TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING:
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The Technical Committee report was discussed at the Board Meeting on April 12. Most sections were ACCEPTED. Some sections were TABLED until the next Board Meeting. Each section has been labeled ACCEPTED or TABLED. In addition, some changes were made by the Board. Those parts are in bold. The tabled sections were reconsidered at the Technical Committee meeting on August 29, 2005 and presented at the board meeting on September 6, 2005. |
The New England Swimming Technical Committee met at the home
of Dan Warner on
END OF SEASON MEETS:
8 and unders $500
Regionals (SC) $1000
12 and unders (SC) $2000
12 and unders (LC) $2500
13 and over (SC) $3000
Open (SC orLC) $3000
Seniors (SC) $4000
ACCEPTED
Age Group Qualifier for Long Course: The committee agreed that an Age Group
Qualifier is needed for Long Course. Since there are few long course
meets in the summer, this would guarantee that all swimmers could get an
opportunity to qualify for the long course end of season meets. ACCEPTED
Responsibility Assumed by New England Swimming for End of
Season Meets: The committee recommends
that the Calendar Committee place bids for end of season meets on the web site
as they are received so that all
Selection Requirements for Teams to be Able to Run End of
Season Meets: The committee recommends
that if there are competing bids for an end of season meet, priority may be given to teams that have bid on
another
Teams who submit bids for meets, either end of season meets
and also other meets, will not have their bids considered if they still owe
surcharges, financial reports or self-evaluations for past meets. Teams that are still within the six week
deadline that they have to submit this material will have their bids considered. However, all past surcharges and reports must
be completed before the team receives a sanction for another meet. Any team that does
reconcile their accounts after the bid deadline and still wants their bid
considered, will be assessed the penalties that we assign to a late bid. ACCEPTED
Team Work Assignment Issues:
The committee recommends a policy that for end of season meets, the host
team will be responsible for supplying the necessary marshals, a head timer,
and two back up timers (in addition to all other workers necessary to running
the meet). Teams attending the meet will
receive timing assignments, and officials will be volunteers. The timing assignments will be based on the
number of swimmers each team has in each
session of the meet. If the assigned
timer(s) has not reported by the start of the session, the team’s swimmers will
be scratched until the timer(s) report to the team’s assigned lane(s). Officials will be considered in the timing
assignments only if they have submitted their names to the designated
officials’ coordinator by the stated deadline.
ACCEPTED (This wording will be
added to the meet invitation.)
Reimbursement Meet Participation Requirements: The current policy is in effect until September, 2005, and will be reconsidered by the Board at that time. It is not an issue for the Technical Committee. ACCEPTED
Regional Meets Location Selection: Questions have been asked by members of the
New England Swimming Community as to why three meets were held in the same area
rather than being spread out in a true regional manner. The committee agreed that the fact that the
sites depend on the bids that are received should be an item to be discussed on
the web site on the new Parents Page.
Also, future bids for the regional meets should be posted on the web
site as they arrive so that all teams will know the possible sites. ACCEPTED
Short Course/Long Course Progression: The committee agreed that the most important
progression is that the Senior meet in short course
should be two weeks before the sectional meet.
The rest of the calendar should be scheduled around these two
dates. The Age Group Committee and the
Senior Committee need to send recommended dates for end of season meets to the
Calendar Committee. ACCEPTED
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Conformity to the Calendar: Committee members acknowledged that there is still discussion in the New England Swimming Community concerning the scheduling of the Open Meet, Senior Championships, 13 and over Age Groups. The committee agreed that they would prefer a 13 and over Age Group Championship and a Senior Championship during short course with an Open Championship during long course. However, the committee would like to hear from the Age Group Committee and the Senior Committee on this subject. It was recommended that both committees have meetings following the Coaches Meeting at the Annual Meeting. Mary Riddell will check to see if space is available at that time. TABLED until August 29, 2005 meeting. |
Protection of Meets on the Calendar: The committee agreed that teams that bid on
meets by the deadline should have their meets protected. The committee recommends that if a team
submits a late bid for a calendar meet, all other teams that have meets
scheduled on the proposed date would have to give permission to have the team
submitting the late bid run the meet. If
one or more teams object, the team submitting the late bid will be considered by the calendar committee for the final
decision. ACCEPTED
Protection of End of Season Meets: The committee agreed that end of season meets
(Regionals, 12 and under Age Groups, 13 and over Age
Groups, Open Championships, Senior Championships, and the Long Course
Qualifier) should be protected from team specialty meets. ACCEPTED
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There was discussion of the 8 and under “fun” meet which
was held last summer and will be held this summer as part of a team specialty
meet. The two aspects discussed were
if there were a need for this meet and if so, when was the best time for
it. A suggestion was made to have it
part of the age group qualifier. The
subject was referred to the Age Group Committee for more discussion and a
recommendation. TABLED until August
29, 2005 meeting. |
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Invitational Meets:
The problem of Invitational Meets was discussed. The committee recommends that teams that
run invitational meets (which are not on the calendar) be required to pay the
$.50 per individual swim surcharge on all types of meets, including trials
and finals meets and distance meets, and all events, including distance
events. It was noted that New England
Swimming already has a policy that teams that run invitational meets are not
allowed to include a “Swimmer Participation Fee” as part of their fee
structure. In addition, teams running
Invitational Meets would have to receive permission from all other teams
running calendar meets on their proposed date. If this is not received, the
final decision will rest with the Calendar Committee. TABLED until August
29, 2005 meeting. |
Late Bids to the Calendar:
Refer back to the item “Protection of Meets on the Calendar.” In addition, the committee recommends that
the sanction fee for late bids be increased to $50 per day (from the current
$45 per day). ACCEPTED
Cut off Time for Non-Calendar Sanctioned Meets: The committee recommends that applications
for sanctions for non-calendar meets be required to be submitted to the New
England Swimming Office at least three weeks before the first day of the
meet. (Currently it is two weeks.) ACCEPTED
Sanction Fee Comparison of Calendar Meets versus
Non-Calendar Meets: The committee
recommends that the sanction fee for a non-calendar meet be increased to $75
per day. ACCEPTED
Non-Calendar Meets on the New England Website: The committee recommends that as a service to
New England Swimming, the results of any non-calendar meet sanctioned by New
England Swimming be available through the
LOTTERY PROCESS:
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Working or Not? The committee agreed that there has been some unhappiness with the lottery process. There are several common complaints. Teams that are running meets would like to be able to guarantee admission to their meet to an out of district team. (Currently if a meet is over subscribed, the out of district team is cut first, before the lottery.) Teams also would like to give preference to teams that regularly support their meets. Some teams would like to guarantee a certain level of quality swimmers in their meets. Also, there are concerns about the lotteries that are not being run through the office. TABLED until August
29, 2005 meeting. |
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Possible Changes: A
suggestion was made that addresses some of these concerns while still maintaining
admission to all meets to at least some TABLED until August
29, 2005 meeting. |
OTHER:
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Photographers on Deck:
Priscilla Davis has received an opinion from a USA Swimming
attorney. It is currently under
review. TABLED until August
29, 2005 meeting. |
Deck Marshals: Priscilla
Davis reported that all meets must have deck marshals as required by USA
Swimming whether or not the facility provides life guards. ACCEPTED
Returned Checks: The committee recommends that the current $10
fee for checks returned to New England Swimming be increased to $25. ACCEPTED
The committee adjourned at
Submitted by Mary Riddell