Draft Minutes until approved at the November BOD meeting

Potomac Valley Swimming

Board of Director’s Meeting

River Falls

7915 Horseshoe Lane, Potomac, MD 20854

October 10, 2011

· Attendance – PVS Board Members: Riley Eaton, Paris Jacobs, Bill Marlin, Nick Campbell (athlete), Scott Bryant, Emily Felker, Jim Thompson, Mike Rubin, Bob Vincent, Miriam Lynch and Manga Dalizu. Other Members: Greg York, Jim Garner, Tim Husson, Linda Klopfenstein, Bill Stephens and Terri Marlin.

· Call to Order – The meeting called to order at 6:59 pm by General Chair Riley Eaton

· General Chair Comments –

o Welcome to the new Board Members, Emily Felker and Scott Bryant as new Coaches Representatives and Mike Rubin as the new Official’s Representative.

· Action Items –

o Approval of July 12, 2011 Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the minutes from the July 12, 2011 Board of Director’s Meeting, seconded and approved.

o Competition Committee Motions from Fall 2011 Meeting –

§ Calendar –

· PVS Schedule - Motion to approve PVS Open and Distance meet Schedule for the 2012-2013 season, outlined below, as recommended by the Competition Committee, seconded and approved.

o October Open, October 19-21

o November Open, November 9-11

o January Distance, January 5-6

o January Open, January 19-20

o February Distance, February 10

· Club Meets -

o Motion to add the following Club meets to the PVS Competition Schedule for January 1-March 31, 2012 as recommended by the Competition Committee, seconded and approved.

§ January 14-15, AAC – Senior Circuit – WL

§ January 14-15, MACH – Green & Orange Bowl Invite – Madeira

§ January 28-29, CUBU – JO Qualifier – WARF

§ February 11-12 – OCCS – President’s Day Classic – GMU-Freedom

§ February 17-19 – DCPR – Black History – Takoma

§ February 25-26 – RMSC – February Qualifier – Germantown

§ February 25-26 – MACH – 14 & U JO Qualifier – Madeira

§ February 25-26 – AAC – Winter Gator Mini – WL

o Motion to add the following Club meets to the PVS Competition Schedule for April 1-August 31, 2012 as recommended by the Competition Committee seconded and approved.

§ April 27-29 – MACH – Machine LC Classic – Takoma

§ May 5-6 – MSSC – Early Bird LC Invitational – Fairland

§ May 25-27 – PM – VA State Championships – Oak Marr

· 2013 PVS Championship Meet Season – Motion to approve the concept of a 5 meet Championship Meet Schedule (following the proposed schedule; JO “B” level – Feb 22-24, Junior Champs – March 7-10, Senior Champs – March 7-10, JO “A” Level meet – March 14-17, and 18 & Under Champs March 29-31 (to coincide with Zones) with the understanding that the finances and pool availability will be important factors in the finalizing of the schedule, the structure will be further discussed at the January Competition Committee Meeting and brought forth to the Board for approval, seconded and approved (2 opposed).

o We need to look closely at the financial impact adding a 5^th meet to the schedule will have on the LSC.  

o The committee who proposed this concept has acknowledged that by using a better pool for meets such as GMU for JO’s that we will need to charge more for these meets and they are ok with increased entry fees.

o One member commented that they felt that swimmers should only be allowed to swim in one of the 5 meets. If swimmers were allowed to swim in all of the meets they qualify for then we will not be achieving the purpose of added a 5^th meet, which is to make some of our Championship meets smaller and therefore more competitive.  

§ Zones

· 2012 Spring Zone – Motion to accept the following selection process for the 2011 Spring Zone team: The top three 12 & Under with times from Sept 1, 2011 through the conclusion for 2012 JOS, The top two 13-14 year olds with times from Sept 1, 2011 through the conclusion of 2012 JOs, The two 15-18 year olds with times from Sept 1, 2011 through the conclusion of 2012 Junior/Senior Champs as recommended by the Competition Committee, seconded and approved.

· 2012 Spring Zone Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach - Motion to approve Steve Menard as the Zone Head Coach and Emily Felker as the Assistant Head Coach as recommended by the Competition Committee,  seconded and approved

§ Travel Policies – The following Travel Assistance policies were recommended by the Competition Committee for approval.

· 2011 Junior/Senior Nationals – December 2011:

o 4 swims in PVS sanctioned meets from April 1, 2011-entry deadline, no requirement to swim the individual event in a PVS meet which is swum in Nationals for which travel assistance is being requested. No Double Dipping.

o Funding $250 per swimmer for Junior National with a total cap of $8,000

o Funding $450 per swimmer for Senior Nationals with a total cap of $11,700

o No Double Dipping

· Motion to approve as stated above, seconded and approved.

· 2012 Olympic Trials/2012 Paralympics Trials - June 2012:

§ 6 swims in at least 2 PVS sanctioned meets after 9/1/11 and prior to the entry deadline with no requirement to swim the individual event in a PVS sanctioned meet for which travel assistance is being requested.

§ No Double Dipping

§ Funding $600 per athlete for Paralympics Trials with a cap of $1200

§ Funding $800 per athlete for Olympic Trials with no cap

§ Time Trials to qualify in calculating required swims

· Motion to approve as stated above, seconded and approved.

§ The date is set at 9/1/11, realistically many of our trial qualifiers (currently) are college athletes and are away at school during this time frame. They can qualify under the college appeal or they can come home and swim unattached.

o Should we set a date for them to become attached by XX date?

· 2012 US Open - August 2012 (taking the place of Sr Nationals):

o 4 swims in PVS sanctioned meets after April 1, 2012 through entry due date, with no requirement to swim the individual event in a PVS sanctioned meet

o No Double Dipping(no Trials and US Open)

o Funding at $250 per athlete with a cap of $3750

· Motion to approve as stated above, seconded and approved.

· 2012 LC Junior Nationals – August 2012:

o 4 swims in PVS sanctioned meets after April 1, 2012 through entry due date, with no requirement to swim the individual event in a PVS sanctioned meet

o No Double Dipping

o Funding at $250 per athlete with a cap of $10,000 (NOTE: the $10,000 was a amendment, the original proposed amount was $7500, but the CC body voted to increase it to $10,000)

· Motion to approve as stated above, seconded and approved (1 opposed)

o Motion is for $10,000, the original amount was for $7,500, but the CCM body felt we needed to allow for more money if needed and they wanted to increase the cap to $10,000.

§ Junior/Senior Champs – The Competition Committee approved the recommendation to change the number of heat for 2012 Junior and Senior Champs to 3 heats for Senior Champs and 1 heat for Junior Champs at Finals (instead of 2 heats for each meet as is the current policy)

· The purpose, as stated by the CCM member who proposed this motion, is to “reward” the Senior Champ kids for being at this level.

· Motion to change the number of heat for 2012 Junior and Senior Champs to 3 heats for Senior Champs and 1 heat for Junior Champs at Finals, seconded and defeated.

§ Distance sessions for PVS meets – It was proposed and recommended by the Competition Committee increase the warm up time for the Distance sessions of our Open meets and the Thursday evening Distance session of our Junior/Senior Champs to 1 hour. The purpose is to allow those swimmers in the first heat to get in a full warm up and still have a few minutes to rest/relax before their race begins.

§ Motion to accept the recommendation to increase the warm up time for the Distance sessions of our Open meets and the Thursday evening Distance session of our Junior/Senior Champs to 1 hour, seconded and approved.

§ Junior/Senior Champs – PVS will be using OME for the entry process for all entries.

o Official’s Committee Proposals – Violations of 4 hour rule for 12 & Under Sessions

§ See Officials Report submitted by PVS Official’s Chair Jack Neill.

§ There appears to be a disregard of the USA Swimming rule in terms of the 4 hour limit for 12 & Under (in the USAS rule book glossary, the word “shall” means “mandatory”).

§ Article 205.3.1.F: “With the exception of championship meets, the program in all

other age group competition shall be planned to allow the events for swimmers 12

years and younger to be completed in four (4) hours or less for a timed finals

session or in a total of eight (8) hours or less per day for a preliminaries and finals

meet.”

§ The officials are not looking to dictate to the board how to handle this, but want to start the discussion now and work together with the board to correct this issue.

o Athlete Protection Committee – See General Chair report – with the advice and consent of the board the General Chair would like to form an Athlete Protection Committee and appoint Greg York as the Chair. This committee will be part of the PVS committee structure for the 2011-2012 season and can be reevaluated for the next season.

§ All Board members acknowledged their consent in forming the Athlete Protection Committee and the appointment of Greg York.

o Technical Committee – See General Chair report – With the advice and consent of the board the General Chair would like to form a Technical Committee and has asked Tim Husson to serve as the chair.

§ Tim and Riley have discussed the position and the overall objectives. It is Tim’s hope that the meet directors and meet referees will be brought more into the decision making.

§ The Board would also like to see the Tech Committee address the growing concern of club meet not having enough officials to run their meets and continuously rely on the participating teams and/or the official committee to fill in. Currently the only requirement for sanctioning regarding the team’s officials is securing a meet referee. It is felt by some, however that this is not enough and that we need to relook at this requirement.

o E-vote –All motions were approved for Travel Assistance for summer LC Juniors and Senior Nationals.

o Creation of PVS Lifetime Service Award – see General Chair report – As an Organization we need to create a PVS Lifetime Achievement awards to recognize our great volunteers who have given countless hours and years of their time to Potomac Valley Swimming. The nomination process and awards committee is being discussed and formed.

§ Motion to create a PVS Lifetime Service Award, seconded and approved.

· Division Reports

o Executive Director – see report submitted

o Athlete Representative – nothing to report at this time

§ The athlete representative present was reminded that we are going to need several athletes to serve on several committees and to try to find several athletes that are interested.

o Administrative – see report submitted

§ Motion to approve a $4900.00 total salary adjustment for PVS Contractors. One position is still being reviewed and the Compensation Committee will present a recommendation for compensation at a later date, seconded and approved.

§ From Speedo they are very apologetic for not having our shirts ready for convention, because of their mistake they are giving PVS 60 free shirts and $2000 back in LSC support.

§ Swimposium – If we can afford it as an LSC, anytime we can educate our coaches, officials, athletes and parents that we take advantage. The overall consensus is that PVS should begin planning a Swimposium for the Fall of 2012.

o Inclusion/Diversity – see report submitted

§ Diversity Day on April 14 (at Takoma) – This event will include a clinic for the swimmers and then the Diversity Committee is hoping to have Peter Clark come to speak with parents on the importance of getting involved as a volunteer and/or become officials. There will also be a clinic for coaches. Additional coaches will be needed to work with the kids, if interested please contact the Diversity Chair.

§ On May 5 there will be a Ladies Empowerment Clinic, more information to come.

§ DC has submitted a proposal for a travel meet, but would like funding. The board wants to make sure that we can support DC and still be able to support all of the other great programs being scheduled.

o Webmaster – see report submitted

§ Paris has worked hard and gotten LEAP Level 1 completed, great job.

o Finance/Accounting – see report submitted

o Operations – arrangements has been made. Clinics going well, there are 27 official’s clinics currently on the schedule.

o Senior Swimming – see CCM report

o Age Group Swimming – see CCM report

o Coaches Representatives – nothing to report at this time.

o Officials – see report submitted

o Strategic Planning – nothing to report at this time.

· Round Table Talking Points

o 4 Hour Rule –

§ This is a huge concern among the Official’s Committee. Board members agrees that there is concern that too many 12 & U meet sessions are running over the 4 hours time limit, but not sure how do we enforce this rule given our growing number of swimmers in the LSC. One possibility is to add more meets to keep the timelines down, but then we will need more officials and more pool space, both are different concerns. It is agreed that this is an important issue, with no clear cut, easy answer.

§ Because this is a USA Swimming rule, we, as an association have to do something to ensure that we are following the rules set forth by USA Swimming.

· There are options to help decrease the timeline for 12 & Under sessions, some of which were discussed.

· Once there is a policy, we will make add a required statement to all meet announcements for both club and PVS meets.

· Motion for any 12 & U session (Club or PVS) that is planned in excess of 4 hours and 15 minutes, a copy of the timeline (meet back up) be sent to the Tech Committee so they can work with the meet host to bring the timeline under 4 hours, this information will be due 1 week prior to the start of the meet, seconded and approved.

o The By-laws does state that we have to provide opportunities for all athletes to swim.

o From an organizational stand point this may be hard to enforce and/or control, but we are responsible to do our best to ensure the safety of all our swimmers and follow the rules of USA-Swimming.

o Motion, in regards to the four hour rule the Tech Committee will have final say in all PVS or Club meets where the premeet timeline in excess of 4 hours and 15 minutes. In addition a written statement will be required to be added in all meet announcements, seconded and approved.

o Equipment Management (will be discussed in the executive session)

· Old Business excluding action items – nothing discussed

· New Business – nothing discussed

· Executive Board Session

· Date for next BOD Meeting (Nov – Monday 7^th at MAC)

· Adjourn