JO Meet
On Wednesday, March 7th, I went to Oak Marr Recreation Center at the request of the Administrative Office, to help mediate a potential dispute between the Host Team (OCCS) and the management of the facility. The issues at hand were the reconfiguring the pool for finals and the sale of concessions by the host team. We were able to reach a compromise that was verbally approved by the AG Chair and the Operations Chair and myself. Additionally, there was concern from the facility staff over the size of the meet and we may need to look elsewhere for a larger facility to host this meet in the future.
On the issue of concessions, a new countywide policy was enforced for the first time by the Oak Marr management. It states that each facility manager is in sole control of whether the sale of concessions is allowed by groups renting the facility. After further discussion with the facility manager, it was learned that:
A) A 2 week notification period is requested for any special needs or wishes (which is normally done when the Meet Manager contacts the facility to make arrangements).
B) The facility manager was mis-informed; he was told originally that there were NO concessions sold at the JJJCHC. He had taken over the facility after the meet was run and everything on how meet operations took place were new to him. During later discussions with the Management he said that even if the host team had gotten the request for the sale of concession in on time, he would have most likely NOT have allowed the sale anyway.
This issue should be taken into consideration by teams hosting meets in Fairfax County facilities that are considering concessions as part of their meet profitability.
Changes in the next version of the Meet Directors Handbook should include specifics regarding dealing with FCPA Facilities to avoid these types of issues in the future. We should encourage all facilities to report to the Administrative Office how the host team operated and their level of cooperation.
Practices During Meets
An issue arose over athletes preparing for sectionals using the facility rented for JOs (Oak Marr) during the down time between sessions for workouts. Their coaches were present and were well supervised. Several Board members (Strategic Planning, AG Chair and Coaches Rep) and coaches discussed this issue and all agreed the host team was not out of line under the circumstances. At no time was any warm-up water taken away from athletes participating in the meet. The athletes from the host club were also volunteering at the meet.
Zone Coach Elections
Conducted Age Group and Senior Coaches Elections at the JO meet for 12 & under coaches and the 13 & Over Coaches at the Sectional Meet. Both elections went very well with amazing response. 18 of the 18 clubs represented at JO's voted with 7 nominations. 17 of the 17 clubs present at the Sectional meet voted with 5 nominations. That is almost double the representation normally at the regular Competition Committee meetings.
Recommend the same voting process at the Age Group and SR Champs meets at UMD this summer for LC Zone coaches. Nominations can be made Friday and Saturday All sessions through Sunday Prelims voting at Sunday Age Group and Sunday Finals for the respective Age Groups. Voting is to be concluded before the relays to provide enough time for an additional vote in the event of a tie (as it was for the 12 & Under Coaches at the JO meet).
Library
Existing materials have been retrieved from Kim Guthrie, and are currently being inventoried and assessed. Expected completion date is 4/30.
Some acquisitions have been made through the Administrative Office and a database for managing the materials is near completion.
Materials list and guidelines for borrowing will be released in mid May. Additional purchases will be made in the fall of 2001 and the spring of 2002 as new materials become available from USA and ASCA. Purchases will in part be based on requests from the coaching community.