Present: Jeff Allen, Ken Block, Peter Boucher, Kayleigh Boucher, Eryn Crane, Ed Doernberger, Sean Farrell, Jeff Gray, Mike Huffman, Ann Hughes, Bill Krumm, Susan Lecza and Judy Snow.

Not Present: Bill Ball, Steve Carroll, Nick Cavataro, Ed Dunn, Jason Paige, Dave Reilly, Barry Silver, Todd Stevens and Meg Whitaker.

Also Present: Nan Cooper

Chairman Bill Krumm called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM.

Approval of the Agenda: A motion to accept the agenda was made, seconded, and approved with the following amendments: Funding for registrar workshop was added to New Business and Late Athlete Registrations was removed from New Business.

Approval of Minutes: A motion to accept the minutes of September 29, 2004 was made, seconded and approved.

None.

SC Meet Structure and Bids: Because of the current problems with the short course meet structure (numerous cancelled and under-subscribed meets), Program Operations would like to defer implementation the one-year bid cycle until the short course meet structure is improved. Motion made, seconded and approved to defer implementation of the one-year bid cycle.

LC Regional Championship Bids: Peter Boucher distributed selection criteria (attached) and the bid submittal form for LC Regional Championships. It was suggested the Program Operations work with the meet host to determine how the Regional Championships meet sessions would be divided, if the timeline warrants division. The selection criteria and bid form was given board approval.

Revision of Meet Evaluations: The revised form was reviewed and approved with the addition of a question to determine if a coach or a parent is filling out the evaluation.

On-Line Payment Service: Board approved the concept and would like hard figures for the February 22, 2005 budget meeting.

Individual Time Request for FAST: This procedure (attached) was approved with additional language for manipulation of results file so that a split may be added to the database.

Letter re Substance Abuse: Investigation of USA Swimming resources regarding anti-doping and medication and coach tools will be researched and appropriate information posted on the CSI website.  The letter from Rob Morrison is attached.

Athlete Travel Reimbursement: The senior committee will be meeting next week to discuss this. Consideration will be given to flat reimbursement based on meet and a point system.

Tsunami Donation: No motion made.

Funding: Motion made, seconded and approved to pay supersaver airfare for Bill Krumm to attend USA Swimming's General Chair meeting and Judy Snow and Nan Cooper to attend the Registrar's Workshop.

Funding- Office Monitor: Motion made, seconded and approved for $266 purchase of a monitor for the CSI office.

Report is attached. Registration survey, clarification of transfers, electronic registration and presentation of registration materials are current projects. Banquet was a success and will be reviewing some procedures. FAST has a new query for swimmer registration and records query will be posted soon.

Treasurer – Sue Lecza
YTD financials are available. CSI financials are on target.

Finance Vice-Chairman – Ken Block
Portfolio is doing well. Budget meeting will be Feb. 22 and Ken will notify committee members soon.

Age Group Committee Chairman – Barry Silver
Not present.

Senior Committee Chairman – Jeff Allen
Meeting Jan. 26^th. Committee will review LC championship format. Christine Pelham is working on a senior distance camp. All-Senior caps will be distributed.

Program Development Vice-Chairman – Sean Farrell
Time Standards are complete for 2005. No pressing issues at this time.

LC bid will be distributed soon.

Technical Planning Committee Chairs – Dave Reilly and Nick Cavataro
Not present.

Coaches Representatives – Jason Paige
Not present.

Athletes Representatives – Eryn Crane
Present but no report.

Coach-at-Large
No report.

Safety Committee Chairman – Ann Hughes
Present but no report.

Officials Committee Chairman – Mike Huffman
Numerous clinics have been held: 6 S+T clinics and 1 Referees clinic; 68 Attendees in total 9 S+T officials have completed registration, testing, and training and are now certified. 10 additional S+T officials have completed registration and testing and are currently in training. 2 new referee trainees have completed the tests and are currently in training.

Registration/Membership Coordinator – Judy Snow
Current membership numbers are up compared to this time last year.

Next meeting is April 27, 2005.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Nan Cooper

ATTACHMENT:  Administration Division Report

Administrative Division: Jeffrey L. Gray

  2. Banquet: Peter Boucher and Wendy Jackwin

  3. FAST: Nan Cooper and Dale Maine

Due to inherent problems with software applications, a time may not upload into Connecticut FAST.

If an official time fails to upload into Connecticut FAST, a request may be submitted to the Connecticut Swimming National Times Verification (NTV) officer with accompanying Proof of Time.

Upon request, National reportable times and Eastern Zone Region One Sectional qualifying times be will be automatically added to the times database if all the following criteria is met:

Upon request, Age Group National Top 16 times and CSI Top 16 times requests will be automatically added to the times databases if all the following criteria is met:

All other requests will be considered on a case by cases basis if the time was achieved at a USA swimming sanctioned/approved/observed meet and includes sufficient proof of time.

Request are to be submitted to the Connecticut Swimming National Times Verification Officer. Requests will be reviewed by the CSI National Times Verification Officer, the Administrative Division Chair and Officials Chair, with input from the CSI Administrator, if necessary.

Competitions conducted outside of the U.S., are subject to approval by USA Swimming and CSI Administrative Division, but CSI reserves the right to deny the request even if the meet is recognized by USA Swimming.

Times will not be considered from closed competitions of any type or non-USA Swimming competitions. Requests must be submitted by August 15^th.

Discussion Points:

ATTACHMENT: Web-Based Payment Service

Goal: Provide easy and convenient payment method for CSI clubs and individual members and to reduce administrative time and costs processing payments and collecting unpaid balances from clubs and individuals.

Plan: Contract with a web-based payment service to handle credit card or bank routing payments. Dale Maine would handle the technical side and payments would go directly to a CSI account handled by Susan Lecza, Treasurer. We would seek a service where any data associated with the credit card or processing, would reside on the server of the service and not CSI's website.

Discussion Points:

ATTACHMENT:  CONNECTICUT SWIMMING, INC.
2005 Long Course Regional Championship Scheduling Procedures

Deadline: Monday, February 14, 2005, 11:59 PM
On-line Submittal: ctswim.org or ctswim.org/ctswim/meetfiles/Meetinformation.htm

Declarations will be date and time stamped by the SpellNet server. Bidding clubs will receive email confirming the receipt of their bid. Bids received after 11:59 PM February 14, 2005 will not be accepted.

ATTACHMENT: Open Letter

I write on a matter of some importance to all of us, as parents, administrators, coaches, officials, volunteers, and simply supporters of the sport. I also specifically waited until age group championships were completed to draft this, as I believe it is an issue that is far beyond a one or two meet problem. The issue I refer to is the rampant use of inhalers on pool decks by young athletes.

We all know that the use of inhalers for the appropriate medical need is not a problem, and has been going on for years. My concern, which I dismissed for years as inconsequential, is that there has been a huge apparent upsurge in their use, and use by children who have no symptoms of asthma or other bronchial issues, they are admittedly using it because they believe it enhances their performance in the pool. In point of fact many of the athletes are timing their dosage to specifically benefit from a perceived boost in performance, and whether real or imagined, this is not an insignificant problem.

The purpose of this letter is to bring about some healthy discussion of the topic, not to prevent all athletes from using medication that assists them in breathing, if they legitimately require such things. I have become concerned because I see and hear kids who do not have any bronchial issues, but who would never consider using any type of drug, much less performance enhancing,, now openly discussing the relative merits trying them. I have also heard coaches tell their kids that it is all right to use them, as they think it is more of a mental crutch than a physical one. Lastly, there are parents who utilize this method as part of their child’s training regime, and talk it up to other children and parents, creating a situation that appears to be a bit like if everyone else is doing it, it must be ok. I have seen quite a few of our athletes whom I know do not now and never had any medical reason for using these things, sneaking or openly utilizing either their own or a friends because they believe it to improve their times.

My firm belief is that this can not lead to anything that will improve our sport. Note a couple of recent issues:

Tom Dolan, an asthmatic, was forced to relearn how to swim without his medication when confronted with the fact that the type he was using was banned by FINA.

The well publicized issues leading up to the Olympics with USA Track and Field athletes and the Balco case.

I do not attempt to equate a 13 year olds use of an inhaler that they do not need medically, but use because they believe it enhances their performance, to the Balco case. I am confident, however, that it is a slippery slope, and that there are just not that many steps between the two.

The use, and abuse, of these types of medications are a serious concern for us on a number of levels, and I detail a few of them below:

My request is simple, we need to discuss this as a group of coaches, officials, and administrators and develop a response to this issue. I don’t know if it is out of control or not, but I am sure we are not the only USS group to be dealing with this, and I would be surprised if we were even the first. I am available to assist in the discussion, and research national responses as well. We need to be part of the solution before we become front page news regarding it.