Official Charter1. The Youth Sports Movement1.1 (Composition) The main constituents of the Youth Olympic Movement are the Youth Games Administrating Committee (YOGAC) and the specialized branches of each one of the National Sport Committees (NSCs) that work with the Youth Games. Also, the bodies known as the Organising Committees of the Youth Games (OCYG), the athletes, the sports clubs, the judges, the referees, coaches and other sports officials and technicians.
1.2 (Belonging to the YSM) Any person or organisation belonging whatsoever to the Youth Sports Movement is bound by the provisions of this charter and the decisions of the YOGAC.
2. Mission and Role of the YOGAC2.1 (Mission and Role) The mission of the YOGAC is to promote the practice of sports in the youths of the multiverse, therefore, leading the Youth Sports Movement (YSM). The role of this entity is:
2.1.1 To encourage and support the promotion of ethics and good governance in the sport as well as the education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned.
2.1.2 To ensure the regular celebration of the Youth Games.
2.1.3 To take action to strengthen the unity of the Youth Sports Movement, to protect its independence and to preserve the autonomy of sport.
2.1.4 To act against any form of discrimination affecting the Youth Sports Movement.
2.1.5 To encourage and support measures protecting the health of athletes.
2.1.6 To encourage and support the promotion of rational animals in sport at all levels implementing the principle of equality of mankind and other rational species.
2.1.7 To encourage and support the development of sport for all.
2.1.8 To promote a positive legacy from the Youth Games to the host cities and host countries.
2.1.9 To encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Youth Games are held accordingly.
2.1.10 To encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture and education.
3. Recognition by the YOGAC3.1 (Recognition) The YOGAC may grant formal recognition to the constituents of the Youth Sports Movement. This means, any OOC player that represents a National Sports Committee.
3.2 (Limitations) Any recognition can be withdrawn by the YOGAC Executive Board, which will determine the conditions for that recognition/withdrawal.
4. Composition of the YOGAC4.1 (Main Composition) The YOGAC is composed by three main bodies. These are the Youth Games Congress (YOGACON); the Executive Board (EB) and the Directive Board (DB).
4.2 (Youth Games Congress) This congress is composed by the OOC players who participated in the most recent completed Youth Games, on any of its two versions; and the appointed members of the Executive Board (EB) and the Directive Board (DB), regardless of whether they participated in the most recent Games.
4.2.1 Youth Games Congress Rights: The members of the YOGACON are permitted to:
• Vote on hosting bids for a future edition of the Youth Games.
• Propose and vote on amendments of the present charter.
4.3 (Executive Board) The Executive Board is composed of five members appointed by the Directive Board of the YOGAC. When there are four completed editions of the Youth Games, this board will be composed by the four hosts of the three most recent editions plus one member appointed by the Directive Board. In case there have been four editions, but hosted by three or less OOC players, the spots remaining will be appointed by the Directive Board.
4.3.1 Executive Board Rights: The members of this board have the same rights of the Youth Games Congress as part of it; and also they are permitted to:
• Vote to break a tie in a host selection vote.
• Vote on a replacement host for an incomplete Youth Games.
• Making the shortlist of bids on the bidding selection process. (See article 6)
4.4 (Directive Board) The Directive Board is composed of two members. These are the President and the Vice President. The President shall be the host of the most recent completed Summer Games. The Vice President shall be the host of the most recent completed Winter Games. For the first cycle (2011-2012), the president will be Euskirribakondara, as host of the First Winter Youth, until the First Summer Youth Games are held. If a country has hosted the most recent Winter and Summer editions, this one will be President and the Vice President will be one of the members of the Executive Board, voted by the same board.
In the event that the President is unavailable to perform his or her responsibilities, the Vice President shall assume the role of President.
4.4.1 Responsibilities of the President:
• Opening and closing votes of the YOGAC.
• Determining whether an application (see article 6) meet the bid requirements.
• Evaluate (with the vice-president) the applications as established on the article 6.3.2
• Casting a tiebreaking vote in the Executive Board if needed.
• Maintaining a list of members of the three bodies that compose the YOGAC.
• Comparing the events lists of the Youth Games and the real-life Youth Olympics, in order to determine and accept additions to that list.
4.4.2 Responsibilities of the President:
• In the event that the President is a candidate to host an edition of the Youth Games, the Vice President will be responsible for the latter points. If both are candidates, or the Vice President is unavailable, a third person must be appointed by the President.
• Evaluate (with the president) the applications as established on the article 6.3.2
5. Events5.1 (Overview) The YOGAC shall organize only two events, the Winter Youth Games and the Summer Youth Games. The Winter Youth Games shall be held in December or January, whilst the Summer Youth Games shall be held in April, May or June. A cycle is composed by the two versions of the Games, and these two versions must have the same numeral identification. (If the cycle has the FIRST Winter Youth Games, the Summer Youth Games must be also FIRST).
5.2 (Choice of Sports) The Winter Youth Games shall contain only sports contested on snow or ice, whilst the Summer Youth Games shall contain sports not contested on snow or ice. The events to be contested are established by the events list at the end of this charter. Removals or alterations, and any additions must be identified in a hosting bid. No restriction is made on the inclusion of demonstrations sports and events for which Youth Games medals are not awarded.
6. Host Selection6.1 (Location, sites and venues) All sports competition must take place in the host city (ies) of the Youth Games, unless the Executive Board authorises the organisation of certain events in other cities of the same country. The Ceremonies must take place in the host city itself. For the Winter edition, the Executive Board may accept that, if in the host country it is impossible to organise certain events or disciplines, these take place on a country of the same region.
6.2 (Final Bid Recommendation) When a NSC is bidding for hosting, it’s recommendable to quote the articles expressed in this charter. This proves a true commitment to the Youth Olympic Movement, and the real will to host the event.
6.3 (Bid submission) Any NSC (OOC person) may submit a bid to host an edition of the Olympic Games. If more than one person/nation is involved in the bid, a single person/nation must be appointed to fulfill the requirements of this charter when it comes to the YOGAC composition. One only person may submit a bid with various nations (master and puppet(s)) too. When a bid is submitted, it shall be referred to as “application”.
6.4 (Bid requirements) OOCly, bids must identify what scorinators will be used for all medal events, and must make all these scorinators publicly available for testing. Bids that do not include a testable scorinator will not be considered by the Council. ICly (for purposes of roleplaying) the application must refer to the following points:
• Environment
• Transportation
• Accommodation
• Financing, Government and public support
• Sports Venues
• Olympic Village
• Safety and Security
• Experience from past events
• Overall image of the bid (Logo, Slogan)
• Legacy
6.5 (Shortlist) Just candidate cities can be voted by the whole YOGACON. To become a candidate city, an applicant city must abide by the rules of the following process:
6.5.1 An applicant city can present its bid on anyway, through the bid thread of the Youth Games.
6.5.2 The Directive Board will evaluate the applications, ranking each one of the ten points mentioned in the article 6.2, in a scale from 0 to 10. The rankings will become an overall average scored that will be taken into account when short listing.
6.5.3 When all the applications are evaluated, and the scores are known by the Executive Board, this body will vote; and the cities with the largest quantity of votes will be part of the shortlist, therefore becoming a “candidate city”.
6.6 (Candidate City) When a bid is named as “candidate city” it can provide more information about the bid, and can receive questions and replies from any nation in the Discussion Thread. It can also change the whole image of the bid, retaining the concept presented beforehand. After a determinate amount of time (specified by the Directive Board), the final voting will start.
6.7 (Final Voting) For one week, the NSCs that conform the YOGAC will participate:
• Voting for one and only one of the candidate bids.
• Abstaining from voting.
6.8 (Tiebreakers) In the final voting, the city with the most votes will be awarded the hosting rights of that edition. If two or more candidates are tied for the greatest number of votes, the Executive Board will vote to break the tie.
6.9 (Backup) After being awarded the hosting rights, a bid will become officially the “host city(ies) of the N Summer/Winter Youth Games”. This NOC must provide signup data and scorinator input files to the Executive Board, as would be needed to allow a replacement host to complete the Games. If the games are abandoned, the Executive Board will appoint a replacement host (Generally, taking in account the bidders that failed).
7. Voting RightsEach nation has right to one vote in any of the voting procedures hereby mentioned. In the case that two or more nations belong to the same OOC player, it must be specified that these nations are ‘puppets’ of the ‘master’ nation; and just the votes from the master nation will be counted.
8. SymbolsThere are four symbols that represent the Youth Games and the Youth Sports Movement:
• The Youth Games Symbol composed of two letters, Y and G, with four colors: Blue, Yellow, Red and Green as it is seen in the following representation: The letters must be surrounded by a black square, and below them, the words “Youth Games” in the same five colors are written.
• The Youth Games Flag
The Youth Games Flag has a white background, with no border. The Youth Games is located in its centre.
• The Youth Games Motto
The motto is “For the youth. For the sport. For a better world”. A motto that gathers the principles of the Youth Olympic Movement in three simple phrases, and expresses the aspirations of the Youth Games.
• The Youth Games Emblems
A Youth Games emblem or “logo” is an integrated design associating the Youth Games symbol with another distinctive element.
• The Youth Games Anthem
The Youth Games Anthem is the musical work entitled “Olympic anthem”, composed by Spiro Samara. And its lyrics are the ones composed by the Youth Games First Directive Board, to be found in Annex 1.
• The Youth Games Flame and Torches
The Youth Games Flame is a flame which is kindled in Harrikes under the authority of the YOGAC. The Youth Games torch is a portable torch, or a replica thereof, as approved by the YOGAC and intended for combustion of the Youth Games flame.
• Official Languages
On each edition of the Youth Games, the official languages will be: English, and the official/national language of the hosting nation(s).
9. AmendmentsAny amendment or modification to this charter can be proposed by any NOC, and shall be voted by the Executive Board in most cases. If this modifications affects greatly the traditional rules hereby established, a general voting on the YOGACON will be required. In both cases, the amendment will be rejected or accepted based in the plurality of votes. It must be taken in account that each amendment is put into effect before or after a host selection process or an edition of the Games, not during its development.