CONNECTICUT SWIMMING, INC. House of Delegates Minutes October 27, 1998 The meeting of the House of Delegates of Connecticut Swimming was called to order at 7:50 p.m. at the High Plains Community Center in Orange by General Chairman Mary Anne Condon. In lieu of a roll call, members were asked to sign an attendance sheet. It was noted that several clubs have not identified/appointed official representatives to the House of Delegates. Member clubs are asked to make this appointment as soon as possible and to communicate the appointment of the voting members to the CSI office. All members of the House of Delegates must be registered members of United States Swimming. Approval of Agenda: The evening's Agenda was approved with the following additions: (1) Discussion of cut procedures for clubs wishing to enter Age Group Qualifying meets and (2) Appointment of a Nominating Committee. Adoption of Minutes of May, 1998 House of Delegates meeting: It was moved, seconded, and approved to adopt the Minutes of the May 26, 1998 House of Delegates meeting. Chairman's Report: General Chairman Mary Anne Condon made the following report: ? Member Notables: (1) Dan Shvechik of the Wilton Y Wahoos has been selected to the USA Swimming's All-America Team and has also been recognized as the top male scholar-athlete in the country. Dan will represent the United States in the Pan American Games to be held next summer in Winnipeg, Canada. (2) Leanne Spletzer, past General Chairman of Connecticut Swimming, was elected Vice-President for Program Development for United States Swimming at the USA Swimming's annual convention last month. (3) Several Connecticut swimmers have been selected to USA Swimming's Scholastic All-American team. Congratulations to all! ? CSI held a strategic planning meeting on Sunday, October 25, 1998. It was a productive meeting, at which vision and mission statements were adopted, immediate and long-range goals for Connecticut Swimming were identified, and strategies for implementing the most important goals were developed. Many thanks to Leanne for serving as moderator and hosting for this important meeting. ? A CSI Officials Workshop will be held at Wesleyan University on October 31st with two nationally recognized officials. The workshop will provide an opportunity for CSI officials to work with and learn from the experts. The workshop was funded by USA Swimming's LSC Workshop Program. ? CSI will be hosting the annual meeting of the Eastern Zone in May 1999. ? Connecticut will host USA Swimming's Club Business Management School to be held in May 1999. The Club Business Management School is a program of USA Swimming that provides two days of intensive training for the head coach and president of a team. The program will be open to CSI teams and to any other teams not in our LSC who wish to attend. ? CSI will conduct its first Open Water Swimming Championships this summer on the weekend following Age Group Championships. The championships will be held in a lake and will have events for all age groups. Open water swimming is increasing in popularity in this country and is tentatively scheduled to be an exhibition event in the 2004 Olympics. ? CSI will be revamping its web site in the near future, under the direction of Jim Cooper. A digital camera has been purchased and will be used to add pictures to our web site. Any member who has articles or newsworthy items is encouraged to forward them to the CSI Office. Also, any member who is interested in the position of Webmaster Trainee should contact the CSI office or Jim Cooper. ? As CSI continues to grow in membership and responsibilities, attention must be focused on improving the operation of our corporation. Although the Board is entirely volunteer (with one paid staff member), CSI must begin to operate in a more business-like manner. Reports of Officers Administrative Vice-chairman: Pam Libertiny reported that 31 swimmers would be recognized as Connecticut Scholar-Athletes at the CSI Awards Banquet. Each individual achieved a GPA of 3.5 or higher and participated in a minimum number of CSI sponsored meets. Treasurer: The CSI fiscal year ended on August 31, 1998. Barbara Ehmer, CSI Treasurer, provided a written report that is attached to these minutes. Finance Vice-chairman: Mary Anne reported that Finance Chairman, John McCann, is in the process of establishing a committee that will recommend ways to invest CSI funds. The committee has been asked to make a report to the CSI Board of Directors. Age Group Committee Chairman: Age Group Committee Chairman, Bev Medlin, expressed thanks to Anita Garaffa and Sharon Johnston for their efficient and tireless work in organizing the Connecticut Zone Team. Bev also announced that there would be an Age Group Committee meeting on November 3rd. The primary agenda item will be to address the format for the Long Course Age Group Championship meet. The committee's report and recommendations will be forwarded to the Program Development Committee for review and action, if necessary. Mary Anne congratulated Bev on the success of the first ever ALL GIRLS CAMP that was held last month at UCONN. Bev planned, organized and coordinated this camp which included 100 athletes ages 11 to 13 from three LSCs -- Connecticut, Metropolitan and Adirondack. The camp was a huge success and is the first ever camp in the United States with athletes and coaches from three LSCs. Adirondack has indicated an interest in conducting an ALL BOYS CAMP next year. Senior Committee: Al LaPrino reported that CSI has modified the eligibility criteria for swimmers requesting travel reimbursement to Junior and Senior National Championships. Effective with the 1998-1999 short course season, swimmers must attend at least one CSI Senior Championship to be eligible for travel funds. Program Development: Steve Carroll identified three primary goals for the Program Development Committee: (1) enhance and encourage open water swimming in Connecticut; (2) utilize the web site as a means of communicating with members; and (3) strengthen the Connecticut Senior Championships. Steve also announced that a preliminary 1999 Long Course schedule had been approved by the Program Development Committee and is available this evening. Program Operations: Mark Johnston will be assisting Mary Lynch with meet coordination responsibilities during the short course season. The bid meeting for long course meets will be held in late January and the bid packets will be mailed to member clubs in late November/early December. Mary announced that she would be contacting Frank Keefe regarding the rental of the long course pool at Yale for meets next summer. Mary also announced that CSI will no longer be refunding sanction fees to member clubs who fail to submit complete or timely reports after conducting meets. Technical Planning: George Miles reported that there have been three meetings of the Technical Planning Committee. The committee is focusing on: (1) developing a relationship between CSI and the CIAC - the high school coaches association; (2) improving the championship meet format/schedule; and (3) improving the knowledge/expertise of the coaches and club officers. Toward that end, the Technical Planning Committee's recommendation to the Board of Directors that ASCA Level I and Level II coach workshops be conducted next spring has been approved. Details will be made available to the membership. Coaches Representative: Bill Krumm announced that John Abrami has been elected CSI Age Group Coach of the Year and that Tim Murphy was elected CSI Senior Coach of the Year. John and Tim will be recognized at the CSI Awards Banquet. Bill also requested that coaches keep an open line of communication with him-- he is anxious to receive input from coaches on any issue of importance. Athletes Representative: Kim Richardson and Wendy Whitcomb expressed a desire to increase involvement of the swimmers in the decision-making process by establishing an Athletes Board, which ideally would have one representative from each club. They plan on soliciting input and information for the CSI web site. Coach-at-Large: No report. Rick Lewis was not present. Safety: Roxanne Smietana encouraged member clubs to obtain the free safety video from USA Swimming and to show the film to swimmers, parents, and club officials at the start of each season. The video has valuable safety information for all club members. Clubs are advised that all athletes should have an updated medical release form on file in the event there is the need to provide medical treatment when the parent of the swimmer is not immediately available. Clubs should have two copies of the form -- one for the coach to bring to meets and one for the club file. Mary Lynch will have the medical release form reviewed by the CSI attorney. The proposed form could be used by member clubs, the Zone team, CSI camps, etc. Official Chairman: Ed Easley and Barbara Ehmer have developed a new Observed Swim Policy that requires swimmers to request "observed swims" in advance. In general, CSI officials will be available only for state high school championship meets. Teams that host CSI meets are reminded that they are responsible for obtaining in advance officials for their meets-- it is not the responsibility of the CSI Officials Chairman to arrange for officials at any meet, except for CSI championship meets. Teams will not be awarded meets for the long course season if they do not have an adequate number of officials. Registration/Membership: Judy Snow reminded member representatives that swimmers must use their complete legal name on the new membership application forms. Judy requested that clubs provide a list of all swimmers entered into any meet they sponsor. The list should be alphabetical, by club. The purpose of the list is to ensure that all swimmers entered in the meet are registered members. Further, if a club hosts an invitational meet and teams enter from out-of-state, the host club should require out-of-state teams to provide confirmation that all team members are registered athletes in their LSC. USS registration is a pre-requisite for insurance coverage. Reports of Committees and Coordinators Zone Team: Anita Garaffa reported that the summer zone meet in Baltimore was highly successful -- more than 100 Connecticut swimmers participated and several of our swimmers placed in finals. Winter zones will be in Sewell, NJ in April 1999 and 1999 summer zones will be in Pittsburgh. Awards: Anita Garaffa reported that over 800 people would be attending the Annual CSI Awards Banquet on November 1 at the Aqua Turf Club. Anita reported that approximately 100 swimmers were invited to the banquet in error. These swimmers were notified that they were invited in error but are still welcome to attend. They will not, however, receive a plaque nor will they be eligible to purchase the CSI jacket. Liquor will not be available at this year's banquet and smoking is not permitted. Mary Anne expressed appreciation to Anita for her hard work, for the organization of the banquet, the coordination of CSI awards, and for her work with the Connecticut Zone team. Technology: Mary Anne reported that Jim Cooper is looking for an individual to train as a Webmaster to assist in operating the CSI web site. Please contact Jim or the CSI Office if you know someone who would like this responsibility. Also, Jim requested that club members provide him with artwork, pictures, or articles for the web site. Time Standards: George Miles reported that time standards for the CSI championship meets have been reviewed and revised for the 1998-99 short course and 1999 long course seasons. New Business Nominating Committee: The nomination of Clark Cooper, Debbie Phillips, and Jeff Allen (coach) to the CSI nominating committee was seconded and unanimously approved. The CSI Board will appoint two additional members at the next board meeting. It was moved, seconded and approved that the Board of Directors investigates the possibility of changing the bylaws to eliminate (in extenuating circumstances) the two-term limitation for committee chairs and officers. The motion passed unanimously. CSI cut procedures: Nick Cavataro (GYWD) expressed concern about teams being cut from a recent Age Group Qualifier. Several members also expressed concern over the possibility that there are not enough meets scheduled for the upcoming season and that teams are permitted to enter meets out of division. After extensive discussion, it was decided to monitor the situation and not take action at this time. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, David C. Moyer Secretary House of Delegates Page 3 October 27, 1998