SDSI-LSC Meeting 9-23-06 (attachment 4.a.)

 

United States Aquatic Sports Convention XXVII

Dearborn, MI

September 10-17, 2006

 

 

Thank you for the opportunity to attend the USA Swimming annual convention and meetings.  As the South Dakota General Chair, I was in attendance Thursday, September 14 – Sunday, September 17, 2006.  These meetings served as a tremendous orientation and learning opportunity for me as the new General Chair for South Dakota Swimming, Inc.

 

While at the Convention, I was able to participate in two of the Central Zones meetings, LSC Chairs delegation meeting, USA Swimming House of Delegates meeting and several educational sessions.  In addition, there were many opportunities to network and meet with other state USA swimming officials including the new General Chairs from North Dakota and Wyoming.

 

I will provide a brief overview on news, highlights and information obtained at these meetings.  I would be happy to discuss any of these areas further or other items from the Convention. 

 

·                    Central Zones meeting (s):

o       2007 Central Zone Championships: August 3-5, 2007 Topeka, KS.  John Dicus, MV General Chair (hand-out)

o       2008 Central MegaZone Championship, August 6-10, Indiana Swimming/IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN. (hand-out)

o       2009 open for bid.  Need to select date August 7-9 or week before or week after?  Preference?

·                    Arlene McDonald (IN) was elected Central Zones Director

·                    Betty Kooy (MW) was elected Secretary/Treasurer

·                    Report from USA Swimming to CZ – (hand-out)

·                    There were several CZ pieces of legislation approved (hand-out)

 

·                     Quadrangular Championship Meet (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming)

·                    I met with the LSC General Chairs from Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota.  The 2007 Quadrangular Championship Meet is April 14-15 in Hardin Montana.   The four state group would like South Dakota to host in 2008 preferably at a Black Hills location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

·                    I attended the General Chair delegate meeting.  There is a strong focus on LSC leadership.  USA Swimming will host a General Chair leadership conference in 2007.  Possibly in January.

 

·                    USA-Swimming House of Delegates:

·                    Elections:

o    Jim Wood, President

o    George Block, Technical Vice President

o    Mary Jo Swalley, Program Development Vice President

o    John Wilson, Administration Vice President

o    Peter Carney, Treasurer

·                    Background screening Task Force – Hand-out

·                    Incentive Program for inclusion of Swimmer with a disability, $50,000 set aside for a two year program. (hand-out)

·                    2006 Club Research and Recognition Initiative Data for South Dakota (hand-out)

·                    Amendments to USA Swimming Rules & Regulations (hand-out)

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Scot Graff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(attachment #4.d)

SDSI-LSC  Fall Meeting 9-23-06

2006 Central Zone Championships

Oklahoma City, OK

 

South Dakota took a record 64 swimmers to the 2006 Central Zone Championships in Oklahoma City, OK August 3-7.  Sixty swimmers were entered in the pool events, with a total of 186 pool entries and 176 relay entries.  Fifty-four swimmers were entered in the Open Water Championships on Monday, August 7.  South Dakota Swimming took fifth place overall with a score of 1808 points.  Team South Dakota was second in the Open Water.  South Dakota had ten individual first place finishes and two relay first place finishes.  In the Open Water, South Dakota had two champions, as well as many top eight finishers.  167 individual best times were swum throughout the meet, including both prelims and finals.  One swimmer qualified for the USA Swimming Junior Nationals in Irvine, CA, in two events and one bonus event.  Many state records were broken, but statistics were not available on the SD website at this time.  Overall, South Dakota came to the meet ready to swim and did so very well!

 

Coaches for the team were Bryan Hirt, and Chuck Baechler; Juniors, and Kate Zabler and Paula Gordon for the Seniors.  In addition to the 63 swimmers on the bus, we took 10 chaperones and four coaches and 2 drivers.  With the large number of swimmers, we rented a 15-passenger van and took a Suburban for the coaches and transportation once in OKC.

 

As our numbers have increased over the last three years, we need to increase our bus capacity and room reservations and our chaperones accordingly. We had one 56-passenger bus reserved and 23 rooms.  We housed and transported 78 people.  This was not enough, so we were able to rent a 15-passenger van and a small trailer.    We also need to choose lodging carefully, as our first hotel was not acceptable.  We were extremely fortunate to find a new hotel with 24 rooms available the day the meet began. This hotel was more expensive, but it was safe and closer to the pool venue.  I believe an on-sight visit to the hotel or recommendations from the host team must be used to select future hotels for our team. 

 

Other recommendations for future Zone meets are:

 

Money:  We need to have more than one person with money for expenses.  With two groups, Juniors and Seniors, and two vehicles, it did not always work to have one person with the credit card.  The credit card limit was not high enough to cover the hotel(s) and the van rental, as well. If a second or third vehicle is needed, it may be wise to have gas cards or a visa card with a limit for gas and groceries.  This would help eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for chaperones. 

 

As we try to stay in hotels with complimentary breakfast, we need to make arrangements to have the breakfast available before 6:00 AM, when Senior swimmers are needing breakfast.  If that cannot be done,  we need to budget and make arrangements for breakfasts ahead of time.

 

This year, we arranged to have an open water practice at Catfish Bay Water-ski Park in Sioux Falls.  This was of great benefit to swimmers and parents alike, as many have never had an opportunity to swim an open water event.  I recommend we continue to hold and open water practice. 

 

This year, most of our outdoor pool practices were cancelled or cut short due to lightning.  If possible, arrangements should be made to hold practices indoors in the event of inclement weather.

 

Entry forms could use some updates, as there was some confusion as to suit costs and shirt orders, etc.  I would be happy to help update these forms.  It would also be beneficial if separate checks were made for each swimmer in a family, as opposed to one large check, especially if swimmers are not in the same group (Junior/Senior). 

 

Re-imbursement and payment to coaches should be done as soon as possible.  If necessary, a reimbursement form could be created to help coaches itemize hours and expenses. 

 

If at all possible, one person should have “Team South Dakota” on Hy-Tek Team Manager.  After each meet (SCY, SCM and LCM), results could be sent to that person to download as Team South Dakota.  With this, it would be easy to see who has qualified for Zones and completing entries would be less time-consuming.  With entries due one day following state meet, this would be a great benefit!

 

Finally, if we could figure-out a way for one person to handle the logistics (practices, transportation, lodging, room assignments, shirts and caps, etc) and one person to handle entries, this would help.  However, I recommend that these two people have direct communication throughout the summer. 

 

Although the Central Zone Championships were not without a few glitches, the meet went very well.  The purpose of the meet is to give South Dakota swimmers an opportunity to compete at the Zone level and to swim well.  With that in mind, the 2006 Central Zone Championships went extremely well!

 

Paula Gordon

2006 Head Zone Coach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(attachment 5.c.)

REGISTRATION/MEMBERSHIP REPORT

FALL 2006 SOUTH DAKOTA LSC MEETING

 

 

 

1.         REMINDER:  My e-mail has changed.  Please change all of your records of my e-mail address to cknutson@hughes.net.

 

2.         I have e-mailed all team packets to the team contacts which I have e-mail addresses for.  If you did not receive a packet via e-mail please let me know along with your e-mail address and I will get it to you right away.  I do have some paper registration forms, if you want some please let me know after the meeting and I will hand them out.

 

3.         Reminder to all teams.  In order to practice or compete as a USA Swimming Club you must have a certified coach at all times.  If the team begins practice and/or does not have a certified coach your team will loose it “Club” status with SD Swimming and USA Swimming and will be an “Organization Status”.  All of the athletes will be registered as unattached members until all requirements by the coach are met and mailed to me and sitting on my desk. All unattached swimmers are not eligible to compete in relays or for team points at any sanctioned swim meet.  I am attaching to this report the USA Swimming rules regarding this matter.

 

I cannot express enough how important it is for all teams to get to me their coach registrations, certifications and athletes certifications to me as soon as possible.  The sooner the teams get me the information the easier it will be on all of us.  Again once I begin my leave very little registrations will be processed.

 

4.         Beginning sometime this fall all coaches will need to submit to a background check in order to become registered as a coach for the new year.  As soon as I have the process from National I will be distributing them to each team.  The process will be decided at National Convention with a schedule of when each LSC must have theirs completed.  Once we know when we are due coaches will have 30 days in which to get the requirement done.  MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RENEW ANY COACH FOR THE 2007 YEAR WHO DOES NOT HAVE THE BACKGROUND CHECK DONE.  At this time I do not know if any prior background checks will be accepted.  Those of you who may have already had one done may have to do it again.

 

5.         I am attaching a Certification Ending Report which indicates the expiration of coach’s certifications.  If your name is on the list please take note of the expiration date and for which certification.  Please complete the course as soon as possible.  If you are the only coach for that team your team will be changed to “organization status” on that date.

 

6.         Per LSC Policies and Procedures Manual I am requesting that each team have their renewals to me by November 1st.  The registrations of any new swimmers must be submitted to me 2 weeks after they joint your team.  Please remember all new registration forms must be submitted to me with the parents/guardian signature.  Any registrations received after December 15th will not be processed until after the Christmas holiday.

 

 

7.         ALL TEAMS MUST SUBMIT TO ME THE ATHLETE REGISTRATIONS BY THE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION PROCESS.  I will not process any Athlete registrations that are not sent to me by the electronic format.  All non-athlete registrations, coaches, officials, etc. are not registered by the electronic method at this time.  Please highlight the returning non-athlete on the roster and mail me the fees.  I will not process registrations of any athlete or non-athlete until the fees are in my possession.

 

When entering your athletes in team manager please indicate their ethnicity on each swimmer.  In order to comply with United States Regulations we must be able to prove that each team, LSC and USA Swimming does not discriminate against race.  Teams in SD have not been indicating this on their athletes and we have been asked to provide it and get our records up to date.  If the parent has not indicated on the registration form the swimmers ethnicity please ask the parent to provide the information.  If they decline that is okay and please indicate that they declined on the registration form as well as in team manager when registering the athlete.  Remember all information you provide in the electronic registration thru team manager is what will be uploaded.  If a swimmer quits and then returns any information you provide or do not provide will over write on the previous information.    Our teams have not been taking the time to enter this information hence more than 75% of our athletes do not have their ethnicity indicated.

 

8.         Refunds.           Each year I get requests for refunds.  There are only 3 instances that I can process a refund.  These rules are governed by USA Swimming.

 

            1.         Parent wants a refund – this must be requested within 30 days from the date of joining and be for good cause.  When considering this type of request, take into consideration that the athlete has already been issued a membership card and could take that card to swim meets as proof of membership.  You should make every reasonable effort to get the card back from the athlete.  The request must be submitted to USA Swimming through the LSC registrar.  The LSC will be expected to send a letter to the athlete and club, notifying them that they have been deleted from the database and that all benefits of membership are no longer in effect.

 

            2.         Parent writes a bad check – The club and/or LSC should make every effort to collect the membership fees.  Again, you must make every effort to get the membership card back.  The request must be made to USA Swimming through the LSC registrar.  The LSC will be expected to send a letter to the athlete and club, notifying them that they have been deleted from the database and that all benefits of membership are no longer in effect.

 

            3.         Registrar error – Club or LSC accidentally renews/adds the wrong athlete.  USA swimming will issue a refund if the errors are reported within 45 days.

 

9.         It is the responsibility of each team and coach to keep current with me their e-mail addresses.   If registering a new coach please make sure to indicate their e-mail address on the registration form.  This allows me to contact them directly if a need ever arises as opposed to “calling around” and leaving messages with other individuals. 

 

            Summer teams, also beginning the 2007 year all team packets will be e-mailed.  It is your responsibility to let me know who the information is to go to not mine to track you down.

 

 

 

 

10.       Membership Renewals of Officials.

 

            All teams, both year round and seasonal teams, must notify the LSC Official’s Chair each time their officials participate at a meet.  This must be done in accordance with the format set by the SD LSC Official’s Chair.  I cannot and will not register an official for free membership who is not approved by the official’s chair.  At this time I do not have any summer team official approved for free membership.  If anyone feels that they are entitled to a free membership, verification needs to be provided to the official chair immediately.

 

11.       Reminder that all teams hosting a meet must provide me with the registration report the Monday before the meet.  This allows me time to run the report, verify with my database, determine what needs to be done to correct the error and notify the host team with any instructions.  This report is in the meet manager.  Click on File, click on export, click on registrations.  The only report I can run is the sd.3 file.  Do not e-mail me any other registration report as this is the only one that works.

 

13.       New:  When registering more than 1 new non-athlete’s please use both registrations on the Non Athlete Registration Form.  This is due to the fact that I have limited filing space and I must keep all registrations for a minimum of 7 years however National prefers 10 years.  Please help same paper and space by using both registrations on the form.

 

14.       Reminder to all teams that last any swimmer participating in a meet who is not registered will be assessed a fine of $100.00.

 

 

15.       PROPOSED POLICY CHANGES TO BE ADDED TO THE LSC POLICY HANDBOOK

 

            A.        I would like to suggest the fine imposed on a team for an unregistered swimmer participating in a meet be changed for better clarification.  I suggest that this statement be in the Eligibility portion of the sanction to read as follows:

 

            “All swimmers must come to the meet prepared to show verification of their membership or they will be deck registered before they can enter the water.  The Meet Referee must verify the application and the host team will mail the registration and check to the SD Registrar along with a $10.00 deck registration fee immediately following the swim meet.  If a swimmer participates in a meet and is not registered the swimmers team will be assessed a $100.00 fine for each day of competition.

 

The reason for this proposal is because I never received a copy of a registration form or check from a meet referee or host team after a meet was held when I let host teams know that certain swimmers were not registered.  I never received information from the team of the swimmer or the host team or from a referee that an individual was deck registered.

 

            B.         Late Fees.        In past years I have asked that teams have their renewals to me by December 1st.  On an average 2 to 3 teams met this deadline.  Therefore per our LSC Policies, renewals are due to me by November 1st of each year.

 

 

 

 

I am proposing the following late fee schedule for teams who do not submit their renewals to the registrar by November 1st of each year:

 

Registrations postmarked and received after November 1st - $50.00 fee;

Registrations postmarked and received after November 15th - $100.00 fee;       Registrations postmarked and received after December 1st - $150.00 fee

 

No registrations will be processed until the team has paid the late fees.

 

 

 

 

  Certification Ending Report

  Coach                                                                  LSC                    Club                          Expiration Type               Expiration Date

 Houston, Cassandra Naomi                    SD                 ASC                   CPR                          4/3/2006

  Ahrendsen, Wendy Jean                       SD                 BSC                   CPR                          10/9/2006

  Zabler, Kathryn Mane                            SD                 BSC                   CPR                          4/24/2006

  Ufken, Emily A                                     SD                 BSC                   CPR                          3/19/2006

  Mayer, Shelby Lane                              SD                 DDCC                 CPR                          4/23/2006

  Olsen, Michael Lee                               SD                 DL76                  CPR                          9/2/2006

  Olsen, Michael Lee                               SD                 DL76                  FIRST AID                  9/8/2006

  Olsen, Michael Lee                               SD                 DL76                  SAFETY                    9/8/2006

  Hoffman, Holly A                                  SD                 EAST                 FIRST AID                  5/6/2006

  Hoffman, Holly A                                  SD                 EAST                 SAFETY                    12/3/2006

  Hoffman, Holly A                                  SD                 EAST                 CPR                          12/14/2006

  Hemmingson, Kaitlyn R                        SD                 GOLD                 CPR                          7/15/2006

  Anderson, Stacy Rae                            SD                 GOLD                 CPR                          6/3/2006

  Baechler, Charles Arthur                       SD                 MAC                  CPR                          5/25/2006

  Baechler, Charles Arthur                       SD                 MAC                  SAFETY                    5/28/2006

  Olson, Candice Gayle                           SD                 MCL                   CPR                          11/11/2006

  Schmeichel, Kathleen Joy                     SD                 MCL                   CPR                          5/1/2006

  Schmeichel, Kathleen Joy                     SD                 MCL                   SAFETY                    5/30/2006

  Huckins, Kent W                                  SD                 PST                   CPR                          10/7/2006

  Weeldreyer, Paula M                            SD                 PST                   SAFETY                    8/23/2006

  Weeldreyer, Paula M                            SD                 PST                   CPR                          10/7/2006

  Ehrenfried, Karleen A                            SD                 PST                   CPR                          10/7/2006

  Haberman, Laura K                               SD                 PST                   CPR                          10/7/2006

  Harper, Christopher James                    SD                 RCR                   CPR                          10/1/2006

  Certification Ending Report

  Coach                                                                  LSC                    Club                          Expiration Type               Expiration Date

  Olney, Duncan Richard                         SD                 RCR                   CPR                          6/17/2006

  LaBelle, Michael                                   SD                 SAS                   SAFETY                    10/18/2006

  Stoddard, William Alan                         SD                 SEAL                 CPR                          9/8/2006

  Gordon, Paula Margaret                        SD                 SFX                    CPR                          8/22/2006

  Mueller, Edie Jo                                   SD                 SFX                    CPR                          3/20/2006

  Aldren, Jason JOn                                SD                 SFX                    FIRST AID                  11/22/2006

  Aldren, Jason JOn                                SD                 SFX                    SAFETY                    11/22/2006

  Rumrill, Debra C                                   SD                 UN                     CPR                          6/11/2006

  Rumrill, Debra C                                   SD                 UN                     SAFETY                    8/23/2006

  Anderson, Kyle Dane                            SD                 VAST                 CPR                          5/19/2006

  Hirt, Bryan Anthony                              SD                 VAST                 CPR                          8/15/2006

  Mahowald, Melanie Ann                        SD                 VAST                 CPR                          12/14/2006

  Rasmussen, Kara M                             SD                 VAST                 CPR                          5/19/2006

  Heermann, Peggy Sue                          SD                 WASC                CPR                          10/18/2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(attachment 5.e.)

SD Swimming Meet Schedule 2006-2007

Winter Short Course – 2006-2007  (Revised 9-23-06)

Date

Place

October 14-15

 

October 21-22

Rapid City (21st only)

October 28-29

Vermillion-USD (28th only)

 

 

November 4-5

Yankton (4th only)

November 11-12

Pierre

November 18-19

Brookings/Spearfish

November 25-26

 

 

 

December 2-3

Mitchell

December  9-10

Watertown

December 16-17

Sioux Falls

 

 

January 6-7

Aberdeen

January 13-14

All-Stars

January 20-21

Rapid city

January 27-28

Sioux Falls/Spearfish

 

 

February 3-4

Pierre

February 10-11

Watertown

February 17-18

 

February 23-24-25

Novice at Mitchell

 

 

March 2-4

State Championship at Spearfish

March 8-11  (Date Corrected 9-28)

Sectionals in Chicago

 April 14-15

Quad. Meet in Montana

 

Summer Long  Course  - 2007  (Tenative)

June 1-3

Watertown

June 8-10

Brookings/Chamberlain (9th Only)

June 15-17

Huron

June 22-24

Yankton/Milbank/Rapid city

June 29-July 1

Mitchell

July 6-8

Aberdeen

July 13-15

Sioux Falls/Webster

July 20-22

Novice / Sectionals 19-22 @ U of MN

July 27-29

State Championship

August 3-5

Seasonal Teams Championship

August 10-12

Central Zone Meet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(attachment #5.f.)

Sanction Report

Fall 2006 LSC Meeting

Lori Bork SD Swimming Sanction Chair

 

·        Sanctions overall have improved in the language that is being written into them. I think the template has helped. I still would like to get that posted to the Website. Many of the issues that I have could be solved if we had someone who would keep our website current. Thank you to all that submit your sanctions to me in a timely fashion.

·        I have had issues with sanctions this year and many of them pertain to individuals not paying attention to the content in the USA Swimming rule book or the SD LSC policies and bylaws. Below is outlined a list of these issues. Please remember as I make decisions that it may take me several days because if I have an issue I am usually attempting to research the issue and that takes time. Here are just a few of the issues and how I responded to them and the decisions I made regarding them.

 

1.      Many teams have been granted sanction numbers and sent out invites and then wanted to change the format of their meet at the last minute. I will not approve that and here is why-it is to difficult to contact swimmers and parents and let them know of the change. The burden of this usually goes the coaches and this is unfair. Also swimmers and families make plans based on the meet format and this causes problems for them. If your meet is too small or too large for a particular format then please plan accordingly. Take breaks if you need to etc.

 

2.      Teams have sent sanctions to me requesting that warm ups be cut short. I will not cha