Potomac Valley Swimming

Competition Committee Meeting

Lee Graham Community Center

September 28, 2016

· Attendance – Mark Faherty-PVS, Blair Piddington-PVS, Greg York-YORK, Bruce Andersen-HACC, Emily Menard-HACC, Bob Walker-ASA, Tim Husson-PVS, Yvonne Taylor-UMD/UMAC, Sarah Koczot-FXFX, Evan Stiles-AAC, Dave DiNardo-PVS, Robbie Robins-NCAP, Mike Kraeuter-BWST, Charlynn Venit-PAC, Kate Johnson-PAC, Brian Pawlowicz-NCAP, Erik Collins-SNOW, Jim Garner-RMSC, Dave Crocker-RMSC, Matt Pelletier-FISH, Heather Purk-PVS, Iam Handerhan-SDS, Manga Dalizu-FAST, Heather Haddock-MAKO, Merari Chollette-ERSC, Pete Morgan-NCAP, Dan Jacobs-MACH, Rob Green-DCPR, Jocelyn Sowa-LIFE, Tim Kelly-NCAP, Bill Marlin-PM

· Call to Order – The meeting was called to order by the PVS Senior Chair, Mark Faherty at 7:00 pm

· Approval of Spring Competition Committee Meeting minutes – Motion to approve the minutes from the May CCM, seconded and approved.

· Introduction of Board Members serving the Competition Committee – Board Members who serve on the CCM were introduced, along with their positions and to give coaches an idea of who to go to for what. (Sr, AG Chair and both Coach reps)

· Board Reports – These are reports from the Board Members who attended the USA Swimming Convention in Atlanta. The comments below are a recap of the various meetings the BoD members attended.

o General Chair –

§ PVS completed LEAP Level 2 this past year and received a check for $2500 from USA Swimming. We are currently working on LEAP 3.

§ At convention there was a big push on recruiting volunteers. Handouts available on the USA Swimming website.

§ 2017-2020 quad business plan was released, again this will be on the USA Swimming Website.

§ There is a LGBT-Inclusion/Diversity guide has been developed by USA Swimming.

§ Eastern Zone held elections; Tristen AG Chair, Secretary – Mary, Diversity – Nadine, Athlete-Tye.

§ Risk Management released some new guidelines…no running sailor dives. There is also information on concussions and how they happen at the pool. New warm up guidelines, stretches and warm up exercise. www.Hostgreatmeets.com this is a great website for anyone who is hosting meets or is thinking about hosting meets.

o Admin Chair – no report submitted

o Operations/Officials –

§ For this summer’s PVS Champ meets, the format with Senior Champs with 100% positive check in worked well and was well executed.

§ From convention: Scholastic All-American, PVS had 60 athletes (put us in the top 5). The 15-16 top 10 swimmers list has been drafted, the final list will be out soon. The motivational time standards should be out about October 1. They are just listed as 2017-2020, they can be used however you want (there is not a start/end dates).

§ USA Swimming received an International Meet, FINA Junior World Championships meet will be in Indy next August. Having 4 Futures meet worked well and it predicted that USA Swimming will continue with 4 Future meets.

§ In November there will be a Dual in the Pool: National Team vs Big 10 in Indy.

§ Arena Pro-Series meet locations have been announced and published on the USA S website.

o Age Group Chair –

§ Went to a meeting regarding the possibility of having a National AG meet, there was a panel discussion; PRO: this meet is happening (not by USA S) and the meet is growing, It appears the swimmers & parents want it. But many coaches do not want it, because they are not sure it is good for swimmer development, if they are going to national meets at a young age, will they still go at an older age. The general feeling is that it will happen, but how do we adjust.

§ AG Champ cuts will be released in the next week. There will be some cuts that are made faster, but are trying to keep the same.

o Senior Chair –

§ At HOD we passed the Travel Stipend to be $600 for Juniors and Seniors. The online system has seemed to make things easier, for clubs to apply for reimbursement.

§ For the spring will be moving Jr/SR Champs to UMD…cuts will be the same as last year. The no slower than Junior cuts will be changed. We will be going back to once course Juniors and one course Seniors and then combined for finals.

§ Spring AG Zone – We need to decide what we are going to do. Starting in 2018 the spring zone meet will be a qualifying standard meet (not the top 2-3 as in previous years) – this was voted on and passed in the EZ. Still deciding on if it will be a team event (by LSC) or by individual teams, similar to how Sectionals is currently done. It will be decided on at the Zone Level, but we will want to know what PVS wants so we can represent appropriately. The zone will also have to decide if it is going to be a 14 & U meet or all ages as it is now.

o Safe Sport –

§ Merari, thanked Greg for his service to PVS as the first Safe Sport Chair. He will continue to serve on the National Committee.

§ The primary focus of Safe Sport right now is education; getting the information out and educate the coaches and clubs. As clubs, you need to educate your swimmers and parents. Every club needs to have a Safe Sport Chair/contact person (similar to the Officials Chair). Merari will be sending out more information.

§ USA S is working on is remarketing Safe Sport, in an attempt to make it less taboo and easier to talk about.

§ USA S is interested in coming to PVS to do some educational training.

§ Please make sure all your coaches are certified and in good standing with USA Swimming. Remind parents & Athletes to take the Safe Sport training on the USA Swimming website.

o Diversity Chair –

§ Rob Green was introduced as the new PVS Diversity Chair – has been a coach in PVS for 11 years. He has worked with Merari on many diversity issues and programs.

§ There will be information regarding the Diversity Grant program sent out shortly. The grant program was passed at HOD in May. This will be for your club to be used for outreach. There is an application process and all information will be on the PVS website.

§ 2017 EZ Diversity Camp will be help in Buffalo. It is in the budget for 4-6 athletes, 2 coaches and the Diversity chair. USA S is asking Merari to do a national webinar on what we are doing in PVS for Diversity. Natalie Hines came to PVS and did a clinic.

o Coaches Rep-

§ Welcome to Evan Stiles. Will keep working at talking to coaches about meets, etc. Please contact him if you have any questions.

§ Heather reported that her coach’s newsletter has been sent out with information from ASCA and upcoming national/zone meets.

§ USA Swimming just announced a World’s 100 list for age group swimmers. There some PVS swimmers are on the list.

o Officials Rep – Always need new Officials. There are a lot of clinics in the next two week. Please continue to work on getting more and new officials for your club.

o Athlete Rep – no report submitted.

o Strategic Planning – Dave and Bill are working on setting up a Strategic Planning retreat for the Board. We will be bringing in a facilitator from USA Swimming to work with us. We will primarily work on LEAP 3. It will likely be Dec 18 weekend.

· Recap: 2016 LC Senior & Junior Champs and LC Age Group Champs –

o Brian Pawlowicz, the meet manager, reported; The meet went very well. We never had to ask for timers. UMD was a great pool/facility. Positive check in went well. The format went well, the kids swam well and enjoyed the meet. Tried to juggle the events to help with the Saturday morning. There were two outside LSC teams, which was a nice addition to the meet and went well.

o For the summer 2016 meets, PVS hired Brian to be the meet manager and Terri Marlin to run hospitality because there was no team that was willing to host. The equipment was great and the facility was terrific.

§ By not having a team host where did the splash fees go? John Ertter would know the amounts, but the splash money was used to pay the meet manager and hospitality coordinator. (at Futures – UMD did a wonderful job, it was great to have the whole building and thanks to the entire staff at UMD for doing such a fantastic job)

o Age Group Champs – The cuts had been slashed…and our numbers were still the same. There was a total of 45 total minutes between sessions for the whole meet. It barely fits in the time allotted and can’t get any bigger. We will have to make some changes for the summers of 2017, especially since we will not be at UMD.

· University of Maryland - 2017 May 20 until end of August the pool will be closed to fix the H-vac systems and work on the air quality. If the pool is needed at the end of May, they could possibly accommodate, please let them know as soon as possible. Otherwise they will plan to close on or about May 20. All starting blocks have been welding and secured, the in deck wiring has been updated and the bulkheads have been secured. So there shouldn’t be any issues with the starting blocks for bulkhead for the 16-17 season.

· Travel Reimbursement Criteria for 16-17 - The funding has been increased to $600 for both Juniors and Seniors.

§ The current policy for receiving reimbursement is; 4 swims and at least one PVS sanctioned meets in order to receive funding.

o Winter: Motion to approve the travel reimbursement policy to be 4 swims in at least one PVS sanctioned meet in the season, seconded, approved.

§ What is the college portion? They have to swim under the club and must swim in one PVS meet.

§ This will have a big impact on the budget. Is it time to increase the number of swims or the number of meets?

§ Is the $600 for one year? Only once can an athlete get full funding for Junior and Seniors in the same season (winter or summer). You also can not get more than 3 shares in any one calendar year. So they can get funding in the winter and then again it the summer and can double dip ones in that time.

o Summer (April 1 – August 31): Motion to approve the travel reimbursement policy to be 4 swims in at least one PVS sanctioned meet in the season, seconded, approved.

· Officials reimbursement was also increased funding. But there are different requirements.

· PVS Meet Schedule for 2017-2018 – Motion to approve printed schedule, seconded and approved as amended.

· These dates are the amended and approved dates:

Meet	approved date
October Open	October 13-15
November Open	November 10-12
January Distance	January 6-7
January Open	January 20-21
February Distance	February 11.
18 & U Champs	February 23-25
Junior Champs	March 8-11
Senior Champs	March 8-11
14 & U JOs	March 15-18
AG/SR 1	June 10.
LC Distance	June 16-17
AG/SR 2	June 25.
LC AG Champs	July 19-22
LC Junior Champs	July 12-15
LC Senior Champs	July 12-15

§ As a reminder all club meets bids for the 17-18 season will be due late December in time for the Winter CCM. They will be voted on and approved at the January CCM and BoD meetings.

o Amendment; 14 & Under JO – March 15-18, Junior/Senior Champs March 8-11, 18 & Under February 23-25, seconded and approved.

o Amendment: Junior/Senior – July 12-15, seconded and approved.

· 2015-2016 Outstanding Athlete Information & Discussion – Last year there was a task force for OA to produce forms to make the process more equal and a better way to compare swimmers in a more equal way. The three members of the task force all had different opinions. They wanted to make things so the criteria would show the top swimmer in all events. The big thing is how to make this the most fair. How do you define what age group (a swimmer cannot be in two age groups). Define a point system? What is your criteria? More events or higher placed? There are a lot of working pieces to a puzzle where there are multiple answers/solutions. The form used in 1516 was the best option the task force could come up with to try to make everyone happy. (Bob Walker)

o We will go with this format again for 1516 OA.

o How does USA S do their virtual points…maybe a way is to look at the top 3 or 5 to see and maybe add it to the criteria?

o Update the forms for 1617, open nominations to come in until October 31. [The applications have been posted and the applications are due to Terri November 13 at midnight] Then we will figure out a better way to send it all out…possibly through Drop Box. We will vote on them in January and hand out the awards in March.

· SC Zone Team Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach Elections

o 2017 Short Course Head Coach elections. Only one nomination for the Head Coach.

§ Motion to approve Michelle Blanton from YORK as the Head Coach by acclimation, seconded and approved.

o 2017 Short Course Assistant Head Coach Elections (once on the zone staff) – Liz Badley (HACC) and Jim Gully (NCAP).

§ Jim Gully (NCAP) – Treats coaching as a full time coach, want to retire from engineering to coach full time. Has many number of years under his belt, was previously a zone coach about 8-9 years ago. Coaches 9-14 year olds.

§ Liz Badley (HACC) – She has been incredibly excited about Zones and the whole process. Is very passionate about the meet and wants to increase her status with the meet. Wants to share her passion with the athletes. And is becoming a better coach from her experiences.

§ Motion to close nominations, seconded and approved. An election was held and ballots were counted.

§ Motion to accept Liz Badley, HACC, as the Assistant Head Coach, seconded and approved.

· Old Business

o Short Course (Spring) Junior & Senior Champs will be held at UMD.

o Summer LC Sr/Jr Champs & LC Age Group Champs venue update – We still do not have a facility locked in for the 2017 PVS LC Championship meets. GMU Fairfax is not available (UMD is closed). We are still looking at new venues. We have reached out to GMU Freedom Center, as a preliminary inquiry, it looks like they will give us one weekend, which we would choose Junior/Senior Champs. For AG Champs, we might have to split the meet for prelims and bring them together for finals. Don’t believe that there is a venue in PVS that can hold that number of swimmers that we require. Because it is an emergency we may be able to get Rockville (outdoor) and then also use an indoor pool. How do we decide who would swim indoors and outdoors? In Fairfax, Oak Marr is the biggest pool…not sure it will be available and no warm up/cool down space, which is a concern. There is also a pool in Stafford Co pool that is a 50 meter pool and a 6 lane tank. We are checking with VSI to see if they are using the pool. It is going to be a rough summer and we will continue to explore options and keep everyone up to date.

o Coaches Award proposals (to meet LEAP 3 requirements):

§ Senior coach award – set up criteria as it was already approved. Motion to accept to approved the award form, seconded and approved.

§ Future champion award – for the coach that works with the new kids and won’t have a way to win AG or SR coach of the year. Motion to accept as an award, seconded and approved.

§ Rising star club – recognizing the club that is moving up in terms of virtual club points, number of swimmers to Jr and Sr nationals and IMX participation. Motion to accept as an award, seconded and approved.

§ When will we give them awards out? We will have to decide.

· New Business

o ASCA World Clinic in September 2017 – At Convention John Leonard spoke to the BoD about how to get more PVS coaches to the clinic. He is proposing to cut the fee from $400 per coach to $100 and wants the LSC to pay the bill. So this would be a great way to get as many of your coaches to the clinic for free (paid for by PVS). In addition each participant will receive a one-year membership to ASCA. There are roughly 560 coaches (some are mini and/or swim school coaches) the funding will only be available to coaches who coach competitive swimmers. There will be additional discussions with John Leonard as to what the various tracks will be…the goal will be to have numerous tracks so there is information for all levels.

o Heather presented her report from ASCA 2016, in order to apply for her continuing education grant.

o PVS Championship Meet Task Force – This would be a sub-committee of the CCM. There are cracks in our Championship meet system. There are things that need to be changed. We have out grown our current system. We have made good improvement with bring Junior Champs back. But now we need to look at AG Champs and continue to look at Jr/Sr Champs. We need to try to have a group that can meet online or in small face to face groups to begin discussions. A survey will be sent out…then after the December Champs meets there will be a video/phone conference using the results from the survey and bring it back to CCM in January…meet again after March Champ meets, then have something to vote on at the Spring 2017 CCM. The results would most likely take effect starting with the 2018-2019 season.

§ We need input from the Officials and several clubs (small, medium and large clubs). Please volunteer and give your name and contact info to Mark Faherty. He will be in touch on the meeting dates and times.

o 8 & under clinic in January. ..Manga will be putting something together for January. Will need coaches.

o PVS won the Zone meet and the banner will be hung at UMD. Thanks Evonne.

· Winter CCM date: Wednesday, January 4, 2017

· Adjourn – motion to adjourn, seconded and approved.