broadcasting (ISB) has enabled us to produce a better, sharper, far more watchable live show.

We could stop now, or we could continue to evolve Modern Pentathlon as an entertainment commodity that respects the pure athletic ideals on which the sport was founded, but takes that spirit into a whole new era of relevance, attracting new generations of sports fans and bringing them to the Olympic Games.

And of course, through the introduction of a Ninja-style Obstacle race in place of the equestrian discipline, that is what we are going to do.

Modern Pentathlon is moving with the times, don’t miss it!