The meeting was called to order at 9:50 am.
There was a moment of silence for Andy Wilson an official from Niagara.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Financial report - accepted, must consider financial impact of party at convention
Agenda of the current meeting was approved.
Mary Lynch (CT), the new Meet Coordination Chair, will be working to get up to speed, the committee will be meeting more often and she is open to suggestions.
Ellen Mace (NJ) reported on the 1999 Spring Zones. She thanked the Zone Athlete Reps for their help, her report was attached to the agenda. Her report was accepted.
Jim Gibbons reported that they were looking forward to the Summer Zones. We need to return the LSC Info. Sheet ASAP (forwarded to Linda Crudup).
Motion approved to move the 2000 Spring Zone bids to after lunch.
Other meet coordination: There was a discussion regarding the 1500 and the 500/400 meter races as to when and how to run these events. Clarifications will be made in the manual.
Athlete's Rep. Report - Justin (Metro) discussed team socials and rowdiness. He suggested that a team social be held the last night of Zones and that an the athlete reps from each LSC (if available)could chaperone to help with the athletes. A meeting of the athlete reps could be held to provide guidance. The safety chairman of each LSC could be called to step in to assist as required and the use of a code of conduct for athletes is helpful.
Zone Director's Report - There is new staff at ICAR. USA had net earnings, although the insurance company lost money, there were earnings on investments which outweighed the losses. The new coach's credential card includes a LARGE stamp of expiration. 60 days after the Olympics the committee will report about the resident team, they will not recommend a future plan but only evaluate.
Athletic Funds for Olympics - funds are already set aside but the committee will determine appropriate distributions.
LSC/Club Grant - Agenda packet includes successful bidder information. As not all the funds were disbursed, another set of submittals will be accepted in order to award the remaining funds.
Why Be Dry - USA is working together with Mattel to develop a "swimming" Barbie. Inside the retail pack, there will be a USA membership form.
Athlete's Definition: This definition was approved and we are required to follow that definition. USA is working on trying to get some modifications made. We want to continue having athletes attend the House of Delegates. There was a discussion of how to keep all athletes involved, not only the elite.
Athlete Committee wants every LSC to have 2 athlete reps. There will be further investigation into our lack of representation to USOC on behalf of USA.
Club Championship Proposal - There is a proposal to have Club Championship meets in the spring, this would take the place of Jr. Level meets. It will take more time to investigate to determine how to do this. Some people are in favor of changing and some are not.
Murray stated that in his opinion this change would allow clubs to focus and compete as a club; however, it would take away the teams' ability to have their own championships, because they would go to Sectionals potentially in another part of the Zone. The alternative would be to qualify teams by swimming performance through some arbitrary structure, perhaps Power Points. Teams would then enter based on one meet of their choice held between September and March. The meet would have to be qualified and approved by USA as a Sectional. There should be about 20 meets from which a team could choose. The idea of this is to develop more of a team feeling and it will also help with time missed from school.
Club Membership/Licensing Proposal - To be discussed - formulated as an action item for Convention but may not come up until next year. This plan defines levels of club membership and could help teams with marketing issues and would give USA input as to how the clubs are run. Older clubs would be grandfathered in. The proposal is available on the web and Club development should be contacted with revisions or corrections. Coaches on the sounding board did not feel the proposal accurately represented what they had agreed to.
Convention - Local LSCs will not be as active this year. Any and all volunteers will be appreciated. It was agreed that a reservation system for tables would be desirable. Justin (Metro) said he would be speaking to the athlete reps about not drinking. The consensus seemed to be that there would not be an Eastern Zone party held.
Technical Planning Meeting - They are looking into including in the manual guidance to prevent conflicts with Easter or Passover.
Zone Officials Chair - Zones can help with consistency of Zone level meets across USA.
There will be a change to the manual so the 400 free (11/12) will be timed finals with fastest heat at night. 1500 and 800 will be swum by age and gender at end of prelim.
3 copies of correction pages for the Zone manual were distributed.
The report of the Tech Planning Committee were accepted.
Program Development - The committee has been increased in size, but is doing well. Accountability has been increased.
Olympics - Sydney hospitality task force is in place. USOC thought they would have $300 million by now, but they don't. Chuck and Skip have been working together well to raise funds.
International Relations Meeting - Working on getting 5-6 priorities. Open water events will be added to the Olympics. We are trying to get someone who represents us at a higher level on FINA. Our #1 priority is getting Long Course World's here. Doping passport- must send sample before applying for the team, 60 to 120 days before Olympics a minimum number of drug tests must be taken.
There was discussion about trying to get initiatives to promote the US Swimming Hall of Fame.
Jim Woods spoke of FINA's proposal to add 50 meter events to championships, it is thought that this will pass in Summer 2000. New FINA rules at National and Olympic levels, a race will not be called back for a false start, the swimmer will be disqualified.
Club development - Trying to get funds to club level and give clubs opportunities for fund raising.
No Old Business
New Business - Zone officials chair (already covered).
Bids were held for both the Eastern Zone meet and the Zone Meeting for 2000. Eastern express bid for Spring Zones as did Potomac Valley. Both the Meet and the meeting were awarded to PVS.
Recorded by Linda Edmunds & Irene Millman, Potomac Valley Swimming, Administrative Assistants.