NEW ENGLAND SWIMMING BOARD MINUTES—March 21, 2005

The Board of New England Swimming met on Monday, March 21, 2005 at the Wellesley Community Center, Wellesley, MA. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm by Chairman, Ray Grant.

Attending were board members: Ray C. Grant, Mariella Allard, Dan Warner, Kevin Tyrrell, Ev Crosscup, Carol Healey, Bob Gauvin, Priscilla Davis, Ray J. Grant, Mike Parratto, Laura Matuszak, Chuck Batchelor, Dave LeBlanc, and guests: Rick Osterberg, Mary Riddell, Amy Parratto, Carlton Cronin.

SECRETARY’S REPORT: There was no Secretary’s Report.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Carol Healey reported that the checking account has $95,653.39 and the Galaxy Fund is approximately $110,000. A motion to accept the report was made by Priscilla Davis, seconded by Dan Warner. Motion passed

REIMBURSEMENT: Mary Riddell presented the reimbursement requests. She explained that none of the swimmers applying for reimbursement for the USA Swimming Open had attended the NE Senior Championships (a reimbursement requirement). Some have applied for waivers, but according to policy, no waivers will be considered until after the long course season. She also said that the board could not act on the requests for reimbursement for Sectionals since we have to wait until eight weeks after the meet to consider those requests. Dan Warner moved and Priscilla Davis seconded a motion to reimburse coaches, Bill Edward (SSYS) and Keri Cunningham (RAMS) for the USA Swimming Open meet. Motion passed

CALENDAR COMMITTEE: Bob Gauvin presented the long course calendar. He noted that two weekends, July 1—3 and July 8—10 have no meets. All meets listed on the calendar will have the Swimmer Participation Fee noted on the calendar. Amy Parratto requested that the GMSC meet of July 29—31 be titled to indicate that this is the 8 and under end of season meet. It will be called the New England 8 and under End-of-Summer Challenge and Team Specialty Meet. Bob noted that no swimmer with one or more NE Open Championship cuts will be able to attend the GMSC meet.

ZONES: Ray Grant reported that the spring Zone Meeting will be held on May 7, 2005 in Newark, NJ. He would like Laura Matuszak and Mike Parratto to attend. All LSC’s, including New England, have three votes at the meeting.

Laura Matuszak reported on the Long Course Zone Championship meet to be held in Buffalo, NY on August 10—13, 2005. This will be a travel meet for New England swimmers. The zone establishes time standards for those who attend the meet. Ten and under swimmers will travel to the meet with their parents and also stay and eat with their parents. Rooms for these families will be blocked at the same hotel that the rest of the team will use, or families are free to stay somewhere else.

CAMPS: “Catch the Spirit Camp ”: Amy Parratto reported that she has obtained Wellesley College for a Catch the Spirit Camp on May 7. Coaches will be Kathy White (AAC), Dave Bott (WBD), Keri Cunningham (RAMS), and Carlton Cronin (TNT). The cost for the one-day camp will be $20. Complete information will be posted shortly on the web site and in the newsletter.

Distance/Open Water Camp: Carlton Cronin, Distance/Open Water Coordinator, presented a proposal for a series of New England Distance/Open Water camps to be held in the fall on three weekends. The camp will be held at Haverhill High School with the open water part to be held at Stiles Pond in Boxford, weather permitting. The purpose of the camps is to provide the membership of New England Swimming an excellent opportunity to train for the distance events and open water swimming. The weekends would be September 9—11, October 7—9, November 11—13. The coaches at the meeting responded positively to the concept of the camp.

A motion was made by Dan Warner and seconded by Kevin Tyrrell for New England to provide a subsidy of $2100 per camp for up to three camps with the stipulation that there must be a minimum of 15 swimmers per camp. This would cover pool rental, coaches’ stipends and van rentals. Motion passed. It is the Boards desire that all swimmers shall be housed together and eat together. The board asked Carlton to come back to the next meeting with more details. Participants will be responsible for the cost of their food and lodging.

ANNUAL MEETING: Budget: Dave Leblanc presented a preliminary budget. He will finalize it before the next meeting in April.

Membership Fees: There was discussion concerning the membership fees for 2006. Mary Riddell explained that the USA Swimming membership fees for athletes and non athletes are increasing $1 per year for a period of 10 years. For 2004 the USA Swimming fee was $40; for 2005 the fee is $41; for 2006 the fee will be $42, and so on. In 2004 and 2005, New England charged $45 for non athletes and $50 for athletes. A motion was made by Dan Warner and seconded by Kevin Tyrrell to set fees for 2006 at $55 for athletes and non athletes with a non athlete family fee of $90. The motion passed. Mary Riddell also said that there is an outreach program that allows swimmers who receive free lunch at school to be registered for $5. Although this fee is listed in the materials that go to the registration chairs of each team, not many swimmers take advantage of it. Mary will see that this fee receives better publicity for next year.

Seasonal Membership: Mary Riddell said that she had received some interest in New England offering the seasonal membership that USA Swimming allows LSC’s to offer. Seasonal swimmers are able to register for 90 days for one-half the USA Swimming fee plus the New England fee. Swimmers would have different cards and would be restricted to LSC meets. Some board members thought this would be advantageous for swimmers who just swim in the summer, especially college swimmers. Others thought it would take away from year round numbers, and be confusing for teams. A motion was made by Mike Parratto and seconded by Dan Warner that New England offer a seasonal membership in 2006 for 90 days from May 20 to August 20, 2006 for $30 per swimmer. Motion failed

Checks: Mary Riddell asked the board to support her requirement for 2006 that all New England Swimming athlete registration fees from each club be paid with one check rather than individual checks from each parent. She would prefer a team check but if this is not possible would accept one check from a designated parent or coach. Most LSC’s have this requirement. A motion was made by Priscilla Davis and seconded by Mike Parratto that all athlete registration fees from a club be paid for with one check not individual checks from each family. The motion passed.

Nominating Committee: Ray Grant announced that the Nominating Committee as elected at last year’s annual meeting includes: Ev Crosscup, Bruce Mohl, Paul Mangili, Mike Parratto, Scott Doty. The offices that are up for election are: Age Group Vice Chairman, Treasurer, and Technical Chairman. The Nominating Committee will be instructed to prepare a slate of officers. Interested individuals should contact a member of the Nominating Committee.

Format for the Annual Meeting: Dave LeBlanc said that there will be an official’s clinic, but he is not sure of the level to be offered. There also will be a coaches’ meeting. Attendance at the coaches’ meeting will not be mandatory, but the coaches’ representatives are encouraging all teams to be represented. There will be an election for the new junior coach representative at the Coaches meeting.

USA SWIMMING BUSINESS SCHOOL: Ray Grant announced that a USA Swimming Business School, required for all new clubs but useful for all established clubs, will be held for teams in NE and AD in the spring. The date will be publicized as soon as it is known.

PRIVACY POLICY: The USA Swimming Privacy Policy was discussed. As of May 1, 2005, no swimmer’s birthday, or USA Swimming ID number, can be on a web site (either New England’s web site or an individual club’s web site). All information that includes a swimmer’s birthday, or USA Swimming ID number, must be removed by May 1, 2005. The most current Hy-Tek program will allow a team to post results, heat sheets, etc. without ID numbers. The CL2 files will have to be removed from web sites. Ray Grant has asked Rick Osterberg to remove the ID numbers from all files in the archives as well as all files currently on the web site. There will be more discussion about this new policy at the Annual Meeting.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE: Ray Grant asked Dan Warner to set a Technical Committee meeting for some time before the April Board Meeting. Most issues to be discussed concern the calendar—invitational meets, late bids, meet sanctions, athlete ID numbers, the lottery, etc.

DISTANCE HIGH POINT AWARD: Athlete Rep, Ray Grant, presented a proposed Athletes Distance Point Awards Policy. “The Distance High Point Award will be an Athlete Representative Award, presented to the top three male and female finishers in the distance events (400 IM, 500, 1000, 1650 freestyles) at the Senior meet in the short Course Season and at the Open meet in the Long Course Season. If there is not a Senior meet in the Short course season they it will be presented at the Open meet. The award will be an embroidered towel, which the Athletes Reps will be responsible to obtain.” This motion was made by Ray Grant and seconded by Mariella Allard. The motion passed.

COACHES REPS: Chuck Batchelor said that he is working on a different reimbursement policy for swimmers who attend national meets. Ray Grant said that the current policy will remain in effect until its expiration next September but Chuck could present his suggestions for a new policy any time. Any action on policy revisions will be taken at the September Board meeting.

OFFICIALS REP: Dave Leblanc announced that USA Swimming will be holding a clinic for officials this May in Colorado Springs. Each LSC is allowed to send up to two officials. The officials attending should be referees with less than two year’s experience who have never attended a national clinic. The cost for each official would be $200 plus airfare. Priscilla Davis made a motion, seconded by Dan Warner, that New England approve the expense of sending two officials to the clinic. The motion passed.

Dave also said that he would like to make one of the “end of season” meets next year a national certification meet.

OTHER: Amy Parratto suggested that New England consider sponsoring another Swimposium in the fall. Ray Grant will look into whether New England is eligible to sponsor another one at this time.

A question was asked about the process used to select the ASCA Age Group Coach of the Year. It was decided that this subject should be an agenda item for the coaches meeting at the Annual Meeting.

NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 at the Wellesley Community Center, Wellesley, MA

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.

Submitted by Mariella Allard and Mary Riddell