The meeting minutes were approved at the March BoD meeting.
Potomac Valley Swimming
Board of Director’s Meeting
Lee Graham Pool Community Center
7319 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22042
February 11, 2013
7:00 pm
· Attendance: Voting Board Members: Riley Eaton, Paris Jacobs, Bill Marlin, Jim Garner, Emily Menard, Mike Rubin, Bob Vincent, Scott Bryant, Tim Husson, Miriam Lynch, Manga Dalizu and Brandon Fiala (athlete). Non-voting members in attendance – John Ertter, Greg York, Kurt Thiel and Brian Pawlowicz. Guests – Dave Greene, Tom Ugast, Ward Foley and Merari Chollette.
· Call to Order & General Chair Comments – The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by Admin Vice Chair, Paris Jacobs.
· Action Items –
o Proof of Quorum to Conduct Business – It was determined that with 12 voting member present, there were enough members for a quorum.
o Approval of January 14, 2013 Board Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the minutes from the January 14, 2013 PVS Board of Director Meeting, seconded and approved.
o Eastern Zone March 28-30, 2013 SC Championships, PVS Team Planning – [Discussion regarding the 2013 SC Zone trip began before the Official meeting started] – It was recently determined that the fee for the 2013 SC Zone trip would remain the same as last year, $525, by making a few cuts in the apparel in order to keep the trip in line with the budget. John Ertter and Bill Marlin met with Bob York, owner of Aardvark, to determine the best way to make changes and stay within our contractual obligations to Speedo and to ensure that all items will be ordered and received in time for the trip. York was most adamant about setting the deadline for all apparel orders for Monday March 18 at noon, which is the day after the conclusion of PVS 14 & U JOs. It was determined that the athletes will continue to receive 3 shirts, as the cost of the third shirt will be minimal. The swimsuit and warm up pants will be taken out of the outfitting package; however both will be optional items that can be purchased directly through Aardvark. New coaches will continue to receive the current coach’s outfitting package. The polo shirts are free each year according to our contract and therefore we should take them and add them to our stock if they are not needed. [At least 3 of this year’s Zone Coaches are on the staff for the first time].
§ There was some concern regarding the deadline and making it so strict. Dave Greene, Zone Team Coordinator, feels that in the past the association’s philosophy was we don’t say “NO” but rather always put the swimmers first and is concerned that by making the deadline so strict that we will be eliminating swimmers who want to participate. Most often it is the 15-18 swimmers who are last minute because we are trying to fill the spots.
§ It was suggested that we better advertise the deadline and include verbiage that if the application is sent in after the deadline, the athlete might not receive their apparel until after the trip.
§ The deadline will remain as it has in the past, for 15-18 by the conclusion of Jr. Sr. Champs (Sunday March 10) and for the 14 & U athletes at the conclusion of 14 & Under JO’s (Sunday March 17). All apparel orders for the Team Outfitting Package will be due to Aardvark no later than noon on Monday March 18.
o Appointment of new Diversity Chair – Miriam Lynch was elected as the Eastern Zone Inclusion/Diversity Chair at the Eastern Zone Meeting in September and has resigned as the PVS Inclusion/Diversity Chair. With the approval of the board, General Chair Riley Eaton is appointing Merari Chollette as the new PVS Inclusion/Diversity Chair. She will start immediately and her position will be up for vote at the 2013 House of Delegates meeting.
o Approval of Athlete Travel Grants for 2012 SC Juniors & Senior Nationals – A report of those athletes who applied for travel grants for the 2012 SC Junior and Senior Nationals was sent out for review. To recap, there were 4 applicants for Junior Nationals and 13 applicants Senior Nationals, all athletes are currently registered, all swam at least 4 events in PVS and all represented PVS at the meet. The Senior Chair recommends that all athletes receive the full share of travel assistance applicants. The total cost of the grants for each meet was under the established cap set by Competition Committee.
o Motion to approve all 4 athletes for Junior Nationals and all 13 Senior Nationals athletes for full shares ($250) and $450) respectively for the PVS Travel Grant, seconded and approved.
· Reports
o Executive Director – see report submitted
o Athlete Representative – no report submitted
o Administrative – no report submitted
o Inclusion/Diversity – see report submitted
o Webmaster – see report submitted
o Technical Committee – see report submitted
o Finance/Accounting – see report submitted
o Operations – see report submitted
o Senior Swimming – see report submitted
o Age Group Swimming - see report submitted
o Coaches Representatives – no report submitted
o Officials – see report submitted. The Official’s Committee Vice-Chair, Tim Husson wanted to stress two points from the report.
§ Regarding Table Workers and if they are counted towards the Club’s Officials count, it was determined that only the Hy-Tek/CTS (table workers) that are registered as Officials will count towards the club’s Officials numbers. Because there is no way to track the individuals who are not registered and at this time the table workers are not required to be USA Swimming registered, the Official’s Committee feels that unregistered table workers should not be counted and credited towards the club. If, however the individual is registered and they can be entered into the OTS (Official’s Tracking System) in the SWIMS database, then they will counts for the club.
§ In the past PVS has paid the USA Swimming registration for many of our Officials; however there was never anything put into writing about what the minimum requirement is for the Official’s fee to be covered. The Officials Committee has determined that a minimum of 10 sessions at a PVS sanctioned meet the previous calendar year must have been worked in order for the Official’s renewal registration fee to be paid. Individual club’s may continue to reimburse their own Officials after any number of sessions they deem acceptable.
o Strategic Planning – no report submitted.
o Safety Committee – see report submitted
· Round Table Talking Points
o Report on Safe Sport Conference – Greg York, Paris Jacobs, Emily Menard and Riley Eaton recently attended the Safe Sport Conference at USA Swimming. This conference was attended by all LSC’s in USA Swimming and over 15 other Sport’s Governing Bodies from around the country, as well as several from other countries.
§ Summary from Emily Menard – She indicated that overall she felt that PVS was ahead of the curve and most other LSC. Many of the videos shown were difficult to watch but very eye opening. Some of them showed interview of actual sex offenders who are currently in jail, it was scary to watch and realize how easy it is for these predator to have access to our children. She wondered about how many parents in PVS have watched the training video presented by USA Swimming. [According to Greg, only about 230 parents in PVS have watched the training session and sadly we are third in the nation.]
§ Summary from Greg York – He feels we need to get some additional information about the Parent’s Safe Sport Training Video out at all of our Championship meets. He would like to see a page in each of the programs with information regarding the Safe Sport Program to all our members. There is now a handbook written by the USA –S Safe Sport Committee which has been sent out to all clubs. He announced, again, that the parent course is out and available on the PVS website, the Athlete Course is almost ready and he will announce when it is posted on the PVS website. Once it is released, he recommends that all parent and athletes watch it, as it is designed for children and is appropriate, as it also deals with bullying. There will be a Safe Sport meeting this spring, probably in Chicago to define the job of the LSC Safe Sport position.
§ Summary from Paris Jacobs - Her biggest suggestion for each club, big and small is to spend the money to get an attorney so you know your rights as a club owner, employer, coach and what you can and cannot do. By protecting your business you are also protecting your athletes.
· The USA Swimming Board is going to be drastically changing how athletes go to Convention, in order to ensure they are properly supervised.
§ Summary from Riley Eaton – The awareness factor is the most important part of all of this; we need our parents to be aware. There will be a DVD sent to each club to watch and share with their athletes. He was pleased to see that PVS was one of the first if not the first LSC to have a LSC Safe Sport board member. We are ahead of the curve and we need to continue to stay ahead of the curve.
· How do we help the smaller clubs who do not have the resources be able to get this information out to their clubs? Club owners and board members need to be the ones reaching out, instead of waiting for the clubs come to us.
· The biggest thing we need to push is the education. Many clubs are just not paying this topic enough attention. They all think it doesn’t affect them. The smarter clubs are doing it now and will be prepared. All clubs need to be educated and be prepared.
o Jimi Flowers Classic Paralympic Regional Level Meet, June 2013 – A request was sent from Don Reidlinger, Disability Coordinator, on behalf of an athlete who is coached by Mark Murray to receive travel assistance for the upcoming Regional Paralympic meet. A reminder will be send to Mark Murray about sending in the request form. The general concern is that this is for a Regional meet and historically PVS has only granted funding for National Level meets. We will wait until the formal request comes from the coach.
o Eastern Zone Meeting, May 4, 2013 – This meeting is coming up and Riley will need to make a list of who he intends to send to the conference. We will again ask Linda Klopfenstein to make all hotel arrangements for the Eastern Zone Meeting in May and the USA Swimming Convention in September.
· Old Business
o Black Heritage Meet, PVS Support – Several member from PVS have received a document from the Committee who is planning the DMV-PV team trip to the Black Heritage Swim Meet in Cary, North Carolina this May.
§ The instructions to the committee were to wait for more guidance from the board. A smaller group will be meeting to discuss how PVS is willing and able to support this meet.
§ Merari Chollette spoke on behalf of the meet and indicated what a great experience this meet is for the swimmers who attend. Each year this meet grows and the interest within PVS grows as well.
§ PVS will tell committee how we will support this meet, not have the committee dictate how PVS will be supporting the team.
§ Miriam Lynch will be working with the DMV-PV Committee to create a document that indicates what the committee is requesting, what the requested funds will be used for and asking what PVS is going to require from them. Once this document is received by PVS and smaller group will meet to discuss and then bring it back to the Board in March.
· Other New Business – no additional new business was announced.
· Motion to Adjourn, seconded and approved.
· Next meeting will be Monday March 11, 2013 at Lee Graham (unless you hear otherwise)
· A closed door Executive Board Meeting followed immediately.