| Potomac Valley Voices |
| October 1999 | Vol. 4 Issue 1 |
Welcome coaches, parents and swimmers to another great season of fast swimming in Potomac Valley. We will be adding some features and regular reports to our newsletter. We will be publishing quarterly, October, January, April, & July. Comments or articles for consideration can be directed to the Administrative Office at pvadmn@pvswim.org or 301 840-5955.
General Chairman's CornerTopics throughout this edition of the Potomac Valley Voices speak to several significant changes forthcoming in USA Swimming from the recently concluded United States Aquatic Sports convention. These changes ultimately filter down to impact our athletes.
As I have had a chance to visit the various PVS clinics during the past month, one tangible stood out that has a direct impact on Potomac Valley and its athletes. That tangible is the noticeable decrease in the number of new individuals stepping forward to train and become certified as a HyTek operator, timing system operator, and/or meet officials.
The individuals in those roles now are doing an outstanding job running meets within Potomac Valley, but they can't be expected to continue forever. We must begin to get new bodies in the pipeline immediately so that our level of meet management remains high. Let us not approach the point where staffing a meet becomes such a problem that our athletes face the danger of not having the opportunity to swim.
No doubt, the best seat in the house for a swim meet is down on deck working in a volunteer position. With another round of clinics coming up (check the PVS web page for information), I would like to see the training classrooms overflowing with new persons. We owe it to our kids to provide them the best competitive atmosphere for maximum performance. Talk to your club official chairperson about getting involved. You will not regret it!
Remember, swimming and swim meets will only go as far as the number of volunteers committed to doing their part.
AdministrationThe PVS Administrative Office will have a second direct email address effective November 1, 1999. All communication with Linda Edmunds can now be directed to Register@pvswim.org. All Athlete registration, financial communication should be directed to this address. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the PVS Administrative Office at 301 840-5955.
CompetitionCongratulations goes to the four SCY Zone Coaches selected at the Fall Competition Committee meeting. Voted in and approved by the BoD were Bob Walker, George Massy, Blair Cameron, and Chris Hadden. The BoD has determined that selection for the remaining two vacancies will occur at the January 17, 2000 Competition Committee Meeting. Please send nominations to the PVS Office no later than January 10, 2000.
Short Course ZonesShort Course Zone Age Group Championships 2000 is set for March 30-April 1, 2000 at Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex.
Long Course ZonesLong Course Zones will be held August 9 to 12, 2000 in Buffalo. Two pools will be available for morning prelims, one for finals. Zone Qualifying times will be posted on the Web page and distributed in flash mail when they are available.
National ChampionshipFundamental changes were made in how United States Swimming will conduct its National level championship meets. The major change is the Speedo Junior Championships (both spring and summer) will not be held after the Year 2000. It will be replaced with the Sectional Championship in 2001. Each zone is expected to conduct up to four sectional championships in both the SC and LC season. Each sectional is to have at least 400 swimmers.
After discussion it was decided PVS would remain in the Southeast for the final trip to the Speedo Junior Championships.
For more detailed information on these competition changes please review the attached document under the same title.
New Events ApprovedUSA swimming approved several new distances for 12 & Under Swimmers.
| 10 & Under: | 400 Free
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| 11-12 Year Olds: | 400IM
| 200 Breaststroke
| 200 Backstroke
| 200 Butterfly
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PVS has yet to determine how and when these recently approved events will be incorporated into our meets. Coaches are encouraged to attend the winter Competition Committee meeting scheduled for January 17, 2000 to share their opinion.
Rule ChangesThe USA Swimming Whistle Start Protocol and the No Recall False Start rules become effective May 1, 2000 for all USA Swimming LSC's. At the September Competition Committee meeting the body voted to initialize these rule changes effective January 1, 2000, the BoD codified this motion in October. However they will not be used in mini meets prior to May 2000.
The new starting procedures are explained in detail in an attached document suitable for reproduction and distribution to coaching staff.
USA SwimmingThe US Open Meet will be held from 2-4 December 1999 in San Antonio, TX.
All meet verification forms must be received by 5pm on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999 for processing in order to be forwarded to the meet director by the cut-off. If you have not received this form and need one, please contact the PVS Administrative Office.
All requests for travel reimbursement for this meet must be received by the PVS Administrative Office by 5pm, Monday, January 3, 2000 in order to be considered. National "A" and National "B" team swimmers are eligible for reimbursement from USA Swimming. Total reimbursement received from all sources may not exceed actual expenses.
It was decided at the October Potomac Valley Swimming Board of Director's Meeting that the travel eligibility requirement for this meet would be the same as for the 1999 LC season.
Travel requests will be forwarded to the travel committee for review and final determination will be made at the January 2000 Board of Director's meeting. Payments will be issued no later than 1 February 2000.
Please refer to the Potomac Valley Swimming Policies and Procedures Manual for more information about travel assistance requests.
If you have any questions, please call the PVS Administrative Office at (301) 840-5955.
PVS Travel ReimbursementAt the October Board meeting the participation requirements for travel reimbursement were set for the following meets:
1999 US OPEN---The same criteria will be used as was used for summer 1999, namely FOUR (4) EVENTS in PVS SUMMER 1999 LONG COURSE MEETS. If a swimmer qualified for summer reimbursement, even if s/he did not use it, s/he will qualify for 1999 Open reimbursement. To apply for these funds, see US Open article for further details.
SPRING 2000---The number of events needed to qualify for SPRING 2000 travel reimbursement is SIX (6) in PVS SPONSORED MEETS (those having a sanction number beginning with "PVS"} PLUS THREE (3) ADDITIONAL EVENTS in ANY PVS SANCTION MEETS for a total of NINE SHORT COURSE EVENTS.
SUMMER 2000---The number of events needed to qualify for SUMMER 2000 travel reimbursement is TWO (2) in PVS SPONSORED MEETS (those having a sanction number beginning with "PVS") PLUS TWO ADDITIONAL EVENTS IN ANY PVS SANCTION MEETS for a total of FOUR (4) LONG COURSE EVENTS.
All criteria outlined in the Policy and Procedure Manual will of course be in affect. The above are only the "swimming" event requirements.
A new TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT REQUEST FORM is being designed. It is expected to be available shortly after the November Board Meeting. Please watch for the announcement concerning its use in the December Flash Mail.
Because Travel Reimbursement has far exceed its budget in the past few years, the monetary value of the various shares (Open, Junior, Senior and Trial) was tabled pending a review of the PVS financial outlook. It is hoped that we can announce the value of the various shares after the next Board Meeting. There is a distinct possibility that each of the shares will be reduced from its current level by as much as $50-$100.
(Note: The reason the Travel Reimbursements have gone so far over budget is that we have had a large increase in the number of athletes qualifying for travel funds and this is due to their increasingly fine performance, so congratulations are in order to the swimmers and their coaches.)
Meet ManagementOn September 25th PVS held a meet manager's seminar/workshop. We had several experienced meet directors in attendance. A wonderful exchange occurred in the review of the Meet Directors Financial reports. As a result all the forms are in rewrite. Until further notice please use the existing forms. The Administrative Office hopes to have the rewrite done over the next month. When complete they will be available on the PVS Web Page and will go out in the next Flash Mail.
HyTek Meet ManagerPVS Operations has no current plans to utilize Hytek's recently released version of Meet Manager for Windows. PVS plans to remain with the DOS version until the Windows version is fully released and PVS Operations has had an opportunity to fully evaluate and successfully test it.
Meet ReconciliationThe PVS Administrative Office will once again be using the LSC Registration Data Base to reconcile all PVS sanctioned meets.
The reconciliation procedure will produce a report for review by the office of all swimmers entered in a meet that have entry information different from the LSC Data Base. Any swimmer that is incorrectly attached, falsely registered, or unregistered will appear on this report. Additionally swimmers entered under incorrect names will also be listed on the report. When entering swimmers please be sure to use the name as it appears on their USA Swimming registration. If that information is incorrect or incomplete please notify Linda Edmunds at Register@pvswim.org or call the Administrative Office at 301 840-5955.
Please note that falsifying an entry in anyway can result in fines.
Athlete RepresentativeOn Wednesday, September 15, 1999, I flew from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to San Diego California, to attend the 20th Annual United States Aquatic Sports Convention. This was the first convention I attended as a junior athlete representative for PVS. In this paper, I will explain how the athletes felt about some of the rules and regulations discussed at the convention.
Amendment R-9 Paragraph H, which talked about having "no recall" when a swimmer false starts, was discussed among the athletes. During one of the athlete meetings, someone explained that if a swimmer was going to swim a long distance event and is disqualified for a false start, the swimmer might prefer not to swim. The long distance swimmer might prefer to be called back. I found this statement to have merit, but I prefer the swimmer have the opportunity to swim the event and get a time even if disqualified. This gives the swimmer the chance to do the race. The amendment was adopted because enough supporting views passed the proposal.
Amendment R-9 also recommended adopting FINA starting procedures for all levels of USA swimming competition. This included the whistle start procedure. Many of the athletes thought that younger swimmers might have trouble understanding the whistle start, but thought it would give them experience for when they reach higher levels in swimming.
Amendment R-22, Ed Note:(subsequently renumbered R-21)which proposed the Sectional Championships instead of the present Speedo Junior National Championships, was discussed a great deal among the athletes. The athletes felt that the Junior Nationals were important to them and if they were excluded from USA Swimming, many swimmers' goals to make Juniors would be eliminated. Some swimmers thought Sectionals would not be as competitive as Junior Nationals and the qualifying times would be too slow. Although some athletes disagreed with the amendment, many wanted to adopt it for the positive affects on US Swimming as a whole. Since more swimmers would qualify for Sectionals than Junior Nationals, the swimmers thought Sectionals would be more positive for US Swimming and its swimmers.
The National Event Order was also discussed among the athletes. Many believed adding the distance events to days three and four would give some swimmers (like the 200 backstrokers) less time between preliminaries and finals. Most of the changes made were sensible causing it to be adopted.
Overall, the athletes want swimming to become a popular sport similar to soccer or football, by being the best sport it can be. Swimming is exciting, competitive, and challenging and can be enjoyed not only by the swimmer and his family but also by an interested audience.
I believe this convention brought changes in swimming that will affect the sport in a positive way, causing it to become more popular in the United States.
Editors Note: The proposal to change order of events at National Championship level meets was withdrawn.
Upcoming EventsThe Fina World Cup is fast approaching. Potomac Valley Swimming is responsible for 50% of the volunteers required in running this premier meet. This is a wonderful opportunity to volunteer and get involved. Volunteers are still needed to assist with a variety of important positions. Volunteers will receive a free Fina World Cup T-Shirt.
There will be a volunteer's meeting held at UMD on Saturday, November 6, 1999 at 3:00 pm. To volunteer or for further information please contact Dick Rankin at rankin@betac.com If you are unable to reach Dick please contact PVS General Chairman, Thirl Crudup at 301 218-4330 or Genlchr@pvswim.org.
World Cup tickets can be purchased by calling (410) 433-8300.
Outstanding Athlete ElectionCongratulations goes to the following athletes on their selection as Outstanding Athlete of the Year. The time and location of the presentation of the awards is to be announced.
| 10 & Under Men | Thomas Hale-Kupiec
| 10 & Under Women | Laura Eull
| 11-12 Men | Danny Mizelle
| 11-12 Women | Leeann Chang
| 13-14 Men | Mike Ott
| 13-14 Women | Marshi Smith
| 15-16 Men | Michael Raab
| 15-16 Women | Jessica Brosch
| 17-18 Men | Ed Moses
| 17-18 Women | Molly Freedman
| Open Men | Fred Hviid
| Open Women | Molly Freedman
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