INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

In order to gain more influential power over the board members
and related forces, there was a growing necessity to learn and develop
different relationships with each of the members, and moreover, with
the leaders of the different political bodies. It was also crucial to
understand the relationships among the members themselves and to
discover hidden agendas of relationships to further this cause.
These discoveries led to a series of meetings with different board
members and with figures of related political bodies, in order to
convince them of the importance of this project. (It was then that I
realized that the “Old boys” network within this environment is very
powerful and appeared almost impenetrable for an outsider,
especially if that outsider is a female).
In order to gain more influence power I than realized that it would
be necessary to be present in many official and unofficial meetings.
Once I had been told by one of my "secret advisors" (who has been
involved in sport politics for over 20 years), that knowledge is equal
to power. Thus, I participated in meetings held in parliament (the
Israeli Ceneset), the N.O.C, and the Volleyball Association. Slowly I
managed to break into some social circles, especially through my
relationship with two of the most influential figures within the politics
of sport organizations and especially within the volleyball association.
This assistance unexpectedly appeared from different directions.
The two figures who were deeply involved in the establishment of the
boys academy, became my “secret advisors”. Their advice was
focused mainly on explaining to me the unseen power relations that I,
as a relatively new person in the system, had not yet been witness to.
A major concern was to keep secret these relationships, mainly
because the two figures were in serious conflict between themselves,
and I knew if one were to find out about the other, neither of them
would ever help me again, and would most likely become my
enemies.
At this juncture, I had to take a decision concerning our values and
how far I was willing to go toward achieving my target. It was clear
that there were two ways to progress; one was to fight for women
rights within the Volleyball Association and the other was to delay
this fight and become part of the network, in all senses, and to try to
achieve the target.
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