Applications for the Board Elections

Proposal/ Application for the position as:	Nominated by:	Name	Self-Introduction
Executive Board: Vice President This position is due to vote on in the regular period. Linda Green stands for re-election.	ERCA Board	Linda Green   (United Kingdom)	Hi – My name is Linda Green and I have represented Adventure Parks on the ERCA board for three years before I was elected as Vice-Chairman two years ago. I have thoroughly enjoyed the role, working with members, on committees and with the other board members and the executive board. The role has been both challenging and rewarding. I would embrace the opportunity to be re-elected for the Executive Board as Vice-Chairman. In my field, I am considered a health and safety expert, having worked in the world of enforcement and as head of health and safety for the high ropes course Go Ape. Keen to assist others, I recently became a Trustee to a charity whose aim is to help youngsters by enabling them to overcome barriers to their success and to build stronger communities by forging links between different diverse groups. Their aim is to build confidence to help them realise that they hold the key to their success – no one else! I also act as a mentor to health and safety professionals exchanging views and sharing best practice. I believe my strengths and qualities are paramount to the successful role of Vice Chairman.
Representative: "Construction" This position is due to vote on in the regular period.	ERCA Board	Walter Bisselink   (Netherlands)	I have been the owner of 3 ropes courses in the Netherlands for 9 years now. In addition to these operations, I am involved in the construction and maintenance of all kinds of ropes courses at home and abroad. Of course, I do not do this alone, we have a permanent team of 8 employes and about 50 employees during the high season. I am married and we have 3 children. We live on the Dutch coast and I like to go out on the water to kitesurf in my sparetime.
Representative: "Adventureparks" This position is due to vote on in the regular period.	ERCA Board	Søren Banke   (Denmark)	I am trained as a biologist, and have always liked nature and outdoor activities. When I was 10 years old I made my first treehut, and have been climbing ever since. I was introduced to ropes courses in 2004/2005 in Switzerland, where I stayed for 7 years. In 2007 I took my first certificate as a traditional ropes course instructor in the Allgäu. I am now an ERCA trainer for both Adventureparks and Traditional Ropes Courses. I have made setups and run several temporary parks, and established 3 stationary parks, all in including both sportive and traditional climbing elements. At present I run one large Adventurepark, with more than 100 elements for the Adventure part and 10 traditional elements. Regarding adventure parks, I believe that I can contribute and facilitate new ideas, and help to focus on what we already are good at, and keep that as our main focus. I have always believed that everyone should have the opportunity to experience climbing and the thrill of a ropes course. So I am ready to work to broaden the knowledge and fantastic experiences that ropes courses can give everyone. I speak both German and English, and can understand and talk with people from Norway and Sweden in their native languages.
Representative: "Traditional Ropes Courses" Walter Bisselink (NL) who is the representative of the sector currently could be interested to apply for the new position in the sector and therefore this position will possibly voted on during the assembly.	ERCA Board	Jo McCarthy   (Ireland)	• My passion for the outdoors has led me on a journey with achieving strong practical and academic qualifications. I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Outdoor Learning and also, qualifications from Mountaineering Ireland, main qualifications are Mountain Leader and Climbing Instructor. I have worked as a free-lance instructor for 7 years for many Outdoor Education and Training Centres Nationally. • I have completed ERCA Instructor Training and Generic Rescue Training, will be completing Train the trainer in Autumn 2022. • Safeguarding Tutor for Sport Ireland. • Worked for Cara Sport Inclusion Ireland which is the governing body in Ireland who represent people with disabilities and their involvement in all sports. As training and education coordinator, I oversaw the training of 6500 participants trained to make their sport or physical education sessions inclusive. I mainly focused on inclusion in the outdoors and published many documents with Sport Ireland Outdoors to enhance every outdoor activity in Ireland to become more adaptive to all abilities. • Currently I am the Activities/Operations Manager of the Discovery Park, typically managing up to 45 seasonal staff, design and implement all training programmes for staff to deliver on all 25 activities including adventure and education programmes.
Representative: "Sector Ziplines" This position is due to vote on in the regular period. Tony Wallin stands for re-election.	ERCA Board	Tony Wallin   (Sweden)	Hi, My name is Tony Wallin and I’m already a board member of ERCA since Feb 2019. My goal when I become a member was to introduce a Zipline sector in ERCA, now with your vote I want to be the one who run that part. Some word about my background. I’m born 1965, married and have 2 boys at home in Åre/Sweden. I have been working with Outdoor activities since -83 and with Ziplines since 2007 true my own company. Today I run Zipline Europe and we work with installations all over the Globe, we are Headrush distributor and service center. There is a handful of companies that build Ziplines in Europe, what sets us apart is the way to build. Scandinavia is well known for its good quality and constructions, and we are very proud of it. It shows in our construction as we have brought with us the best in how to build and also in the companies we hire for design and engineering. So, with your vote I promise that ERCA get a person with full understanding about Ziplines and put safety first.
Representative: "Sector Temporary Ropes Courses" This position is due to vote on in the regular period. Georg Schmitz stands for re-election.	ERCA Board	Georg Schmitz   (Germany)	My name is Georg Schmitz an I am a biologist and have worked as an outdoor leader and trainer on a freelance basis for over 20 years now. I am a specialist in sport climbing, Alpinism, alongside with traditional and temporary ropes courses. Whenever I am not hurrying around giving ropes course training, I am a passionate traveller, enjoying exciting expeditions and dedicated to promoting social clubs like the German Alpine Club. In ERCA I contributed to developing the ERCA training scheme over his many years of service. I am also a member of the ERCA master trainer team. One could say that I am a veteran at ERCA because I am on the board since 2006. I would like to stand for re-election in order to represent the temporary ropes course sector on a continous basis, but also to further initiate or facilitate other ongoing projects.

Thank you for making our International Ropes Course Conference 2018 such a great success!

This is how our member's event & meeting looked like in the year 2017

What we like is networking! And so we met at the end of January for a really cool team event with accompanying training courses and our annual general meeting - but please have a look yourself for that nice video.

Looking back at the ERCA Conference and AGM 2016

• A humorous opening act with the well known cartoonist Eberhard Köpf aka 'Erbse'. His show with cartoons, songs and stories deals with all things 'Climbing' and especially for us he will do a ropes course special.
• Presentations about topical and important issues will be given in the plenary sessions on Monday and Tuesday.
• Our charity auction.  Once again we ask for people to be generous with their offers and their bidding!
• Networking with old acquaintances, colleagues and others from the industry.
• As always, you have a chance to make your contribution so please come forward if you want to make a presen-tation or have an idea for a particular topic.

ERCA Expert Days in the Netherlands, 11.-12.11.2014

The ERCA Netherlands Expert Day will take place in Wijhe on the 11th and 12th November 2014. This event is to be designed to be a meeting place for ropes course operators, their staff and official bodies. Last year approximately 50 guests took part and enjoyed 9 seminar workshops. Three exhibitors presented their products. This year we would like to increase numbers and we shall therefore invite people from the Netherlands and Belgium. All nationalities are welcome to attend.

Proposed workshops will be held in Dutch or English:

• Corporate accountability and defensability by Jerome Mayhew.
• Legal consequences of the verdict, by a judge in the Netherlands, on an accident on a zipwire. How to deal with these situations by Elout Korevaer.
• How to run a safe exploitation in adventure parks by Paul de Gast.
• Various equipement and belay systems for use in adventure parks. How do i decide on this matter? By Outdoor Pro. 
• Use of themes in adventure parks/ new chances. By Joel Bruinsma.
• Rot on poles. How to recognize and how to treat?
• Practical workshop about mobile low ropes kit. By Craig Palmer.
• Results of tests on ziplines. By Paul de Gast.
• Importancy of maintenance in adventure parks. How to reduce yearly costs? By Frank Schilders.
• Practical workshop breaking test on ppe and safety cables.
• Story from Guy Ditchfield about his National Curriculum.
• Voordracht van een bestuurslid van de ERCA en gelegenheid tot het stellen van vragen over de ERCA.
• How to make a good risk assessment form y ropes course? By Frank Schilders/ Arno Schrauwen.

Costs: € 40,00 per day per person (price includes lunch, tea and coffee).

To register please email to: 

http://www.erca.cc/index.php/en/conferences/upcoming-events 
resp. at a facebook event homepage 

© Ziel GmbH

ERCA at the Int. Congress for Adventure Education (Germany), 26.-27.09.2014

ERCA is representing the ropes course industry at the Int. Congress for Adventure Education (Erleben & Lernen, Augsburg/Germany) on the 26th and 27th September. A big thank you goes to Annekatrin Vogler and Michael Trykowski - both members of the working group SPAIS (traditional ropes courses) - for presenting a forum session at the conference (F13). Furthermore there will be practical rescue demonstrations and a booth to inform attendees about ERCA and its goals. The plenary sessions and workshops are held in German.

ERCA at the Trade Fair and Congress REHACARE International (Germany), 24.-27.09.2014

The ERCA german speaking working group ‘’People with disabilities in ropes courses’’ will represent their work from 24th until 27th September at a special congress and trade fair in Düsseldorf / Germany: www.rehacare.de  

Ropes Course Conference with AGM in Hennef/Germany, 15th to 19th February 2014

Registration & more information is available at the conference website: http://www.erca.cc/conference2014

Preparation is underway for this big ERCA event. We are very much looking forward to meeting all of you! More information about the schedule and registration process coming soon.

The Board will have a two-day meeting to prepare the AGM on December 19th and 20th, 2013. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, please contact us by email using  or simply call one of us by phone.

A few pre-conference courses will be held on the 15th and 16th February 2014. The members meeting, and an accompanying forum, is to be held on the 17th February 2014. In the morning, there will be time set aside for working group meetings. Your working group coordinators will inform you.

Call for topics!
The conference and exhibition take place on the 18th and 19th February 2014. We would greatly appreciate to receive your ideas for workshop resp. presentation topics. If you have a special wish please email it to  and we are going to find the presenter.

Call for presenters!
Furthermore, we would kindly like to invite you to offer your own workshop or presentation. If you are intending to make an offer please contact Meik Haselbach (+49-7634-503281,  ) or submit your proposal online via:
http://www.dw-formmailer.de/forms.php?f=3632_42983
ERCA will pay the conference fee for every workshop presenter if the proposal is accepted.

Registration & more information is available at the conference website: http://www.erca.cc/conference2014

UK Ropes Course Conference, 30.-31.10.2013

Our conference on October 30th and 31st in Llandudno, Wales, was a great success. 21 exhibitors, 19 presenters and approx. 160 attendees enjoyed a great feeling of the ERCA community during impressive presentations, engaging workshops and an informative trade fair.

The keynote was held by the very entertaining Dr. Donald Perry. Frank Maihoff was presenting a workshop about his work and the activities with the WG for disabled people on ropes courses. There was huge interest in this topic of inclusion.A lot of participants were interested in engaging themselves more in ERCA. As a result of this new British working groups have been founded for WG People with Disabilities and WG Adventure Parks.

Honoring ERCA`s 10th anniversary the former General Manager Frank Schweinheim was speaking about the development of our organisation over 15 years.

The event was sponsored by International Safety Components (ISC) Ltd. and Conwy County Borough Council.

ERCA members can access the PDF files from some presenters at the: Documentation Archive (login required)

ERCA Expert Day Netherlands, 12.11.2013

The ERCA community in the Netherlands is very active. On the 12th of November ERCA has invited the Dutch ropes course community for sharing knowledge about ropes courses. Frank Schilders (ERCA National Contact Person for the Netherlands) and ERCA friends did a great job in organizing that national event for more than 60 participants.

Find more information on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ERCA-Nederland/603070386386932
ERCA members can access the PDF files from some presenters at the: Documentation Archive (login required)