The following report was accepted at the October 15, 2002 meeting of the Board of New England Swimming.

 

NEW ENGLAND SWIMMING TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING

 

August 29, 2002

 

The Technical Committee met on August 29, 2002 at the home of Priscilla Davis.  The meeting was called to order at 6 pm by Dan Warner.  Attending were:  Dan Warner, Pam Warner, Amy Parratto, Mike Parratto, Ray Grant, Priscilla Davis, Mariella Allard, Mary Riddell.

 

MEET MANAGERS’ MATERIALS:  The committee discussed the materials in three documents:  New England Swimming Meet Policies;  Meet Data Management;  Meet Fees, Surcharges, Awards, etc.  The following comments, suggestions, and recommendations were made:

 

  1. In places where it says “New England,” it should be changed to “New England Swimming.”

 

  1. Deposits:  Dan Warner asked if we ever penalize teams who do not “follow the rules.”  Mary Riddell answered that although she does give a little slack in the two week and six week deadlines, many teams have not had their $200 deposits returned.

 

  1. Membership Cards:  The committee discussed the continuing problem of unregistered coaches on deck.  They would like the policy followed and enforced at all meets, not just the “end of season” meets.  The use of the referee to enforce this policy was discussed.  It was decided to keep that part of the policy recognizing that the referee can delegate this task to someone else.

 

  1. Officials (at Championship Meets):  The committee recommended deleting the sentence, “Although reimbursement may include hotel fees, it is strongly suggested that wherever possible, host teams should provide these officials with any courtesy rooms made available to them.”

 

It was recommended that we add a sentence that says, “Officials who submit their names as officials at the meet at the time the entry is submitted, will count toward the assigned work requirement for their team.  Officials who want to work in a Championship Meet should contact either the referee or the meet director as stated in the meet entry.”

 

There was discussion concerning officials who say that they will work at a championship meet (and count toward the required timers), but do not appear.  It was decided to discuss this with Bill Geary, officials chair.

 

  1. Updating Times:  The committee recommends that teams be required to update times up until seven days prior to the first day of the meet.

 

  1. Programs:  The committee recommends that at least one seeded program or seeded heat sheet be provided to each team.

 

  1. Distance Meets:  After much discussion, it was decided to define a distance meet as a meet offering only events 400 and longer.  These meets shall be eligible for the $250 distance subsidy.  At other meets, including “Senior Development” meets, the distance events (400 and longer) will not be subject to the $.50 surcharge, but shorter events will be.  These meets will not be eligible for the $250 distance subsidy.

 

  1. Meet Fees:  The committee recommends a rewording so that it reads, “Host teams pay surcharges for their own team and for entries that are scratched or are no shows.”  It currently reads “…that are scratched or do not show.”

 

MEET STIPENDS:  After much discussion, the committee recommends that the stipend for New England Seniors be increased to $2500 (from the current $2000) and that the stipend for New England Open Championships be decreased to $1500 (from the current $2000).

 

EVALUATION OF SUMMER MEETS:  Mariella Allard reported that she had not received any evaluations from summer meets.  Dan Warner said that he had received a request to add medals for 13 and 14 swimmers to the Open Championships.  The committee recommends that we keep the current plaques for 13 and 14 high point winners but that we do not add medals for individual events.

 

Time Standards for next summer may have to be tightened in a few events.

 

It was recommended that we change the “no relay only swimmers” policy at the Open Championships to the policy that we have at Seniors which allows a team that has at least one swimmer in the meet to fill out one relay.

 

MEET BID PROCESS:  The committee recommends that bids be submitted prior to the Annual Meeting and that the calendar committee meet prior to the June meeting of the Board.  The committee recommends that a specific format for meet invitations to be set up on the web site.

 

TIME STANDARDS:  Ray Grant will bring the new time standards to the next board meeting.

 

EMAIL COMPLAINT:  An email has been sent to some New England coaches concerning a coach who made comments concerning New England teams in a newspaper article.   No action is recommended.

 

LOTTERY PROCESS:  Teams conducting a lottery should report the results of the lottery to the office when they are reporting the result of the lottery to the teams entering the meet.  At a later date, Dan Warner will be scheduling another meeting to specifically discuss the lottery process.  Any coach, meet manager or parent who has concerns, ideas or suggestions should email them to Dan Warner at (NSSC1@aol.com)

 

NOTE:  SANCTIONS and APPROVALS:   Although it was not discussed at the meeting, Mary Gentry has suggested that the meet managers materials contain information about Sanctions and Approvals.  Mary Riddell will ask Isabelle Fraser to help with this information.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.

 

Submitted by Mary Riddell