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THE LATEST COMMUNICATION FROM THE BOARD
December 30th, 2008
Dear NOVA Families,
With the Short Course season well
under way, the Board of Directors wants to let you know about some
of the new things going on at NOVA and some ongoing issues that are
important to our operations.
Congratulations! Congratulations to our coaches and swimmers
on a fantastic swim season. NOVA has had a
tremendous season and it shows no signs of slowing. Both on
the road and at home, swimmers have been qualifying for
championship meets in record numbers and bringing home new time
standard improvements and impressive wins. Check out
Noteworthy News for all of the particulars.
Financial
Issues: The
current economic situation has prompted the Board and the staff to
take a number of steps to promote fiscal good health. Our
swimmer numbers have stabilized at a number that is below our
budget projection for the year. The influx of new swimmers we
typically experience in November did not materialize this
year. As a result, the Board and the staff are working
together to identify things we can do to reduce our expenses and
increase our revenue. In addition, we have secured our money
at separate institutions in order to be FDIC insured.
New Board
Members: As you
may already know, the following persons were elected to the
NOVA
Board at the
annual meeting in October: David Martin, Anne Madden and
Bridget Cuthbert. To ease turnover, these new members are
shadowing the Board during November, December and January and will
officially join the Board effective February 1,
2009 and we look
forward to having them join us. The Board would also like to
recognize and thank the Board members whose terms will end at that
time: Kevin
Bailey,
Brent
Holsten and
Diana
Barden. Serving
on the NOVA
Board is a
time-consuming (and rewarding) experience and the hard work
done by
these individuals is very much appreciated.
Staffing: We
would like to welcome Allison Poehler who joined the office staff
as NOVA’s
Administrative Assistant in October. We know you and all of
our customers enjoy hearing a real voice on the other end of the
phone. Allison is also assisting Scott with billing,
coordinating Scrip and she can answer your general NOVA
questions.
Team Travel and Away Meet
Fees: In
order to provide more consistency and more fairly and appropriately
allocate costs to the families participating in team travel and
away meets, the Board and staff have approved a change to our
current travel policy effective January 1,
2009.
Currently
for team travel meets, some of the expenses associated with the
coaches’ and chaperones’ travel, such as lodging and
transportation, are included in the fee that each swimmer is
charged. Under the new policy, all the coaches’
travel expenses will be included in the trip cost billed to the
swimmers. At no time will this allocation of
coaches’ expenses increase the trip charge by more than
$25. This will provide a cap for meets when few swimmers
attend but costs are very high, such as Far Westerns, Junior
Nationals, or the Olympic Trials.
Currently
for away meets, the coaches’ travel expenses are charged to
the NOVA
travel
budget, which is funded by all NOVA
swimmers
whether they participate in away meets or not. Under the
new policy, a pro rata portion of the coaches’ expenses will
be passed on to only those swimmers that participated in the away
meet, in the form of an Away Meet Fee. This
fee may vary from very minimal for single day or local meets, to a
more significant charge in the $10 – 20 range for each
swimmer participating in a longer meet that involves a hotel stay
for the coaching staff. This fee is also capped at $25
per meet per swimmer.
Special
Thank You’s: We
thanked a host of NOVA
helpers at
the Annual Meeting and thought it was worth repeating:
·
A special thank you to
our meet officials. They spend time getting trained both in
class and on deck to ensure our children experience a fair and
smooth running meet. Please take time to thank an official at
your next meet.
·
A specific thank you to
some special volunteers:
o
Susan Smithwick, Mike Mackey, and Sr. Swimmer West Cuthbert
– our representatives to VA Swimming
o
Susan Smithwick – Peanut Sale Coordinator
o
Crystal Aiken
– Holiday Project
Coordinator
o
Suzanne Martin –
Meet Bid Process Coordinator
o
Will Bassett - Officials
Coordinator
o
Tom Elliott & Kathy
Nunn - Referees
o
Betsey Poehler - who no
longer has a swimmer in the program but continues to work every meet!
We couldn’t do what we do
without each of you along with the many parents who volunteer at
each meet and throughout the year! Your time and expertise is
very much appreciated! We are always looking for volunteers in
any capacity – please be generous with your
time.
Volunteers: NOVA
continues to
be run by a volunteer parent board of directors and needs the hands
of many to accomplish its mission. Please check the website
often or contact Carolyn
Elgin at celgin@verison.net to see how you can get
involved. It takes 250 volunteers to run a home meet in
addition to the committees and other opportunities that provide
value to NOVA’s
programs. While timing may not be your thing – make a
suggestion on how you can get involved using your expertise and
interests. We have a wide range of opportunities available
that usually get scooped up before we even get them
posted. These volunteer efforts become even more important as
we deal with budget issues. We especially thank all of
you who give continuously long after your volunteer requirement is
fulfilled!
Travel
Safety Guidelines:
Anne Madden has worked
extensively with the coaches and the Board to develop Travel Safety
Guidelines for all of NOVA’s
travel. These guidelines include planning information,
chaperone guidelines, hotel and transportation requirements as well
as safety requirements and procedures. These guidelines have
been in place since the fall season. If you would like to see
a copy of the full plan document, please see Anne
Madden.
Summer
League Swimming: We
need your help promoting NOVA
to your
summer league teams. Our winter/spring clinics will begin in
March and run through May. Ask Drew for
information. The Swim Shop is prepared to order
your team’s suits or place special orders on shirts, towels,
bags or goggles. Tell them what you need and they will take
care of it. Support NOVA
and get the
merchandise and customer service your team deserves.
Sponsorships/Fundraising: This
is a new era in NOVA’s
history. We have grown to over 600 swimmers. We are one
of few teams in the country that owns its own water. We are
consistently ranked in the top 5 in the country, we have banners
that grace our walls for winning numerous regional level meets and
we have one of the best coaching staffs in the country. All of
this comes at great monetary costs and we need help keeping the
costs to our families at a reasonable level. Keeping costs
down takes contributions, donations and sponsors and we need your
help in expanding our contributors. We are always
looking for new and creative ways to raise money but for now
Banners can be purchased, Heat Sheet Ads can be placed, equipment
can be donated, and digital advertising may soon be
available. Do you work
for a
company who may want to sponsor NOVA? Please
see Brent St. Pierre for a copy of our media
package.
And, as we
continue to think about expanding and adding new facilities, we
will need corporate partners to help us achieve those
goals. Please think about your contacts and who you know
that NOVA
should
contact about forging such a relationship. These continued
efforts will be even more crucial as we continue to operate under
difficult economic conditions. Any leads should be
communicated to Bridget Cuthbert.
Holiday
Project: Thank
you to Crystal
Aiken for
coordinating our 6 families we sponsored for our Holiday Project.
This is a very important opportunity for NOVA
to make a
real difference in the lives of some worthy families in our
community.
Food
Bank:
Please
keep in mind the food collection barrels in our
lobby. Contributing food to the barrels is an easy way all of
us at NOVA
can help
people in our community. Thank you to Katie Bailey and Debbie
Dunham for coordinating this effort.
Alumni: NOVA
will host
its first Alumni Holiday Gathering on January 2nd. We are
hoping to rekindle friendships as well as involve them in our plans
for the future. Our alumni will play an important part
in NOVA’s
future and we welcome any information you have on the whereabouts
of any of our NOVA
families.
Website: The
website is a continuous work
in
progress. David updates information daily to keep you well
informed. If you have suggestions about layout or information
you would like to see, please let a coach or board member know.
New email addresses have been established for all of
the NOVA
staff. Watch
the website for this new contact information.
Scrip and
Kroger: What
a great way to add to NOVA’s
bottom line without costing you anything. We hope that each of
you will take the opportunity to shop for Scrip through the
NOVA
website. If
you have questions on how to purchase a gift card, contact Allison
Poehler at info@novaswim.org or call the office at
754-3401. Reloadable Kroger cards are available in the swim
shop. They cost $5 each and any amount can be added to the
card in the Kroger store before you check out. Have a travel
meet coming up? Consider getting Scrip to pay for your hotel
or your Subway run. Plan to eat at restaurants who accept
Scrip when dining out. Thank you for your continued
support!
Swim-A-Thon: Please
mark your calendar for February 7, 2009. Drew and his
committee of parent volunteers are starting to make plans and this
year’s SAT
will be a
celebration to remember.
Swim
Shop: The
plans for the new swim shop are currently working
their way through the approval process at Henrico County. We
will keep you updated as we prepare for construction to
begin. Thank you for your continued support of the swim shop
as we stock new merchandise. Please visit the swim shop to see
all of the new NOVA
items
including our own Christmas ornament.
Cell
Tower: We
have been working
with AT&T for several months regarding the placement of a cell
phone tower in front of the NOVA
facility. AT&T
is currently responding to concerns raised by some of our neighbors
as part of Henrico County's
approval process. We are still optimistic about having the
cell phone tower on our property, but the process is taking longer
than expected. Several parents have questioned the rezoning
sign in the front of NOVA. The
rezoning sign pertains to the cell phone approval
process. The monthly income from the cell tower lease
would help us meet our costs as we continue to expand and upgrade
our facility.
Audit: The Board
approved a full audit of NOVA’s financial records
to be done this fall. This is a first for NOVA, and it has been a time
consuming and difficult process. However, the Board believes
this is a necessary step if NOVA is going to continue to
grow and prosper. The audit has been performed by Goodman
& Company. The audit
has been completed and we received an unqualified opinion with the
exception of the beginning shop inventory (since the auditors were
not there to observe the counts last year). We will be sharing
the full report in our next Board Letter.
Marketing
Committee: The marketing
committee continues to work on several
issues. Marketing materials for new members, new
advertisements, prospective members, summer league coaches
and NOVA’s programs are all
being developed. Thanks to all of the parents who have
volunteered to help with this committee.
We wish all of our families a happy and safe holiday
season.
Sincerely,
The NOVABoard of Director
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