Camp of Champs team (USA) in Incheon, Korea for the 2023 FIDA DroneSoccer World Championship
This article was written by Amado C. Salinas II, National Legislative Council Liaison and Area 5 Judge Advocate
I was invited to attend and speak at the 2023 Federation of International DroneSoccer Association (FIDA) World Championship Invitational as part of the Camp of Camps/Hollywood USA Team held in Incheon, South Korea.
Here is a quick overview of my attendance and speaking engagement at the 2023 Federation of International Drone Soccer Invitational World Championship:
It was very exciting to see the youth that competed at the World Event.
I am very pleased to inform TAL Aerospace Commission of the very warm welcome not only by FIDA/FAI, but also the Government officials from South Korea, Asia, India, Bangladesh, France, Morocco, Japan, Singapore, and Spain.
The countries participating brought their youth to compete in both the 20cm and the 40cm Drone Soccer competitions. Both the parents and the youth were very involved in every aspect of the drone assembly, verification of software operation version in the drone chips, plus any last minute modifications required to assure optimum flight performance during the competition tournaments.
The young Drone Soccer Pilots were very inspiring with their knowledge of operational awareness in flight during the competition, as well as the emergency repairs and diagnostics they completed between matches. It is evident they have an in depth knowledge of the drone, and the required system diagnostics capability to perform the mechanical and software modifications as needed to achieve operational flight in the tournaments. The parents’ support is evident and it really does bring about community support for these young drone pilots, and future aerospace engineers and pilots.
Korea has made a huge commitment into drone technology and implemented it into their society as a means of service and transportation.
SangHo Kang, CEO of Timatec (Founder of FIDA), looks forward to supporting the advancement of Drones in the USA and has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CoC/Hollywood Drones to exclusively represent FIDA USA.
In the early 1940’s the American Legion took the initiative to support aerospace and flight and was very supportive and instrumental in America’s aerospace industry. Today and tomorrow’s youth will benefit as will America in the support of the American Legion Aerospace Commission to consider drone flight and drone soccer program as a full fledged youth program similar to the commitment of League Baseball and Oratorical.
Main competition stage
Nations attending
Team Singapore
From left to right: William Parks, FIDA GM; Harry Hassan, Link3 CEO; SangHo Kang, FIDA CEO; and Tim Ingram, FIDA-USA/CoC
Team Osaka
Japan’s youth team
Camp of Champs team (USA) setting up for the 40cm drone soccer competition
Author: caLegion Contributor
The above article may contain opinions which are the author's own and may not necessarily reflect an official stance taken by The American Legion Department of California. We do our best to vet any information posted to the website. Please email webteam@calegion.org with any changes and/or corrections to anything published here.
