2012 Eastern Zone Meeting Annual Report

Transcription

1 2012 Eastern Zone Meeting Annual Report USA Swimming Foundation Report- Currently, 1.5 million kids have received swimming lessons through Make A Splash. We have 553 Make a Splash partners. Make A Splash has also partnered with Team Unify for online donation collection services. As a result the program has seen a 20% growth in donations with an average donation of $ If you are interested in learning more information on how to become a Make A Splash partner please go to the foundation website for additional information. The USA Swimming Foundation is distributing shirts this convention for our annual Sea of Blue, detailing the medal count of the USAS 2012 Olympic Team. All delegates are asked to wear it to the Saturday House of Delegates meeting. The Swim A Thon program has been officially transferred to the USA Swimming Foundation Summer Sanders and Brendan Hansen have been named to the Board of the Foundation. The donations for the Silent Auction of the Golden Goggles have had great support. Anyone wishing to donate something to the auction should contact the Foundation. USAS Foundation employee, Kim O Shea, will be departing the foundation soon for a job with Colorado Swimming. We wish Kim the best of luck. Records USAS had 58 new records achieved in the summer months. We have 5 World Records, 11 American Records and 8 Olympic Records. 16 programs in USAS produced medalists in the Olympic games with 9 different coaches being represented. USA Swimming was 30% of all the medals that were won by the United States in the Games.

2 Olympic Trials At the 2012 Olympic trials we had 1820 swimmers represented. The trails was an over whelming success. NBC had highest rating of any aquatic event ever. We would like to congratulate the Omaha commission & USA Swimming for a fantastic event for our athletes. Currently, 14 cities have indicated that they are interest in hosting the 2016 Olympic trials. 12 of these cities attended the 2012 Olympic Trials event to see how the event works, etc. An RFP will be sent out in the next weeks to all the cities. Mike Unger, indicated that they hope to nail down the exact dates of the 2016 trials soon. These dates are needed for cities to accurately be able to bid for the event. It appears the 2016 Trials will be the first to second week in July (4 th -11 th ). Mike Unger commented the goal is to strike a balance of dates and good competition for an even better event. College Invitational National Team Director, Frank Busch, addressed the board regarding competition plans for the next quad. An addition to the schedule will be a College Invitational. Coach Busch will be addressing the Zones regarding his proposals and vision. He hopes to reduce the number of college swimmers in the Sectional meets. Coach Busch is also recommending Sectional/ Senior meets within the Zone have a C or D- 18 & under finals only. On- Line Membership Registration- The board was presented a design plan for the USAS On- Line Membership Registration. In early summer this design plan was shared with a task force related to this project. At this time many questions on integration and implementation are still being reviewed Quad Business Plan- Every Delegate at the convention should have received a summary of the 2016 Business Quad Business plan. This plan covers USAS cultural values, business plan background and the process the USAS BOD & Staff went through to establish the plan. Our core objectives for the 2016 Quad are Build the Base 1) Stronger LSCs 2) Stronger Clubs 3) Grow Membership

3 Promote the Sport 1) Promote the sport of Swimming 2) Promote the governing body of USA Swimming 3) Grow Revenue ACHIEVE Sustained Competitive Success 1) Success in Rio and Beyond 2) Serve & Support Athletes 3) Serve & Support Coaches Coaches Education Requirements- Proposed Change to USA Swimming Coach Education Requirement September 11, 2012 Requested Action: That the Board of Directors approves the following change to the Coach Member Requirements in the policy manual: Coach Education Requirement Prior to becoming a USA Swimming member coach for the first time, a coach is required to successfully complete the online course, Foundations of Coaching 101. Before registering to be a coach member the 2 nd year, the coach must successfully complete the two-part Foundations of Coaching 201 course. (Effective January 1, 2013). The current requirement in the policy manual reads as follows: Coach Education Requirement Prior to registering as a coach for a subsequent year, a first year coach must successfully complete the Foundations of Coaching test. The test is available online. (1999) Rationale: Currently a coach has no educational requirement to begin coaching and can coach the entire first year without completing the Foundations of Coaching education requirement. Then, before registering for the 2 nd year, the coach must complete the two-part Foundations of Coaching 201 course, which is comprised of an online component and a test covering the Rules & Regulations of USA Swimming. We believe it makes more sense to require a minimum coaching education requirement before a coach can begin with required additional education later on. The new two-part course will be delivered in an online format that will ensure that participants review the educational content prior to taking the test. This plan provides exposure to some key concepts for the brand new coach while breaking the overall current education requirement into more manageable pieces. Foundations 101 and 201 will be delivered in an online learning format. 101 will be approximately 90 minutes and cost $15. Foundations 201 are a more comprehensive course of approximately 3-4 hours and will cost $ There will also be a Rules and Regulations component of 201 (see below). Rules and Regulations Test:. Rules and Regs will be a separate test completed on the USA Swimming website. This material will not be part of the online course and test.

4 0. Proposed: A 25 to 40 question test. Approximately 15 questions that would be on every test and the remainder would come from a rotating bank of questions. This test would be on the USA-S site. 0. Test would be taken as a 2 nd component of 201. Proposed Transition to New Requirement: For a new coach who registers between now and December 31, 2012 Two Options: 0. New Course Option: 0. After January 1, 2013, complete the new Foundations of Coaching Prior to 2 nd year of registration complete new Foundations of Coaching 201 and Rules and Regs Test* 0. Old Course Option 0. Prior to second year of registration (Sept December 2013 registration period) complete the old Foundations of Coaching DVD based test For a new coach who registers after January 1, 2013: 0. New Course Option Only: 0. After January 1, 2013, complete the new Foundations of Coaching Prior to 2 nd year of registration complete new Foundations of Coaching 201 and Rules and Regs Test* For an existing member coach currently registering for 2013 as 2 nd year of membership: 0. Old Course Option Only 0. Prior to second year of registration complete the old Foundations of Coaching DVD based test Note: As of August 31, 2013, the DVD-based course will no longer be available. Presidents Reports Meet Sanctioning Task Force Progress Report September 3, 2012 Background: For a variety of reasons, large invitational and LSC Championship swim meets have become the primary, if not the only, type of competition offered in most LSC meet schedules. In most cases, and again for a variety of reasons, these large invitational are protected competitions and any requests for other meets to be sanctioned are often denied. These policies have the unintended consequence of preventing clubs from being creative and conducting different types of meets That they feel are in the best interests of their athletes and the sport. The task force is charged with evaluating the landscape and, based on the objectives provided below, bringing forth recommendations to address the various concerns related to the LSC sanctioning process. Objectives: 1) With regard to the LSC s authority to issue sanctions and approvals, develop a

5 USA Swimming statement of philosophy and broad guidelines for LSCs and LSC Sanction Chairs that will provide for consistency in the sanctioning and approval process. 2) Our current rules require that all meets be sanctioned by the LSC in whose geographical boundaries the physical location of the meet resides. The task force has been asked to review the current procedure and, if necessary, recommend alternative procedures. This would help address the growing interest by clubs with similar goals and competitive levels in developing conferences and/or leagues to provide additional and different competitive opportunities for athletes. In some cases, these potential conferences could include teams from multiple LSCs. 3) Create a standard and accessible appeals process to that would provide an opportunity to review and potentially override LSC decisions on meet sanctions and related meet scheduling decisions. 4) Provide any other recommendations the tax force believes will improve our current sanctioning/approval process while leaving the LSC as the primary sanctioning body. Task force members: Brandon Drawz (chair) John Morse (NAC coach) Steve Morsilli Rick Shipherd Dave Anderson Paul Silver Allison Beebe Larry Johnson Kathy Stephens Athlete: Tyler Storie Athlete: Steve Sholdra Athlete: Clair Brandt Staff liaison: Pat Hogan Staff liaison: Sue Anderson Board of Review Task Force Background: The Board of Review process, particularly at the LSC level, seems to be having increasing difficulties for a variety of reasons. Among them are:

6 1. For some LSCs, there are a large number of BORs and it is difficult to find a sufficient number of volunteers with any experience to staff these, or to find a volunteer to act as the LSC BOR Chair; 2. For other LSCs, the number of BORs is very small (in cases none in a given year) and, with volunteer turn-over, it is difficult to staff these with anyone who has some experience or expertise; 3. Because the membership of the LSC BOR comes from the LSC membership, it is often difficult to find people who have no pre-disposed biases towards the parties (actual or perceived); 4. While we do have training for volunteers who serve on BORs, with 59 LSCs, An inconsistency in the manner in which the LSC BOR is conducted is inevitable; 5. Partially, at least, because of the above, many decisions of the LSC BOR are being appealed to the National BOR putting similar strains on our NBOR; and 6. Some of our NBOR issues are relatively minor (e.g., less serious cases of athlete bullying); perhaps we should consider the concept of a misdemeanor NBOR that would handle these types of issues in a more expeditious and less formal manner (not unlike or perhaps even an adjunct to the Background Screen Appeals Special Panel). Objectives: Review our current Board of Review process at the LSC level to determine if there is an alternative process that would address the above issues. The most obvious suggestion would be to move the LSC process to a Zone or other regional system and get the individual LSCs out of the BOR business. However, there are significant issues that would have to be resolved such as funding for these regional BORs (e.g., charge-back costs to the LSC) and how they would be staffed. It would also entail a major revision of our Rulebook and the Required LSC Bylaws. In addition, review the possibility of a misdemeanor NBOR to handle less serious cases in a more expeditious and less formal manner. Finally, consider whether the NBOR in general should utilize a pool of hearing panel members (e.g., 25-30) appointed for 2-4 year terms instead of the current appointments made on a case-by-case basis. Timeline: Provide recommendations and any suggested rules changes to our National Board of Review Chair by March 1, 2013, so that they can be reviewed by the NBOR chair and legal counsel before presentation to the USA Swimming Board of Directors at its April 2013 meeting. Report Respectfully Submitted by: Paris Jacobs- Director Non- Coach Marci Callan- Director- Coach