CONNECTICUT SWIMMING, INC. Board of Directors Minutes October 20, 1998 Present: John Abrami, Steve Carroll, Mary Anne Condon, Ed Easley, Barbara Ehmer, Al LaPrino, Pam Libertiny, Mary Lynch, Bev Medlin, Kim Richardson, Roxanne Smietana, Judy Snow and Leanne Spletzer. Not Present: Bill Krumm, Rick Lewis, John McCann, George Miles, David Moyer, Kim Richardson and Wendy Whitcomb. Also Present: Jeff Allen. ***************************** General Chairman Mary Anne Condon called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. Approval of Minutes: Approval of the minutes of the January, June and September Board meetings will be postponed until the next Board meeting. Approval of the Agenda: Judy Snow requested that approval of name changes for several CSI member clubs be added under New Business. Announcements: The October House of Delegates meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, October, 27th at 7:30 pm. Board members are requested to bring copies of their reports and/or handouts to the meeting. An Athletes Meeting will be held concurrently with the House of Delegates meeting. It is hoped that scheduling an Athletes Meeting at the same time as the House of Delegates meeting will provide an opportunity for athletes to obtain rides to the meeting with their club representatives. OLD BUSINESS CSI Annual Report: Mary Anne requested that those Board members who have not yet forwarded to her their "bullets" for inclusion in the CSI Annual Report to please do so no later than tomorrow morning. Each Board member is to provide a list of the top five accomplishments of his/her committee/division for the 1997-98 fiscal year and the top five goals/objectives for the 1998-1999 fiscal year. Mary Anne reported that she is putting together for inclusion in the CSI Annual Report a Table of Organization for Connecticut Swimming. Long Range Planning Meeting: Leanne Spletzer reported on plans for the CSI Strategic Planning meeting scheduled for Sunday, October 25, 1998. Board members have been asked to complete a questionnaire in preparation for the meeting. CSI Policy Manual: In accordance with our bylaws, we are required to have a Policy and Procedure Manual. Board members are asked to forward to Mary Anne any policies that are presently in writing. Initially, we will have these policies placed on our Web Site so that members will have access to this information. CSI Bylaws: Mary Anne will follow-up with Mike Close on bylaws changes that he had drafted regarding voting privileges at the USA Swimming Convention. Mary Anne reported that she has discussed the need to make other changes in our bylaws with Carol Burch of USA Swimming. Carol will be forwarding the original bylaws "blueprint" for our review. Handicapped Spectator Policy: Pam Libertiny will follow-up with USSIC regarding the Handicapped Spectator Policy that was approved at the June Board of Directors meeting. Pam will report back at our next meeting. CSI WebSite: Mary Anne reported that she met with Jim Cooper regarding the re-vamping of our Web Site. Jim has already made a number of changes and will continue to make changes as we go along. New directories for minutes, policies, coaches corners, etc. will be added. We will also be placing an ad for a Web Master Trainee for our Web Site, as well as a contest for website artwork. Purchase of Server Computer: Jim Cooper will be providing additional information on the purchase of the computer. Observed Swim Policy: Ed Easley discussed the CSI Observed Swim Policy which will be distributed at the October House of Delegates meeting. ASCA Seminar: Steve Carroll reported that George Miles will firm dates for ASCA coach seminars to be held next spring. To avoid conflict with the Eastern Zone meeting and the USA Swimming Club Business Management School scheduled for May, it was agreed that the last weekend in April would be the best possible date for the ASCA seminars. It was agreed that the ASCA Club Administration Seminar should be included with the coaches programs and offered to CSI clubs/teams. NEW BUSINESS Approval of 1998-99 CSI Championship Meet Time Standards: Steve Carroll reported that the Age Group and Senior Chairmen have reviewed and agree with the time standards for the 1998-99 short course and 1999 long course seasons as recommended by George Miles, CSI Time Standards Chairman. Steve reported that time standards for the regional meets have been significantly loosened, time standards for age group championships have minor changes and time standards for senior championships have not been changed. Time standards will be published for both the short and long course seasons and will be available for distribution at next week's House of Delegates meeting. CSI Long Course Schedule: The 1999 long course schedule will be distributed at next week's House of Delegates meeting. The first ever Open Water Connecticut Championships will be held the weekend following long course Age Group Championships. Judy Snow requested that USA Swimming's Disability National Championships be included on the CSI Long Course Schedule. CSI Awards Banquet: The Banquet is scheduled for Sunday, November 1, 1998. This is the first year we invited swimmers based only upon the Connecticut Top 16. A number of athletes were invited to the banquet in error. Calls were made to these athletes and a letter was sent to each swimmer apologizing for the error. Following discussion, it was agreed that an individual be appointed as Chairman for CSI Records and USA Swimming's Top 16. Appointment of CSI Outreach and Open Water Coordinators: The Board approved the appointment of Bob Thomann as CSI Outreach Coordinator and Erin Condon as CSI Open Water Coordinator. Funding for Coaches Outreach Conference: Mary Anne reported that USA Swimming is conducting an Outreach Coaching Seminar in Colorado Springs in December. The Board approved the funding of Bob Thomann to attend this conference. Ryan Berube Clinic: 1996 Olympian Ryan Berube has offered to conduct a clinic in Connecticut over the Thanksgiving Weekend. The cost to Connecticut Swimming would be the rental of a pool. It was agreed that we would charge a nominal amount for admission to offset the cost of the pool rental. The clinic has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday, November 29th and will be held at Southern Connecticut State University. Job Descriptions: Board members will be asked to review and update the job description for their position. Change of Club Names: Judy Snow reported that the East Haven Big Blues have requested that their name be changed to the East Haven Swim Club - EHSC. There being no objections, the name change was approved. Judy also reported that Glastonbury which changed their named to East of the River Aquatics a few years ago would now like to be called Glastonbury Swim Team. The team will be identified as GLAS. The Rocky Hill Sea Lions have no coaches and have, therefore, been disbanded. Appointment of At-Large Delegates to the House of Delegates: The Board approved the appointment of the following individuals as At-Large Delegates to the House of Delegates: Anita Garaffa, Sharon Johnston, Ed Steinnagel, Jim Cooper, John Herd, Bob Thomann, Mark Johnston, Nan Cooper, Tim Quill and Brooks Ensor. Reports of Officers Administrative Vice-chairman: No report. Treasurer: Barbara Ehmer reported that she has been unable to close the books for the 1997-1998 fiscal year. There are many outstanding items. Barbara also reported that the Quick Books software does not have the capability of producing the required monthly financial reports. John McCann is looking into this problem. Finance Vice-chairman: John McCann was not present. Board members who attended the USA Swimming's Convention reported on the finance workshop. John McCann will be asked to contact USA Swimming regarding investment opportunities available to LSCs. Age Group Committee Chairman: Bev Medlin reported that the Age Group Committee will meet next month and will address the issue of restructuring the Age Group Championship meet format. The size of the meet continues to be a problem. It was recommended that the time standards be revisited with the intent of better controlling the size of the meet. Bev reported on the Blue Camp which was held at UCONN and included swimmers and coaches from three LSCs - Connecticut, Metropolitan and Adirondack. The camp was an ALL GIRLS CAMP for girls ages 11 to 13. The response from Connecticut swimmers to attend the camp was not as hoped. Bev reported that UCONN could not have been more accommodating to us. Senior Committee Chairman: Al LaPrino reported that at the October Program Development Committee the recommendation of the Senior Committee to require that swimmers participate in at least one CSI Senior Championship meet to be eligible for travel reimbursement funds for Junior Championships and USA National Swimming Championships was approved. The change becomes effective in the 1998-99 short course season. Al reported that the Senior Committee has recommended to the Age Group Committee that at Long Course Age Group Championships the 15 and over age group be moved to the afternoon session and that junior and senior national qualifiers not be permitted to participate in age group championships in those events for which they have national qualifying time standards. Al also discussed the issue of the National Club Championship which was approved in concept at the USA Swimming convention in September. Technical Planning Chairman: No report. George Miles was not present. Program Development Vice-chairman: Steve Carroll distributed minutes for the October meeting of the Program Development Committee. The Committee does not plan on meeting in November. Program Operations Vice-chairman: Mary Lynch reported that the Meet Mangers Guide is on its last revision. Many thanks to Nan Cooper, David Moyer and Jim Cooper for all their work on the guide. Mary also reported on the Meet Managers Workshop that was held last week. Roxanne discussed safety and showed the USA Swimming's safety video. Jim Cooper discussed the use of the computer in running meets. Mary indicated that she will be recommending that beginning with the 1999 short course season attendance at a Meet Managers Workshop be mandatory for all teams wishing to run meets. Mary also reported on preliminary plans for the 1999 long course season. She will speak to Frank Keefe regarding the use of the Yale pool. Coaches Representatives: John Abrami reported on the election of the Senior Coach of the Year. The top three nominees are Tim Murphy, Ellen Johnston and Tim Quill. Final balloting is now taking place. Coach-at-Large: No report. Rick Lewis was not present. Athletes Representatives: No report. Kim Richardson and Wendy Whitcomb were not present. Safety Committee Chairman: Roxanne Smietana reported that Connecticut Swimming injuries represent only 2% of USA Swimming's accidents. We have averaged about 2% for the last several years. There were no injuries at the Connecticut Senior Championship meets. Roxanne reported that she is concerned that CSI clubs have not obtained the USA Swimming's Safety Video that is free to any team that requests the video. Officials Committee Chairman: Ed Easley reported that his position has become more and more a job of finding officials to work at meets. He reported that he is continually asked by clubs to find officials for meets, frequently at the last moment. It was agreed that it is the responsibility of each club, not the Officials Committee Chairman, to obtain officials. Ed expressed his concern about the number of meets run in Connecticut and recommended that an Officials Coordinator be identified on each meet announcement. The Board reaffirmed that the responsibility of the Officials Committee Chairman is to recruit and train officials, not schedule officials for meets. It was agreed that the matter would be referred to the Program Operations Vice-chairman and the Program Development Committee for review and recommendation. Registration/Membership Coordinator: Judy Snow reported that our membership continues to grow. We have added approximately 400 athletes each year. A motion was made and approved that Board of Directors address the issue of members' attendance at Board and Committee meetings. Discussion followed regarding the time and emotional commitment required of Board members and Committee chairmen. It was agreed that this matter should be addressed at the Strategic Planning meeting scheduled for next week. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Mary Anne Condon General Chairman Board of Directors Page 4 October 20, 1998