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Midwestern Swimming
Board of Directors’ Meeting Minutes
January 16, 2007
The meeting was called to
order at 8 PM. Present were: Jeanie Neal, Jack Jackson, Mary Losee, Holly
Beeman, Peggy Speer, Betty Kooy, Jackie Berry, Bruce Schomburg, Tom Beck, Al
Johnson, Gretchen Lindner, Patrick Rowan and Paul Kemp.
Added
to the agenda under New
Business: Meet Evaluation Form - Bruce
Minutes:
The name, Becky Berry, was corrected to read, Jackie Berry. Minutes approved
as corrected.
Treasurer’s and Finance
Chair’s Reports:
Deferred until Treasurer or Finance Chair join conference call. (never did)
Committee Reports:
Administrative
Vice-Chair, Senior Vice-Chair, Safety Chair, Senior and Junior Athlete
Representative:
– No reports.
Technical Chair:
Bruce Schomburg
proposed that the end-of-season meets be progressive: DII, DI, and then
Sectionals. Coaches seem to be concerned about the long season for the
swimmers. The current dates, particularly the Sectional dates, don’t work well
for MW. We have discussed with Randy Julian the possibility of changing
Sections. Randy suggested that MW go to Region VIII (Section 2) with a proposal
of changing the date to the second weekend in March. It may work better for all
LSCs involved. Discussion followed about how best to go about approaching the
coaches at the Section meeting to get them to buy into the change. Motion
was made to give Bruce permission to pursue a proposal to change the sectional
date. Seconded. Approved. Discussion: Betty suggested that
Bruce poll coaches in MW and the other involved LSCs to get all on board with
the proposal. Mary K. suggested getting a hold of LSC coaches’ representatives
for help. Questions were asked concerning the dates of the other Sectionals
within the Central Zone – and they are later (2nd and 3rd weekends in March).
Questions were asked concerning the impact on the MW DI and DII meets. DI could
possibly be the weekend after state and DII would be the weekend before state or
on that weekend. This could include the handful of kids in high school who can
swim odd events at DI and then go to Sectionals. Recommendation was made that
DII be before state. This is premature. Moving of the sectional to after DI’s
would only impact the Spring schedule. Volunteers were asked for to help Bruce.
Jack suggested that we should have the senior chair and athlete rep help. Mary
L. said that would be Brian or Kelly or Jensen. She will send e-mails to them.
Tom Beck stated that it sounds good, but the drawback is that the top kids
will be in the middle of a taper and that DI weekend can be too fatiguing with
prelim-finals. Bruce stated that the progressive approach makes the most
sense. Mary L. asked that Betty send the coaches e-mail addresses to Bruce.
Bruce will poll the coaches to make sure they are on board. Jeanie asked that
when we do poll coaches we get more than a, yeah or nay. This will be a great
opportunity for feedback on what they like or don’t like and why.
Old Business:
Age Group Vice- Chair’s
Report:
Patrick Rowan reported that MW finished 5th at All Stars, one up from
last year. The performances were fairly good and there was no major drama
except for one small plumbing issue at the hotel. The food was good and so was
the apparel, except for a couple of suits that weren’t aqua blades. There was
some bad weather and a few issues at the meet as far as parents coming on deck.
But, all in all it was a positive experience for our swimmers. Jack asked who
is NM? Patrick replied that OZ pulled out and New Mexico has taken its place.
There are just six teams and they just didn’t like the format and scoring just
the top two. They thought it was tougher on a small LSC or they didn’t like the
trip or the cost; Patrick wasn’t sure. Betty mentioned that meet management
said that only a couple of teams sent kids. Jack mentioned that we sent
seventy-five swimmers and twenty-five scored. Do we need to reevaluate how we
choose this team? Patrick said that it couldn’t hurt. Mary L. said that other
than looking at scoring, look at best times. Betty interjected that there was a
pretty hefty percent of best times at the meet. Discussion of All Star
contingencies will be added to New Business.
Coaches Representative:
Mary L. said
that Lynn Weaver wanted to discuss the concept of ‘coaching assistants’, but he
was not present so there was no report. The written report on changes to Zone
Head Coach and All Star Head Coach was discussed. Bruce asked questions
regarding Senior Coach nominations. Teams list their coaches differently. Some
clubs have one coach who does it all. The nomination criteria need to be
fleshed out. Mary L. said that we will go back to Lynn for the March board
meeting, but for right now the voting aspect is cut and dried. Bruce suggested
that each club gets two votes, one for each level. Patrick questioned that if
there were two votes per club, would that be for both All Stars and Zones as
well? Mary L. said that that nothing was in the proposal but we need to look
at. It will encourage every team to vote.
Executive
Secretary/Registration Chair’s Report:
Betty reported that there
are 24 clubs, 1481 athletes, 83 coaches, 84 officials and 68 other non athletes
registered. Registration is going well with only two clubs not electronically
registering. Background checks are coming and open registration is between
February 19 & March 21st. Between April 2-13 all coaches in MW need
to have background checks if they have not already done so. At the end of April
notes will be sent to every coach in the LSC re coach certifications. Al and
Betty did reports to clubs over the weekend. Both a complete list and an
abbreviated list to take to meets were sent to each club. We are working on DI
and DII meets along with the long course meets. High school forms for observed
swims have been sent and posted. All Stars checks have been written and good
records have been kept. Mary L. asked Betty whether we could put the link to
the background check up on the web site. Betty replied that probably not
because of the dates. We need to use what is sent from USA Swimming and go
through the USAS web site. Question was asked about the number of clubs last
year vs. this year. Betty said that one less year round club is registered this
year. She expects a half dozen seasonal club members, but if swimmers must be
year round to compete at the Zone level or higher, she isn’t sure what the clubs
will do regarding seasonal membership.. The number of officials is down.
Nominating Committee:
Paul is not in
attendance so Mary L. will appoint an ad hoc nominating committee.
New Business:
All Star & Zone Standards:
Mary L. brought up that All Star and Zone standards should be reevaluated.
Patrick asked that Betty or Jack give him input and direction. Patrick asked
for any great ideas to be thrown out on the floor. There were no other comments
from the board. Betty will e-mail some background and thoughts. Bruce asked
about what were the real concerns of the Board. Mary L. replied that we are
trying to make sure we cover all the athletes and this topic should be
readdressed every couple of years. Numbers are down. We need to keep looking
at it and progressing. Patrick said that he definitely wants the e-mails with
suggestions as the more ideas the better.
Meet Evaluation Form:
Bruce is working on a championship survey for athletes and coaches. A rough
draft is coming from committee members, Jack, Tom, Gretchen and Bruce. They are
trying to hit the high points of the meet to gather solid information. The
committee hopes to have the survey ready by spring. Jack commented on the
proposed survey. He asked that the category Swimmer be changed to Athlete.
Betty said that putting a number from 1-5 from worst to least might be better.
Mary L. suggested using, poor, fair, good & excellent. Jack asked whether we
could go to comment, only. Jeanie said that numbers plus comments would be
good. Strengths and weaknesses are good, too. We need all the information we
can get. Working through a survey makes you think about your opinion. Gretchen
commented that the survey should be one page only, and include comments on
officiating. Jack said that we need to get a good way for people to be able to
comment. Betty said she would see about including something about officiating.
These can be for short course, long course and even be mailed back. Motion
to approve the design of the evaluation form. Seconded. Passed.
Re design of the Board of
Review: Mary
L. commented that she and Peggy have had some discussion about what to do with
the Board of Review, but won’t be ready until next BOD meeting. Thoughts
include setting up an investigative panel to decide ahead of time whether it
even needs to go to the Board of Review.
Paul joined conference
and said he did not get the e-mails. Mary L. will check that out.
Officials’ Chair Report:
Paul said that
the shirts and name tags will be ordered soon. There will be a clinic in Grand
Island next week.
Motion
to adjourn. Seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM. Next meeting date
is to be announced.
Submitted by Secretary,
Gretchen Lindner
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