The Technical Committee report was accepted by the Board of New England Swimming at its meeting on April 13, 2004.  A separate vote was taken to accept the section concerning the change in sanction fees (under OTHER in the report).  That new policy will take effect for the short course 2004-2005 season.

 

NEW ENGLAND SWIMMING TECHNICAL COMMITTEE, March 24, 2004

 

The Technical Committee met at the home of Priscilla Davis on Wednesday, March 24, 2004.  Chairman, Dan Warner, call the meeting to order at 5:40 pm.  Attending were:

Dan Warner, Pam Warner, Priscilla Davis, Mariella Allard, Caitlin Grant, Ray Grant, Bruce Mohl, Mike Parratto, Amy Parratto, Mary Riddell.

 

EVALUATION OF END OF SHORT COURSE SEASON MEETS:

 

  1. Mariella Allard reported that most of the evaluations that she received concerned the regional meets—the site at Easthampton and awards problems at Pioneer Valley.  Most of the complaints came from parents, not coaches.

 

  1. The Open Meet concept was discussed.  All agreed that the meet was well run, fast, exciting, but too large.  Mike Parratto suggested that the meet be continued in the future but that a Senior meet be offered for the faster swimmers. The Open time standards would be about the same (with some adjustments for the distance events), and the Senior meet would use the old Senior cuts.  Swimmers could attend only one of the two meets.  The Senior meet would be held first, before the Sectional meet. The Open meet would be held later.  A swimmer with one, two, three, or four Senior cuts could swim 5 Senior events.  A swimmer with five or more Senior cuts could swim up to 9 Senior events.  There would be no bonus events for the Open meet. The 13 and 14 age group would be scored the way they were this year.  There was discussion about pools for the Open.  A suggestion was made to approach Harvard about installing a bulkhead across the diving well.  Another suggestion was trying to get a long term arrangement with MIT.  Dan Warner will talk with MIT.  Next short course season the end of season meets will be:  Seniors, Open, 12 and under Age Groups, Regionals

 

  1. Ray Grant said that the time standards for 12 and unders will be a little easier next year.

 

  1. Ray Grant suggested that “best time” ribbons be awarded at the Regional meets for 9—10 and 8 and under swimmers.  All agreed that this was a good idea.  It was also decided to consider the regional meets championship meets.

 

  1. The distance events at the Open were discussed.  Because of the size of the distance events in the meet, coaches wanted the 500 and 400 IM to be swum fastest to slowest.  It was decided that these events would be swum in the traditional way (slowest to fastest) and that the size of the events would be better managed by adjusting the time standards.  All agreed that it is not a good idea to change the meet information after it has been posted, but all agreed that the referee is able to do make adjustments if the situation requires it.  Next year’s entry should make it clear that the referee can do this.  The positive check-in for the 500 free and 400 IM worked well and eliminated most of the open lanes that there were in previous years.

 

  1. The committee discussed the suggestion that we place a limit on how late at night sessions can run.  It was agreed that we can do this for the end of season meets, but that teams running other meets can make that decision themselves as long as the session is not in violation of the USA Swimming four-hour rule.  (Note this rule is not in effect for championship meets.)  The Calendar Committee will be more careful about checking these limitations when they accept end of season bids in the future.

 

SPRING AND SUMMER 2004 MEET SCHEDULE

 

  1. 12 and under meet:  The committee received 3 bids for 12 and unders.  YNS cannot have the pool for 3  ½ days, however.  It was decided to go with Harvard rather than Springfield College because of the size of the facility.  There was still some hesitation because of the Democratic Convention.  Tim Murphy has been able to obtain some rooms in Burlington.  It was decided to advise teams to book their rooms early and to suggest that they look at outer areas—Burlington, Framingham, Natick.  The age groups for the meet will be 11—12 and 10 and under.  There was discussion about an end of season meet for the 8 and unders.  Bruce Mohl will “rejigger” the times for the 8 and unders at the qualifier so that all 8 and unders can swim there.

 

  1. The dates for the Open will remain Thursday through Sunday (rather than Wednesday through Saturday) even though Nationals will begin on Tuesday.  The committee was concerned about taking parents (timers and officials) and, to a lesser degree, swimmers out of work for another day. 

 

  1. Ray Grant discussed zones.  Laura Matuszak will be in charge of zones this summer and has arranged for buses and hotel rooms.  Swimmers who are on the team will be expected to travel to and from the meet with the team and stay for the full time.  A swimmer who is accepted for the team will have to have at least two cut times.  Ray suggested that we have 5 coaches, a head coach and a coach assigned to each age group—10 and under, 11 and 12, 13 and 14, and 15 and over.  It was agreed to pay a stipend to each coach of  $125.  Ray passed out the information from the task force on the Eastern Zone meet.

 

SANCTIONED/NON CALENDAR MEETS:

 

  1. Now that we are sanctioning more non calendar meets, Mary Riddell has some concerns about the process.  It was decided that sanction requests would have to be sent to the office at least two weeks before the meet.  There must be a certified referee, the entry file must be run through the on line check before the meet, and all surcharges must be paid.  Mary Riddell would like to be able to confer with the calendar committee if she has concerns about a non calendar meet conflicting with a calendar meet.

 

  1. Mary Riddell brought up the situation that a team from AD is running meets in New England.  They will have to be sanctioned by New England and follow New England rules, including surcharges.  She will talk with the AD Sanction Chairman to work things out.

 

  1. The New England fee schedule will be changed to reflect that the championship fees, surcharges, etc. are for New England Swimming championship meets.

 

WEB SITE

 

  1. Amy Parratto is very interested in having a parent page on the web site.  It was suggested that she get together a committee and they can begin by answering some commonly asked questions.

 

  1. There is a concern that some things are not being posted on the web site in a timely manner.  Everyone appreciates Rick Osterberg’s work and his considerable talent but it appears that at times he has too much to do.  It was suggested that someone (Harold Whitney?) be able to post items when Rick is not available.  Mary Riddell suggested that he acknowledge that he has received materials and will be posting them as soon as possible.

 

REGISTRATION ISSUES

 

  1. Beginning with the summer season, all teams running meets will be required to run the meet file through the on line registration check and forward the exceptions report to the office.  No unregistered swimmer will be allowed to swim in the meet, and teams must “clean up” ID problems before swimmers will be allowed to swim in the meet.

 

  1. Some of the ID number problems are a result of deck entries or time trials swum by swimmers who are not entered in the meet.  Deck entries will not be accepted without a membership card or a copy of the official registration list which every team receives.  This way the team running the meet will have accurate ID numbers.

 

OTHER

 

  1. There has been some confusion about time trials this year.  Time trials require a separate sanction from the meet.  Some teams have run time trials without a sanction for them.  It was decided that all teams requesting sanctions should automatically receive a time trial sanction, also.  To cover this, the sanction fee would change from the current $15 per day sanction fee plus $15 per meet for time trials to a fee of $20 per day ($15 for the meet sanction and $5 for time trials). 

 

  1. There was some discussion about date of the Annual Meeting.  The date of May 1 was reserved and announced several months ago, but turns out to be during NH April vacation.  Several board members will be on vacation at that time.  If the date were changed to the following week, it would conflict with the Catch the Spirit Camps and with the Zone Meeting in Portland.  It was decided that it was too late to change the date.

 

The meeting was adjourned by chair, Dan Warner, at 9 pm.

 

                                                Submitted by Mary Riddell