Thirl Crudup, General Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm.

Approval of the June BOD minutes:
John Hirschmann noted that the Short Course schedule should indicate that the Jan Open meet is now a short course yard meet rather than a short course meter meet.

Motion to accept the June BoD minutes with the correction to the attachment. PASSED.

General Chairs report:
Written report attached. Thirl asked if there were questions regarding his report.

John H. inquired whether Thirl and/or Greg had met with the Masters Swimming organization as they indicated at the June Board meeting that they planned to do. Thirl stated that due to a scheduling conflict, this meeting had to be rescheduled for August.

Bob Walker asked if it was correct that Mark Eldridge had withdrawn from his position on the Board of Review. Thirl stated that it was correct and that he was currently working on filling this vacancy. John H. stated that according to the PVS By-Laws, the recommendation must be brought back before this body. Thirl stated that he would do so.

Athletes' Representative Report:
Greg stated that Coco had informed him that she would be unable to attend the meeting this evening.

Competition:
The Board needs to finalize the Short Course schedule for various championship meets in March, 2002. This had been deferred pending finalization of the dates for Spring 2002 SC Sectionals. These dates have now been finalized for March 14-17.

Motion to move the 14&under AG Championship meet to March 7-10, 2002. PASSED.

Motion to request that RMSC hold the Mini Championship meet on March 16-17, 2002. PASSED. Irene will contact the meet director and if there is a problem, the issue will be brought back to the Board at its next meeting.

Motion to leave the SCY Championship on February 28 - March 3, 2002. PASSED.

It was noted these dates would be equivalent to when these meets were held in Spring 2001.

Jim G. stated that a parent had contacted him with a concern about athlete swimming at the Championship meet and "dogging it". This athlete swam very slowly and it was very obvious they were not making a competitive effort. Greg stated that the athletes were not making these decisions independent of their coaches and that this behavior showed a lack of class. John H. stated that there were 4 DQ's in finals of Men's Breaststroke. He had been advised athletes were attempting to test the boundaries of the rules and what it would take to get DQ'd. John B stated his impression was that some of the DQs were intentional and obvious. Thirl stated that these incidences seemed to be more prevalent at lightly officiated sessions. It was stated that both slow swims and intentional DQs were a matter of sportsmanship. Greg stated that he would bring this issue to Competition. Irene will send an e-mail to all coaches. Greg stated that this behavior is detrimental to the sport; it bad sportsmanship and the athlete should be ejected from the meet. John H. stated that the USA Swimming rulebook doesn't have a specific rule such as found in the NCAA rulebook with regard to making a competitive effort.

Jim G. stated that at the next Competition meeting he will have reviewed the time standards for Jr & Sr Champs for both Short and Long Course and will then present the proposed cut times. Bob W said he would be proposing time standards for age group championship meets.

Bob W. asked a question about athletes entered into the championship meets who aren't in the appropriate age category and stated that efforts to stretch the rules appears to happen regularly. He stated that PVS establishes rules to keep the meet an appropriate size, and therefore athletes who do not meet the appropriate age criteria should not be allowed to participate. John H. stated that he had received an email from one of the Championship meet directors and that he said that the athletes of the inappropriate age had been removed from the meet. Additionally, there was a report that some times used for entries were probably not always "real". Some coaches were entering converted times and/or "coaches times" rather than entering their athletes using a SCY time or NT -- which would put them in a slower heat. Jim G stated that he looked for the rule that applies to this, but could not find it. John H. stated that the rule that applies for incorrect entry times is in the meet announcement falls under the general provision of falsification of entries.

John B stated that some coaches were unhappy that they were not told that their athletes couldn't swim because they were not eligible to compete in the meet.John H. stated that the meet director said he had informed the coaches by phone or e-mail. Thirl stated that this matter should be taken to the Fall Competition Committee meeting. Bob W. said that still coaches are taking advantage of this situation. John H. said that the Meet Director had also removed athletes from the LC Jr. Championship meet who were double entered in JR. and SR. Champs. Greg stated that the PVS Board must tell the coaches what they can do and enforce the fines to prohibit incorrect entries. John H. stated that he understood one club had chosen to bring a charge for falsification of entry times to the Board, but that most coaches are not charging others. Thirl confirmed that one club had done so by reading an email he had received regarding an athlete who had a SR Champs qualifying time, but was entered into JR champs. He stated that this is a recurring problem.

Greg stated there's enough animosity already amongst the association and that maybe the board should appoint someone to watch this. He further stated that if coaches go after one another, it will create more animosity, while if the Board does it, it is the Board acting. Thirl stated that if the Board is made aware of the situation, is it the Board's job to watch this. John H. suggested that this matter be brought to competition. Greg said why not bring those that have already committed violations before the Board to explain and make them aware that if they have committed a violation, you will be fined. Greg stated that clubs that have committed violations that have been brought to the attention of the Board should be brought in at the next Board meeting to be told that the Board is aware of the violation; otherwise, the clubs will continue to make incorrect entries because there is no penalty. Irene stated that this action will put other clubs on notice and further stated that the Board is not being taken seriously because the Board allows violators too many chances. John E suggested that clubs with violations which have been brought to the attention of the PVS Board be brought before the Board and asked to justify why that club should not be fined as called for in the meet announcement. John B. stated that this that gets their attention. Linda K. stated that the Board could also use this time to make clear the other violations, which could result in fines. John E recommended that failure to appear should result in an automatic fine

Motion that if a club has made a falsified entry which has been brought to the attention of the Board, that club shall be called to bring a representative before the Board at the September Board meeting to justify why the club should not be fined. Failure of the club to appear before the Board results in the automatic imposition of the fine as called for in the meet announcement. PASSED.

Greg stated that it is the responsibility of the Board to enforce the rules but not to search out the problems.

John H. stated that there is a club that ran the PVS Age Group LC Championship had problems with the number of entries, further the club didn't have the resources to run the meet. Additionally, this club has been late with paperwork and problems with the rental of their facility for the prior major meet they had hosted for PVS. Greg proposed that a letter be sent to the club that there is concern from the Board that the club will be unable to satisfy their obligations in running meets. John E recommended that the Board bring this team before the body to justify why future meets should not be taken away. John B. stated that from an historical prospective the clubs performance with regard to meet management has gone down. Greg stated that he feels the Board will be stronger by going in this direction.

Motion that the Board suspend the assessment of the fine that was voted on at the June Board meeting pending the clubs appearance and justification of failure to provide paperwork at the September Board meeting. MOTION WITHDRAWN.

Motion that the club be brought before the Board to justify why the club has had problems with (1.) coordination with the Oakmarr facility for SC 14/U Champs regarding attending a meeting to make arrangements for meet -- including arrangements for concessions and pool configuration;( 2.) the very late receipt of the meet directors financial report and checks payable to PVS as discussed by the Board at its June meeting; (3.) Failure to recognize and advise in a timely manner the number of entries for AG LC champs (submitted late) and (4.) the inability to staff or provide a significant number of officals/table workers for the LC championships meet. The Club will be asked to attend the September Board Meeting to justify why they should be allowed to run future PVS meets, and why it should not be fined for failure to file its financial report in a timely manner. It should be noted that their performance at October Open will be taken into account for bidding of future meets. PASSED.

Thirl stated that it might be necessary to have a hearing meeting before the regularly scheduled Board meeting. Greg stated that this could be held at River Falls.

Administrative Division:
Written report is attached.

It was noted that the current allowance of $50/session is proving to be inadequate to provide proper hospitality for coaches and officials.

Motion to increase the amount of hospitality funds to be reimbursed to clubs hosting PVS meets to $75 per session. PASSED. It was confirmed that payment remains subject to confirming expenditures with receipts.

Greg stated that during the voting for zone coaches one coach was identified whose certification was not current and therefore was told that he was ineligible to run. Greg asked why the coach wasn't removed from the deck. John H. asked if the meet director and meet referee had been notified. John B. stated that he had not notified the meet director or meet referee. Irene stated that the coach in question is a member of PVS, but does not have a currently valid coach's membership. John H. asked under what authority does he have to be on deck.

There was further discussion of this matter. It was noted the current certification card permits rapid determination as to when it becomes invalid. Greg would like to bring this matter to the attention of the coaches at competition and asked that Irene send a reminder notice to coaches that certifications must be current. John H. stated that a list of registered and current coaches on the PVS website is a constructive tool is helping to police the process.

Irene stated that there had been much discussion of things that occur before/during the meet, and noted that Kit had mentioned before that the PVS Administrative Division will be creating a contract for clubs hosting PVS meets which will clarify the responsibility of the clubs. She suggested the contract will put some responsibility on the meet director to know who is on the deck. Others indicated that this might not be an appropriate responsibility to put on the meet director.

Finance Division:
Written report attached.

John E stated that the organization is on target based on his previous projections. John H. asked if the association is indeed about $50,000 better than at this time last year. John E. stated that is correct and that this is the same as he reported at the House of Delegates meeting

John H. asked if John E. had arranged the financial & management audit. John E stated that he has not yet done this and that the audit will not be complete before the end of the fiscal year but that he would like to have someone lined up before the end of fiscal year. He will try to have a contract in place within the next month. He will email board with results of the Request for Proposal.

Motion that John Ertter be given the ability to select the auditor using good general accounting and financial practices with the fee for the audit not to exceed $10k. PASSED.

Strategic Planning
Greg provided a written report to the Board. In addition to the two items listed there, he added an additional item. Greg stated that he would like to attack parent volunteer education. He stated that several years ago there was a clinic that failed and that he would like to do something more modest and similar to what has been done with mini camp. He stated that he would like to do several throughout the year. He further stated that he thinks many parents are nervous to get involved -- particularly as regarding volunteering to officiate.

Greg further stated that he would like to look at club Development management. He stated that there are no requirements to start a club and that the Board has no teeth on recruiting matters. He continued by stating that clubs are going after each other's athletes and that this results in the athletes being adversely affected; it is getting very nasty, new clubs are not on the best of finances. He would like to examine how we can get clubs to be a positive influence on the sport

Thirl stated that this idea goes back to the report of Sue Anderson about our LSC. PVS is unique geographically regarding its compactness. He further stated that this is an ongoing issue and that what Greg is proposing is consistent with a need based and specific base symposium designed to meet our unique needs.

Thirl stated that it would help to develop plan of action with developed objectives and goals for each of these areas. Greg asked if it is the sense of this body that these ideas should be pursued. Thirl stated that he had no problem with this and this feeds into Sue Anderson's report and the need based swimposium. Thirl asked Greg to develop these ideas with a probable or projected timetable. He further stated that he is aware that this is an ongoing concern.

Bob W. stated that he felt additional long course and short course meter exposure would be an area to investigate and determine how the LSC should proceed. He further stated that he felt greater involvement of the Age Group and mini athletes during the LC seasons was an area to be examined. Further areas where Bob W. felt that examination is needed are the championships and what the association wants; open water competition; and new events and how to incorporate into the PVS meets.

Greg asked if Bob W., John B and himself can get together to present to competition a proposal to address these issues. Thirl stated that this was fine.

Operations Division:
Written report attached.

John H. supplemented his report by stating that the use of positive check in was well received at JR champs. He further stated that he reviewed the timeline and that the use of positive check-in had significantly helped the timeline -- particularly on Sunday. John B stated that the meet director was very generous with heat sheets for coaches and this had helped the process to be smooth, he further commented the a laser printer would have helped to speed the reproduction of the heat sheets.

There was discussion whether it would be realistic to do this at other venues used by PVS and if so what equipment (faster/additional printers) and/or portable duplicator, PVS would have to be willing to put on site.

Age Group Division
Written report attached.

There was discussion of the LC Zone team Coaches. It was agreed the Board had the authority to not approve a coach if a valid basis (e. g., past performance) for excluding them existed. It was noted that all PVS coaches are subject to a Code of Conduct when they serve as Zone Coach and they would be reminded of importance of observing the Code.

Senior Division
Nothing additional to report.

Coaches Representative:
Written report attached

John B. discussed his report and in particular the last paragraph of the report pertaining to how future LC season competition schedule could be restructured. It was agreed this should be discussed at the next Competition Committee meeting and that this could remedy a variety of problems.

There was also discussion of the proposal to create a new variety of meet at the conclusion of the LC season as referenced in the attached written Coaches' Representatives Report. Age group athletes would be able to swim non-standard events at mid-day. This will give them an additional chance to make the cuts and could open 50-meter races of all 4 strokes. John B. was encouraged to take forward a recommendation to competition with a format for the desired meet.

Motion to approve George Massey as Head Coach and Brendon Betts as Assistant Coach (as selected at May Competition Meeting) PASSED.

Motion that John Blaschke, Rob Griffin, Gabriel Ibanez, and Dave Kraft (in lieu of Evan Stiles who is not accepting his appointment) as voted for by the coaches on July 15 be accepted as the 2001 LC Zone team coaches. PASSED.

New business:
None.

Travel:
Linda K. stated that the Travel Committee has been addressing possible changes to PVS's travel assistance policy. She summarized her proposal for the Board. It was agreed Linda K would distribute the proposal to the Board by e-mail for their comments and future discussion at a future Board meeting. As the item will addressed later, there was limited discussion at this time.

Coach's Continuing Education: There was a question regarding this and the number of applications received. Irene stated that 3 applications had been received and that there were 2 that the office was working with the coach in order to get them completed.

Athlete of the Year:
Bob W., John B and Jim G indicated they plan to propose a list of nominations for athlete of the year. Bill Marlin and Greg York will also help to compile a list. It was noted the PVS Policy and Procedures permit any PVS member to nominate any athlete for consideration for these honors.

Motion that a slate of athletes for consideration for Athlete of the Year be brought forward to Competition by the above named members of PVS. PASSED.

Meet Management:
John B. stated that he would like to alert the Board that he had heard two complaints about the appropriateness of the music for the age of the swimmers competing at the Age Group LC Championship meet.

Motion to Adjourn at 9:20p.m. PASSED.

Respectfully submitted,


Linda Edmunds
Potomac Valley Swimming
Administrative Assistant