The following were in attendance:

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 pm by Thirl Crudup, General Chairman.

Approval of the 2000 House of Delegates Meeting Minutes: Motion to approve the minutes of the 2000 House of Delegates Meeting. PASSED.

Approval of the 2000 Special House of Delegates Meeting Minutes: Motion to approve the minutes of the Special House of Delegates Meeting, December 2000. PASSED.

Thirl explained that USA Swimming granted each LSC the ability to present this award to one of its volunteers each year. The LSC nominated one person to receive the award who had made an invaluable contribution to USA Swimming. He stated that this award is sponsored by Phillips Petroleum with the criteria being: service, commitment (within PVS and USA Swimming), integrity and priority. Thirl stated that there was no doubt that this year's recipient was the one we wanted; a person who has demonstrated a willingness to work at any level. The Phillips Outstanding Service Award for the year 2001 was presented to Dave Scibetta. Thirl stated that Dave has worked within the LSC as a parent volunteer, Age Group Chair, General Chair, Zone Coordinator, was an integral part of the website development and was involved in distribution. Additionally, Thirl stated that on the National level, Dave served on the National Age Group Committee. Thirl further stated that it was Dave who got he and Linda involved in volunteering in PVS.

Dave accepted the award and thanked the LSC. Dave stated that he was reminded of all the fun he had and stated that this was one of the most important things adults can do by helping kids develop personal and athletic skills. He stated that he was rewarded because he and Chris had done their best to make an enjoyable experience out of the kids growing up and stated that Chris had always helped. He further stated that he had been inactive in the last year due to work constraints and hoped to be able to volunteer again in the near future. He ended by stating that he was honored by the award and that the biggest reward was being able to work with great people.

Thirl stated that he felt strongly that it had been a successful year. He stated that PVS had offered something for everyone…competition for all levels of our athletes continues to be a staple of the LSC. Meets conducted as club or PVS made their imprint with good outcomes. He further stated that additional pools were being constructed, but it was unknown whether they would be competition ready. Thirl stated that PVS had for the first time won the Eastern Zone SC Championship for the overall competition, as well as for women and for men; this competition was held within PVS. Thirl continued by stating that the USA Swimming Speedo Series SC Sectional meet had been held at GMU, hosted by RMSC and that this was "uncharted waters." He stated that the meet was very successful and that many kudos were received. Additionally, he stated that this Sectional meet was the largest and fastest of all the Sectional meets. ""Great Job, Mel." With regard to the Sectional meet, Thirl stated that the dates for the Sectional meet had caused challenges to the PVS schedule and trying to provide as many opportunities as possible for the PVS athletes. Thirl continued by stating that there had been minimum issues, conflicts, or situations surfacing from meet management and that those issues which did arise were dealt with in the best manner possible.

Eastern Zone Sport Development Coordinator, Sue Anderson visited in January for a "up close and personal look" at PVS in the areas of operation, competition, programs, and club structure. She gained insight into the LSC and stated how unique the LSC is as it is so close geographically with a high level of stress. The parents in the LSC are dealing with stress. Thirl stated that she had further commented that there seemed to be some fostering of "mediocre" coaching and swimming and that she had observed this in other LSCs as well. Sue also had stated that the LSC did not need to market for additional athletes as "you sell yourselves". Thirl stated that the camp programs continue to be well received and successful and is hopeful that the momentum will continue.

In the financial area, Thirl stated that the LSC will end the fiscal year "in the black" with a surplus amount. This was a goal set at last year's HOD meeting. He further stated that the LSC expects to complete an audit by the end of this fiscal period which was also a goal from the previous HOD meeting.

Thirl stated that there are currently over six thousand registered athletes. The meet recon process is going smoothly and there are fewer non-registered athletes entered in meets. There is a slight decrease in the number of registered athletes as compared to last year. Some athletes are not being registered since they only practice for maintenance and are not competing.

Thirl reported that the methods and process of communication continue to get better. In any organization, communication is always a subject of improvement. PVS critiques itself to identify where improvements can be made. With so much emphasis on electronic communication, this is one area that deserves a continuous review. The PVS Board talked during its retreat on how to improve communication. The Board desires to use communication to have constructive dialogue.

Thirl stated that more regarding these and other areas for improvement will be discussed under the short and long term planning phase of the various chairs reports.

Irene stated the Potomac Valley Swimming currently has 32 member clubs and 6,294 athlete members. Non-athlete membership is currently at 448.. Some of the decrease in non-athlete membership over 2000 and 2001 can be in part directly attributed to the recently implemented coaches education requirements of USA Swimming. Otherwise memberships are holding stable, there a few new clubs and some combining of clubs. Many first year coaches did not return due to the Coaches education requirement for second year coaches. Kerry Ellett asked if these coaches are continuing to coach. Irene stated that they should only continue to coach if they are in direct sight of a registered coach.

John Hirschmann reported that the Nominating Committee had contacted all incumbents and solicited nominations for open positions. He noted that all candidates who were eligible for reelection had been contacted and if they wished to run, they had been nominated. Others had been approached by the Nominating Committee or had approached the Nominating Committee.

Motion to accept through acclimation the nominations of Thirl Crudup as General Chairman, John Ertter for Treasurer, and Jim Garner for Senior Chairman. PASSED.

The PVS Board of Review currently has 3 positions open. The Nominating Committee brought forth the following nominations: Kerry Ellett, John Flanigan, Ward Foley, VJ Meleski, Kerstin Severin, Bill Stephens, Betsy Stevenson, and Tim Sullivan. Other nominations were solicited from the floor. None were received, the nominations were closed and the vote was taken in two stages.

It was announced that since 8 were running for 3 vacancies, the election would be held in two phases. In the first election the two nominees receiving the fewest votes would be eliminated. The remaining 6 would then stand for election with the 3 candidates with the most votes elected. This will assure those elected have received a majority of the votes cast.

The following nomination was brought forth:

There was discussion of the Athletes' Representative nomination. With no nominations received from the floor, this position will by a "write-in" vote on the ballot.

The result of the election for the Strategic Planning Position was announced. Greg York has been elected to this position. A motion was made to destroy the ballots PASSED.

The results of the first round of balloting for the Board of Review was announced. Kerry Ellett, Ward Foley, VJ Meleski, Kerstin Severin, Bill Stephens, and Tim Sullivan remained on the ballot. A second round of balloting commenced with three to be elected.

The results of the election for the Open positions on the Board of Review were announced. Kerry Ellett, Bill Stephens and Tim Sullivan have been elected to fill the Board of Review positions. . A motion was made to destroy the ballots PASSED.

Electronic Registration:
Irene reported that in the 2000/2001 Registration year PVS instituted Electronic Registration for clubs with 50 or more athletes. This process reduced data entry time by the Administrative staff by over 70%. Electronic registration will be required for all clubs for registration year 2001/2002.

Meet Recon:
Irene reported that after much tribulation on the process and the results of running meet recon it was instituted for all meets in 2000/2001. Used in combination with Electronic Registration it has become a useful tool in helping clubs maintain accurate Team Registration records. Clubs have been responsive to the requests for registration that did turn up during Pre Meet Recon and no athlete to date has been removed from a meet. The Administrative Division can say that 100% of all athletes participating in PVS meets that were entered into that meet under the standard conditions (ie, no deck entries, PVS athlete) were registered at the time of competition.

Aquatics Guide:
Irene reported that the 2001/2002 version of the Aquatics Guide was published in January of this year. Purchases have been less than anticipated due in part to the availability of much of the contents on the PVS Webpage. It is therefore the recommendation of the Administrative Division that the Guide not be produced in house for Board Members and Key Volunteer and staff members.

Club Development:
Irene is the club development liaison for PVS. USA has Club Tool Kits available for all clubs submitting a completed form to USA Swimming - PVS Administration has plans to enhance the kit with PVS specific information. Thirl stated that USA Swimming has asked that PVS host a Swimposium. He stated that PVS must examine and structure the Swimposium to fit the needs of PVS. Sue Anderson on her visit here agreed that PVS needs to get parents involved and that the Board must structure the Swimposium properly. Thirl stated that both MD and VA Swimming had hosted Swimposiums.

Policies and Procedures:
The Policies and Procedures of PVS has not been significantly reviewed in over 2 years. The Administrative Division will be thoroughly reviewing the P&P for consistency with the By-Laws and PVS practices over the next 10 months.

Zone Administrative Practice Review:
Because of the work of the Administrative Staff at the USAS Convention in October in Orlando and their continued communication with other LSCs in this Zone, the Administrative Division is working with USA Swimming to develop a Zone wide table of how each LSC operates to enhance communication within the Zone and to inform the LSCs of possible differences eliminating issues when travelling.

Kit Mathews thanked Irene and Linda for all their work in the LSC.

The pvswim.org website was established in November 1997. Since its inception 3 ½ years ago, it has made a major impact on how information is disseminated within PVS. Results of meets occurring within PVS are generally posted within 24 hours of the meet's conclusion, meet announcements are posted as each is finalized, and other news/information can be quickly disseminated.

Its acceptance and the ability of most members of the PVS community to access the web has permitted the phase out of both Family Mail and Flash Mail. Clubs receive e-mails when important new information is posted to the web. A few clubs are still receiving meet announcements, et c. by other means since they do not have ready access to the web.

The PVS Swimming website (pvswim.org) continues to record usage of the site. March 2001 was the busiest month since the inception of the page. Interest in the results of the many meets held within the LSC during March (PVS SCY Champs, PVS 14/Under JO Champs, Sectionals, Mini Champs, Spring Champs, March Madness and Eastern Zone) as well as interest in the selection of the PVS Eastern Zone team was primarily responsible for these very high figures.

As expected activity declined in April 2001. It is expected to increase as the LC competition season begins.

Usage at the site has continued to grow on an annual month to month comparison, thought the rate of growth is now more modest than it was between 1998 and 1999.

The searchable database for 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons were combined. The database now contains records for 11,904 name records. There are currently 225,292 "times" in the database.

Total times accessed during 2000 were 140,498,153 or an average of 384,926 per day. An average of 369 people accessed the database on a typical day. Accesses to date in 2001 have been 100,366,566 or an average of 711,394 per day. There have been an average of 452 visitors per day. Comparable figures at this time last year were 39,474,895 data accesses or an average of 277,992 per day. Average visitors per day were 390.

Alternatives to current web hosting provider for pvswim.org were made in light of current distressed financial condition of its provider. A new web hosting service has been selected and the transition is expected to commence very shortly. The transition should be seamless to the users of the site. It is hoped the transition will be completed by the end of May.

George Massey thanked John Hirschmann for the website and stated that it is outstanding. Thirl stated that USA Swimming looks to our website for ideas to improve its page.

This past short course year was very successful for PVS swimming. There were opportunities for our athletes to compete both locally and also outside the LSC. We saw many PVS Records fall (with the help of hosting two of the most successful meets, Sectionals and the Eastern Zone meet.) Different opportunities for our athletes of all ability levels spanned our short course calendar. We saw the Christmas Championships come back to our schedule and the inclusion of 13-14 year olds in Age-Group Championships (JO's). We are looking to expand on these and many other successful things PVS does for our athletes. We want to open our meets in the fall and allow outside competition to come into our LSC. We want to allow more PVS swimmers opportunities in December to compete at their highest level. We want to look into adding 13-14 year olds to summer Age-Group Champs (During this portion of the meeting, Bob noted that this could not take place this year.) Thank-you all for a great short course year. Keep swimming fast.

We won! The entire PVS body can be created for not only hosting, officiating and announcing the meet, but the coaches who prepared for and the athletes who swam great at the meet. For the first time in many years we had to turn coaches away from wanting to be on the zone staff. The application for coaches will be followed the same this summer. All interested coaches should submit their intention to be on the staff to either John Blaschke (Coaches Rep) or the PVS office. We will hold an election for the two 12-under coaches at Age-Group champs and the two 13-over coaches at Senior Champs. Congratulations go out to George Massey (Head Coach) and Brendan Betts (Assistant Coach), on being nominated by the PVS coaches, for this summers Long Course Zone Meet in Buffalo, NY.

Any questions on participating in or running a camp should be steered toward our PVS camps coordinator (Kerry Ellett). We just had a very successful Mini Camp. Thank-you Greg York and your staff.

It was noted that the Catch the Spirit camp in the Fall was successful as well. Bob stated that there is a desire to have more camps run and that any team can host a camp. Jim Garner spoke of his observations of the PVS Mini Camp and what a positive experience it was.

Bob stated that the October and November Open meets would be open to athletes outside of our association, to allow other athletes the opportunity to travel. Thirl stated that this is a pilot program and the success/failure of it will be examined.

Summer 2000

• Last season with Juniors
• Large Olympic Trials/National Championships with 1300 swimmers
• PVS well represented with 47 swimmers
• Two PVS swimmers selected for Olympic Team, and went on to medal ( 1 athlete medaled)
• Senior I & II meets held multi-site
• Senior I & II small for two sites, too large for one site

• First appearance of sectionals
• Held at GMU, hosted by RMSC
• Very successful meet, probably largest one in the country (750 swimmers), with the fastest times in the country being postedas well (time to come back for Finals, 8th fastest time, etc)
• Second SC Sectional will also be at GMU, sponsored by CUBU
• We twice revised our Spring schedule first to accommodate Spring Sectionals and secondly after the Spring Sectional format was changed by the Zone
• Time Standards for Senior meets are unchanged

• Senior Champs will be at U of MD with Age Group Champs in the afternoon
• Our first opportunity to use this outstanding facility
• 2001 Sectionals being held outdoors at UMBC, PVS is supporting this meet. It will be a 3 1/2 day format with non-Olympic Distance the first day
(It was noted that the meet announcement will be posted when available. Jim stated that the intent is that S.C. Sectional qualifying times would qualify an athlete for the LC Sectional meet.)
• Items Competition Committee has asked for, but not approved
• Travel reimbursement to be eliminated
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• Travel committee will be making recommendations for changes to the way this is administered as well as reimbursement amounts
• Club Championship Meet in December
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• Board turned down PVS sponsoring a meet like this with recommendation for a Club to propose a meet
• Competition has asked for meet format changes to possibly satisfy this need. This is an ongoing item at this point

• Provide Club Championship type meet in an existing meet or as a new meet
• Try allowing out of LSC teams to come to fall Open Meets, exact procedures to be worked out
• Continued refinement of meets/schedule to accommodate Sectionals

Greg York asked about an over subscription problem for the LC Zone meet. Jim stated that there was much concern over this meet and its being held in an outdoor facility. He further stated that Buffalo will be hosting an alternate meet that is open to all interested. He stated the VA Swimming has inquired about increasing the number of events per athlete.

Kerry Ellett stated that the Zone moves slowly in decision making about the dates for the Sectional meet and that there would be no definite date until Convention. He further extended his thanks to Jim Garner and Tom Southmayd for their work on the times. Jim Garner recommended that the Section needs to decide who is in charge and that people attending this meet had a range of expectations. Ward Foley asked what the feeling was about the time standards set for the SC meet. Kerry stated that most people felt the times were appropriate. Mark Eldridge stated that the meet was the right size for one course. Kerry stated that when USA Swimming brought forth this idea, they envisioned approximately 600 athletes. Very few sections meet this. PVS coaches need to bring their ideas and feelings to the Zone representatives. Jim stated that the Eastern Zone was the only Zone to split 2 ways and that all other Zones split into smaller parts.

The following reports were submitted. They were presented by John Hirschmann.

Coaches' Representatives Report: John Blaschke. presented the following report

Zone Coaches
The Short Course Yards Zone coach selection process was changed for this year and worked extremely well. Unlike many years we had an over abundance of Coaches. Instead of the selection process being done in January at the Winter Competition Committee Meeting only the Head and Assistant Head coaches were selected then. The balance of the 4 coaches were nominated and selected at the Championship meets in March. PVS JO 14 & Under Champs for the 12 & Under Coaches and Sectionals for the 13 & Over Coaches. More coaches applied then in recent years.

PVS Library
The PVS Library is currently being re-established and will be available for lending in the next month. Several items have been purchased with more planned, pending budget approval. Currently we have a selection of pamphlets, books and reports. We hope to add videos in the fall. A catalog of items can be found on the USA and ASCA Web sites. Please contact me or the Administrative Office if there are particular items you wish to see included in the PVS Library." (John stated that he would like to see stroke analysis information as well as total immersion information included. Boots is now on the National Education Committee and will bring information back for PVS).

"Open Water" Distance Coordinator I have just recently been appointed Open Water Distance Coordinator - I have met with the Open Water Coordinator for the Eastern Zone and with Kerry Ellett who is on the USA Swimming Open Water Committee. I will be working with Officials and meet managers in other LSC's as well as the PVS safety Chair to learn the ins and outs of conducting an Open Water meet to insure all the appropriate safety precautions will be in place prior to the first PVS Open Water Meet." John further stated that he had met with others about Open Water Competition during the Eastern Zone Meeting and that he would like to have a meet in the 2002/2003 season.

There was discussion during this portion of the meeting regarding the Coaches' Education Requirements. Kerry Ellett suggested that if this is causing a real problem, the LSC should consider bringing in someone to teach the course. Ward Foley stated that some of the coaches from his club had had problems with the test. Kerry stated that the test is now available on-line and that PVS should look for ways to improve. Irene stated that the PVS Administrative Office has the handbook available. Ward asked if the alliance with ASCA is continuing. Kerry stated that it is.

Athlete's Representative: Coco Buck presented the following report.

Kelly and I understand that as the athlete representatives we are the voices of the athletes. That is why this year we are trying to get the swimmers more involved and let them know that their questions/concerns can be heard. We have posted our e-mail addresses on the PVS website so we can listen to the athletes' concerns and hopefully answer any questions they might have. Unfortunately, so far we have not seen a lot of interest or support. However, the e-mails we did receive we have responded to them and have brought the suggestions/concerns to the board. With support from the coaches, we believe that we can work together to let the swimmers know that their voices can and want to be heard. With the help of John Blaschke, we began to set up an "Athletes Corner" for the Potomac Valley website. Our goal with this is to have better lines of communication throughout PVS . For example, clear up any misunderstandings about certain meets and why things were done the way they were. Hopefully, we can launch this addition to the website by next season.

Mark Eldridge stated that he applauds Coco for her attendance and participation. Tim Sullivan stated that an "athlete" paper in meet programs would be a good way to get more awareness.

Strategic Planning:
Greg York presented the following report.

1. Set up a competitive and consistent meet schedule with an emphasis on club run meets that do not change every year. PVS has already moved in this direction and no longer runs swim meets directly but awards the Open, Distance, and Championship meets to bidding clubs. I believe continuing in this direction but also trying to look in a long term PVS swim meet schedule so that clubs can begin to work on developing club run meets, perhaps even one to two years in advance.
2. Working with the administrative and officials chairmen to develop more interest in officiating and volunteerism. Constantly a source of concern, I would like to help us become more proactive in this area instead of reactive and insure we have a constant source of fresh new officials and volunteers year after year.
3. Bring to the table discussions and alternatives regarding changes that are occurring at the higher levels of the swimming structure. For example, the change that occurred this year with the new Sectional Meet and Jr. Nationals no longer being offered. Although PVS hosted this meet, we did not have the type of meet that we would have liked to have seen and part of this is because we were not strategically prepared to fight for the time cuts we were comfortable with.
4. Providing long range goals that hopefully would assist in determining our annual budgetary requirements. On such issues as athlete travel reimbursements, reimbursement for open water swimming, offering a PVS Aquatics Handbook, etc. - these decisions should be based on a coherent long term strategy to insure the continue success of PVS.

Mark Eldridge reported that the Board of Review had no petitions this year for which they were thankful.

John E. thanked Linda and Irene for their work. He stated that Linda's work made his job easy. He stated that PVS has $131,000 in its Operating Account, $75,600 in its CD, and $57,600 in the Dain Rauscher account ( a diversified portfolio which mirrors USA Swimming's investments.) He projects that the CD and Dain Rauscher account will remain unchanged through the fiscal year and that the Operating account will drop to a balance of $73,000 for a total fiscal year end balance of $206,000. For the fiscal year ending August 31, 2000, the PVS balance of all accounts was $179,000; the projected surplus was $7,000 while the actual was $19,500. He stated the projected surplus according to the Budget for FY 2002 is $18,000. He stated that the drop in the Operating account balance is normal as spending is higher with less income at the end of the year.

John stated that PVS will have a financial and management audit this fiscal year. He stated that if the proposed budget is approved, $10,000 will be spent in FY 2001 and $10,000 in FY 2002 to purchase the 3rd complete set of equipment which will help to cover a 3rd venue, but also will help with replacement issues.

John noted that he had changed the budgeting for Zones and that only the net expense is shown on the budget ($15,000 for SC and $10,000 for LC). He further noted that the travel assistance funds for Juniors is no longer included and that a small amount had been budgeted for both the PVS Library and Strategic Planning.

George Massey asked what things were included in the administrative line item. John E. responded that some of the items included were postage, office supplies, Strategic Planning, PVS Library and office equipment.

Mark Eldridge voice concern regarding the purchase of a 3rd set of equipment stating that this is a large expenditure for equipment which will be infrequently used. Thirl stated that the Board had discussed this issue at length. Mark asked if there was a PVS meet on the schedule with 3 sites. Irene stated that the schedule is not yet complete. John Blaschke stated that having a 3rd set allows for rotation. Mark stated that it was his understanding that the association already has an extra set and that he does not believe the 3rd set will be used. Thirl stated that the Board desires to provide the opportunity to rent equipment to any club needing it and that the Board feels it is best to purchase. Greg stated that many parents were upset at a club sponsored meet for which PVS equipment was not available as it was already in use.

Motion to adjust the current year's budget to allow for $10,000 to be spent to purchase ½ of the equipment . PASSED.

Ward Foley asked if the income from PVS meets and club meets could be broken down. John E. provided this information.

Motion to accept the proposed budget for FY 2002. PASSED.

Old Business:

There was no Old Business.