NEW ENGLAND SWIMMING BOARD MINUTES, March 14, 2006

The Board of New England Swimming met on Tuesday, March 14, 2006� at the Wellesley Community Center, Wellesley, MA.� Chairman, Ray Grant, called the meeting to order at 7 pm.

Attending were board members:� Ray C Grant, Dan Warner, Mariella Allard, Scott Doty, Carol Healey, Pam Warner, Priscilla Davis, Ray J Grant, Sophia Slote, Bob Gauvin, Matt Craven, Ev Crosscup.� Also attending were guests:� Sherry Wingfield, Rick Osterberg, Mary Riddell

SECRETARY�S REPORT:� There was no Secretary�s Report from the January meeting.

TREASURER�S REPORT:�� Treasurer, Carol Healey, reported that New England Swimming has $121,315.51 in the checking account and $114,086.52 in the money market account.

REIMBURSEMENT:�� A motion was made by Dan Warner and seconded by Priscilla Davis to approve reimbursement for the US Open for Megan Farrell.� The motion passed.� Swimmers who apply for reimbursement before they have attended the required number of meets (3 during short course, 2 during long course or a total of 5 during the year) will not be considered until the proper number of meets have been attended.� Since there is a �pool� of money for sectionals and junior nationals, we will have to stay with the 8 week rule and all requests will be considered at the board meeting immediately following the 8 weeks.

ANNUAL MEETING:� The Annual Meeting will be on May 6, 2006.� The Nominating Committee will present the sate of officers at the April board meeting.� The budget also will be presented at the April meeting.� Mary Riddell inquired as to the format of the meeting.� There will be separate meetings for the coaches, meet managers and possibly two meetings for officials.� Ray Grant asked Mary Riddell to see if another room would be available for these meetings so that less sharing of rooms would be necessary.� Mariella Allard will conduct the Meet Managers Meeting, and all teams running meets during either short course or long course are required to send a representative. ��

REGISTRATION FEES:� Mary Riddell requested that the board confirm the current registration fees for another year.� USA Swimming is increasing its fees $1 every year.� Last year New England increased the athlete�s fee by $5 and the non-athlete fee by $10.� The board agreed to maintain the same New England fees for another year.� Mary Riddell reminded the board that next year the income generated by registration fees would decline by approximately $7,000. ��

SHORT COURSE MEETS:� Ray Grant thanked all those who worked at the 13 and over Age Group meet which was run by New England at MIT and the Sectional meet which was run by Tim Murphy at Harvard.�� Both meets were very successful.� Mariella Allard, meet director for the 13 and over meet, reported that there were some things that will be done differently when New England runs the open meet this summer at MIT, but for the most part things ran well at the 13 and over meet.� Putting specific teams in charge of specific jobs worked well, and she plans to expand this concept this summer.

CALENDAR COMMITTEE:� Bob Gauvin reported that the calendar has 16 meets with both championship meets in place.� The 12 and under age group meet will be at Harvard and the open meet will be run by New England at MIT.� The 12 and under age group meet will feature trials and finals for the 11 and 12 age groups.

SHORT COURSE 12 and under AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS:� Dan Warner reported that the meet itself went well but that the spectator area was an issue with many more spectators attending than there was room for.� NSSC attempted to get parents to circle in and out of the area so that all could see their children swim but parents were fearful that they would not get back in if they left their seats.� Ray Grant reported that in AD they have �short term� seating areas with the area cleared after every event.� It has been a success way to let more spectators into the meet.� Dan Warner reported that there was an increase of 190 swimmers over the number last year.� He suggests that the time standards need to be tightened and that we need to look at the policy that allows unlimited relays and unlimited relay-only swimmers.

REGIONAL MEETS:� The regional meets also were crowded this year leading to some suggestions that we need to go with five meets for next year.� Ray Grant will refer the problem to the Age Group Committee.� Despite the fact that YNS had a problem with an electrical outage on Friday, there were no complaints with the meet.� Seekonk was not as crowded as the other facilities.� There were complaints about both the ABF and the NSSC meets, both with the amount of spectator seating and the cleanliness of the facilities.

CATCH THE SPIRIT CAMP:� Amy Parratto was not at the meeting but submitted a report.� The camp will be held on May 20, 2006 at Wellesley College and the coaches will be Laura Matuszak, Greg Gillette, David Bott, and Keri Cunningham.� A notice and application will be posted on the web site and printed in the newsletter.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE:� Dan Warner would like to have a meeting at his house on Sunday, April 2, 2006 at 2 pm.� Mary Riddell will send a notice to the committee members.

ATHLETES:� Ray Grant and Sophia Slote are working on an advertisement for a new athlete rep.� The board will select the new rep at the June meeting of the board.

COACHES:� Matt Craven reported that the Senior Committee met at the 13 and over meet at MIT.� They suggested that if the meet is held there in the future, all ten lanes should be used for the heats at night.� Relays were an issue at the meet.� There were no limits on the number of relays and the number of relay only swimmers.�� The coaches recommend five sites for the regional meets.� The coaches want the teams to step up and bid to host championship meets.� Matt Craven has begun to look for coaches who would like to run for junior coach representative at the election at the coaches meeting at the Annual Meeting.�

OFFICIALS:� Scott Doty reported that he and Dave Leblanc are looking at the make up of the officials committee.� After some discussion, Scott said that he would remind officials that the referee is responsible for programs at meets and all officials should request programs through the referee not from the host team.� High school and college observations were a problem this year.� Mary Riddell suggested that we make more use of the web site to publicize the procedure and also to list the meets that have been approved for observation and to list the officials who have agreed to observe.� Scott suggested that we consider renting the new New England headsets for meets other than �end of season� meets.� He also said that there has been a lack of consistency in official�s training, and Bob Menck has agreed to take card of overseeing training.

LONG COURSE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS: �It was announced that there will be two sets of time standards for the meet this summer�14 and under times and 15 and over time.� This will eliminate 15 and overs who were able to enter the meet last year on the basis of times that were originally 13 and 14 time standards.� There will still be a 13 and 14 heat at night for those who do not make one of the other three heats and there will be separate awards and high point awards for 13 and 14 swimmers.� Mary Riddell is concerned that the labels for the medals still have to be written by hand and the scoring still has to be done by hand.� Since the meet will be run by New England, New England should find someone(s) not directly involved with the meet to do this extra work.

ZONE MEETING:� The Zone Meeting will be held on May 14, 2006 in Richmond, Virginia.� New England has three votes.� Ray Grant is planning to attend.� Last year Laura Matuszak and Mike Parratto also attended.� Ray will see if they are willing to attend this year.� If not, he will find others willing to attend.

OTHER:� Bob Gauvin reported that Pepsi made a generous donation of cases of soda for the 13 and over meet.� He also would like to send a letter of support for the men�s swimming program at the University of New Hampshire.� The board agreed to have Bob Gauvin write a letter of support for the UNH men�s swim team.

Ev Crosscup reported on behalf of the Nominating Committee that Dave Leblanc will not run for reelection for Financial Vice Chairman.� He also said that the committee will present a single slate of officers at the Annual Meeting and then take additional nominations from the floor .

NEXT MEETING:� Ray Grant proposed that we meet next on Tuesday, April 4 with Monday, April 3 as the second choice.

Dan Warner moved and Priscilla Davis seconded that the meeting be adjourned.� The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 pm.

Submitted by Mariella Allard and Mary Riddell�� �