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LAUSANNE (Switzerland) - On Saturday-morning February 7, André van Overbeek has been elected as President of the European Softball Federation (ESF) during the second day of the annual Congress of the governing body, which was held in Lausanne (Switzerland). Van Overbeek succeeds Mike Jennings (Great Britain), who initially was one of three candidates for the election of ESF-President, but withdraw recently. Jacques Reinenbergh (Belgium) was the third candidate, but also withdraw from the elections on Saturday. Jennings led the European Federation since 2003. Reinenbergh was Vice-President from 1997-2003, then was appointed 1st Vice-President in 2003-2004. In September 2004, Van Overbeek was named interim-Member of the Board for the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation overseeing the top-softball-section, then was elected in March 2005. His term ends coming March.
André van Overbeek is the third Dutchman to head the European Softball Federation. On March 16, 1985 Theo Vleeshhouwer was elected President in Zandvoort (Netherlands), succeeding Italian Bruno Beneck. The latter was elected President on June 12, 1976 when the European Softball Federation was re-founded in Italian capital Rome. On August 16, 1991, Vleeshhouwer resigned during his second term. In February 1995, in Haarlem (Netherlands), Jos Gieskens became the second Dutchman to preside over the ESF, succeeding Italian Enrico Bertirotti, who was serving as interim-President since April 17, 1994 when Anny Reinenbergh-Heusschen (Belgium) passed away.
| ESF Presidents 1976-currrent |
| June 12, 1976-March 16, 1985 | Bruno Beneck (Italy) |
| March 16, 1985-Aug. 16, 1991 | Theo Vleeshhouwer (Neth.) |
| Aug. 16, 1991-March 1993 | Enrico Bertirotti (Italy) (interim) |
| March 1993-April 17, 1994 | Anny Reinenbergh (Belgium) |
| April 17, 1994-Feb. 1995 | Enrico Bertirotti (Italy) (interim) |
| Feb. 1995-Feb. 2003 | Jos Gieskens (Netherlands) |
| Feb. 2003-Feb. 7, 2009 | Mike Jennings (Great Britain) |
| Feb. 7, 2009-current | André van Overbeek (Neth.) |
In the years before 1976, Wim Oosterhof was the Vice-President of the ESF, while Willem de Ruiter was Secretary-General. Before becoming President in 1985, Theo Vleeshhouwer was the Secretary-General/Treasurer from 1977-1985. Vleeshhouwer succeeded Dries de Zwaan, who was Secretary-General in 1976-1977 and was one of two other Dutchmen who served in the Executive Council of the ESF since 1976. Jos Gieskens was Vice-President from 1993-1995, before becoming President and Dick Bliek served as Vice-President from 2004-2005.
On Saturday, Patrice Bienfait (France) and Eddy Van Straelen (Belgium) were re-elected as Secretary-General and Treasurer respectively. Giovanni 'Totoni' Sanna (Italy), who since 2005 was one of six Vice-Presidents, was named 1st Vice-President. Gabriel Waage (Czech Republic) and Maria Jesús Vázquez (Spain) return as Vice-Presidents, while Ami Baran (Israel), Michael Schmidt (Austria) and Slavan Smagin (Russia) were elected as new Vice-Presidents. As mentioned, Mike Jennings withdraw from the candidacy for President, as did Robert Milosavljevic Croatia) for the position of 1st Vice-President. Dutchman Ruud van Zetten and Youri Alkalay (Bulgaria) were not re-electable as Vice-President.
André van Overbeek's page on this site
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