POTOMAC VALLEY SWIMMING VOICES

Vol. 2 No. 1

October, 1997

General Chairperson's Corner Dick Rankin

Welcome to the 97-98 Potomac Valley swim season! We are looking forward to an exciting year for swimmers and parents alike. The PVS management team had the chance "to get focused" on this coming season while attending the annual United States Swimming convention at the end of September. This is always a special time for talking through our plans and resoling any issues so that we can come back and hit the ground running.

We were saddened over the summer with the tragic death of Dave Davis Mr. Clinic for PVS and our operations Chairman - but our management team is now in Place and we are ready to go. The PVS Board has appointed Thirl Crudup to fill Dave's term as operations Chair. Thirl is known to many as the Zone Team Manager (along with his wife, Linda). He has also had plenty of experience as a Meet Manager and is familiar with all the technical aspects of running a successful swim meet. We all look forward to working with Thirl. He has had a baptism by fire as we have been working over the summer to kick off the Meet Manager Subcommittee, which reports to him. That group is going through the normal, and expected, growing pains, which we hope to have all smoothed out over this coming season. Probably this committee will be most visible to you through our Meet Announcements, the responsibility for which it has just been assumed. However, over time this committee's responsibility for training meet managers and acting as the watchdog over meets should provide real dividends in terms of better managed meets.

Beyond the pool, this is the year we can begin communicating electronically. PVS is now online; please look us up at www.pvswim.org. You will be surprised at the powerful capability of our web site. More timely meet announcements and meet results are just the tip of the iceberg as to what is available to you. Under Dave Scibetta's leadership we have put a management team in place to insure that the web site remains responsive to the PVS membership as a whole. I look forward to this part of our service growing both in quality of information and more important in quality.

This year we will be pointing toward an LSC Workshop to be held in the Spring. Exact dates and locations will be provided later by the chairperson - Sue Gosline. She is working closely with the United States Swimming to bring in well known outside participants. We are planning for this to be an opportunity of a lifetime; it will most likely be spread over a weekend with events for everyone from swimmer to coach to parent volunteer. You will know well in advance the possibilities that will be afforded to you and your swimmers.

Get ready for a busy year. Support your swimmers. Get involved in your Club's activities and get involved in the LSC. I am always looking for a volunteer. Give me a call at 703-426-9596 and I'll find some way to put you to work. It will not be hard labor; it should be fun; will be rewarding; and it will be appreciated.

Reflections of a First Convention Robert Fout

Although I felt only a small part of the 1997 United States Swimming Convention, I knew I was part of something big. From the moment I arrived until the closing ceremonies, everything testified to the greatness of competitive swimming. Swimming is "on the move" manifested itself every moment.

The convention renders an arduous schedule. Our days run from early registration to 10:00 at night. The frequent LSC meetings, zone meetings and plethora of committee meetings, enable athletes to compete in an orderly and enjoyable fashion. Committees meet for technical planning, swim camps, safety, awards, coaching, site selection, club development, age group, and time standards to name a few. While impossible to attend everything, a "firsty" must limit attendance to committee meetings and relevant to areas of primary interest and responsibility, The mood is "roll up your sleeves and pitch in."

All of the convention veterans go out of their way to help and answer questions, even queries that they have heard many times before. The best advice I could give any rookie is to tap the enormous experience in attendance at the convention. Perhaps the greatest source of sage advice comes from the athletes themselves. Again and again the subtle message "we are here to serve the athletes" re-echoed in my conscience.

The old adage, "there are two sides to every story', is never truer than at the convention. An open mind remains an absolute necessity. Many of the issues are emotional and it is best to wait until the end of every argument to form an opinion. When someone steps to the microphone at the convention, what they have to say is well worth listening to.

PVS BOARD OF REVIEW RON TAYLOR

As incorporated into the brand new Potomac Valley By Laws, USS directed that everyone of its 59 LSC's establish an independent body from the local membership to hear complaints, protests, and appeals regarding the administration and conduct of the sport of swimming within the local association. This body is called the PVS Board of Review; the details of its operations are specified in Article 10 of the by laws. I, along with 4 other PVS members, were elected by the HOD last May to serve as the initial members of this board, The following is a summary of the PVS review process:

  • Any member of PVS may petition the Board for a review of conduct which the member believes violates the policies, procedures, rules or regulations adopted by USS or PVS, or that may bring the sport of swimming into dispute. A petitioner must file the request in a timely manner, must specify the alleged egregious conduct in terms of specific USS or PVS policy, procedure, etc., and must include a $50 filing fee which will be refunded if the petition is upheld.

  • The Board of Review must then determine if the petition is timely, relevant and within its jurisdiction. Otherwise the Board will return it to the originator with recommendations for next steps. If the petition does meet the criteria for the Boards' consideration, the next step in the process is mediation conducted by a member of the Board among the involved parties. If the issues can not be resolved through mediation, the party being accused will be asked to provide a written response to the complaint and a formal Board of Review hearing will be scheduled,

  • Once all parties have been afforded the opportunity to be heard, the Board of Review will render it's findings within 24 hours. The decision of the Board is binding on all parties, subject only to the National Board of Review. We certainly hope that the membership can resolve its problems without resorting to this very formal structured process.

    • 1997 LC Zone Team News Linda Crudup

    The 1997 summer LC Zone Meet was held August 6-9, 1997 at Gloucester County Institute of Technology, Sewell, New Jersey. Twelve teams representing the Eastern Zone participated in this swim meet. Potomac Valley's roster totaled 148 swimmers. Congadulations for an outstanding meet.

    Potomac Valley Swimming finished 5th overall with 701 points. First place went to Virginia with 1081.50, followed by Middle Atlantic with 1061, Allegheny Mountain 818, and Maryland Swimming with 731 points.

    PVS finished 2nd among the boys final standings with 523 points. The girls final standings had PVS finishing 7th with 178 points.

    Scott Shafer (Solotar), and Yuri Suguiyama (Curl-Burke), made Junior National Qualifying Times. Zone Records were made by Yuri Suguiyama, Mike Nicholas (Team Gold) and Kim Schinnerer (Curl-Burke). PVS tallied 17 reportable Top 16 Times for individual events.

    A Big Thank You to all the PVS parents for their support in their roles as officials, timers and cheerleaders!!!!!

    Finally, a terrific job by our coaching staff of Joe Brace, Nancy Doggett, Marilyn Mangels, Dave Mashburn, Kit Matthews and Bob Walker. Thank you one and all. Don't forget to mark your calendars for the '98 SC Zone Championships. Dates are April 2-4 at Gloucester County Institute of Technology, Sewell, New Jersey.

    PV ZONE TEAM Short Course Changes Dick Rankin

    This is a work in progress. These Short Course Zone Team changes will take effect as soon as the BOD approves them, which I anticipate will be later this month. These changes result from a number of serious incidents that occurred last spring. They have led the Board to the conclusion that we need to "get back to basics." We need to clarify the purpose of the Zone Team and to insure that all aspects of the team clearly support the purpose,

    The Board appointed an ad hoc committee to review the issue and make recommendations, which follow. The committee:

  • Defined the purpose of the Short Course Zone Team, which is to prepare our swimmers both physically and mentally for national level team competition.

  • Is undertaking a refinement of our PVS Code of Conduct of provide clearer definition regarding the consequences of inappropriate behavior.

  • Proposes a combination of stipends and education grant reimbursements to the coaching staff.

  • Encourage the selection of the coaching staff by the competition committee in early fall (to start the 99 team), so preparations can begin earlier.

  • Supports no change in the annual selection criteria for 12 & under swimmers, however, within the following parameters for age 13 and over:

  • The fastest applicant in each event will be an automatic selection and a second applicant will be selected if his/her selection time is faster than the 12th place seed time for event from the previous short course zone meet and

  • No swimmer will be selected who has already participated on 3 short course zone teams since turning 13 or on 2 teams while in the same age group.

  • Recommends that the zone team, or a group of likely zone team members be brought together as a team during the winter for practice and motivation so the swimmers have a similar preparation experience for national level competition.

  • The committee recognizes that we may not be able to fully implement this until the 1999 season.

    • The ad hoc committee believes these changes will greatly assist us in refocusing on those aspects of the zone team experience that are most important both prior and during the actual competition. These changes are being reviewed with the Competition Committee and any modifications enacted by the PVS Board will be identified in the next Voices. Also, the zone team policy in our PVS Policies and Procedures Manual will be modified to reflect these changes, enacted.

    I want to thank the ad hoc committee for its outstanding efforts and to emphasize that none of these changes will affect the Long Course Zone Team.