AS APPROVED at Fall 2004 Competition Committee Meeting
All motions passed by the Competition Committee are recommendations to the PVS Board of Directors.




PVS SPRING 2004 COMPETITION COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
May 19, 2004 - 7:00 pm
River Falls
Potomac, MD

Attendees: Greg York, PVS Compeition Committee Chair, Don Riedlinger, PVS Competition Committee Vice-Chair Jim Garner, PVS; James Van Erden, PVS, John Hirschmann, PVS; Ron Whalen, PVS: Bill Stephens, PVS; Bill Marlin, PVS; Kerry Ellett, CUBU; Mark Faherty, CUBU; Duane Davis, FBST; Peter Karl, SDS; Manga Dalizu, FAST; Ward Foley, AAC; Evan Stiles, AAC; Victor Abrahamain, SDS; Mike Piluskaitis, SNOW; Chris Huott, MSSC; Rod Montrie, SDS; Erik Adams, SNOW; Niels Moore, MAKO, Christian Doud, MACH

Call to Order -- Greg York, Competition Committee Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm at River Falls.

Distance Meets -- Rod Montrie passed out a paper (copy attached) summarizing the current status of the PVS Distance meets and some thoughts for possible future changes. He noted some of the meets are getting very big as distance meets are becoming more popular - this is sometimes creating challenges to get all swims done within the available pool time. He asked for people to review his report and be prepared to discuss at the September Competition Committee meeting. Questions were invited from the floor at this time - there were none.

Approval of Minutes -- The minutes of the January 11th Competition Committee meeting were approved as submitted.

Agenda -- Jim Garner had provided an agenda for use at the meeting.

Board Actions on Prior Committee Recommendations -- Riedlinger reported that almost all of the motions from the January 11th Competition Committee meeting had been accepted by the Board at its January 14th meeting.

Chris Huott had been approved as PVS EZ LC Head Coach and Eric Adams as Assistant Head Coach. The Board also accepted the recommendation regarding how the four assistant coaches should be selected.

Don further reported all sanctioning requests for club sponsored meets were approved during both the 2004 PVS long course season and the 2004-05 PVS short course schedule.

The recommended requirements to receive travel reimbursement were generally approved - there was a change for receiving reimbursement for participation in Olympic Trials - where the only modification was to require that the 6 required swims come from at least two meets, rather than just one which would have possible under the recommendation made by Competition.

The recommendation to have PVS Senior Long Course Qualifying Times be 105% of the Super Sectional QT's was approved.

There were no questions regarding the Board's actions as it pertained to the recommendations made at the January Competition Committee meeting.

Club Meets PVS 2004-05 Short Course Schedule -- Hirschmann provided copies of the PVS 2004-05 Short Course schedule as it now exists - including PVS and clubs sponsored meets as well as other major meets of interest.

He reported that in response to requests, he had only received until immediately prior to the meeting, requests from Victor Abrahamain of VSC/SDS for 4 club sponsored meets.

They were the VSC Invitational I at South Run on October 9-10, 2004, the VSC Invitational II at South Run on November 6-7, 2004, the VSC Invitational III at South Run on January 8-9, 2005 and the Mini Invitational at South Run on March 5-6, 2005.

Hirschmann also noted that the January meet would be on the same weekend as the January Distance Meet, the March Mini Meet Invitational on the same weekend as the PVS 14/U Championship meet. The latter meet had previously been bid and approved for the following weekend - the same weekend as the PVS Senior Championship meet.

Hirschmann also reported that a previously reported bid to hold a mini meet on February 12-13,2005 at Madeira had been withdrawn by VSC/SDS..

Ward asked if how well clubs are running their meets is being considered by the Board in awarding meets - including what is the definition of a well run club sponsored meet. Others responded that there currently is no specific definition - there is however the minimum standard that all sanctioned meets must be in compliance with USA Swimming rules - including the minimum number of officials that must be present.

It was however pointed out that a recommendation is coming from Strategic Planning that in the future more detailed and specific information be required in post meet reports that would allow the Board and others to have a more objective means to evaluate how well a meet was run. The Board to date has been reluctant to not grant a sanction based on informal or limited feedback on well a meet has been run - particularly since in some cases, it has turned out that the initial reports do not always turn out to be completely accurate or a complete story.

In response to another question, it was acknowledged that the Board has not in practice closely controlled meet entry fees for club sponsored meets - it has has rather let the market place do it based on past guidance from the House of Delegates. The same comment applies to controlling/monitoring how well meets are run. The general philosophy has been if clubs do not like meets for whatever reason, they do not need to attend them. [PVS Policy and Procedures do however indicate that all meet announcements are subject to Board review before issuance and meet entry fees are part of any meet announcement.]

Others expressed concern that meet entry fees are going up and that certain meets are important and clubs have little choice but to attend. They also indicated if you let the market control things, you run the risk of going from too many to too few to too many meets as the market adjusts to the demand. They were seeking assurances that the Board was monitoring the situation. It was also pointed out that the cost of running meets is going up -- including pool rental charges. They also expressed the concern that clubs sponsoring meets might be offering more heats of the shorter events since those are more profitable.

It was also clarified that PVS sponsored meets are different and the Board and the Senior/Age Group Chair take a much more direct role in how they are run.

Peter Karl agreed to chair a committee to address these issues and make a recommendation to the Fall Competition Committee meeting. Mike Piluskaitis, Don Riedlinger, Jim Van Erden, Christian Doud. and Bill Marlin (as coaches rep) were named. Peter Karl will hold the initial meeting at ANCC. He will schedule the time for this meeting at the conclusion of this meeting.

The meeting returned to a discussion of whether to recommend to the Board sanctioning of the meets being requested by SDS/VSC. The request to endorse the four VSC/SDS meet requests was approved.

Chris Huott made a request to move Senior Circuit Meet at PGS&LC from October 30-31, 2004 to October 23-24, 2004. This was necessitated by the Redskins schedule and the availability of PGS&LC. Competition endorsed this change in dates.

Hirschmann reported that 4 meets that had been on the 2003-04 schedule had not been bid and it now appeared that no requests to bid them would be submitted at this meeting. They are (and the dates they were held in 2003-04):

Annual RMSC Kickoff Meet October 10-12, 2003
RMSC November Invitational Meet November 15-16, 2003
CUBU 14/U Qualifier Meet February 7-8, 2004
Mini Championship Meet March 20-21, 2004

There was an Inquiry on what P&P said about the latest date a meet can be bid. The response was for meets between September and December, this Competition Committee meeting, for meets from January to April 2005, the September 2004 Competition Committee meeting. There is a proposal that the House of Delegates will be asked to consider as to under what circumstances, exceptions can be granted.

It was reported that supposedly the Mini Meet (normally held in March) had been bid, but Hirschmann stated he has no record it has been received nor has there been any follow-up regarding the status of the submission.

It was pointed out that with the absence of RMSC meets in October and November, the demand on the PVS October and November Open meets is likely to be much greater. The absence the CUBU 14/U Qualifier will provide less opportunity for swimmers to have an opportunity to qualify for the SC championship meets.

Christian Doud submitted a written proposal for the Leesburg Spring Showdown Meet on March 18-20, 2005 at Lee District. They had just found out the pool would be available for that date. He provided proposed meet format that provided that most events would be in a prelim/finals format and the meet would have 9-10, 11-12 and 13/O events. The meet would be open to swimmers who did not have PVS 14/U JO cuts or had just made them.

The concept of a prelim/finals meet for swimmers, who were otherwise not very likely to have that experience at a PVS Championship meet, was very well received by the coaches. However, concerns were raised about how many meets PVS can support on that weekend. It was noted that we already have the Sectional (being hosted by VSI at GMU-Fairfax) , Spring Championships and March Madness. Christian stated he thought his meet would appeal to different athletes. It was however pointed out that this many meets (some of which would be dual course in prelims) would stretch the officiating community very thin - it was already a problem with fewer meets this Spring. Also, in contrast to this March - all the meets but the Sectional at GMU will be dependent on PVS timing equipment and PVS -- per PVS House of Delegates guidance -- only owns three sets of timing equipment (plus prudent spares.)

MACH withdrew their request for the sanction of a meet on the weekend of March 20-21, 2005.

A question was asked whether the meet could be scheduled for the weekend of February 26-27, 2005, If so, the questions was raised whether fax entries to PVS JO Champs could be submitted [After rechecking the PVS schedule after the meeting, it was determined 14/U JO Champs was scheduled for March 10-13, 2005 so that times from this meet would make the normal meet entry deadline.] It was noted if it were on this date, it could serve as a qualifier meet. MACH said they would investigate whether such a date was feasible. Competition indicated they would support a sanction request for that date if one were submitted.

Niels Moore submitted for MAKO a meet for December 4-5 at GMU-Fairfax It would be a NFT prelim/finals format with a midday timed final session for the younger age groups. The QT's would be NFT than Dolan meet/Holiday Champs meet. Given the number of swimmers they can handle, Niels indicated it would probably be an invitational meet rather than open to all of PVS.

The Competition Committee endorsed this meet to the Board with one vote in opposition.

2005 PVS Sponsored Meet Long Course Schedule -- Hirschmannn provided the Committee with a schedule that showed the National and International meets already planned. It was proposed that the PVS Long Course Senior, Junior and Age Group Championship Meets remain on the same weekends as these meets were in 2004. This means PVS Senior and Junior Champs would be July 14-17, 2005 and PVS Age Group Champs would be July 21-24, 2005. It was noted that this would continue (as is the case this year) having Seniors one week prior to Sectionals and require the submission of fax entries for swimmers making a Sectional QT for the first time at this meet.

Motion to endorse having PVS Senior/Junior/Age Group Championship Meets on these weekends PASSED.

Ward asked if setting the dates and format for what this year are for the first time combined PVS Senior/Age Group meets could be deferred until the September meeting. He indicated he would like to see how the new format works out this summer, before committing to the new format for a second summer. Hirschmann advised he thought the need to rent pools for these meets could probably be deferred until September. If it is determined differently, the Board can address and/or request special input from Competition via a special meeting or e-mail in the interim.

The Committee agreed to recommend keeping the PVS Long Course Distance meet on the Saturday/Sunday of Memorial Day weekend - May 28-29, 2005. Motion PASSED.

It was reported that there is confusion whether SCY or LCM is the conforming time for this meet. Approximately half the entries came in each way. PVS was asked when the meet announcement for next year is issued that it be clarified what the conforming time for this meet is.

Selection of Coaches for PVS Eastern Zone LC Team -- Chris Huott and Eric Adams have already been chosen as Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach. Greg York reported he had received two nominations to be PVS Assistant Head Coaches. They are Mark Faherty (CUBU) and Mike Kraeuter (FISH). The Committee agreed to accept these two nominations and recommend their selection to the Board.

Greg noted that two more coaches still need to be selected, at least one of which needs to be female. There was then extended discussion on how they should be selected, including whether additional nominations could be selected at this meeting.

Kerry Ellett proposed that the two remaining coaching positions be filled as follows: First, by selecting the female coach who is listed by the most swimmers submitting applications to be on PVS Eastern Zone team and second, by selecting the most listed coach on the application forms, regardless of gender. There was extended discussion on this motion including whether the application deadline would be before the coaches list must be finalized, whether it was acceptable to consider additional coaches nominations at this meeting, whether the choice should be made at PVS Senior and/or Age Group Long Course Championships as in the past, etc. It was also noted that in the past that when PVS clubs with most swimmers on the team got a automatic coaching slot, the clubs did not always send coaches who had coached swimmers actually participating on the team. This motion was tabled.

A motion was then made to name Breanne Smith of SDS as an additional zone coach. This motion to recommend to the Board Breanne Smith as a zone coach PASSED.

The motion to consider the motion made by Kerry Ellett was then again considered. It was modified so that the final coaching slot would be filled by taking the coach with the most swimmers (based on what coach listed on the application form) - It was agreed the cutoff date might be before final entry deadline if it is determined there is a need to name coach before final application deadline needs to be.

In response to a question, Chris Huott indicated that he was not ready to decide who amongst the currently named coaches will work with the various age groups. This meant it was not yet known what age group the last spot to be filled would likely be coaching.

The motion PASSED. It was clarified this procedure just applies to 2004 - it is not intended to be a change in policy.

Criteria for Receiving Travel Assistance Funds -- Riedlinger advised this is normally the meeting at which meet participation requirements to receive travel assistance support for the US Open in San Antionio is normally set. He also recommended that PVS set the participation requirement for the USA Swimming Paralympics Open which is a new meet this coming year. He recommended that the requirement for the US Open remain the same as it has been in the recent past - a total of 4 swims during the PVS LC season - at least two of which must be in PVS sponsored meets. He also recommended that the requirement for athletes with disability going to the Paralympic Open be the same as for able bodied athletes. The Committee accepted these recommendations.

In response to questions, it was explained the PVS has adopted flexible meet entry provisions so that athletes with disability should be able to satisfy the PVS meet participation requirements. The Committee was also advised that the budget being submitted to the House next week contains proposed funding of $5000 for the US Swimming Open with a maximum of $250/athlete - so up to 20 athletes can get funding before proportional reductions will need to be taken. There is $750 for the USA Swimming Paralympic Open with a maximum of $250/athlete - so up to 3 athlete can get funding before reductions will need to be taken.

It was explained the decision to place a cap on travel assistance came from the House of Delegates and that is appropriate body to address if you think the policy should be reconsidered.

Selection of PVS's Eastern Zone Long Course team -- Competition at its January meeting observed that no specific proposal had been received on how its Eastern Zone Long Course team might be selected and/or supported by the LSC. Mike Pliuskaitis said he would take the lead in developing such a proposal. No report was available for this meeting to consider. It was noted the PVS Board had (as requested) added funds to the budget so that the short and long course teams would receive equal financial support so that if a new proposal was endorsed by Competition and the Board, it could be funded immediately. Others observed that PVS currently fields a very large and successful team and questioned whether any change was needed. In the absence of a proposal to change how PVS assembles and supports its long course zone team, it was agreed the PVS 2004 Long Course Eastern Zone Team will be formed and supported in the same manner as was done in 2003. Funds needed for coaches travel, their lodging and stipends will still be provided.

PVS Senior Championship Long Course Qualifying Times -- Riedlinger advised that the QT's for this meet have been set at 105% of Super Sectional QT's as voted at the January Competition Committee meeting. Non-conforming SCY times were set based on Hy-Tek equivalent times. The Eastern Zone decided at its May 8 meeting to relax the QT's for Men's 100 Breast, 200 Breast and 200 Fly. Since these QT's are being relaxed (not tightened) Don indicated he would modify the PVS Senior QT's for these three events so they remain 105% of the Super Sectional times. This will also impact the NFT times for these events in the PVS Junior Championship Meet.

A question was raised whether non-conforming times can be used to enter the PVS 14/U Long Course Age Group Championship meet. They were advised a swimmer can enter with SCY times that are AAA or faster.

Philosophy of PVS Time Standards -- Riedlinger emphasized that he was not planning to propose any changes for the qualifying times for the PVS 2004 LC season since all the QT's had now been released (The Age Group and Junior Champ meet announcements had been released a few hours prior to the meeting.) He did note that in reviewing the proposed times that it had noticed that in some cases the Men's QT's were slower than Women's in 13-14 age bracket. That caused him to consider what are our objective in setting these times. Is it to get an equal number of heats versus having times of a particular quality. How should the need to have a adequate number of swimmers for financial viability of meet be considered? Should the amount of support from PVS - which in turn would have to come from other sources be adjusted?

There were was high degree of interest in participating in a discussion of this matter. It was agreed the initial focus of the effort would be on the Long Course meet.

The following people signed up to be on the task force -- Niels Moore, Kerry Ellett, Mark Faherty, Bill Marlin, Manga Dalizu, Mike Piluskaitis, Christian Doud. Peter Karl, Evan Stiles.

It was agreed the task force would bring a recommendation back to Competition in September. Don indicated he would start the process by posing a series of questions and/or a proposal to the group and invite them to provide their reactions to it -- rather than getting their input initially.

Report on Eastern Zone May 2004 Zone meeting -- Riedlinger initiated the discussion of what happened at the Eastern Zone Meeting in Portland, Maine on May 8. He reported that the Task Force recommendation to restructure the Eastern Zone Spring meet had been defeated The proposal was to eliminate 15-18 year olds, allow a third 10/U, 11-12 and 13-14 swimmer represent each LSC in an event, and have consols and finals for the 11-12 and 13-14 year old swimmers.

Separately the Zone amended the Spring Zone entry rules to not allow swimmers that have achieved the Eastern Zone Sectional QT to participate -- similar to the current restrictions if you have a US Open, National or Olymipic Trial QT.

Starting for the Spring 2005 meet sectional meet, steps are being taken to obtain greater consistency in how the two sectional (Region 1 and Region 2) meets are conducted. This included issuing a common meet announcement, standardizing the order of events (which will be the same as the 2004 Super Sectional), having common QT's (which will be the slower of the two 2004 Spring Eastern Zone sectionals. However, the Men's breast and butterfly times may be relaxed for 2005 and other times reviewed (tightened) for 2006.

200 Free and Medley Relays will be added to the Spring Sectional meet format - teams will qualify based on being able to prove qualifying times for the 400 relays.

The Spring meets will be open to all USA Swimming athletes with preference given to Eastern Zone teams if the meet is oversubscribed.

Jon Urbaneck and Bob Steele have been appointed as Masters Coaches on a part time basis and will be available to work with USA Swimming clubs as mentors starting in the fall of 2004.

The new USA Swimming website will debut May 26 with a subsequent roll out of future enhancements to the website in mid- June.

The likely format the returning USA Juniors LC Meet was made available -- it has been discussed between the USA Swimming Senior Committee and the USA Swimming Board. The proposal is still under review and those interested in providing comments were urged to send them to the e-mail address on the two page summary. The meet would be resumed in 2005 and current plans are to hold it during the second week of August each year.

Don also asked for guidance on what should be the PVS position on the return of Juniors when we attend the USAS Convention in September. The two items of greatest concern voiced by the PVS coaches were they (1) do not like swimmers who are eligible to swim USA Swimming Nationals being able to participate in this meet and potentially take away opportunities from "up and coming" swimmers and (2) they would like the meet prior to/not after Nationals so it can serve as a stepping stone meet in the same season. One coach stated he would like the two weeks prior so being at Juniors would not interfere with final preparations of other swimmers on the team being at Nationals.

Don also reported that Sue Anderson will be assuming new duties with USA Swimming and that Ira Klein would be become the new Eastern Zone Sports Coordinator effective September 1, 2004.

House of Delegates proposal -- Garner made the Competition Committee aware that the House of Delegates will be asked to vote on change to Policy and Procedures that would address how a sanction request for a club sponsored meet (other than a dual or tri meet) would be handled if it is received after the deadline.

Some questions were raised about what does the term "direct conflict" mean. Also, some observed the current policy only treats meets as being in direct competition if they are on the same weekend - not the immediate prior or subsequent weekend. They did not think that was realistic.

Hirschmann reported on loading times into USA Swimming athletes times database "Swims" -- Hirschmann advised that most clubs are doing a very good job of making sure their meet entry files (regarding swimmer's name and registration number) are identical with how the athlete is registered with USA Swimming. There are a couple of clubs who times are not loading automatically, indicating either data is not consistent or the swimmer is not currently registered. He also reported that USA Swimming had just introduced an enhancement to SWIMS that will allow entry times to be matched against the SWIMS data base for verification and also identification if the swimmer has not entered the meet with their fastest time. This will increase the importance of making sure all sanctioned meet times are loaded into SWIMS as well as observed times.

PVS Eastern Zone Short Course Team -- Greg York reported our team did very well finishing second overall. He reviewed how PVS finished by sex and age group. He noted that both our 10/U men and women finished seventh. In conversations with other LSC's, he learned that other LSC's tend to have their better 10/U practice more times per week (5-6 times) whereas typically our 10/U swimmers practice 3-4 times per week. He indicated he felt PVS practice philosophy for our younger swimmers was appropriate.

Nomination of Athlete Representative -- Bill Stephens reminded the Board that nominations will be taken at the House of Delegates meeting for a Athlete Representative to the Board. He urged the coaches present to give thought to who would have the time and be an effective spokesperson for the athlete interests on the Board.

Operations Division -- Ron Whalen indicated that when he is assigning teams to venues for the PVS Open meets and the summer Long Course meets, he tries as much as practical to assign teams to venues near their practice sites.

He mentioned that Boots Hall in her report to the House will be mentioning the importance of making sure that meets do have so many entries for the venue that the deck becomes overcrowded.

The coaches were also reminded that a new USA Swimming rule has gone into effect (Section 202.3) which requires that a USA Swimming athlete be under the supervision of a USA Swimming member coach during warm-ups, competition and warm-down.

Next Meeting Date -- The Committee tentatively agreed to have its Autumn meeting on Sunday, September 26. This will be a week after the Unites States Aquatic Sports Convention ends and by being on Sunday, will not conflict with the Sunfest Open Water Meet in Ocean City, MD on Saturday.

Adjournment -- The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:50 pm.