CLUB REQUIREMENTS
For those seeking new charters, & existing clubs renewing their membership.


At the last competition meeting I raised the question of whether or not PVS needs to set requirements for new and existing clubs charters that were above and beyond what we currently have. Our current standards, to the best of my knowledge, are one registered coach member, one registered athlete, and a set of By Laws. This is what's required to become a member of PVS.

On many occasions we've had pressing issues to deal with at Competition meetings, but didn't have adequate club representation to fully address those issues. Following are some things that I feel we need to seriously consider as an LSC, and adopt, either wholly or some form of, for the 2006 / 2007 competition year.

The term."…in good standing." is used in many LSC's By Laws. However, other than paying member fees there appears to be no real definition of what is required to be a club in good standing.

Following are several ways I feel we can improve our LSC and define what a club in good standing is.

  1. New Clubs should be required to have 1 Stroke and Turn by their 2nd year, and 2 by their 3rd year.
  2. As part of a clubs renewal process, list the names of their certified officials. In the event that current officials switch to another team, or the swimmer graduates, that club would default to the new club status and would be allowed the 2 year window to replace the officials on their team
  3. Currently, teams are supposed to provide 1 timer per 25 splashes. When hosting a meet, host clubs are required to provide 1 timer per lane. This doesn't always happen, and FAST has been guilty from time to time. When providing other officials, the number of timers will be adjusted, as per the meet sheet. What adjustment is made? And in what proportions? The number of timers per splash ratio should remain. We need to clarify, however, what adjustments will be made for other officials. Following is a suggestion for such adjustments.
    1. Stroke and Turn judges can substitute equally for a timer.
    2. Starters & Table workers (Hy - Tek / Colorado) can substitute for 50 splashes
    3. Referees can substitute for up to 75 splashes.

    Splashes beyond the above numbers would follow the standard procedure.

  4. Member clubs should also have requirements for the number of certified officials in their club based on team size. For example, a team of 50 athletes might be required to have 2 Stroke and Turn judges after three years. A team of 200 athletes, however, should have higher requirements.
  5. Clubs must attend scheduled meetings, both competition and HOD. If a coach can't attend, someone must be designated as the representative. In Missouri Valley Swimming, failure to attend 2 consecutive meetings could result in a clubs membership being terminated.

Maybe the time has come to keep track of who times at meets and what clubs they represent. We already have pass down sheets for key officials. It shouldn't be too much harder to include the timer sign up sheet with other pass down sheets. Given that clubs are not always in compliance with the existing parameters, we've found ourselves short changed very often at meets.

Once the meet is complete it would merely be a matter of checking the meet pass down sheets against the number of splashes from each club to determine which clubs met their obligation to provide adequate officials for meets.

Clubs have unfortunately shown over the years that unless penalties are attached, no one seems willing to make changes to be in compliance with various rules and regulations that we claim to be governed by. Given this fact, the following is what I would propose.

For each meet where a club does not meet its obligation, a $ 100 fine would be due. Any club that has outstanding fines would be unable to renew their club membership the following season until all fines are paid.

Manga Dalizu