AS APPROVED at the May 13, 2006 Eastern Zone Meeting
EASTERN ZONE MEETING
Greensboro, NC
September 15-16, 2005
MINUTES
The meeting was brought to order at 8:10 a.m., by our Zone Directors Pete Gannon and Ed Dellert.
A moment of silence was observed for victims of hurricane Katrina.
The minutes of the May meeting in Newark were approved.
Pete Gannon and Ed Dellert provided the attached written report regarding the USA-S Board of Directors meeting on September 13.
The following people were nominated for this years Zone elections. Non-coach Zone Director - Pete Gannon - AM. Zone Technical Chairman - John Hirschmann-PV. Age Group Planning Coach - Ward Foley - PV. Additional nominations were sought and Sharon Powers - ME was nominated for Zone Technical Chairman. Additional nominations will be accepted tomorrow after which the elections will take place.
Financial Report:
Cash in account at National $2249.30
Cash in bank for zone 249.42
Sept. 24, 2005 Total for zone $2498.72
Expected expenses
Return of Meet Deposit $320.00
Purchase of pins 650.00
Athlete airfare for May 385.00
A motion was made, seconded and passed to leave the 2006 dues for each LSC at $125.00. An e-mail will be sent to each treasurer listed in the current USA Directory.
Katrina task force - Leanne Spletzer
Leanne said that very few pools were badly damaged, none were completely gone. There was no known loss of life amongst the swimming community. USA Swimming is thinking of donating approximately $275,000. to be split between the Red Cross and Salvation Army. She is looking for feedback on this from anyone, or ideas from anyone. This has not been decided on yet. There is a donation box at the USA Swimming credentials desk for any donations people might like to give.
The Agenda was approved with the addition of discussing the possibility of admitting The West Virginia LSC into the Eastern Zone under New Business.
Zone Championship Committee - John Ferrari
Super Sectionals - St. Mary's College in Maryland. John Ferrari reported that this was the first time the pool was used for any meet. Prelims were about five hours. It went very well, and he thanked everyone involved. Zone Championships in Buffalo. There were about 1100 swimmers. The air quality in the warm up/warm-down area of one of the pools was not good. There was some bad behavior in the locker room between some 13-14 boys, also some 10 & U swimmers at Sat. finals as spectators. Unsupervised swimmers are a problem. Other than this, things went well. A financial report is needed for a meet refund to be given.
Officials Chair - Jamy Pfister - no report. Bea Hartigan stated that communication from the Officials chair has been great this year.
Technical Chair - John Hirschmann - still looking for bids for spring 2006 Southern Sectional Meet. No bids offered. All other 2006 meets had been bid and awarded. MR Swimming was awarded Eastern Zone Age Group SC Zone Meet subsequent to the Spring 2005 Zone meeting - March 30th-April 1, 2006 at Nassau County Pool. Bids were sought for the five 2007 meets to be awarded by the EZ - the dates of the USA Swimming Championships were provided. USA Swimming Spring as follows: Championships on Long Island March 27 - 31, 2007 and USA Swimming National Championships - July 31 - Aug 4, 2007 in Indianapolis.
No bids for Spring SC Zone Meet or SC Sectionals (North or South) were submitted.
The following bids for Long Course were announced:
July 19-22, 2007- Thursday to Sunday, LongCourse Super Sectionals - CBAC bid St. Mary's College in Maryland.
Aug. 8 - 11, 2007 - Wednesday to Saturday - Summer LC Zones - NI/STAR bid Erie Community College and University Buffalo-Amherst. Open Water on the 12th at Buffalo.
Others were encouraged to bid prior to the selection vote on Friday afternoon.
Marci Callan - Niagara - made a motion to raise entry fees for summer Long Course Zones from $4.00 to $8.00 for individual events, and from $7.50 to $10.00 for relay events starting in 2006. She explained the expected costs for pool rentals are expected to increase substantially. The increase is designed to offset the added cost for meets in Buffalo - no change in the net proceeds to the host club is expected as a result of this increase. Callan's motion was seconded and approved by the Zone.
Ed Dellert informed the Zone that USA Swimming had increased the reimbursement for the Spring EZ - SC Age Group Zone Meet from $6000. to $10,000. It was noted that facility fees in general are going up.
So far there has been no change in support from USA Swimming for the Speedo Championship Series meet - even though the EZ only holds one meet for the LC season.
John H. announced he would hold a technical planning meeting with a representative from each LSC. Items to be discussed included clarifying eligibility rules for the SC and LC zone meets (what times make you too fast for the meet) - no other changes to the zone meets are being proposed. The other agenda items would include whether changes should be made to the OT's for the SC and LC Speedo Championship Series (SCS) meets and whether the LC- SCS meet should become a full 4-day meet. Since the summer sectionals prelims had long prelims (5+ hours) - it is being proposed to go to a full four day meet, and reduce the number of swimmers entering with SCY times. Goal would be to have prelims of about four hours. For the SC SCS meets - the North had long sessions, while the South had relatively short sessions - also the North prelims were in a 10 lane course.
If times are adjusted the South may be too small. Jim Wood felt each section should be able to set their own time standards to resolve this dilemma. He suggested that the 2 sections set their own time standards for the spring meet starting in 2007. John Hirschmann agreed to add this to the Technical Committee agenda. The group will meet right after our meeting today.
Ira Klein - Director of Field Services - Eastern Zone Coordinator
Ira spoke about three new programs available from USA Swimming, and gave out handouts on each.
- Each swimmer can have their own web page. They can go to usaswimming.org and click on create a web account. They can personalize their own page.
- IMX - i.m. xtreme challenge - this is a motivational program whereby swimmers will be scored and ranked nationally on their performance in a combination of five or six events and based on the power points scored for each of those swims, earn a combined score that will be called the IMX Score for a season. These combined scores will be ranked by single ages with rankings and recognition available on the USA Swimming website.
- Virtual Club Championships - This will recognize and highlight clubs that are developing athletes and achieving success at multiple levels in club swimming. The Mythical Championships will be tabulated annually for both short and long course seasons. All registered clubs will be scored. Each team will be limited to two entries per event by Age group and gender. Each swimmer will be limited to four events. Times must have been achieved while representing a registered USA Swimming Club.
The Club recognition program is still being developed. If Ira can be of service to any club please contact him.
Report of Officers - Pete Gannon and Ed Dellert gave a written report which was attached to our meeting agenda. It will be attached to these minutes as well. Pete stated that 32 tables had already been sold for the Golden Goggles awards in NYC on Nov. 14, 2005. Ed stated that the funding for short course zones has gone up to $10,000. from $6000. and that they will work on trying to rearrange some of the funding for sectional meets.
Site Selection - Ray Grant was absent there was no report.
Zone Committee Task Force - Kip Hein - only received three surveys back, and one e-mail. He felt this was not enough info to change anything. There was not a consensus amongst those who responded as to whether to change anything or if so, how.
This meeting was adjourned at 9:20 a.m. This allowed the Technical Committee, to meet immediately afterwards.
**Friday - September 16th
The meeting was called to order at 3:35 p.m. by our Zone Directors Pete Gannon and Ed Dellert.
Athlete Rep. report - Robbie Fischetti
He felt that Super Sectionals was too large. The zone athletes have been busy all week participating in their meetings and workshops. Much discussion and work was done on the IMX Project and the creation of "My USA-Swimming" accounts on the USA-Swimming website. The athletes went over all proposed legislation to be voted on at the HOD meeting. They also gave summary reports of their committees. Robbie was elected to the AEC as the Vice-Chairman for Education.
Technical Planning report
A motion was made, seconded, and passed that reads as follows: " A 13 and over athlete cannot go to the Eastern Zones, if he or she has competed in an individual event or qualified for an individual event at any of the following meets: USA Swimming Juniors, USA Swimming Spring Championships (using the 18/U qualifying times,) US Open, USA Swimming Nationals, or a Trials Class Meet. This goes into effect for spring 2006 and will apply to both SC and LC Meets. (Note: 12/U swimmers will continue to be able to attend Eastern Zone meets unless they competed in any of the above listed meets in an individual event.)" Hirschmann stated the Zone would produce a table that would indicate what time was too fast - since depending on the event and course - the slowest time can come from one of three different meets. No other action on Spring or Summer Zones was taken.
Spring Sectionals - starting in 2007 - The two sections should be free to set their own qualifying times. This was moved, seconded, and passed. It was felt that there were too many swims at Summer Super Sectionals. It was recommended by Technical and agreed to by the Zone that the meet will go to a full four day format. The order of events will need to be rearranged. The Zone concurred it would like about three hours plus for preliminaries. Buffalo will accept a full four day format for 2006. Will definitely cut non-conforming times and may also need to cut conforming times down as well if needed to produce sessions of the desired length.
Meet Bids, Spring 2006 - Southern Sectional - John Ferrari said that the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD would be available. The Naval Academy Aquatic Club would host the meet. The pool is 50 meters x 25 yards. They would be able to provide one course on Thursday, and then two courses for the remainder of the meet. Photo ID's will be required to get on the base. Parking is not near the pool, and bus passes would be provided to get people to the pool. The meet would be Mar. 16, 17, 18 & 19th, 2006. This meet was awarded to the Naval Academy.
Additional bids (in addition to those submitted on Thursday) were sought.
Spring Speedo Series Northern Meet - March 8-11, 2007 no bidders
Spring Speedo Series Southern Meet - March 15-18, 2007 - no bidders
Eastern Zone Age Group Championships - March 29-31, 2007 - no bidders
Bids for Super Long Course Sectionals for 2007 - July 19-22, 2007 - St. Mary's College, Maryland & Buffalo, New York (Erie Community College & UB-Amherst).
Bids for Summer Long Course Zones - Aug. 8-11th, 2007 - University of Pittsburgh & Buffalo.
The winners of the above meets were: Super Sectionals - St. Mary's College Long Course Zones - Buffalo, N.Y.
**Effective 2006 the fee raise is in effect for summer zones.
Our Athlete representatives were introduced.
No unfinished business.
Elections
Pete Gannon was unanimously reelected as Non-Coach Zone Director by acclimation.
Ward Foley was unanimously reelected as Coach - Age Group Planning Committee by acclimation.
The meeting recessed so the LSC's could caucus and vote for the Technical Chair and the site of the 2007 LC meets by secret ballot.
Our elections committee - Bill Krumm, Aimee Catroppa, and Cherita Gentilucci announced the following:
John Hirschmann was elected as Technical Planning Chair.
2007 Summer Super Sectionals went to CBAC to host the meet at St. Mary's College, MD.
2007 Summer Zone Long Course Championships went to NI/STAR to host the meet at two sites in Buffalo.
A motion was made, seconded and passed to destroy the ballots.
National Committee Reports
Communications - Ed Dellert - His committee had two seminars today - Best Practices for Swimming Webmasters, and Advanced Website Development for Swimming Webmasters. Had about 85 - 90 participants - was very successful. This committee is being sunsetted, but these two workshops will be continued at convention.
Age Group Planning - Ward Foley - this is being changed to Age Group Development. Working on making Age Group Chairs more active in their LSC's. Could have a chat room. The committee a presentation on the IMXtreme program.
Club Fundraising - There were 440 Swimathons last year. For future swimathons - USA Swimming will adjust the fee to 5% or $12.00 per swimmer whichever is less. This committee will be sunsetted.
Jim Wood - Technical V.P. - A list of future meets.
Dec. 1-3, 2005 US Open - Auburn, Al.
Mar. 28 - April 1, 2006 - Spring Championships - Federal Way, WA. - will be two sets of time standards. One for 18 & Under, and one for 19 and over.
Aug. 1-5, 2006 - National Championships - World Championship Trials - Pan Pac's, Pan Am's, World University Games selection meet. It has been proposed that time would only be in meters.
(Note: It was announced at the House the next day that non-conforming entry times would also be accepted.) Aug. 7-11, 2006 - Junior Championships - Irvine, CA
Grand Prix Meets - May 19-21, 2006 - Ann Arbor, MI.
June 9-11, 2006 - Charlotte, N.C.
June 23-25, 2006 - Santa Clara, CA
June 23-25, 2006 - College Station, TX
July 14-16, 2006 - Los Angeles, CA.
Nov. 30-Dec, 2, 2006 - US Open - long course - West Lafayette, IN
Mar. 27-31, 2007 - Spring Championships - East Meadow, New York
July 31-Aug. 4, 2007 - National Championships - Indianapolis
Aug. 7-11, 2007 - Junior Championships - Indianapolis
.Club development - Mike Seip - Working on IMX, VCC program and Club recognition programs. Check them out and see what is happening.
Open Water - Dale Petranech - A Select Camp will be held the Day after Labor Day. There will be nine men, and nine women. The Championships will be held in Ft. Myers in June. 5K - June 2, 10K - June 4, and 25K - June 6, 2006. Rule Changes for 2007 - Zone Meet will be used as qualifying time for Nationals. Other open water meets may request status as qualifying meets. Presently qualifying times are: 18 min. for men, and 19 min. for women. To be changed to 19:00.00 for men, and 20:00.00 for women.
Adapted-Disability Committee - Bea Hartigan Working with Club Excellence program to work with clubs who have athletes. Any club with questions can call USA Swimming for help. All-America would like a designated meet for these athletes to enable them to qualify for All-America. Brochures are still very handy documents - they will be updated. Revising & updating what the LSC rep should do. Lots of records set this year. 80 records were set in disability specific meets, and an additional 120 records set in able bodied meets.
Safety Committee - Priscilla Davis- Ran a CPR Challenge and it went well. Presentations addressed lightning at meets, facility checklists and guidelines for marshals. A brochure will be printed - Referee's Safety Checklist card - and will be distributed to LSC Meet Referees. She also stated that camera cell phones are not allowed in locker rooms.
Rules Committee - Arvydas Barzadukas - we have the following zone members on the Rules Committee - Ellen Johnston, Dick Shoulberg, Carol Zaleski. There is also a YMCA rep. There are ninety pages of legislation - lots on governance. The task force has done lots of work and research. Do not rule out considering proposals because they are changes.
***Hurricane Katrina Discussion - USA Swimming is considering donating all Swimathon money from Sept. 1, 2005 - Aug, 31, 2006 - approximately $130,000. They would give the money up front and then if the amount collected exceeds this, it will be donated later. The group felt that we should try to identify the clubs that lost their pools and water time, and the coaches & swimmers to try to find out how much help is needed, and direct the contributions made to just try to help them and the swimming families involved.
(See report from USA-S Board meeting on September 18)
New Business - West Virginia - LSC - approximately 700-750 athletes is considering looking to join the Eastern Zone, or the Central Zone. Southern Zone would allow them to go. They could also remain an LSC, or ask to be annexed to VA, or AM LSC's. The Zone took a straw vote which indicated they would vote to accept them if they formally asked to join the Zone.
***John Ferrari - MD - made a motion: it was seconded, to raise the entry fee for the spring zone meet from $450.00 to $800.00 per LSC. A vote was taken and it passed 22 to 14. This will go into effect for spring 2006.
Spring Meeting - Richmond - May 13, 2006. George Homewood announced it would be at the Downtown Richmond Marriott $99.00 a night. This is in the Old Town which is a redone downtown. The date of the meeting is the 399th Anniversary of founding of Jamestown Colony and the beginning of the celebration for the 400th Anniversary. The registration fee will be approximately $80.00 - $90.00 per delegate. The cost one way from the airport is $7.50. The hotel web site is: www.stayatmarriott.com/vaswimming. More info in the spring.
A task force to update the Eastern Zone Manual was appointed. The following people are the members. Cherita Gentilucci, JoAnn Faucett, Ellen Johnston, Fred Killian, and Isabelle Fraser
Two Chaperones from the Zone are needed for the athletes Sat. night party.
Kerry Ellett was presented with the Eastern Zone Service Award. Arvydas Barzdukas did the honors, and the Zone Directors presented it to him.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m..
Respectfully submitted,
Isabelle Fraser
Secretary-Treasurer - Eastern Zone
The following is a follow-up note from Ed & Pete:
" A note from the Board of Directors meeting held on Sunday the 18th. The Board decided against a direct monetary donation to the Hurricane Katrina relief fund from USA Swimming. The Board has approved that clubs/LSC's can run swim-a-thons and keep the 5% normally collected by USA Swimming and designate those funds to any agency, club, individual, affected by the hurricane. There is no specific requirement as to where you choose to send these funds, nor is there any requirement to report your donation to USA Swimming. In the past 2 years USA Swimming has collected approximately $130,000.00 from swim-a-thons and, with some added promotion within the LSC's (and possibly donating more than just the 5% portion due to USA Swimming), the board feels, clubs can raise a significant amount for the benefit of the hurricane victims. This would be a good way to get your swimmers involved with the relief effort by performing a service to those in need, and also serve as goodwill for the sport of swimming within your community."
Athlete Representatives
AM Ray Toomey [email protected]
AM Zack Zurenberg [email protected]
AD Spencer Booth [email protected]
AD Aimee Catroppa [email protected]
CT Haley Smith [email protected]
CT Kayleigh Boucher [email protected]
CT Eryn Crane [email protected]
MD John Hogan [email protected]
MD Danny Ray [email protected]
MR Anthony Mironov [email protected]
NE Sophia Slote [email protected]
NE Ray Grant Jr [email protected]
NJ Ali Russoniello [email protected]
NJ Jordan Crosby [email protected]
NI Jake Fisher [email protected]
NI Laura Powalski [email protected]
VA Lawrence Wallace [email protected]
VA Bryan Pinkston [email protected]
E.Zone Rep. Robbie Fischetti [email protected]
At-large Jessica Foschi [email protected]
Attendance - Sept. 15, 2005
- AD - JoAnn Faucett, Jerry Adams, Kim Crounse, Spencer Booth, Aimee Catroppa
- AM - Jamy Pfister, Michael Ginsberg, John Lynch, Don Wagner, Zach Zurenberg, Ray Toomey, Peter Barry, Pete Gannon, Carol Zaleski
- CT - Leanne Spletzer, Christine Pelham, Peter Boucher, Jason Paige, Mike Huffman, Jeff Allen, Bill Bell, Bill Krumm, Ellen Johnston, Eryn Crane, Haley Smith, Kayleigh Boucher
- ME- Bonnie Alcaide, Sharon Power, Chris Branch, Anne Marie Rand
- MD - Chris Pulley, Pat Kaplan, John Ferrari, Sheryl Lepisto, Liz Brabson, Chuck Jacobs, John Hogan, Danny Gray, John Burke
- MR - Mary Fleckenstein, Monique Grayson, Gil Smith, Paul Forbeck, Mary Ann Senecal, Anthony Mironov, Dave Ferris, Bea Hartigan, Sophie Staskiewicz
- MA - Jon Larson, Patric Mills, Cheria Gentilucci, Fred Killian, Dave Carson, Dale Petranech, Mike Gobrecht, Kip Hein, Dick Shoulberg, Stephanie Rozick, Sid Cassidy, Mike Seip, George Breen
- NE - Mary Riddell, Rosemarie Meissner, Priscilla Davis, Bob Gauvin, Sophia Slote, Frank Ching, Laura Matuszak, Michelle Bernal, Tim Murphy, Kathy Dacey
- NJ - Jim O'Neill, Jim Sheehan, Stephanie Crofton, Kevin Devine, Allison Russoniello, Jordan Crosby, Roger Ridenor, Jon Siegel, Eric Fucito, Greg Eggert, Jim Wood, Ed Dellert
- NI - Jim Bowen, Barbara Paradis, David Finger, Marci Callan, Frances Klier, Laura Powalski, Kendra Bush, Jake Fisher
- PV - Don Riedlinger, Carrie Tupper, Paris Jacobs, Bill Marlin, Dan Jacobs, Ward Foley, Jim Garner, Arvydas Barzdukas, Kerry Reed Ellett, Greg York, Ron Whalen, Bill Stephens, John Hirschmann, Sumie Emory
- VA - Alicia Johnson, Louise Limerick, Pete Maloney, Bryan Pinkston, Lawson Wallace, James Wolfle, George Homewood, Mary Turner, Jessica Simons, Walter Smith, Robbie Fischetti
- Office - Ira Klein
- Secretary - Isabelle Fraser
Attendance - Sept. 16, 2005
- AD - JoAnn Faucett, Kim Crounse, Jerry Adams, Aimee Catroppa, Spence Booth
- AM - Stan Stefanski, Peter Barry, Michael Ginsberg, John Lynch, Jamy Pfister, Ray Toomey, Zach Zurenberg, Ron Wagner, Pete Gannon
- CT - Bill Krumm, Kayleigh Boucher, Haley Smith, Eryn Crane, Mike Huffman, Peter Boucher, Jeff Allen, Leanne Spletzer, Ellen Johnston, Jason Paige, Christine Pelham
- MA - Dave Carson, Cherita Gentilucci, Mike Gobrecht, Jon Larson, Mile LaRosa, Fred Killian, Stephanie Rozick, Patric Mills, Kip Hein, Mike Seip, Dale Petranech, George Breen
- MD - John Ferrarri, John Hogan, Chris Pulley, John Burke, Chuck Jacobs, Liz Brabson, Sheryl Lepisto, Daniel Gray & Pat Kaplan
- ME - Bonnie Alcaide, Chris Branch, Sharon Power, Ann Marie Rand
- MR - Mary Fleckenstein, Monique Grayson, Gil Smith, Paul Forbeck, Mary Ann Senecal, Anthony Mironov, Dave Ferris, Bea Hartigan, Sophie Staskiewicz
- NE - Bob Gauvin, Michelle Bernal, Laura Matuszak, Sophia Slote, Priscilla Davis, Mary Riddell, Tim Murphy
- NI - David Finger, Jim Bowen, Barbara Paradis, Frances Klier, Jake Fisher, Sarah Takas, Kendra Bush, Laura Powalski, Marci Callan
- NJ - Jim Sheehan, Jon Siegel, Eric Fucito, Kevin Devine, Jim O'Neill, Stephanie Crofton, Ali Russoniello, Jordan Crosby, Roger Ridenour, Jim Wood, Ed Dellert, Greg Eggert
- PV - Ward Foley, Dan Jacobs, Kerry Reed Ellett, Ronald Whalen, Carrie Tupper, Arvydas Barzdukas, Don Riedlinger, Bill Marlin, Jim Garner, John Hirschmann, Paris Jacobs, Linda Klopfenstein, Greg York, Sumie Emory, Bill Stephens.
- VA - George Homewood, Jerry Hayes, Mary Turner, Jessica Simons, James Wolfle, Alycia Johnson, Terry Randolph, Michael Downs, Lawson Wallace, Byran Pinkston, Robbie Fischett
**Attached is the Zone Directors report from the Board meeting of September 13, 2005.
