Administration Report
September 2001


Submitted by:
Linda Edmunds
Kit Mathews
Irene Millman



Administration

  • Of the four clubs contacted regarding the BoD request for appearance three will be appearing before the Board and one has paid the fine.
  • The Administrative Office has been informed that clubs in Metropolitan Swimming will be offering free swimming for life to any athlete who lost a parent in the World Trade Center tragedy. The LSC is currently taking under advisement a donation from the LSC to the WTC Relief Fund.
  • Several attempts have been made to secure Walt Whitman for the 2001-02 BoD meetings. Unfortunately our contact person is difficult at best to reach. We will continue to work diligently to secure our regular room for October through April.
  • A Life Member whom contributes regularly has contributed $200.00 to the LSC. The Administrative Division requests suggestions for appropriate use.
  • All Year End reports to USA Swimming have been completed. The By-law changes as a result of the 2001 PVS House of Delegates Meeting have been submitted to USA Swimming for approval.
  • The process of converting and updating the PVS Office software has been started with the upgrade of our accounting and MS Office Suite programs.
  • The preliminary draft of the Meet Manager's agreement has been completed and upon further review from the Administrative Division will be forwarded to the SCY 2001-02 PVS Meet Managers for their signatures.
  • Coaches Continuing Education Grants have been awarded and several reports are expected before mid October.
  • PGS&LC has recently informed the PVS Administrative Office that they will no longer rent on Redskins weekends. This decision coupled with two FCPA pools being down for maintenance and RMSC hosting two club meets in October and November has resulted in the use of Capital East for one venue of the October Open. PVS is at the mercy of these facilities and does not have the relationship or access of their "regular" renters. We have therefore requested and the Competition Committee has complied with moving up the scheduling process of our seasons. Both the LCM and SCY seasons for 2002 and 2002-03 respectively were approved at the Competition Committee meeting held September 20, 2001. This will enable more flexibility on pool rental on the part of the office by having these schedules laid out in advance. These schedules will be reviewed and approved by the Board in September, and reservations of the pools will immediately follow.
 Registration

2001 Year-end registration batches were submitted to USA Swimming on or before the deadline of September 10, 2001.

Athletes = 6,429
Non-Athletes = 448
Clubs = 33

Team Manager II will be required for all clubs to submit registration electronically.

The first batch of Athletes was received on Thursday, September 20, 2001 from York Swim Club. This makes two years in a row for this club as the first batch in.

Deadline for submitting electronic Athlete batches is November 30, 2001. Clubs will be required to renew and pay for their club membership prior to any athlete batch being processed. Coaches and Non-Athletes should submit applications not later than November 15th for processing prior to calendar year end.

Two slight changes were made this year in the registration process.

Clubs: A printout of the club's information as previously submitted and entered into the PVS Administrative Data Base was provided to each club for their review. Clubs will now only need to initial each page as it is reviewed, make changes as necessary and return the documents to the Administrative Office. This process eliminates the need for each club to complete a new club information package each year.

Coaches: Copies of credentials are still required. However in an effort to reduce time on the part of the coach and the Administrative Office in searching for lost cards or copies thereof we are now requesting the following.

  • Safety Certifications will be copied one per page and attached to the Non-Athlete Application.
  • These will be verified and then maintained in a binder by coach and club.
  • The following year only new certifications will need to be provided
    • .

Eastern Zone Meeting Summary

The normal Schedule of two separate Zone meeting was condensed into one on Thursday morning.

After approval of the minutes and agenda Isabelle Fraser gave the Zone financial report and indicated no dues would be collected at this time.

Elections for Zone Positions

Nominees were:

Dave Carson - Zone Non-Coach Director - Elected
Marci Callan - Age Group Planning Chair - Elected
Ed Dellert - Zone Technical Planning Chair - Elected
Dave Finger - Zone Technical Planning Chair

Prior to the elections or any further business taking place a discussion regarding how to proceed in light of the fact that several General Chairman were not present. Upon review of the members present it was determined that with the exception of Maine all LSC's had reasonable representation from their delegates and most were not new to this process. It was agreed that if at any time any LSC or delegate felt the need to consult with any member not present that time would be allotted time for that consultation to occur.

Items of note from the balance of this meeting:

  • SCY Zone Meet: - Ellen Mace was not present to present this information it was however presented on her behalf.
  • Entry deadline will be 3/26/02
  • Team Manager Meeting and Practice session will be on 6-9 on 4/3/02
  • Meet Dates are 4/4/02 to 4/6/02
  • Request for information page was supplied to each LSC present.
    •

  • 2002 LC Zone meet was awarded again to Buffalo as there were no other bidders.


  • Technical Planning Report - Dave Finger
  • Reported on the possibility of adding distance events to the Zone Meets - Brief discussion of how this would effect the session length Proposal tabled until spring 2002 Zone Meeting


  • Reported that concern regarding the size of the LC Zone meet was largely unfounded and that the meet generally ran with reasonable session times. Previous concerns regarding former Jr National swimmers were not played out however, consideration should be given at the Spring Meeting to limiting the number of entries to avoid increasing the size of the meet too much. It was noted that PVS and MA were among the larger teams and neither LSC expected to see a significant jump in their team sizes.


  • Sue Anderson asked the committee to review the cut times and questioned why when we are having a hard time keeping boys in the sport are their qualifying times faster than the girls. Technical planning should evaluate and report back possible changes.
    •

  • Region 2 Breakout Meeting:


  • A brief report on the 2001 LC Sectional meet was given.


  • Bids for the LC 2002 Sectional Meet were presented. The only bid was from Curl Burke Swim Club hosting the meet 7/26-29/02 at GMU. Meet was awarded to Curl Burke who it was noted is also running the SCY Sectional Meet at the same pool in March.


  • The cuts for the SCY Sectional Meet will not change from last year.


  • Brief discussion followed regarding whether the meets should be open or closed - it was generally agreed that we would keep the Region 2 meet closed for one more cycle and revisit that issue in the spring in Baltimore.


  • Discussion regarding the bid process was held and it was agree that both the SCY and LCM Sectional meets be bid for at the Spring Meeting. Therefore the 2003 SCY and LCM Region 2 Sectional Meets should be bid at the May Zone Meeting. Bidders should take into consideration the possibility of an open or closed meet, the region will determine meet format.
    •

  • Athlete Report:

  • Athletes have not yet reached a conclusion regarding Sectionals vs. Juniors but some feel the Sectional Meets are not of the same quality and consistency of the former JR National Meets, however they are currently taking a wait and see attitude.


  • Officials
  • Joann Faucette will be contacting meet managers regarding officials for both SCY Sectional Meets as well as the SCY Zone meet.
Convention Report:
  • General: Many meetings were condensed, cancelled or consolidated due to the World Trade Center and Pentagon incidents. PVS Delegates redistributed meetings to cover as best they could with what was left of the original schedule. Frequently notice of cancellations was not given in advance and therefore delegates were bouncing from one meeting to another. The positive outcome of this situation was the pulling together of the Eastern Zone. Delegates from other LSC's covered meetings for each other when there were not enough of us to go around. Although many of the committee members did not make it to Dearborn the exchanges that did occur were very positive and under the circumstances productive. The less subjective meetings were generally more productive, planning meetings were less so. An informal gathering hosted by PVS of the Eastern Zone took place on Thursday evening, which gave delegates an opportunity to further develop their Zone relationships and discuss issues pertinent to their areas of expertise.
Club Development
  • The committee brought forth no legislation at this time, however they have revised the Club Development proposal and will be presenting this in a further revised form next year in Dallas.
  • Currently the proposal stands as follows:
  • An initial club membership fee of $750.00 would be accessed for all new clubs and those clubs who's membership has lapsed for more than one year. Note-$250.00 of that fee would be returned to the LSC to support the new club.
  • Head coach would be required to be ASCA Level 3 certified
  • Club would be required to have members attend a USA Swimming Club Management Training Class within their first year of operation.
  • Initial application process would include a document package including but not limited to Budget, Pool rental contracts, certifications, and other business plan type documents.
  • Beyond the one time fee, Coaches certification level, and the documentation package no other constraints have been placed on a new club. They will have one year to complete the Club Management Training. USA Swimming staff assures us that the review process of these application documents will not take a long time (estimated at 2-3 weeks), so some prior planning will be required.
  • Many coaches in attendance at the committee meetings expressed concern that the $750.00 one-time fee was not enough and it should be more like $5,000 - others said the cost was too prohibitive
    • .
  • A recurring theme was clubs establishing their memberships by recruiting from clubs within their LSC especially their former employer. In the breakout meetings the lack of recourse clubs have regarding this type of activity was discussed at length and the LSC's were encouraged to bring these matters to the USA Swimming Board of Review.
 Camps
  • The LSC Select Camps were discussed at length and the lack of LSC's running camps is still a concern to the committee.
  • It is the committee's goal to have one camp per LSC per year
  • Upon detailed discussion of the current PVS Mini Camp program it was determined that the format of that camp qualifies as a level one camp
  • A copy of the USA Swimming Select Camp information sheet will be made available upon request from the Administrative Office.
 Insurance Workshop:
  • Additional insured endorsements are not automatically renewed. There is now an online system for requesting certificates.
  • Contact the PVS Administrative office if you require a new certificate.
  • Review of important legal issues for clubs/members entering into contracts with facilities - Contact Peak for further details.
  • Review of USA Swimming Insurance policy, covered and non-covered activities - a copy of these policies will be available from the PVS Administrative Office. Clubs should note that certain activities are not covered - especially when the coach is not in a direct supervisory capacity of the athletes at all times.
    •  Outreach Workshop:
    • Outreach Coaches Conference to be held 10/25-28 at Colorado Springs - contact the PVS Administrative Office for information and clinic application.
    • Review of grants and funding, brief review of how to obtain - contact the Administrative Office for Further Details.
    • Review of business plan development.
     Registration/Membership Workshop
      ·
    • Discussion of Athlete membership issues (transfers and 120 day rule).
    • Club issues (satellite clubs and outreach clubs) - it was discussed at length that the Outreach Committee has not given specific direction to the LSC's regarding qualification criteria on either athletes or clubs and most LSC's have little or no policy regarding this program.
    • Concern was raised by both the Registrars and the coaches regarding clubs formed with athletes transferring from current clubs within the LSC and the registrars have little or no affect on these clubs and their practices.
      • ·
    • Coach/non-athlete membership issues
    • Coaches that wish to compete are required to have both a coach and athlete membership
    • Continued concern regarding access to Safety certifications I certain geographical areas was once again raised and that the committee indicated they would be working with the safety committee to enhance communication of available programs. Clubs are encouraged to contact their LSC Safety Chair for further information on accessing these certification programs.
     Tricks, Tips and Traps - Club and LSC Financial management
    • Organization, non-profit status, filing requirements, employee vs. independent contractor, expense reimbursements (much discussion of this issue and use of per diem rate), need to provide forms to volunteers, internal control, also discussion of investment options
     House of Delegates
    • The House of Delegates meeting was condensed into an afternoon and evening session.
    • The complete legislation package is available to those delegates who were not in attendance and wish to review it.
    • Under the circumstances many legislative packages were pulled for consideration next year.
    • The most significant issues were:
    • Backstroke rules changes to bring USA Swimming text in line with FINA - no perceptible change to USA Swimming Coaches or Athletes.
    • 5' Rule for Teaching Racing Starts - all teaching of racing starts must be done in a minimum of 5 (five) feet of water regardless of use of blocks.
    • 2002 Spring Nationals and all Spring Nationals from that point forward will be LCM.
    • 2003 Spring Nationals will be one week earlier - possible NCAA date changes as well
    • 18 and Under Scoring at Nationals will now be to 16 places
    • No Dues increase for 2002
    • Consideration of dues increase effective calendar 1-1-03 of approximately $25.00 is proposed to assist in covering increased television coverage
    • Rule change passed to make all years a 50% year - the 90% rule was instituted to reduce controversial or abundance of legislation, based on recent history that is no longer necessary.
    • The budget was passed with no opposition