Board of Directors Meeting and Educational Conference November 7-9, 2002 MINUTES

The Best Western Inn of Chicago 162 East Ohio Street Chicago, IL

MEETING SPONSORS Lead Sponsor Medtronic Physio-Control AEDs Presenting Sponsors Laerdal Kiefer Wahoo Philips Heartstart AEDs Chammy Meeting Sponsors The Victor Swimwear Jobeedu Marine Rescue Products Board of Directors Meeting and Educational Conference November 7-9, 2002 MINUTES

The Best Western Inn of Chicago 162 East Ohio Street Chicago, IL

Thursday, November 7, 2002 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING: - 9:00 a.m. I. CALL TO ORDER - Mr. Rohrer A. Pledge of Allegiance - Mr. Gavin B. Welcome and Introductions - Mr. Rohrer C. Roll Call of Delegates - Mr. Shotwell

DELEGATE VOTES BASED ON MEMBERSHIP NOVEMBER 7, 2002 NOVEMBER 7, 2002 MEMBERS VOTES PRESENT PROXY TOTAL JUNIORS NEW ENGLAND 46 2 0001 MID ATLANTIC 1001 7 7 0 7 640 SOUTH ATLANTIC 919 7 70788 SOUTH EAST 238 4 2 2 4 150 GREAT LAKES 618 6 60652 GULF COAST 83 2 2 0 2 122 NORTHWEST 152 3 2131 SOUTHWEST 1229 7 7 0 7 3268 SUB TOTALS 4286 38 33 3 36 4322 NATIONAL (AT LARGE) 24 2/3 = 24 VOTES MAJORITY =19 VOTES 2 TOTALS 4310 4324

II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion by Mr. Beuerlein, seconded by Ms Wiederhold, to approve the agenda as distributed by the secretary. The Motion was passed unanimously. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES, A motion by Mr. Hensler, seconded by Mr. Lombardi, to approve the minutes of the Spring 2002 Meeting (Daytona, FL) including several minor changes made from the floor was passed unanimously. IV. MEMORIALIZATION of executive committee actions since previous meeting: A. eVote 1: January 18, 2002 Question 1: That the SDOC be granted the exclusive right for a period of 60 days running from January 1, 2002, to March 1, 2002, to enter into negotiations with Anheuser Busch and/or SHP in an attempt to secure Anheuser Busch as a potential sponsor for the 2002 USLA Nationals in San Diego. Question 2: That Dick Colosi, as USLA Development Coordinator, be granted the exclusive right until January 31, 2002, to pursue negotiations with Honda Corporation as a potential sponsor for the USLA Nationals in San Diego. Results 1: 10 voting, 6 = majority January 22, 2002 8 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain Results 2: 10 voting, 6 = majority January 22, 2002 8 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain B. eVote 2: February 2, 2002 Question 1: That Dick Colosi, as USLA Development Coordinator, be granted the exclusive right until March 3 , 2002, to pursue negotiations with Honda Corporation as a potential sponsor for the USLA Nationals in San Diego. Question 2: That Scott Hubbell be granted the exclusive right for a period of 60 days to enter into negotiations with Nissan and separately with Anheuser Busch as potential sponsors for the 2002 USLA Nationals in San Diego. Question 3: That Joan Ewing of PES be granted a 60 day exclusivity to negotiate with Western Region of Chevrolet as a potential sponsor for the 2002 USLA Nationals in San Diego. Results 1: 10 voting, 6 = majority February 10, 2002 6 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain 2 no vote

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Results 2: 10 voting, 6 = majority February 10, 2002 6 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain 2 no vote Results 3: 10 voting, 6 = majority February 10, 2002 6 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain 2 no vote C. eVote 3: February 17, 2002 Question: That Dick Colosi, as USLA Development Coordinator, previously granted the exclusive right until March 3 , 2002, to pursue negotiations with Honda Corporation as a potential sponsor for the USLA Nationals in San Diego, be granted an additional thirty days until April 2, 2002 to pursue negotiations with Honda Corporation as a potential sponsor for the USLA Nationals in San Diego. Results: 10 voting, 6 = majority February 18, 2002 8 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain D. eVote 4: March 12, 2002 Question:. That an extension of time for negotiations of one month be granted for the three potential fund raisers (Joan Ewing, Scott Hubbell and Dick Colosi) with their respective clients. Result: 10 voting, 6 = majority February 18, 2002 8 Yes 0 No 2 Abstain E. eVote 5: April 11, 2002 Question: Shall the SDOC proposal [a request for a vote on approving the signing of the proposed agreement with Scott Hubbell Productions (too lengthy for inclusion in this summary)] . . . as submitted by Chris Brewster be approved?" Result: 10 voting, 6 = majority April 24, 2002 1 Yes 4 No 2 Abstain 3 no vote F. eVote 6: September 10, 2002 Question: Shall the proposal by Mike Bartlett that the American Lifeguard Magazine be published three times a year using lighter weight paper be approved? Result; 10 voting, 6 = majority September 15, 2002 9 Yes 0 No 0 Abstain 1 no vote A motion by Mr. Richardson, seconded by Mr. Kiziukiewicz, to memorialize the actions taken by the Executive Committee by email voting as summarized by the secretary was passed unanimously. V. OFFICERS ACTIVITY REPORTS

A. President - (Mr. Rohrer) verbal: stress importance of Colosi work to create great kit which in turn boosted membership; games in Daytona were outstanding credit to organization led by Mike Hensler; San Diego, excellent games, problem of officials not paid, ...... Attachment 1 Order of the Day: Tad O’Conner, Chicago Alderman and former Chicago lifeguard, greeted those assembled on behalf of the City of Chicago B. Vice President - (Mr. Gavin) ...... Attachment 2 C. Secretary - (Mr. Shotwell) ...... Attachment 3 D. Treasurer - (Mr. Farry) ...... Attachment 4 E. Recurrent Representative - (Mr. Brown) turn in patches ...... Attachment 5 F. Advisor - (Mr. Richardson) G. Liaison - (Mr. Brewster) Additional comments: The World Health Organization is working on a document that will include guidelines on safe recreational waters which has potential for great importance on the international level. The Amsterdam World Congress on Drowning was a remarkable event at which the USLA had significant representation. There is new extension work in Central and South America, The Lifesaving Hall of Fame is still a developing concept; the ILS is has received the concept, is supportive, is concerned about maintaining control of nominees and intellectual property. There is continued work to be done and dialogue is ongoing. The ILS Board will meet in April and May in St Lucia...... Attachment 6

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Mr. Brewster reviewed the recent San Diego 2002 National Games...... Attachment 7 H. Development - (Mr. Colosi) received report stressed importance of Panama Jack relationship and value of letters from Regional Presidents to Panama Jack reps. Other sponsors are negotiating. ;suggestion from floor (Hensler) to not put year on shirts, etc., so as to make available for other years ...... Attachment 8 I. Medical Advisor - (Dr. Wernicki) Additional comments on activity at world games, increased presence of drug testing on the International scene and future national and local, new policy statements are in the works, ILS signed with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) to perform out of competition drug testing on competitors. Policy statement on spinal injuries particularly in the water. Questions were heard on extent of drug testing – national team, club teams, regional perhaps three years in the future...... Attachment 9. J. Legal Advisor - (Mr. More) Mr. More commented on events of recent months and that strong interest breeds personal intensity that sometimes obscures the larger goal. Those involved in negotiating contracts and agreements have an obligation to get on paper what will best protect the USLA. Personal relationships do not enter into this goal. He urged that members bury the problems of past summer, move on. Put the promises on paper. Deals must meet legal standards; must provide for future negative possibilities. “Regional Flag has to fly 2 inches above personal flag. National flag has to fly two inches above Regional Flag.” ...... Attachment 10. VI. REGIONAL COUNCIL ACTIVITY REPORTS A. New England - B. Mid-Atlantic - (Mr. Gallagher) stress sponsorship: one person has to speak for organization. 2 extended hours and pre/post season. Need public relation person. Bulleting Board ...... Attachment 11. C. South-Atlantic - (Mr. Hensler) Bulletin Board an embarrassment, stop being a chat room...... Attachment 12. D. Southeast - (Mr. McCrady) highlight trip to Pensacola , preparing report of recommendations. present plaque of appreciation to Chris Brewster for his work on this situation (fist annual humanitarian award), certification, textbook, etc.) Brewster comment: most inspiring when make a difference in preventing loss of life, becoming more respected nationally...... Attachment 13. E. Great Lakes - (Mr. Pecoraro) situation in Chicago. severed relationship because of criticism of non-aquatic supervisory, no recruiting, no signage, result: membership increased. Support for hosting meeting support withdrawn. Challenge metto prepare for meeting...... Attachment 14. F. Gulf Coast - (Mr. Maceo). Requested information on Jr LG parent groups ..... Attachment 15. G. Northwest - (Ms Wiederhold) ...... Attachment 16. H. Southwest (CSLSA) - (Mr. McGowan ). Thanked Chicago for support despite obstacles. Support Chip More’s comment on getting agreements written down. Look into grant funding for Public Ed. Paul Donahue, brain cancer, not doing well, dedicated fitness center to him and his interest in physical fitness. Look forward to Honolulu...... Attachment 17. VII. COMMITTEE CHAIR ACTIVITY REPORTS

A. Public Education - (Mr. McKenna, Mr. Williams) ...... Attachment 18. B. Certification - (Mr. Brewster) over 100 agencies involved. Flag system: ongoing interest. National meeting on shark attacks: outcome, brochure on Shark Attacks which includes USLA reference to guidelines. Safe Beaches blue flag: major concerns about misleading public and also Best Beaches program. Advocacy in Ingram County, Michigan where tragic near drowning occurred where lifeguards had been removed. Florida Panhandle attitude change, NASAR invited USLA participation Jan 3-4 ...... Attachment 19.

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C. Textbook - (Mr. Brewster) contract with publisher.. More then a book, an instructional package. Develop strategies to sell books. Aggressive time line to meet publisher’s schedule...... Attachment 20. D. Website - (Mr. Brewster) suggest website committee meeting to discuss recent problems and to develop ways of dealing with uses...... Attachment 21. E. Statistics (Mr. Richardson for Mr. Gould) ...... Attachment 22. F. American Lifeguard Magazine - (Mr. Bartlett) Mr. Martinez spoke of desire to include inclusion in magazine of All Women’s Tournament. to be included in committee agenda . . . Attachment 23. G. Curriculum Accreditation Committee - (Mr. Martinez) spoke to relationship of committee work to textbook revision. Recognized contribution of Kim Tyson, Bob Ogueric, Duke Brown ...... Attachment 24. H. Competition - (Mr. McGowan) ...... Attachment 25. I. Heroic Acts - (Mr. Richardson) no submissions for this meeting: outlined procedure: submit through region, include in minutes, downloadable from website [no pre-meeting act report] mold for medal J. Junior Guards - (Mrs. Boyer) highlighted work of Jr guard officials. provide updated membership figure...... Attachment 26. K. Membership - (Mr. Pecoraro). Report is included with Great Lakes Regional Activity Report) L. Ways and Means - (Mr. Farry) financial Statements June 30, September 30 made available by Farry M. Resource Development Committee (Gavin, Zebrowski, Wiederhold) authorized in Minutes of Spring 2002 Board of Directors Meeting (Daytona Beach) under New Business, par. H . (no report until after Committee meeting.) VIII. Recess for lunch to be followed by Committee Workshops IX. 5:00 pm: Meeting recessed until 9:00 a.m. Friday, November 8, 2002

Friday, November 8, 2002 (Continental Breakfast available prior to meeting) EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE 9:00 am Ron Dorneker, Commander, Chicago Park District Marine Unit, Chicago Fire Department: - Topic: Coordination between Air Rescue, Police Marine Unit, Fire Dept. U.S. Coast Guard, Illinois Conservation Police (ICON) and Lifeguard Service. 9:30 am Earl Zuelke, Commander, Chicago Police Department Marine Unit - Topic: (Coordination . . . continued). 10:00 am Tom Lally, Chief Petty Officer, United States Coast Guard - Topic: Homeland Security: Harbor Watch Program. 10:30 am Doug Bledsoe, Natatorium Instructor, Chicago Park District - Slide presentation: Chicago Park District Lifeguard Academy. 11:30 am "Lifeguarding; The Way it Was".A Panel Discussion featuring Joseph Pecoraro, former Chicago Park District Supervisor of Beaches and Pools and Chiefs from across the United States. Saturday, May 9, 2002 (Continental Breakfast available prior to meeting) 9:00 am a. X. Call to Order - Mr. Rohrer

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Order of the Day: Award to Derek Hartl for his contribution to the development of the national website. XI. COMMITTEE ACTION REPORTS A. Resource Development (subgroup of executive committee) (Mr. Gavin) reviewed purpose of committee and relationship to Board of Directors; overview of strategies, processes; need for advance knowledge of meeting and competition sites, cut off dates...... Attachment 27 Motion by Mr. Hartl, seconded by Mr. Richardson to approve the report. The Motion was passed unanimously.

B. Public Education (Mr. McKenna). Reviewed meeting including: LA County having received grant for cameras, teaching grants, $3,000 posters, possible partnerships with organizations (hospitals, Sea Grant) for cooperative projects, PSAs, web site enhancements, coloring book revision, logo enhanced adhesive bandages. Budget allocations were approved...... Attachment 28 Mr. Brewster inquired as to whether the committee chairs had followed up on an invitation he had received and forwarded from the National Association for Search and Rescue to be provided a free booth at their annual convention to promote USLA. Mr. McKenna responded that this had not occurred to date, but that there was an intent to do so in future. Motion to approve by Mr. Beuerlein, seconded b y Mr. Kiziukiewicz. The Motion was passed unanimously. C. Certification (Mr. Brewster) Reviewed certification approvals recommended by committee, revisions to warning flag system, committee representation at NASAR...... Attachment 29 Motion to approve report from Mr. Parks, seconded by Mr. Graham. The Motion was passed unanimously. D. Textbook (Mr. Brewster): reviewed current committee membership; calendar for publication of textbook revision resulting in May 15, 2003 publication date. Components to include workbook, instructor guide, workbook elements within the text, power point slides, test manager...... Attachment 30 Motion to approve report by Mr. Moore, seconded by Mr. Wagner, to approve and accept the report. The Motion was passed unanimously. E. Website (Mr. Brewster): Recent problems on website bulletin board: reviewed various options explored. New policy presented which sets parameters of subjects that may be posted (see report for details) stressing need for identification of participants and need to keep content on a positive and professional level...... Attachment 31 Motion by Mr. Beuerlein, seconded by Mr. Dillon to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. Following the meeting Mr. Brewster posted the following message on the website: The USLA Board of Directors has today unanimously approved the following rules in relation to use of this BB: The Guard to Guard Bulletin Board is a service of the United States Lifesaving Association intended to allow persons with an interest in lifesaving to pose questions and exchange information related to USLA’s organizational structure, lifesaving techniques, public education, sale of personal lifesaving equipment, lifesaving equipment, policies and procedures of lifesaving agencies, public safety, lifeguard training, and lifeguard employment. Any person is welcome to post a message consistent with these criteria. Messages which fall outside of these criteria or which include personal attacks or profanity are not permitted. USLA retains the sole right to determine what messages are appropriate and, through its designee(s), to remove those it deems inappropriate. This bulletin board is not a chat room. You must include your full name and a valid email address. Commercial vendors may not use the bulletin board to advertise products for sale or post messages referring inquiring lifeguards to their own company or products. Those who repeatedly violate the rules of the BB may be prevented from future posting, regardless of content.

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F. Competition (Mr. McGowan) subcommittee, proposed adding to number of officials at National Games, plans for Cape May including conducting beach flag event under lights at night, 2004 Nationals dates and place due from NW region, Rescue 2002 report. Rule changes were considered: changing open women surfboat form 1 to 2 laps approved; adjustment of Women’s American Ironman failed, adjustment of land course to single lane finish failed. Eligibility rule change was discussed to eliminate the requirement that a person with three years of service as a lifeguard be allowed to compete even if no longer working as a lifeguard, so long as the person donates some time to the chapter associated with the agency for which the person worked; change approved. Approved to fund certain officials who had not been reimbursed at San Diego. Approved 5 year increments for Senior and Master age groups but without increasing number of events conducted. ILS rule change proposal regarding relay team makeup forwarded to proper ILS committee. Proposal to create under 18 age group for professional lifeguards to provide more recognition for younger competitors was approved. Proposed use of University of Texas at for pre World Team preparation was endorsed...... Attachment 32 Mr Brewster commented any change in the eligibility rule for former lifeguards should give the chapter involved the right of approval on inactive members. Mr. Gallagher questioned mention of Virginia Beach by South-Atlantic Region as competition site as Virginia Beach is located in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Mr. Rohrer asked presidents of two regions to resolve issues pertaining to this matter. Motion by Mr. Moore seconded by Mr. Gallagher to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. G. Rescue 2002 (Mr. Gallagher) Compliments to Mr. Hensler for superb accomplishments in conducting the best World Games ever. Results: 5th on beach events; 7th overall (including pool events). Finances were tight - approximately $18,000 in expenses. Training camp was valuable tool as well as hospitality of Wernicki in building team cohesiveness and success. Reviewed selection process and stressed that participation and success in national games is not the process. H. Curriculum Accreditation: Mr. Martinez reported on relationship of previous committee work to progress on updating of text book. A motion to accept the report by Mr. McGowan, seconded by Mr. Hartl, was passed unanimously. I. Heroic Acts (Mr. Richardson) Presented recommendation for award recognizing Mrs. Andrea Swift, a housewife from Stone Harbor, NJ, for her part in rescuing twelve people using a PWC off the Stone Harbor, New Jersey coast...... Attachment 33 Motion by Ms Chisholm, seconded by Mr. Pecoraro, to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. J. Junior Lifeguards (Mrs. Boyer) reported on rule clarifications: distance adjustments; diagrams provided. New event: Jr Ironguard; run, swim, paddle, run, 2 boys and 2 girls, last event of day. Appreciate assistance of Bill Richardson in preparing documentation of adjusted and new events. Clarification: eligibility: no fee to enter Jr LG competition; fee may be charged for shirts, lunch, memorabilia. Award distribution suggestions. Asked for more submissions to ALM; more effort to increase membership ...... Attachment 34 Motion by Mr. Hutto, seconded by Mr. Daly, to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. K. Magazine (Mr. Bartlett) Next deadline is Feb. 1. A request by Mr. Martinez request to use the magazine mast head in promoting the 2003 Women’s Tournament was granted. A motion by Mr. Zebrowski, seconded by Ms Wiederhold was passed unanimously. L. Membership (Mr. Pecoraro) reviewed kit proposals for 2003: lanyard, patch, request from Mr. Colosi to Panama Jack for one color of shirt; add pocket; shirts for Jr. Lifeguards distributed through regions and/or games. Data base possible by region and age. Internet membership problem discussed and receipt proposed as solution to alleged dual memberships. Additional $2

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Internet registration fee will be charged. Problems that result when applications are not completely and legibly filled out were discussed . Discussion: provided clarification of receipt for internet membership proposal. Appreciation expressed for quality of Panama Jack bag. Motion by Mr. Moore, seconded by Mr. Richardson, to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. M. Bylaws, Policies & Procedures (Mr. Richardson) proposed that art 14 sec 1. change “audit” to “compilation” report. Also: suggested policy/procedure that If an official opinion is given representing the USLA it should come from an appropriate officer...... Attachment 35 Mr. Brewster expressed a concern that a policy designating spokesman should not hamper ability for those with specific responsibilities to speak for their areas of concern. Motion by Mr. Kiziukiewicz, Mr. McGowan, seconded by Mr. to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. N. Statistics (Mr. Richardson for Mr. Gould) reviewed 2001 statistic reports as provided by Mr. Gould. 1 drowning in 28.5 million beach visitations. Recommend Statistics Coordinator pursue means of automating data gathering. Motion by Mr. Bartlett, seconded by Mr. Healey to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. Mr. Hartsock asked if there any moves to improve recognition in pay and pr for seasonal lifeguards. using USLA statistical data for this purpose. Chair responded that much work to be done, particularly at the local level. O. Recurrent Representative (Mr Brown) presented his verbal report. A motion by Mr. Graham, seconded by Mr. Foxwell, to accept the report. The Motion was passed unanimously. P. Ways and Means (Mr. Farry) reviewed Treasurer’s report, issues resolved by procedural changes, reviewed accountants reports, etc. Motion by Mr. hutto, Harmon seconded by Mr. to approve and accept the report. The motion was passed unanimously. XII. OLD BUSINESS A. Amendment Adoption of Bylaw amendment(s) first accepted at Fall meeting (Daytona). Art VI amendment: reporting protocols. Motion by Mr. Healey, seconded by Mr. Maceo to adopt the amendment. The Motion was passed unanimously. Art VI: defines executive committee executive board plus presidents or designees hutto, Healey XIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Mr. Bauer: SW to establish membership program for corporate membership and individual bronze, etc membership to motivate people to donate additional funds to organization. Mr. Richardson pointed out that such already exists sans dollar amount. B. Mr. Moore: motion to add to policy and procedures to announce that all electronic equipment be turned off, seconded by Mr. Parks. The Motion was passed unanimously. C. Southeast suggested that spring meeting be set permanently as 2nd week in May. Considerable discussion followed proposal vs moving to last week in April. President suggested discuss in Regions and make proposals at next (Spring 2003) meeting. this would require changes in both Policies and Procedures and Bylaws. D. Mr. Brewster: company in Hollywood, Florida, making jewelry very similar to USLA copyrighted logo. Correspondence and sample product followed for further investigation.

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E. Mr. More: summarized issues involving contract between SW and HSP that resulted in conflicts with USLA Bylaws and Policies and Procedures. Action by Mr. More` was authorized to resolve conflict. XIV. FUTURE MEETINGS

A. Spring 2003 Location: (SW) Outrigger Reef Hotel, Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii. Dates: May 8, 9, and 10, 2003. Banquet will be Friday evening because several people will have to leave on Saturday. Usual protocol calling for business attire at meetings is waived. Hotel cost discounted is $125 per night for up to three persons in a room. Special rates at hotels on other islands are available. Contact D D Wood at the Outrigger Reef Hotel for additional information. B. Fall 2003 Location: Mid-Atlantic Dates: TBA C. Succeeding Meetings: 2004: Spring - NW, Fall - GC 2005: Spring - SE, Fall - SW 2006: Spring - MA, Fall - NW XV. PRIVILEGE OF THE CHAIR Mr. Rohrer commended Mr. Brewster and Mr. McCrady for their activity in the Florida panhandle area as well as activity of all other members who have helped in this matter. He thanked the Chicago region personnel for organizing a great meeting despite the strain of inter-agency difficulties XVI. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Ms. Wiederhold, seconded by Mr. Hutto, to adjourn. The motion was passed unanimously.

Minutes prepared and submitted by: David M. Shotwell, National Secretary

8 USLA Board of Directors Meeting November 6 - 9, 2002 Chicago IL

Officer Activity Reports (Attachments to Minutes)

1 President 2 Vice President 3 Secretary 4 Treasurer 5 Rec. Rep. 6 Liaison 7 2002 Games 8 Development 9 Medical Advisor 10 Legal Advisor

PRESIDENT’S REPORT FALL 2002

TO: Conference Representatives FROM: Don Rohrer RE: Summary of President Activities DATE: November 2002

I. Communications

On behalf of the United States Lifeguard Association, I remain in regular communication with a number of agencies, their representatives, the press and media, as well as members of the general public by letters, telephone, and e-mails to address topics that deal with the national organization, public safety and well being, lifesaving, and/or our profession. When appropriate, the correspondence is sent on to committee chairs, executive board members, etc. Eventually, someone may receive as many as two or three replies for each request. We are very cognizant of “public image” for USLA.

II. CSLSA Membership

As membership chairman, on behalf of CSLSA, I would like to extend thanks for the work of Scott Hubbell, Dick Colosi, and Bob Moore as well as the SUPER EXTRA EFFORTS of Gordon Gray and the Chapter Representatives. CSLSA has set a new record for membership. To date we have 1318 members! Additional members who have signed up either through the internet or by sending checks directly to National require an extended time before we have their names and information to add to the total mentioned above. Ditto to our Junior Guard membership chairman, Reenie Boyer reports that our Junior membership is around 3,600 members. This was a very good year for membership in CSLSA. We believe that the membership kit offered as an incentive to join contributed greatly to our aggressive efforts in recruitment.

The President’s Report Page 2 November 2002

III. Medal of Valor Mold

In Daytona, at the last general meeting a question was raised as to the whereabouts of our Medal of Valor mold. I did an investigation on this. I am happy to report that the location has been determined. The artist who “cleaned up” our medal and produced the last series has a new mold in her safe.

IV. Special Communications

As a result of discussion at our last National meeting that addressed various political agendas in certain states which were experiencing cutbacks in lifeguard services, I offered, on behalf of USLA, the California State Lifeguard Association and the Florida lifeguards, to write letters to each state’s Governor addressing the importance of necessary lifeguard staffing in the interest of public safety and welfare. According to Steve Long representing the California group, the need for a letter was moot since the Governor had restored their twenty (20) percent cutback. Jim McCrady wrote that their region wanted to wait for a letter of support from USLA until after the November election. It was the opinion of the Florida group that the letter wait until after the results of the election were known and the parties identified who they subsequently would be lobbying. Then they would determine the best approach which may or may not include a USLA letter. In light of the requests of Mr. McCrady and Mr. Long, neither letter was sent. I am now awaiting further direction from Mr. McCrady.

V. ILS MEETING, FLORIDA, SUMMER 2002

I was fortunate to attend several activities and meetings held by the ILS in conjunction with other USLA sponsored and sanctioned events during that same time frame. This was my first face-to-face interaction with this important international organization. I am very impressed with the knowledge and dedication to lifesaving that extend beyond the borders of this country. We have many friends The President’s Report Page 3 November 2002

around the world to draw upon for their expertise and, hopefully, to share our professional experiences and skills. I want to acknowledge the former President of the World Lifesaving Association, Max Bowman. He is a true ambassador for USLA, an international respected colleague, and was kind enough to lead me through the proper protocols and introductions.

VI. 2002 USLA Nationals

The 2002 USLA Nationals were held this past August in San Diego, California. It was an outstanding event. Their Committee Chair, Clyde Fuller, the San Diego Lifeguards, and Councilman Byron Wear are all to be highly commended for their efforts on behalf of USLA. In troubled financial times, Dick Colosi was able to bring able and important assistance to the event. Through his efforts, Honda Personal Watercraft joined our sponsorship along with many others.

VII. USLA National Officials’ Compensation

For some reason, it was reported that there were at least three officials who worked the USLA National Competition in San Diego and were not compensated for their time and efforts. They were not additional officials but substitutes for three other pre-assigned officials who at the last minute could not attend. I understand that there will be a substantial check presented to the USLA from surplus funds generated by revenues from that event. If so, I would recommend that our treasurer be directed to provide appropriate compensation to these three officials who were not compensated at the time of our nationals.

VIII. National 2003 Spring Meeting

The 2003 National Spring Meeting is to be hosted by the Southwest Region. At the last National Meeting, it was suggested that this spring meeting be held in Hawaii. “Ask and you shall receive.” The 2003 Spring National Meeting will take place on the beaches (actually a hotel) of Waikiki. The Outrigger Reef Hotel has been The President’s Report Page 4 November 2002

contracted as our meeting place. The scheduled dates for this meeting are May 8, 9, and 10. Most of us will be arriving on Wednesday, May 7. I extend many mahalos to Mr. Ralph Goto for his assistance in arranging the accommodations. He asked that a special announcement be given to each region President or Representative. Each region will be asked to bring a small container of the water from their respective region. There will be a special

Hawaiian Opening Ceremony in which all of these waters will join the Pacific waters of Oahu to signify the brotherhood we share with each other and our common pledge to lifeguarding for life.

IX. Thanks to Our Host Region

Special thanks to our Great Lakes Region for hosting this Fall 2002 National meeting. This has not been the best of years for the region, but they took on the charge with professional diligence and a great deal of volunteer effort beyond the call of duty. Be sure to extend a special thank you to each of our hosts during your stay in Chicago. I know that the gesture will be greatly appreciated.

X. Ideas and Suggestions

I continually review each matter of business for the USLA, hopefully, from a national prospective, region-by-region, organization-by-organization, and member-by-member. To insure that we truly are representative of all members, including the thousands of junior guards, we need your ideas, suggestions, comments and critiques. Please feel free to contact me at any time to sound off, suggest, or simply chat. After all, you ARE the organization.

Vice President Report Chicago, IL November 7, 2002

I would like to congratulate and thank San Diego for the great games that they put on in August. This event allows our lifeguards to showcase their skills and meet new friends who share their passion for lifesaving.

I will chair a meeting of the resource development committee to discuss the proposal from SHP. I believe that we need a face to face meeting to understand the proposal and to hear from all sides on the matter.

It is great to hear that the textbook is back on track for publishing. The proposal sounds like it meets almost all of our needs and the committee should advance this project at this meeting. I look forward to a most productive session.

Again, I believe we should establish, with the guidance of our Legal Advisor, some ground rules for the eVoting that takes place between meetings, including time frames, notifications, and discussions.

The 9-11 fund committee will have a brief meeting.

I hope you all enjoy your time here in Chicago. If there is anything we can do to make you visit more enjoyable, please let any of the Chicago delegates know.

Jerry Gavin REPORT OF NATIONAL SECRETARY to the USLA National Board of Directors

Chicago, IL - November 7, 2002

Organizational correspondence and files have been kept up to date since the last meeting in Daytona, Florida. Activity files of the various committees are maintained with the copies of correspondence and reports that Committee Chairs forward from time to time. All incoming email messages are retained in a condensed chronological file so as to be available for reference purposes. Archival records continue to be kept in a fireproof, security monitored location. Access to postage meter, high speed copier and related mechanical office equipment continues due to my current employment situation. A significant portion of national telephone, fax and internet costs continues to be absorbed by my office and by the New Jersey Certification Office budget. The Friday 500.FOR.USLA telephone message system has been replaced with a regular answering machine at the same number. The opening message directs callers to the National Website for further information. The internet has brought us the possibility, the efficiency, and perhaps the abuse of electronic voting. The most recent version of Robert’s Rules of Order includes a concern that decision making without the advantage of debate and reflection is a flawed means of making corporate decisions and that, if used, should be appropriately authorized by the bylaws of the organization. Delegates may want to reflect on how this process was used and thus consider development of guidelines. On the other hand, if it worked , let’s not fix it! I want to repeat my notice at the Daytona meeting that I do not expect to be a candidate for reelection as National Secretary in 2003. A personal note: My last report included my feelings regarding the recent discussions on the Lifeguard Bulletin Board regarding the place of competition within lifeguarding and the appropriateness of certain comments and message threads. The matter was thought to be resolved by eliminating competition related comments and threads. Yet of late we have treated to another burst of intemperate comments on other matters. It is unfortunate that some correspondents don’t know the difference between a unique forum with international exposure and the inside of a restroom door. I protest again that we have worked to hard to advance the cause of professional lifeguarding to be dragged down by this sort of communication.

David M. Shotwell, Sr., National Secretary C:\MyFiles\USLA\National\Chicago\Reports\Sect Activity Report Fall 2002.wpd

National Recurrent Activity Report FALL 2002

The recurrent representatives discussed the importance of developing a national survey similar to the California form. We will decide on the needed information to be included in the form at this meeting. Several examples will be previewed for discussion. The items in the forms will be analyzed for importance. The information will be a tool when comparing agencies and also be a source for general employment requirements. The recurrent reps will be asked to remind their chapters for agency patches to be placed on the patch flag. I have received patches from a few agencies but many more are needed. There will be a request carried over from the spring meeting to reimburse the lady that designed the patch flag. An initial request of fifty dollars was sent to the National Treasurer. A written explanation will be provided since the initial request was handled verbally.

Submitted by J.K.''DUKE'' BROWN Liaison Officer’s Report

May 2002 Board of Directors Meeting

Rescue 2004 and 2006

• The International Lifesaving Federation has finalized work on the ILS rulebook. It can be found on the ILS website at www.ilsf.org. • The venue for Rescue 2004 has been awarded to Italy. The venue will be an area known as the Ver- silian Riviera, in Tuscany. Further information will be forthcoming. • The ILS Board of Directors will be choosing the site of Rescue 2006 soon. World Congress on Drowning 2002

• The World Congress on Drowning 2002 will take place on June 26 – 28 in Amsterdam, The Nether- lands. Several members of USLA will be in attendance and making presentations. The Liaison Officer acts as Chair of the Rescue Task Force. The USLA Medical Advisor is a member. The range of ex- perts expected to make presentation is unprecedented in lifesaving. All members of the Board and all American lifesavers are strongly urged to attend. The website of the Congress is www.drowning.nl. Details. Amsterdam was recently rated as one of the least expensive cities in the world and it is a beautiful venue, a short train ride from many other major European destinations. Rio 2003

• The Brazilian Lifesaving Association has indicated that they will not be able to host the planned dem- onstration competition in April 2003. However, they have expressed a continued willingness to host the Commission and Board of Directors, along with a conference, in Rio de Janeiro. The ILS Board of Directors will be acting on this updated proposal following the USLA Board of Directors meeting. Obvi- ously, Rio is a beautiful location and an attractive area for a conference. All are encouraged to participate. International Aid and Correspondence

• Correspondence with representatives of Central and South American lifeguards, as well as persons wishing to develop lifesaving, are ongoing. These have included correspondence with Venezuela, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, and Bolivia. ILS Board of Directors

• The next ILS Board of Directors meeting will take place at Rescue 2002 in Daytona Beach May 5 – 8, 2001.

Respectfully submitted,

B. Chris Brewster Liaison Officer

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (720) 535-3274 • E-mail: [email protected]

Page 1 of 1

2002 National Championships

Report to the USLA Board of Directors

Competitors

• Junior Lifeguards – 663 ¾ 471 Preregistered ¾ 192 On-site registrations • Lifeguards – 589 ¾ 429 Preregistered (237 of these via Active.com website) ¾ 130 On-site registrations Sea World

• All preregistered competitors were offered the opportunity to attend Sea World free of charge. A total of 117 competitors availed themselves of this opportunity. Fox Sports West Television

• The San Diego Organizing Committee was able, with assistance of the office of Councilmember Byron Wear, to arrange a contract with Fox Sports Net West to produce a one hour program and air it. The cost to SDOC was $37,500. The San Diego City Council provided $30,000 to SDOC to offset costs of televising the event, in an effort to promote tourism. In exchange, SDOC received 13 30 second advertising spots, but was unable to sell them due to the last minute nature of the arrangements. The spots were provided free to local tourism and supporters. With greater advance planning, it is likely that the spots could have been sold or used to lev- erage higher sponsor fees for the event. Market value of the spots is in the $750 - $1,000 range. USLA and Fox jointly own the production jointly. • In September, the one hour event production was aired as follows: Fox Sports West

¾ September 1, 2002 – 5:00 p.m. ¾ September 3, 2002 – 3:00 p.m. ¾ September 5, 2002 – 3:00 p.m. ¾ September 9, 2002 – 3:00 p.m. ¾ September 11, 2002 – 3:00 a.m.

Fox Sports West 2

¾ September 14, 2002 – 3:00 p.m. ¾ September 22, 2002 – 12:00 p.m. • It is recommended that future event organizers consider contracting early for similar television opportunities, leveraging the San Diego event as an example. Local tourist boards may be willing to assist with funding in exchange for the value of television exposure. Sponsors may attracted by the assurance that the event will be televised, and may be willing to pay greater fees for the heightened exposure. Advertising space can be sold or given to major sponsors. • USLA should consider commissioning or arranging for the creation of some video public service announcements (PSAs). Were such PSAs available, the SDOC could have run them as part of the telecast at no cost to USLA.

Page 1 of 4 Sponsorship

• The primary source of sponsorship for the event was funding from the City of San Diego, the majority of which was arranged through the efforts of Councilmember Byron Wear. This included: ¾ $15,225 in FY ’02 Tourist Occupancy Tax matching funds ¾ $130,000 in a general grant from the City of San Diego ($30,000 earmarked for television coverage) ¾ $15,225 in FY ’03 Tourist Occupancy Tax matching funds • The County of San Diego, through the efforts of Supervisor Greg Cox, contributed $10,000 • Honda, through the efforts of Dick Colosi, paid a sponsor fee of $15,000 • Ingram, through the efforts of Dick Colosi, paid a sponsor fee of $10,000 • Various other sponsors contributed lesser amounts Professional Event Organizing

• As in 2000, we hired professional event organizers to handle three key tasks: overall event organizing, beachmaster (i.e. beach competition organizing), and registration/scoring. • Our experience in this regard was quite positive, with excellent work done by the overall event organizer (Professional Event Solutions) and the beachmaster (Rick Kozlowski). As was the case in 2000, there were difficulties encountered in registration. Contracts

• One of the challenges for SDOC involved written contracts with sponsors. We would strongly encourage that written contracts be a requirement for any major sponsors to ensure that both parties have a full understanding of expectations on both sides. It might be helpful if the Legal Advisor could develop a template to be followed by Host organizers. Registration

• Registration was made available through mailed brochures, downloadable forms at the event website, and via Active.com. This year, over 50% of adults registered on-line via Active.com. There was no expense to the event organizers stemming from this process and it appeared to be beneficial to all involved. We recommend that future event organizers employ the same system. Website

• The event website address – www.uslanationals.org – was purchased in 2000 by San Diego and the address has now been paid through 2003. We recommend that USLA maintain this website on a continual basis and that future hosts utilize it as appropriate. By using the website, we were able to provide updated information to all competitors and were able to recognize sponsors to a degree not previously available. Insurance

• The Host Agreement required that SDOC acquire $5 million in liability insurance. This amount appears to exceed the current industry standard and was both difficult and expensive to acquire. It ultimately cost $6,200. We recommend that USLA reevaluate this amount and consider an amount such as $2 million instead. Medals

• The issuance of medals appears to be a consistent problem with these events. We had two problems in this regard. For junior lifeguards, some medals appear to have been boxed with adult medals and it seemed they were not available. Thus, a number of junior lifeguards (and coaches) were quite disappointed. We attempted to mail these to those who advised us of the problem. With respect to adults, some failed to pick up their medals and we were later asked to mail them. We recommend that in future registration forms, it be

Page 2 of 4 made clear that medals are to be picked up on the day of the event and will not be mailed to those who choose not to pick up their medals. Future event organizers may wish to insist that medals be delivered a couple of weeks prior to the event so that they can be inventoried and sorted. Conflict Resolution

• During and after the event, a variety of persons had problems or concerns. Examples included parents of junior guards who didn’t get T-shirts, persons who didn’t get medals, etc. It would seem valuable, in future, to have a single point of contact for issues of this nature who could be contacted by phone and/or email. We handled this through delegation to various members of SDOC, but it seemed that people were uncertain who to contact. Scales

• As had been explained by Marshall Parks at the spring 2002 Board of Directors meeting, SDOC rented two scales to make weigh-in as convenient as possible. The idea was that weigh-ins could take place at two locations, thus making things easier for competitors. We paid $396.58 to rent the scales. The head weigh-in referee brought his own scale and this was used exclusive to the other two. We were billed $65 for shipping of this scale and $14 for batteries, as well as $150 for equipment certification stickers. In future, it would be best to coordinate to avoid duplicate expenses. As well, there would seem to be a value in having weigh-ins at two locations, thus avoiding the need to move equipment to the location of a single scale. • We recommend that in future, equipment weigh-in times and location should be prominently posted beginning Wednesday in the on site registration area. • We recommend that weigh-in should be scheduled to start no later than 7 A.M. on Friday and Saturday, thus allowing competitors time to weigh their craft and to participate in 8 A.M. races. Financials

• As a result of very tight financial management and excellent support from the City of San Diego, both financial and in-kind (e.g. free lifeguard services), this event was the most successful financially of any national competition in USLA history. • Income to USLA ¾ Under the Host Agreement, USLA receives 8% of any funds raised by the USLA Development Coordi- nator. This amounted to $2,280 and has been paid. ¾ Under the Host Agreement, USLA receives $4 per adult registrant, which amounts to $2,356 and has been paid. ¾ Net income over expenses has yet to be finalized, as we await final payments from the City of San Diego and one vendor. Of this, USLA receives 25%. At present, it appears that USLA’s share will exceed $10,000. • Payments to Development Coordinator ¾ Under the Host Agreement, the Development Coordinator receives 12% of funds raised, 12% of adult registration fees (after $4 payment to USLA), and 12% of junior lifeguard registration fees. The Devel- opment Coordinator also receives reimbursement for expenses and travel to the event. The total payment to the Development Coordinator, including expenses, was $7,770.66. This represents approximately 27% of net income (not including in-kind contributions) generated by the Development Coordi- nator. • Net Contributions of USLA Versus Costs ¾ Efforts of USLA via the USLA Development Coordinator resulted in gross income for the event of $28,500. Prior to any split of income over expenses, the SDOC was required, by contract, to pay USLA and/or the Development Coordinator a total of $12,406.66. Therefore, net contributions of USLA from sponsorships to the event were $16,093.34. • Final financial report ¾ SDLA will be producing a final financial report that will be audited and submitted to USLA.

Page 3 of 4 Organizing Committee

• I would like to credit my fellow members of the San Diego Organizing Committee for the hundreds of unpaid hours they contributed to make this event a success. Clyde Fuller, the chair, is a retired FBI agent who has no prior affiliation with lifeguarding and did this (as he did in 2000) as a community volunteer. Marshall Parks is a retired San Diego lifeguard who donates much of his time to lifesaving.

Respectfully submitted,

B. Chris Brewster, Member San Diego Organizing Committee

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.bcbrewster.net

Page 4 of 4 To: USLA Board Of Directors and Delegates From: Dick Colosi, USLA Development Date: October 29, 2002 Re: Development Report

1. Board of Directors Meeting Sponsors There has been an excellent sponsor response with underwriting of this Falls Board of Directors Meeting as follows. Lead Sponsor Medtronic Physio-Control AEDs Presenting Sponsors Laerdal Kiefer Wahoo Philips Heartstart AEDs Meeting Sponsors The Victor Swimwear Marine Rescue Products Jobeedu Physio-Control, Laerdal, Kiefer, Heartstart and Wahoo are entitled to address the USLA Board Meeting.

2. License Agreements The USLA has a two year license agreement until December 31, 2002 with Ingram for marketing the USLA name and logo to the public. In return, Ingram has provided the USLA $10,000, or $5,000 for each year of the agreement.

3. USLA Membership Incentives 2003 will be the third and final year of the Panama Jack and the USLA Sponsorship Agreement by which Panama Jack will have provided the USLA $485,000 in product. Importantly, Panama Jack is very happy with our relationship and has expressed a willingness to extend its involvement with the USLA beyond 2003. In 2003, Panama Jack is providing sunblock and a tee-shirt to the membership. I need sizing information ASAP from the regions for their members. The terms of the agreement follows. This agreement is made and entered into by and between Panama Jack, Inc. and the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA). In consideration of the mutual promises contained in this Agreement, the parties agree to the following terms. 1. Term: This agreement takes effect on February 1, 2001 (the Effective Date) and expires on December 31, 2003 unless mutually extended under the terms hereof or by written agreement of the parties. 2. Product Availability. Panama Jack will provide the following: a. 2001 5,000 SPF 15 Panama Jack 3.38 ounce tubes of SurfN Sport Sunblock; Estimated Retail Value: $25,000 5,000 SPF 30 Panama Jack 3.38 ounce tubes of SurfN Sport Sunblock ; Estimated Retail Value: $30,000 10,000 Panama Jack SPF 30+ Lip Balm; Estimated Retail Value: $20,000 b. 2002 5,000 SPF 15 Panama Jack 3.38 ounce tubes of SurfN Sport; Sunblock - Estimated Retail Value: $25,000 5,000 SPF 30 Panama Jack 3.38 ounce tubes of SurfN Sport Sunblock - Estimated Retail Value: $30,000 10,000 Panama Jack gear bags with the USLA logo; Estimated Retail Value: $150,000 c. 2003 5,000 SPF 15 Panama Jack 3.38 ounce tubes of SurfN Sport Sunblock - Estimated Retail Value: $25,000 5,000 SPF 30 Panama Jack 3.38 ounce tubes of SurfN Sport; Sunblock - Estimated Retail Value: $30,000 10,000 Panama Jack T-shirts with the USLA logo; Estimated Retail Value: $150,000 d. Panama Jack will distribute above products by April 1 of the contract year to seven designated regional locations. e. Panama Jack will include the USLA logo and link on www.panamajack.com f. Panama Jack will provide logo material, banners and inflatable. 3. Marketing Rights. The USLA will provide the following: a. Exclusive designation as official suncare product of the USLA. b. Exclusive suncare product at all USLA Championship events c. Grants category exclusive use to Panama Jack for placement of the USLA logo on suncare, packaging, promotion and advertising d. Panama Jack logo and link on www.usla.org web site e. five Panama Jack banners and 1 inflatable (if permitted) prominently displayed at all USLA competitions and events g. distribution of Panama Jack to USLA members annually h. rites of first negotiation and refusal to Panama Jack upon expiration of this agreement i. shipping addresses and quantities for regions by February 1 of each contract year j. follow up on USLA events and all Panama Jack coverage (includes copy of all material with the Panama Jack logo)

4. 2003 USLA National and Regional Lifeguard Championships. Every effort is being made to acquire sponsors for the 2003 USLA Regional and National Lifeguard competition series. In consideration for National Sponsorship of the regional and national competitions, prospects have been asked to provide the 2003 USLA National and Regional Championships $110,000 as Title sponsor and $90,000 as Presenting sponsor. There are several initiatives for securing national and regional sponsors primarily, Nautica, Lamisil, Wawa Food Markets, Axe Body Deodorant, AriZona Beverages, Norelco, Edge Shaving Gel, Red Bull, Ralph Lauren, Areopostale, Polaroid, Johnson & Johnson, Honda, Tommy Bahama, Kodak, Gillette and Ingram. Early decisions on the dates and sites of the various regional championships are needed from each of the regional councils. For 2003, you may recall Miller/Fosters regional distributors continued their sponsorship of USLA competitions in the Mid-Atlantic region. Indications are they wish to continue the relationship. 5. Choice Hotels USLA Member Discounts Our agreement continues with Choice Hotels to provide USLA members a 20% discount from rack rates at the following hotel chains; Comfort • Clarion • Quality • Sleep • Econo Lodge • Rodeway • Mainstay 6. USLA Royalty Agreements The USLA standardized Royalty Agreement allows marketing to the public of merchandise emblazoned with the USLA logo for a fee and percentage of gross sales. Because the USLA maintains control over the use of its logo, we protect our trademark as well as enhance the desirability of vendors to enter Royalty Agreements. Water Safety Products leads the way as a royalty partner returning a percentage of sales not only of USLA branded merchandise but a percentage of sales of any merchandise bought by USLA Regions. Annually, USLA and the regions receive nearly $5,000 in royalties from Water Safety Products. 7. Place of Employment Giving United Way: If an employer is part of the United Way Campaign, any employee thereof may give a designated gift to the USLA via the United Way through payroll deduction or other means. In addition, the local USLA chapter may apply to become a member agency of that local United Way. However, the Untied Way of America does not offer a single national application process for the USLA to be listed wherever USLA chapters may exist. Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): The CFC is a national place of employment giving federation of the OBM. The CFC concentrates its efforts on federal governmental organizations place of employment giving campaigns. To join the CFC and be listed throughout the nation, the USLA • must be designated by the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) agency • have an unqualified full audit • be a national umbrella organization also having a local presence • spend less then 25% of its income on fund raising The USLA could qualify for CFC listing if it had a full audit. USLA MEDICAL ADVISOR’S REPORT

FALL 2002 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Medically speaking, it has been a busy time in the lifesaving world since the USLA has last met. The following are some of the highlights.

After our spring board meeting the ILS held it’s yearly meeting in Daytona. While there I participated in and presented at the Chairman’s meeting, the Rescue and Education Commission, and various other board meetings. Chris, Tom, Carl, and others were also heavily involved.

Rescue 2002 kept many of us quite busy. Tom and I were involved with the organizational committee from early on and the work increased exponentially as the games grew close. No one worked harder than Mike, Paul, and the Volusia guards. They impressed everyone with their commitment and preparedness. They were great ambassadors for the USLA.

During Rescue 2002 I monitored and attended to the on-site medical care for all of the international athletes, both at the pool and at the beach events. (Even performing some minor surgery on a Swedish female competitor)

I was asked to organize and oversee the IOC random drug-testing program for the competition. There were a large number of anxious athletes, but I am happy to report that all tests were negative for banned substances. I would also like to thank the female athlete from Australia that I had to wait around for because she couldn’t pee until several hours after the events were over for the day.

Medical care and other assistance was provided to the US team as team physician. This included various ailments during the competition - even a kidney stone attack in one of the crew. The team performed above expectations despite some last minute substitutions. Blaine Morgan blasted a new world record in front of a huge international crowd. The US was well represented in large part due to the tremendous efforts of Tim Gallagher and Mitch Kahn.

In June the World Congress on Drowning was held in Amsterdam. USLA was represented by Mr. Brewster, Mr. Martinez and myself. I presented lectures on spinal injuries and lifeguard injuries. In addition to moderating several sessions, I participated in many other interesting programs throughout the three days. Examples of these included one’s on “ Paid versus Volunteer lifesavers”,”the Use of AED’s”, and “the CDC Lifeguard document”. Several groundbreaking positions were put forward on the treatment of hypothermia and the use of therapeutic hypothermia in treating drowning victims. A publication with all of the presentations, data, and conclusions will be available early next year.

In conjunction with the Congress I chaired an ILS Medical Commission meeting which included all of its members from around the globe. Numerous topics were addressed – several position papers will be published shortly on – CPR, Hypothermia, Positioning on sloping beaches, and Spinal immobilization. We are currently having discussions /disagreements with Australia on the proper handling of spinal victims. If you are interested in the specifics, I would be happy to discuss these with you.

ILS Drug testing was also discussed at the Medical Commission meeting. ILS has joined WADA [World Anti-doping Agency] as part of its participation in the IOC. In the future – possibly as early as prior to Rescue 2004 there will be random, unannounced, out of competition drug testing – this will mean that possibly six months prior to the Worlds USLA will need to supply a list of all possible competitors with their address and contact information. If they are chosen for testing and refuse or cannot be found, they will be banned from competition for US and ILS events, no exceptions. The USLA board and competition committee will need to develop procedures for establishing and maintaining such an athlete list.

Finally – San Diego did an excellent job hosting the Nationals. I attended as onsite physician and assisted with the officiating. Injuries were mostly minor and relatively few.

My new e-mail address is: [email protected]

I look forward to a pleasant and productive meeting here in Chicago.

Yours in lifesaving,

Peter G. Wernicki, M.D. USLA Medical Advisor ILS Medical Commission Chairman

LEGAL ACTIVITY REPORT Submitted by John “Chip” More, USLA Legal Counsel October 28, 2002

I. PUBLISHING CONTRACT Extensive negotiations and communications with two publishers resulting in a successful publishing contract for the new USLA training manual and related materials.

II. TELEVISION CONTRACT FOR 2002 NATIONALS A. Fox Sports West–Three days of negotiations and contract revision resulted in televising of USLA Nationals. Fox exceeded the obligations of the contract and expectations of all parties concerned. See Chris Brewster’s report for details. B. SHP–Unfortunately after several weeks of negotiations, phone calls, and phone conferences, including six drafts, USLA was not able to reach an agreement with SHP.

III. H2O VELOCITY/WAVE ONE Receipt and review of agreements entered into with both parties. Receipt and review of letter from H2O attorney threatening legal action against the USLA for breach. Review of numerous e-mails between H2O, SDOC, and USLA Development Coordinator. Negotiations with H2O attorney resulting in compromise. Intent to file legal action against the USLA withdrawn. Report submitted to Board and all parties concerned.

IV. CSLSA/SHP AGREEMENT Receipt and review of contract between CSLSA and SHP. Report to CSLSA with copy to Board recommending changes for compliance with USLA policies and procedures to avoid conflict of interest.

V. BOAT ACCIDENT–USLA NATIONAL COMPETITION–SAN DIEGO Receipt and review of investigation report from Chris Brewster regarding personal injury accident involving USLA competitors and private citizen.

VI. BY-LAW AMENDMENT Receipt and review of proposed revision of Article 6 for discussion at November meeting.

VII. MINUTES OF DAYTONA MEETING Receipt and review of minutes from spring meeting in preparation for November meeting in Chicago.

VIII. SPORTS MARKETING COMMITTEE Receipt and review of protocol for reporting to committee and committee’s authority. Receipt and review of committee membership designation.

USLA MEDICAL ADVISOR’S REPORT

FALL 2002 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Medically speaking, it has been a busy time in the lifesaving world since the USLA has last met. The following are some of the highlights.

Finally – San Diego did an excellent job hosting the Nationals. I attended as onsite physician and assisted with the officiating. Injuries were mostly minor and relatively few.

My new e-mail address is: [email protected]

I look forward to a pleasant and productive meeting here in Chicago.

Yours in lifesaving,

Peter G. Wernicki, M.D. USLA Medical Advisor ILS Medical Commission Chairman

IX. JAPANESE FILM PROPOSAL/FOX CONTRACT Receipt and review of proposal from Japanese company regarding rights to Fox filming of USLA Nationals. Proposal forwarded to USLA secretary for signature.

X. PANAMA JACK Receipt and review of updated proposal on Panama Jack agreement for incorporation into November meeting.

USLA Board of Directors Meeting November 6 - 9, 2002 Chicago IL

Regional Activity Reports (Attachments to Minutes)

11 Mid-Atlantic 12 South-Atlantic 13 Southeast 14 Great Lakes 15 Gulf Coast 16 Northwest 17 Southwest

United States Lifesaving Association Mid-Atlantic Region

2002 Regional Report Fall National Board of Directors Meeting

The summer of 2002 started off quick with a Memorial Day week-end filled with good weather and large crowds. The crowds continued all summer with only two days of rain between June 1st and August 24th, but Labor Day week-end was a wash out. The good weather continued after that with the crowds the next week-end as large as any holiday week-end. The water cooperated this summer with fewer than normal rip currents and below normal surf conditions leading to lower than normal rescues. As is the norm in our region, early June and mid August brings the most surf activity and most of our rescues and assists were recorded during the 2nd and 3rd weeks in August. Our regional competitions were once again successful with the craft events being hosted by the Belmar N.J Beach Patrol and the non-craft events being hosted by the Rehoboth Beach, Del. Beach Patrol. Avon-by-the-Sea Beach Patrol hosted the Junior Lifeguard competition which saw over 600 juniors from around the region compete. Our thanks to all our sponsors with special thanks to Fosters Beer for their continued support. During the competition segment of our last regional meeting, there was some discussion on how to increase participation at the regional competitions. One suggestion was to return to a team championship, with a large and a small beach patrol champion. Membership this year in our region topped the 1000 member mark for the second time in 4 years. Thanks to Panama Jack for the great sports bag and sun screen. Also thanks to Charlie Hartl and Uni-Serv for the membership kit mailed to the members. All items helped in securing membership for our region. A considerable amount of time at our fall regional meeting centered around two major topics; national and regional sponsorships and extended days and hours of lifeguards on duty. As to the first, concern was voiced about the sponsorship contract that the Southwest Region has with SHP and its effect on the national organization and national championships. It is hoped that any concerns and problems can be worked out at this meeting so that the national organization can move forward and become a stronger and more financially sound unit. Also of concern was the need for one person to represent the national organization in its fund raising efforts and in speaking with potential sponsors so that a situation like what happened in San Diego can be avoided in the future. Extended hours of lifeguards on duty was discussed in length. Many municipalities in our region have already extended (contrary to the belief of some of the noted scholars on the USLA BB) the summer season by placing lifeguards on their beaches before Memorial Day and a larger number are providing lifeguards well into September. The hours of providing lifeguards has also increased during the traditional summer season. Many municipalities have staggered hours so that lifeguard protection is extended to later in the day or evening. After hour and off season response teams have increased and have been doing a good job in supplementing our rescue efforts. It was advised at the meeting that lifeguard and beachfront supervisors advise their city administrators and managers of their payroll needs now and not wait until the season approaches. Budgets for next year are being prepared now or soon and if it is not in the budget it is very difficult to get it paid for. Can more be done? I'm sure it can, but we must be realistic. The weather in our region is difficult to predict beginning with the second week in September. It could be 90 degrees one day and 50 degrees the next. Placing full lifeguard staffs or even skeleton crews on the beach in continued 50-60 degree weather is not feasible. We all would like to have more police protection, more firemen hired, or more lifeguard protection, better and newer equipment and don't forget pay raises. We are all chasing the same tax dollars. A prudent and feasible program of increased lifeguard protection backed by statistics that can be shown to be effective and needed will usually at least be received and taken under advisement. But to complain and have no course of action will usually result in no action taken. Last but not least, I will bag an old drum that I have sounded many times before and that is the need for a public relations person or firm. The many programs, advancements, achievements and heroics that this organization and it's members take part in is astonishing. The public and politicians need to be made aware of them. Name recognition not only for the organization but for lifeguards in general will make it easier to fight for those budget dollars as well as sponsorship dollars. But more than that it will make the public more aware of our role in public safety and in the long run help in saving more lives.

South Atlantic Regional Report Chicago November 7,8,9

The South Atlantic Region is very appreciative to the Great Lakes Region for their efforts to plan and host this national meeting of the United States Lifesaving Association. I am sure we will have a very productive meeting. We must aspire to maintain the common co-operation currently evident within the organization and make decisions that are nationally pertinent, leaving petty issues that mire our progress in our dust.

The Panama Jack sponsorship has been a wonderful motivator to membership. The high quality products and generous quantities afforded the regions have bolstered our membership and strengthened our treasuries. Our regional membership is now over the one thousand-member mark. We are fortunate to have their support and must strive to give them product loyalty and recognition in any activities that bare our name. Of course this should always be policy related to any sponsor that sees fit to award us their support.

Our regional competition will be held in Virginia Beach this summer the 16th and 17th of July. We will have final information posted on our web site and available by December (www.southatlanticlifesavingassociation.org). The decision for the host site for the junior competition will be made in January at our next regional meeting to be held in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Representing the South Atlantic Region as delegates for this meeting are Mike Hensler (President), Tom Gill (Vice-president), Mickey Hutto (Treasure), Nikki Bowie (Secretary), Paul Pivec (Advisor), Amy Macpherson, and Don Hutson. As is our policy we also pay for registration for any other members of our region attending.

Respectfully submitted, Mike Hensler, President

United States Lifesaving Association Southeast Region

November 2002 President’s Report

This past year the United States Lifesaving Association Southeast Region has taken a decidedly more proactive approach to the issue of rip current drownings. We have been targeting specific areas of concern whether they are on guarded or unsupervised beaches. On the top of our list were the beaches of Santa Rosa Island on the Florida Panhandle, an area including but not limited to Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Island National Seashore. Through a series of visits by our Beach Safety Director, James “Mac” McCarthy, and national media accounts of drownings in the vicinity, we felt it necessary to visit the area and assess the problems there. A taskforce of McCarthy, B. Chris Brewster, myself and the district representative for that part of our region, Sean Turner was formed and we spent a week on the island doing interviews and field research to try to better comprehend the scope of their problem. Although parts of Santa Rosa Island are guarded, the vast majority of this tourist destination is either tremendously under-staffed or provides no bather supervision whatsoever. The situation was far worse than any of us could have predicted (39 drownings or near-drownings requiring transport to the hospital from January 1st, 2000 until October 1st, 2002 according to that county’s EMS department and subsequent media reports). We have since formulated a report and list of recommendations that if implemented will no doubt save lives and increase safety in that part of Florida. We have also addressed public beaches in the region that have never had any official lifeguard service. Lauderdale-by-the Sea, the town immediately north of Fort Lauderdale, has a beautiful beach that attracts tourists from all over the world. They unfortunately do not provide lifeguard protection and have had many needless drowning deaths to date because of this. We have initiated a letter-writing campaign to both bring attention to this matter and offer our support if they should decide to take steps toward forming a beach patrol. We have also made plans to visit and possibly speak at their town counsel meeting in regards to this very important lifesaving issue. The USLA Southeast Region is currently making plans to host its 2nd Annual Surf Lifesaving Academy. This year it will target beach patrol training officers and be held primarily at the Palm Beach County Beach Patrol in the early part of February. The academy this year will be headed up by Manuel Mesa of Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue and Pat Hendricks of Hollywood Fire Rescue Beach Safety Division, both training officers at respective beaches. The Palm Beach County USLA Chapter recently held elections and is back in action after a brief period of inactivity. The renewed enthusiasm is due in large to the region’s Treasurer, Phil Wotton and senior lifeguard Paul Drucker. Drucker has also been at the forefront of pushing the state of Florida to accept surf lifeguards into their retirement system in the high or special risk category making them eligible for better retirement benefits. We have been addressing the needs of some of the more remote areas of our region by districting. The USLA Southeast Region is broken into eight districts and each executive board member is assigned a district as follows: Alabama and Florida Panhandles (Sean Turner - [email protected]), West Coast of Florida (Clint Tracy - [email protected]), Florida Keys (Gerry Falconer - [email protected]), Dade & Broward Counties (Jim McCrady - [email protected]), Palm Beach County (Phil Wotton - [email protected]), Northeastern Counties (Squid McGlamery - [email protected]), Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Islands (Gio Serrano - [email protected]).

In the arena of competition, the Southeast once again made its presence felt at the recent USLA National Lifeguard Championships in San Diego by having Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Delray Beach take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively in the small beach patrol division. Hollywood Fire Rescue Beach Safety Division took 6th and Clearwater finished 9th, giving the USLA SER 5 of the top ten places in Division 2. There were too many great individual performances to mention all of them, but we would be remiss if we did not congratulate Sherry and Shelley Griffith for winning their 4th consecutive national championship in the Open Women Surfboat and Amy Schwarz for her national paddleboard title. Heather Irurzun rebounded quickly after childbirth to add another national surf ski championship to her USLA national paddleboard titles. Brevard County Ocean Rescue in Cocoa Beach, Florida hosted the USLA Southeast Regional Championships this past July. By moving the event out of South Florida this year, we made the competition more accessible to the patrols in the northern and western part of the region. Clearwater won the tournament for the first time in its history with a solid performance from all of its competitors including their supervisor and their team’s high-point award winner, Bev Buysse. Jo Wagenhals of Delray Beach Ocean Rescue hosted the always well-attended Junior Lifeguard Regionals this year with Steve Zickl as the event coordinator. The weather cooperated and the region got some great coverage of the competition in most of the local papers. The Southeast Region proposed the following changes to the competition format at the Competition Committee meeting in Daytona this past spring to be voted on in Chicago: ● Making the Women’s Surfboat a 2-lap event at Nationals. ● Adding a surfboat leg to the Women’s American Ironman event. ● Proposing an on-site protest system, mirroring the international model. ● Adjusting the land course to eliminate the confusion regarding lane assignments.

Boca Raton Ocean Rescue is having a banner year in lifesaving. Not only did their competition team win the Division 2 national title in San Diego, their EMS team comprised of Frank Ganley, Jack Luka, Tim Fry and Clint Tracy won the William H. Shearer CLINCON International Basic Life Support EMS World Championship. This year there were 3 South Florida teams in the top 5 and this marks the 4th year in a row that a USLA SER lifeguard agency has won the award. The event is open to fire departments, ambulance services, police departments, EMS colleges and any organization involved in first responder basic life support. Let’s hear it for the lifeguards! Finally on a somber note, we recently lost Scott Lee Mundell after a courageous battle with brain cancer at the young age of 32. Although he was a four-time high school state record holder in swimming, an All-American at Florida State, and a USLA National Champion in the Surf Swim and Landline, Scott was known better as a good friend and a great person to those lucky enough to have known him. He was an ocean lifeguard in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Florida, Atlantic City and Cape May, New Jersey, Long Beach, California, and Hawaii. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and loved ones.

Thank you for your time and dedication to lifesaving,

Lieutenant James Hamilton McCrady V Fort Lauderdale Beach Patrol United States Lifesaving Association Southeast Region President Work (954)828-4577 Home (954)761-3327 Cell (954)804-1599 FAX (954)467-0238 E-mail: [email protected] United States Lifesaving Association

Membership Committee Report November 2002

The Panama jack sponsorship has done a lot to help recruit membership. This year’s bag was outstanding and the guards responded with great approval. We will discuss next year’s national kit at this meeting along with any new membership issues that are brought up a the committee meeting.

Joe Pecoraro, Chairman

Great Lakes Regional Report April 2002

The summer of 2002 was a hot dry summer in the great lakes area. We had big crowds on our beaches and in our pools. Our Air and Water Show had a record 3 million spectators attend with no major incidents. Our Venetian Night Boat Parade also had record crowds. We had over 5000 competitors in the swim portion of the Mrs. T’s Triathlon. The economy being slow helped with Lifeguard recruitment.

We found our Chicago chapter in trouble when the Chicago Park district severed all ties with the USLA. We strongly believe that our questioning of non-aquatic supervisors making decisions on lifesaving procedures had a lot to do with the termination of this 24 year relationship.

Good news is that the lifeguards responded by joining the USLA no matter what it took to sing up. this meeting was one of our prime efforts and without the usual Park District co-operation the committee had to work extra hard. We have a new address – Chicago USLA, PO Box 31821, Chicago, IL 60631 – which is now the official address of the Chicago Chapter and the Great Lakes Region. The rest of the region has pledged to support any of our endeavors and we are hoping that by next year everything will work out.

Joe Pecoraro, President Regional Report Gulf Coast Chapter

All in all, we had a good year. With no drownings in guarded areas for the eighth year in a row and over 50,000 preventative actions, we were right on par with past years. We did make some changes in the following areas:

Competition- our team did well in the international competition in Daytona Beach this year, winning 10 medals. Thanks to both Daytona Beach and San Diego for well run competitions, both of which were big successes. Our regional competition also went well with about 120 participants and a good turnout of spectators. Public Education- We are working with LULAC on a billboard design we did last year. It looks like they may be able to fund several Spanish billboards about drinking and swimming. We are also putting together a 30 sec bilingual video on rip currents for local hotels’ closed cable system, cable TV public service announcements, movie theatre presentations and a 30 sec streaming video for our web site. Ozone Study- worked with University of Texas Medical Branch on a study comparing the effects of ozone, exercise, and lung capacity where our guards were tested after their morning workouts and were tested later in the day in their towers. An article was sent on to the magazine and should be available shortly. Mexico Training- we are going to Veracruz again this year to train approximately 120 lifeguards and emergency responders of all types. We will also be running a shorter 30 hour course for the Mexican Navy. Junior Guards- with much trepidation, we are on the brink of allowing a parent organization form to help in fundraising and volunteers for Beach Patrol events. Any relevant advice or guidelines those of you have would be greatly appreciated. Red Cross- we had previously trained several staff members as Emergency Response Instructors and have been using this for the 1st aid requirement. We have now certified several staff members as Lifeguard Instructors and will be issuing “Open Water Lifeguard” certification in addition to the USLA certification. One of the main reason we did this is to use courses such as “Basic Water Rescue” and “Community Rescue” when working with local emergency response organizations and community groups. We would like to make the suggestion that USLA move into similar areas and provide similar training courses appropriate for community members and emergency response organizations that are in coastal areas.

submitted to Dave Shotwell, Secretary, USLA on 10-23-02 by Peter Davis, Vice President, Gulf Coast Region www.lifeguardsforlife.org Lifesaving Associa Tel /Fax: 707.528.4718 Healdsburg, CA95448 United States Cathy Wiederhold

Pacific Northwest RegionDan McCormick Bert Whitaker P.O. Box 337 Recurrent Rep Paul Fordyce Vice President Jim McCray Adam Davis Secretary Treasurer President Advisor City”. We lookforwardtoarewardingandproductivemeeting. The PacificNorthwestRegionwouldliketothanktheGreatLakesforhostingthismeetingin“Windy tion Thanks toallwhohostedandworked sohardtomakeboththosecompetitionspossible. third placefinishintheSeniorRunSwimRun. Several competitorstookpartinthissummer’s NationalCompetition.CongratulationstoPaulFordyceforhis hosted bytheRedwoodCoastandTahoe ChaptersinJuly. The PacificNorthwestRegionalLifeguardChampionshipswere heldatSandHarborinLakeTahoe andwere Competition The EastBayRegionalParkshad375JuniorLifeguardparticipants thissummer. Junior Lifeguards in anemergency aroundthewater. to familiarizethemwithsafewaterpractices,anunderstandingofthelifeguards’responsibilities,andwhatdo for its3rdyear. This4-hourwatersafetycoursewaspresentedto120localyouthandallowedcountylifeguards The RedwoodCoastChapterandSonomaCountyRegionalParksFoundationsponsoredtheSwimSafeprogram and keychainsaswell. encourage theNationalPublicEducationcommitteetocontinuethateffortandalsoconsidertemporarytattoos All ofourchaptersenthusiasticallyusedtheUSLAmagnetsthisyeartopromotepubliceducation.We would Public Education them in2003. Region forprovidingabeachtoweltoeverymember. We lookforwardtokeepingthenumbersandincreasing had inmanyyears.We thanktheNationalAssociation forthegreatPanamaJackbagsthisyearandalsoour The PacificNorthwestRegionisboasting152membersthisyear. Thisis thelargest numberofmemberswehave Membership lifeguardsforlife.org website,andincreasingourchapterinvolvementinmembership. meeting thisfall:expandingourRegionalCompetitiontoa2dayevent,furtherrefinementsofthe The PacificNorthwestRegionheldit’s RegionalmeetingthispastmonthatSeaRanch,California.Hottopics Regional Meeting FALL 2002NATIONAL BOARDOFDIRECTORS MEETING UNITED STATES LIFESAVING ASSOCIATION PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION PRESIDENT REPOR T Operations East Bay Regional Parks wrapped up the swim season on October 13. Statistics are being compiled now and it looks like the year will be about average. This was the first year of lifeguard service at Quarry Lakes (East Bay). Nick Schriver worked his first season as Aquatic Supervisor for the South Region of East Bay Regional Parks.

Sonoma County Regional Parks resumed more normal operations this summer by having Memorial Beach Dam reconstructed. Spring Lake swimming lagoon was open from Memorial Day through September 9 and operated smoothly throughout the summer. Memorial Beach was open July 1-Sept 9. Staffing levels this season were more challenging than in past years. The absence of Memorial Beach last season, meant fewer new lifeguards were trained last year, and staff returning was less numerous. Aggressive recruiting and training yielded the necessary staff for the season after a minimal start.

The Golden Gate Chapter has been holding its course and keeping pace with expected demands and goals related to USLA standards and expectations. The Bay Area Water Rescue Network still holds meetings at USCG Station Golden Gate and keeps ongoing contact with members especially San Francisco Fire Department Water Rescue and Golden Gate National Park. Training exercises and cooperative interactive drills are ongoing.

Steve Prokop, the Chief Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) Ocean Front Ranger, has left for another position, but his policies, training and practices are still being implemented by his replacement, Bob Airey-Van Diem. Bob has been in attendance at our Regional meetings and has been an active part of our Region.

Stinson Beach, part of the GGNRA, has had more shark sightings than ever this year. At one point when the beach was closed for four days this summer as a result of shark sightings, there was actually one shark attack.

King County (Washington) is in the process now of severely slashing their parks department budget countywide. They are mothballing all county pools and closing parks that are located within incorporated city limits. This is putting a tremendous amount of political and financial pressure on the cities affected and it will remain to be seen how this will all shake out. Many cities cannot afford to take on the 30 year old pools and poorly maintained parks, however, public pressure is such that they may be forced to. Cities are attempting to team together and join forces with private and semi-private agencies to continue to operate the parks and pools. Stay tuned!

Respectfully submitted,

Cathy Wiederhold, President Pacific Northwest Region

Phone: 425-488-2589- home 425-452-7681- work email: [email protected]

Mailing address: 13272 NE 183rd St., Woodinville, WA 98072 California Surf Lifesaving Association

Southwest Region - United States Lifesaving Association

PO Box 366 - Huntington Beach, California 92648

World Wide Web: www.cslsa.org

TO: USLA Board of Directors Robert McGowan President FROM: Rob McGowan, President

Don Rohrer DATE: October 30, 2002 Vice President SUBJECT: SOUTHWEST REGION REPORT Mike Beuerlein It's been a very good summer for the California Surf Lifesaving Association. Our membership Secretary numbers are up more than 30%, with over 1400 members, putting us at the highest membership numbers in recent memory. Additionally, we have over 3200 Junior Lifeguard members. Thanks Robert A. Moore Treasurer to Dick Colosi and the USLA sponsor Panama Jack for the outstanding membership bags, that I am sure were, in a large part, responsible for our record membership. Thanks to our regional William Richardson sponsorship agreement with SHP, Inc., we were able to supplement our membership kits with a Past President/Advisor T-shirt and a towel. Kudos to Don Rohrer, membership chairman, and Gordon Gray, membership kit coordinator for their hard work. Vincent Lombardi III Recurrent Representative The California Surf Lifesaving Championships were held at Will Rogers State Beach in Los Mike Bartlet Angeles County, hosted by LACOLA. A special thank you to L.A. County Chief Lifeguard Mike Executive Delegate Frazer for his support. Mike came by for a visit on Friday, July 26 to have a look at the Junior Lifeguard competition, and was truly impressed by the turnout. We had over 1500 Junior B. Chris Brewster competitors, in what may have been the largest field ever. It was a great day, there were some Executive Delegate 3-foot plus waves to contend with, and I think all of the participants had a good time. Thank you to the L.A. County Junior Lifeguard Instructors, J.G. Director Charlie Kissell, and the Instructors Chris Graham Executive Delegate (Alternate) from all of the participating agencies for a job well done. The event finished ahead of schedule due to outstanding organization and cooperation. We look forward to another great competition next year. The Lifeguard competition was held on Saturday, July 27, with more than 150 competitors. Specials thanks to members of the CSLSA Executive Board Don Rohrer, Bob Moore, Mike Beuerlein, Bill Richardson, Vince Lombardi, and Mike Bartlet for their help in officiating and running the event. Additional thanks are due to Bev Rohrer, Donna Richardson, Paul and Pat Francis, Gordon Gray, and the L.A. County Lifeguards that manned the IRB and PWC and helped out on the beach. Without the volunteer efforts of these dedicated people, the event would not have been possible. Scott Hubbell of SHP, Inc. and his staff provided the staging, event T-shirts and the awards, beautiful 1-liter glass mugs. Scott also provided the water and sponsorship dollars that made the Regionals a reality. We look forward to an ongoing successful relationship with Scott and SHP, Inc. The Team results were LACOLA first, San Diego City second, Cal State Parks third, L.A. County Lakes fourth, and L.A. City fifth. Maggie Hogan and Anthony Vela turned in outstanding individual performances, winning several events in their respective Open categories.

Thank you to the San Diego Chapter and the SDOC for hosting the USLA Nationals at Pacific Beach this summer. By most all accounts, it was as good an event as ever, but I doubt that the SDOC will be eager to host again any time in the near future. As we all know, hosting the Nationals is a huge undertaking, with an incredible amount of work involved. There were a few bumps in the road concerning sponsorship issues and the television rights, but they were resolved. Thanks you to the sponsors and the San Diego Organizing Committee for an outstanding event. CSLSA chapters turned in very good performances at the 2002 Nationals, placing one-two in the large teams division, and forth and fifth in the small teams division. CSLSA competitors Maggie Hogan and Blaine Morgan captured the individual high points honors. Congratulations to all for a job well done. The television production of the 2002 USLA Nationals, on Fox Sports West, was among the best surf lifesaving shows I have seen. Hopefully tapes of the show will be made available.

Our Public Education chairman, Rob Williams, applied for a grant from the Pacific Life Foundation. They will be reviewing the proposals and making their decisions soon. The Pub Ed Committee is working with a professor at California State University Fullerton to develop a marketing plan for our public education programs. They are also looking into producing bookmarks for Spring distribution.

The CSLSA Exchange Committee selected the California lifeguards that will travel to New Zealand this winter based on interviews held in September. Lindsay Ortega from Huntington City, and Rebecca Levine of Huntington State will be representing the CSLSA in New Zealand this winter. Two New Zealand lifeguards visited 14 of our agencies from San Diego to Santa Cruz from July 1 to August 10 this summer.

The Junior Lifeguards held another poster art contest, and a $500.00 Savings Bond was awarded to Mikki Sosa from the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguards for the winning poster. We are looking into putting the winning artwork on our website. Next summer's art contest will feature photography as the medium. Last year's winning artwork was made into a book cover a poster which were very popular public education give-aways. Some of our JG's competed in the California State Games, a competition for many different sports, sponsored by the U.S.O.C. It was a great event, held in Imperial Beach on July 12. We look forward to participating again next year. We have a proposal to revise the Junior Lifeguard competition events and distances that should be a topic of discussion in the Junior Lifeguard committee. We will be purchasing tide books to distribute to the Junior Guards as part of their packet next summer.

Our Newsletter editors continue to produce an outstanding product. We are looking into adding color and direct mailing to our members, or at least to a specific person at each agency to assure distribution of the newsletter to the members.

We realize that there are concerns from some of you regarding our marketing contract with SHP, Inc. and it's potential conflict with the acquisition of national sponsors. It is not the intent of CSLSA to stand in the way of any fund raising at the national level, but we feel compelled to do the best we can for our members, should national sponsorship not materialize. Our contract has a clause stating that the CSLSA Executive Board must approve all potential sponsorships. We are prepared to reject sponsors that may conflict with national sponsors, but we need a realistic drop-dead date for national sponsors, after which time the regions are free to pursue their own sponsors. The CSLSA is willing to compromise within reason. We are looking to continue the benefits our contract offers us without creating conflicts within the USLA. I believe we have been above board, and have advised the USLA Executive Committee of our regional sponsors as required by the policies and procedures adopted last year in Idaho.

I have been continuing to collect patches from as many agencies as possible to create an Aloha shirt to be produced by Koko Islands. I am awaiting patches from the Hawaiian agencies before I finalize. If you have not already done so, please send me your patches so you can be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

In September I attended a dedication ceremony to honor one of our outstanding watermen, National and International champion, Paul Donahue. The new gym at the Los Angeles County Fire Department Training Center was dedicated to Paul as the Captain Paul Donohue Fitness Center. Paul was instrumental in heightening the awareness of the need for superior physical fitness for firefighters and lifeguards before being diagnosed with brain cancer in the mid 1990's, and has unfortunately been in deteriorating health. It was a bittersweet event. While it was great to see all of the outstanding lifeguards and firefighters that came to honor Paul, it was sad to see such a great athlete confined to a wheelchair. Paul has suffered several strokes since his surgeries and may not be with us much longer. Our prayers are with you Paul.

Next Spring our Region will be hosting the USLA Board of Directors meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. The dates are May 8-10, 2003, and the host hotel is the Outrigger Reef in Waikiki. Make your plans now to attend!

Respectfully submitted,

Robert McGowan President, California Surf Lifesaving Association 2

USLA Board of Directors Meeting November 6 - 9, 2002 Chicago IL

Committee Activity Reports

18 Public Education 19 Certification 20 Textbook 21 Website. 22 Statistics 23 American Lifeguard Magazine 24 Curriculum Accreditation Comm 25 Competition 26 Junior Lifeguards

USLA 2002 Fall Board Meeting Public Education Committee Report November 7,8,9 2002 Chicago, IL

Greetings all! As unfortunate as it is, I will not be able to attend the Chicago Meeting. Fortunately, Mike McKenna will be in attendance to carry on the work that needs to be done. I want to thank all of the individuals who followed up on specific tasks since the Spring Meeting. Get your work done early so that you can enjoy the hospitality of Chicago. — Dave Williams

Activity since Spring Meeting:

I. Multi Media A. National Public Radio — Press Release regarding National Beach Safety Week B. USA Weekend — Feature Story on Beach & Water Safety

II. Initiated discussions with Kris Okamoto of Hoag Hospital (Project wipeout) about forming an educational partnership with USLA. They have since discussed this internally and are very excited about forming such an alliance.

Note: Hoag Hospital has updated the Project Wipe Out Program, which includes an interactive web site, updated video and press kit with sample handouts, and a surfboard key chain. The whole program is very well done and has great potential.

The St. Johns County Lifeguard Service showed the 25th anniversary of “Big Wednesday” as an outdoor movie. Keeping with the theme, the Project Wipe Out video was used as the trailer, and an educational booth was set up with handouts. A local surf shop donated a long board as a door prize. 500 people came to watch the movie and the lifeguards collected $8,000 in donations. The local media loved the event. This will now be an annual event.

III. Received power point materials from Kieran Dunlavy of Vaisala-GAI Inc. for the development of educational materials on lightning. IV. Received correspondence from Chris Brewster regarding an invitation to have a complimentary information booth at the National Educational Conference of the National Association for Search & Rescue to be held at the Nugget Hotel & Casino in Sparks (Reno) Nevada — May 28 — 30 2003.

Pending Projects:

I. Poster: A Parent’s guide to Beach Safety (Spending placed on hold at the Spring Meeting at the request of Mr. Ferry) Quantities & Pricing 5,000 $2,500 10,000 $3,000 20,000 $5,000

II. Web Site Updates: Received quotes regarding recommended updates discussed at previous meeting. Downloads Page: $500 Online store for educational products: $350 Interactive Movie/Animation: $750 Creation of character to be used in animation $500 Estimates based upon number of pages and percent of Flash to Non-Flash portals. It was recommended to integrate some Flash into every page resulting in a 50/50 appearance. Maintenance/Updates will generally run about $40 per hour.

Mike McKenna Dave Williams

National Certification Committee

Activity Report Fall 2002 Board of Directors Meeting

Application Status (as of 10/22/02)

• There are now 104 lifeguard agencies and 3 ARRT agencies certified or under review. • A copy of the current status is attached. Flag System

• At the May 2002 Board of Directors meeting, a USLA position statement on warning flags was adopted. Subsequently, this was reviewed by the International Life Saving Federation Board of Directors and awaits adoption. It appears to be agreeable on the international level. • Subsequent to those discussions, at the World Congress on Drowning, Lt. Luiz Morizot of Miami Beach presented a study on flags. This study, although limited in scope, involved interviews with persons on the beach at Hollywood, Florida, where a flag system has been in place for some time. Lt. Morizot’s findings appear to question certain elements of a flag warning system as adopted by USLA. The committee will be asked to review the findings of Lt. Morizot and decide whether to maintain it’s position as expressed in May 2002 or to make amendments. A copy of a letter sent to Lt. Morizot is attached. Shark Bite Program

• On June 12 – 14, 2002, the International Shark Attack File hosted, Sharks in Perspective II: From Fear to Fascination in Tampa, FL. The Chair spoke on behalf of USLA, along with Joe Wooden of Volusia County and Alex Peabody of California State Parks. An explanation of the USLA Position Statement on Shark Bites was presented and well received. A brochure is being developed, with input of the Chair, to further address this issue. Clean Beaches Council

• A nonprofit organization known as the Clean Beaches Council has lately begun a process of evaluating beaches and providing awards to those who meet their criteria. The cost is $2,500. A 2002 press release from the organization asks, “Is Your Summer Beach Destination Clean and Safe?” This press release included a list of beaches, “… which have been officially certified for public safety, cleanliness, and environmental quality.” Considering that the Clean Beaches Council is ostensibly certifying safety, I checked their website to find that provision of lifeguards is not required to earn a beach the CBC certification. I wrote their president Walter McLeod (see attached letter). He called me and we discussed the issue at some length. Mr. McLeod acknowledged that public safety is a criteria of the CBC, but that lifeguards are not necessarily required to earn certification. When I pointed out to him the seeming incongruity of this approach, he indicated that many people don’t care whether lifeguards are present and suggested that lifeguards play a limited role in safety. I further pointed out to Mr. McLeod that his entire Board of Direc- tors appears to be made up of scientists with water quality or resource management skills, not persons with public safety skills and suggested that if the CBC limited themselves to maters of water quality and aesthetics, their selections would not pose a problem; however, implying that safety is a meaningful element of their selections seemed disingenuous. Mr. McLeod agreed to consider this issue further and to get back to me. I wrote a second letter (attached) after our telephone call to memorialize the conversation and to encourage further dialogue. In this letter, I attempted to educate Mr. McLeod as to the value of lifeguards. To date, I have not heard from Mr. McLeod. I intend to follow-up.

Page 1 of 2 Lifesaving Promotion

• As Chair of the National Certification Program and in my position with the International Life Saving Fed- eration, I have participated in the last six months in three major areas of advocacy. 1. In Ingham County, Michigan, a 13 year-old boy was hospitalized and placed on life support after nearly drowning while celebrating the Fourth of July with his family at Lake Lansing Park South. This is the first summer the beach, which opened in 1978, hasn't had lifeguards. Ingham County elimi- nated them to save $30,000. I wrote letters to each of the County Commissioners encouraging rein- statement of lifeguards and attaching a link to the CDC Lifeguard Effectiveness report. Lifeguard services have been reinstated. 2. At the request of the Southeast Region, I accompanied regional president Jim McCrady, Panhandle Representative Sean Turner, and Beach Safety Director Mac McCarthy on a trip to the Pensacola area, where 11 drowned in 2001. We met with numerous people, including locals, business owners, politicians, municipal mangers, and so on. We will be issuing a report shortly, making recommendations as to how this area can improve beach safety. 3. I responded to an inquiry from the Mayor of Destin, Florida, who is interested in a similar process to that undertaken in Pensacola. Subsequently, the Destin City Council voted funds to cover costs of travel and lodging for two members of the Southeast Region and me to conduct a review of Destin’s beach safety preparedness and to make recommendations. The trip is pending scheduling. Americas Best Beaches

• At the shark meeting in Tampa, Dr. Stephen Leatherman spoke to me with respect to his annual Ameri- cas Best Beaches list. I have previously discussed concerns over this list with Dr. Leatherman with respect to its seeming lack of emphasis on public safety. Dr. Leatherman asked that I reevaluate that position and mailed a variety of documents to substantiate his own credentials and the validity of his rating process. I reply, I sent a letter which is attached. In brief, it is my view that Dr. Leatherman pays inadequate attention to the issue of public safety in rating beaches. I await a reply. NASAR

• The National Association for Search and Rescue has invited attendance of the Chair or a designee at their Board of Directors meeting at their headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia on January 23 and 24, 2003. The Chair is interested in attending, providing funding is available, but seeks interest from members of the Committee.

Respectfully submitted,

B. Chris Brewster, Chair c: USLA Lifeguard Agency Certification Status Report Letter to Luiz Morizot Letter to Mayor of Destin Letter to Dr. Stephen Leatherman Letter to Walter McLeod – May 23, 2002 Letter to Walter McLeod – June 6, 2002 NASAR Invitation

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.bcbrewster.net

Page 2 of 2 UNITED STATES LIFESAVING ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAM STATUS rev:10/22/2002)

Total Lifeguard and ARRT Agencies: 107 Region

Lifeguard Agencies Approved: 93 ARRT Applications Approved: 3 8 Northwest Regular: 55 35 Southwest Advanced: 37 1 Gulf Coast First Time Applications in Progress: 11 First Time Applications in Progress: 0 18 Southeast 19 South Atlantic Subtotal: 104 Subtotal: 3 18 Mid-Atlantic 0 New England 2 Great Lakes

First Next Certification Certification Certificate Lifeguard Agency Approved Status Expires Level Officer Region Sent

Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ May-95 Pending Agency May-02 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic California State Dept. of Parks & Rec., CA ** May-95 Not Certified May-02 Regular McCormick, Dan Northwest Del Mar, CA* May-99 Pending Agency May-02 Regular Bowman, Max Southwest Delaware, State of* Nov-98 Pending Board Nov-01 Advanced Mogck, Buzz Mid-Atlantic Fernandina Beach (City of), FL* May-95 Pending CO May-02 Regular Hensler, Mike South Atlantic Jacksonville (Consolidated City of), FL* May-95 Pending CO May-02 Regular Hensler, Mike South Atlantic Kure Beach, NC (extension needed due to oversight)* May-98 Pending CO May-00 Regular Brown, Duke South Atlantic Lavallette Beach Patrol, NJ* May-95 Pending CO May-02 Advanced Kiziukiewicz, Ed Mid-Atlantic Ocean Beach (Village of), NY* Nov-98 Pending Board Nov-01 Advanced Healey, Andy Mid-Atlantic Ocean Grove, NJ* May-95 Pending CO May-02 Regular Mogck, Buzz Mid-Atlantic Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts, FL May-95 Pending Board May-02 Advanced Watson, Ron South Atlantic

Boca Raton, FL Nov-95 Pending Board Nov-02 Regular Shoemaker, James Southeast Cape May Beach Patrol, NJ Nov-95 Pending CO Nov-02 Regular Kiziukiewicz, Ed Mid-Atlantic Camp Pendleton, CA Nov-99 Pending Board Nov-02 Regular Richardson, Bill Southwest Delray Beach Ocean Rescue, FL Nov-95 Pending Board Nov-02 Advanced Shoemaker, James Southeast Encinitas (City of), CA Nov-95 Pending CO Nov-02 Advanced Bauer, Eric Southwest Hollywood, FL Nov-95 Pending Board Nov-02 Advanced McCarthy, Jim Southeast Lack's Beach Service, Inc., SC Nov-95 Pending Board Nov-02 Regular Hensler, Mike South Atlantic MCCS Water Safety Kaneohe Marine Corps Base Nov-99 Pending CO Nov-02 Regular Goto, Ralph Southwest Nag's Head Ocean Rescue, NC Nov-95 Pending CO Nov-02 Advanced Putz, Rob South Atlantic Newport News, VA Nov-99 Pending Agency Nov-02 Regular Foxwell, Dave South Atlantic Palm Beach (Town of), FL Nov-95 Pending CO Nov-02 Regular Shoemaker, James Southeast Port Hueneme, City of Nov-99 Pending CO Nov-02 Regular Bowman, Max Southwest Port San Luis Harbor District (Avila Beach), CA Nov-99 Pending Board Nov-02 Regular Gould, Rick Southwest St. Lucie County, FL Nov-95 Pending Board Nov-02 Advanced Shoemaker, James Southeast Santa Cruz, CA Nov-95 Pending Board Nov-02 Regular Richardson, Bill Southwest Seal Beach, CA Nov-99 Pending Board Nov-02 Advanced Bowman, Max Southwest

Bethany Beach, DL May-96 Certified May-03 Advanced Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 05/18/00 Brevard County Ocean Lifeguard Div, FL May-94 Certified May-03 Advanced Pollard, Scott Southeast 11/18/00 California Lifesaving Association May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Bauer, Eric Southwest 05/18/00 Camp Surf (YMCA), San Diego May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Bauer, Eric Southwest 05/18/00 Cape Canaveral, FL May-98 Certified May-03 Advanced Pollard, Scott Southeast 05/18/00 Cape May Point, NJ (Town of) May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Healey, Andy Mid-Atlantic 05/18/00 Charleston County Park & Recreation, SC May-96 Certified May-03 Regular Hensler, Mike South Atlantic 05/18/00 Clearwater Beach Patrol, FL (City of) May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Pollard, Scott Southeast 05/18/00 Galveston Beach Patrol, TX May-96 Certified May-03 Advanced Gavin, Jerry Gulf Coast 05/18/00 Hampton (City of), VA - Buckroe Beach May-00 Certified May-03 Regular Shotwell, David Mid-Atlantic 05/18/00 Hawaii (County of), HI May-96 Certified May-03 Regular Goto, Ralph Southwest 05/18/00 Imperial Beach, CA (City of) May-98 Certified May-03 Advanced Richardson, Bill Southwest 05/18/00 Kauai Lifeguards (County of), HI May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Goto, Ralph Southwest 05/18/00 Long Beach Marine Safety Division, CA May-94 Certified May-03 Regular Bauer, Eric Southwest 05/18/00 Maui (County of), HI May-96 Certified May-03 Regular Goto, Ralph Southwest 11/14/01 Mauna Kea Beach Resort, HI May-96 Certified May-03 Regular Goto, Ralph Southwest 11/18/00 New Jersey (State Dept. Env. Protection) May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 05/08/01 North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, CA May-00 Certified May-03 Regular Richardson, Bill Southwest 05/18/00 Palm Beach County, FL May-96 Certified May-03 Regular Pollard, Scott Southeast 05/18/00 Pompano Beach, FL May-96 Certified May-03 Regular Hensler, Mike Southeast 05/18/00 San Diego Lifeguard Service, CA May-94 Certified May-03 Advanced Richardson, Bill Southwest 05/18/00 Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service, VA May-98 Certified May-03 Regular Brown, Duke Southeast 05/18/00

Coeur d'Alene, ID (City of) Nov-98 Certified Nov-03 Regular McCormick, Dan Northwest 05/08/01 Coronado, CA (City of) Nov-00 Certified Nov-03 Advanced Bauer, Eric Southwest 11/18/00 Golden Gate National Recreation Area, CA Nov-00 Certified Nov-03 Regular Fennell, Bob Northwest 11/18/00 Hempstead, NY (Town of) Nov-00 Certified Nov-03 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 11/18/00 Oceanside, CA Nov-00 Certified Nov-03 Advanced Bauer, Eric Southwest 11/18/00 Santa Barbara (City of), CA Nov-00 Certified Nov-03 Regular Bauer, Eric Southwest 11/18/00

American Medical Services May-01 Certified May-04 Regular Dan McCormick Northwest 05/07/01 Boardwalk Beach Service, Myrtle Beach, NC May-01 Certified May-04 Regular Hensler, Mike South-Atlantic 05/07/01 Gulf Islands National Seashore, FL May-01 Certified May-04 Advanced Shoemaker, Jim Southeast 05/08/01 Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue (Town of), NC May-01 Certified May-04 Advanced Mike Hensler South Atlantic 05/07/01 Sonoma County Parks and Recreation, CA May-01 Certified May-04 Regular Dan McCormick Northwest 05/11/01 Ventura County Harbor Department, CA May-01 Certified May-04 Regular Richardson, Bill Southwest 05/08/01 Norfolk, VA (City of) May-01 Certified May-04 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 06/25/01 Post Falls, ID (City of) May-01 Certified May-04 Regular McCray, Jim Northwest 05/11/01

1 of 2 UNITED STATES LIFESAVING ASSOCIATION NATIONAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAM STATUS rev:10/22/2002)

Atlantic Beach Patrol Division, FL Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Hensler, Mike South Atlantic 11/14/01 Chicago Park District, IL Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Waszak, Gary Great Lakes 11/14/01 Deerfield Beach Ocean Rescue, FL Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Regular Jim Shoemaker Southeast 06/05/02 East Bay Regional Park Dist., CA Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Regular McCray, Jim Northwest 11/14/01 Honolulu Ocean Safety (City & County of), HI Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Regular Richardson, Bill Southwest 11/14/01 Huntington Beach Marine Safety Division, CA Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Bauer, Eric Southwest 11/14/01 John's Beach Service - Myrtle Beach, SC* Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Regular Brown, Duke South Atlantic 06/05/02 Lake Mission Viejo Patrol & Rescue Dept., CA Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Gould, Rick Southwest 11/14/01 Lantana Marine Safety, FL Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Shoemaker, Jim Southeast 11/14/01 Los Angeles County Lifeguard Operations Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Richardson, Bill Southwest 11/14/01 Martin County (Emergency Services), FL Nov-01 Certified Nov-01 Advanced Shoemaker, Jim Southeast 11/14/01 Neptune Beach (City of), FL Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Brown, Duke South Atlantic 06/06/02 Newport Beach Fire Department, CA Nov-94 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Richardson, Bill Southwest 11/14/01 Sarasota County Lifeguards, FL Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Regular Shoemaker, Jim Southeast 11/14/01 St. Johns County - Division of Beach Safety, FL Nov-96 Certified Nov-04 Advanced Brown, Duke South Atlantic 11/14/01

Citrus County Parks & Recreation, FL May-02 Certified May-05 Regular Shoemaker, Jim Southeast 06/06/02 Dewey Beach Patrol May-99 Certified May-05 Advanced Simmons, Bill Mid-Atlantic 08/14/02 Kitty Hawk Ocean Rescue, NC May-02 Certified May-05 Advanced Brown, Duke South Atlantic 06/06/02 Laguna Beach, CA May-95 Certified May-05 Advanced Bowman, Max Southwest 06/05/02 Pismo Beach, CA May-95 Certified May-05 Regular Richardson, Bill Southwest 06/05/02 Ocean City Beach Patrol, NJ May-02 Certified May-05 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 06/05/02 San Clemente Marine Safety, CA May-97 Certified May-05 Advanced Bauer, Eric Southwest 06/05/02 Sandpoint, ID (City of) May-99 Certified May-05 Regular McCormick, Dan Northwest 06/05/02 Sea Bright (Borough of), NJ May-02 Certified May-05 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 06/06/02 Sea Girt May-97 Certified May-05 Regular Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 06/19/02 Shore Beach Service (Hilton Head), SC May-95 Certified May-05 Regular Brown, Duke South Atlantic 06/06/02 Solana Beach (City of) May-97 Certified May-05 Advanced Gould, Rick Southwest 06/06/02 US Ocean Safety May-97 Certified May-05 Advanced Bauer, Eric Southwest 06/06/02 Volusia County Beach Patrol, FL May-95 Certified May-05 Advanced Brown, Duke South Atlantic 06/06/02

Lifeguard Agency - First Time Applications

Bellows Air Force Base, HI Pending CO Goto, Ralph Southwest Hawaii Federal Lifesaving Agency (Dept. of Defense) Pending CO Richardson, Bill Southwest Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue, FL Pending CO Hensler, Mike South Atlantic Los Angeles City, Dept of Parks & Rec., CA May-97 Lapsed May-02 Bowman, Max Southwest Michigan City, IN Pending Agency Gavin, Jerry Great Lakes Monmouth County Park System, NJ Pending CO Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic Nassau County, FL Pending Board Hensler, Mike South Atlantic Pinellas County Park Department Pending CO Shoemaker, Jim Southeast Rehoboth, DE Pending Agency Simmons, Bill Mid-Atlantic Scarboro Beach Park, ME Pending Board Shotwell, Dave Northeast Wrightsville Beach (Town of), NC Pending Board Brown, Duke South Atlantic

Aquatic Agency Response Team

Kauai (County of) Fire, HI Nov-97 Pending CO Nov-00 Goto, Ralph Southwest Virginia Beach (City of) Fire, VA May-01 Certified May-04 Shotwell, Dave Mid-Atlantic 5/8/2001 San Francisco Fire Department, CA May-97 Certified May-03 Richardson, Bill Northwest 12/05/00

* Six month grace period granted ** Provided until May 6, 2003 to reapply.

2 of 2 United States Lifesaving Association

National Certification Committee

PO Box 366 Huntington Beach, California 92648 Tel: 866-FOR-USLA

www.usla.org

Chair October 2, 2002

B. Chris Brewster

Members Lt. Luiz Morizot-Leite Miami-Dade Park and Recreation Eric Bauer Haulover Beach and Marine Safety Southwest Region 10800 Collins Avenue Jerry Gavin Miami, FL 33154 Great Lakes Region

Mike Hensler Dear Lt. Morizot-Leite: South Atlantic Region

Jim McCrady It was good to meet you at the World Congress on Drowning 2002. I had Southeast Region intended to write you sooner, but my workload intervened.

Dave Shotwell Mid-Atlantic Region At the World Congress, you presented a study on beach warning flags. Your study states, in part, “The study was conducted in reaction of the proposed Kim Tyson Gulf Coast Region eight color coded warning flags, (by United States Lifesaving Association) to be adapted in the state of Florida, USA … During the course of the study (April to Cathy Wiederhold June 2002) 283 beachgoers were interviewed by the author at [Hollywood, Northwest Region Florida] … The international standardization of beach warning signage would Dr. Peter Wernicki be ideal. Nonetheless having a system that depends on a plain color-coded flag Medical Advisor does not appear to be the best way to warn the beachgoers … We should seek simplicity to warn the lay person, not complexity.”

I have had a chance to read and further consider this study. It is your expressed theory that beach warning flags with pictographs would be superior to those with only colors and numbers, albeit with explanatory signs available. I say theory because while you studied the comprehension of beachgoers at a beach with colored flags only, you were unable to study the effectiveness of flags with pictographs. I personally tend to subscribe to the theory that well designed pictographs are more comprehensible, and certainly more specific, than simple colored flags. Nevertheless, an objective study is not available to me for review.

Your study took place at Hollywood, Florida, which has maintained a rather extensive flag system for some time that goes beyond the three primary green, yellow, and red flags. In addition to colors, Hollywood has placed numbers on the flags to assist persons who are colorblind. In your study, I gather than 59% of beachgoers surveyed fully understood the meaning of the green flag, 47% the yellow, and 35% the red. Incidentally, it is my understanding that Hollywood very rarely flies the red flag, which may have something to do with comprehension of its meaning.

Committee Chair's Address: 3850 Sequoia Street San Diego, CA 92109-6518 Tel: 858-581-1221 Fax: 443-583-0744 Internet: [email protected]

The United States Lifesaving Association’s recently adopted position statement on standardized colors for beach warning flags represents an amalgamation of a variety of flags used in the U.S. Flags similar to the green, yellow, and red system have been heavily used in Florida, lightly used elsewhere in the U.S., and used to varying degrees internationally. Within Florida, across the U.S., and around the world, there is lack of complete uniformity. The USLA effort, if successful, will not only standardize beach warning flags nationwide, but be part of a worldwide movement toward standardization. As you have stated, international standardization would be ideal.

My view is that the most important flag colors are the three primary colors (green, yellow, and red). The others, in my opinion, are of less import and, in some cases, likely to be fully comprehended by some and not at all by others. For example, the blackball flag, when used on certain West Coast beaches, is almost universally understood by the primary audience (surfers) as it means that surfing is prohibited. Non-surfers may have no idea what it means, but that is of little matter, as it is mainly intended to communicate to surfers. The green, yellow, and red flags however, are a different matter.

One of the problems within Florida has been a lack of complete consistency of colors and meaning. Another is that tourists are less likely to understand them than locals. I think we can be almost certain that standardization, both throughout Florida, the US, and internationally would improve comprehension. To what degree is unknown. It is hard to imagine however, that it would lessen comprehension. My view is that if the USLA/ILS effort toward national and international standardization is effective, a study similar to yours in ten years would yield a significantly different result.

You state that your study, “… demonstrates that color-coded flag systems without graphic symbols mislead the public.” I do not agree that your study demonstrates this. Rather, I think that some percentage of beachgoers don’t understand them. Conversely, some percentage understand them and, presumably, benefit. The question, I suppose, is whether those who do not understand them are misled or simply fail to benefit by the warning.

You also indicate that the generalized nature of the warning (e.g. yellow for caution), fails to provide adequate specificity to allow beachgoers to understand the condition depicted. In that regard, you suggest pictographs on the flags to explain the specific problem. You are not alone in this belief. A litigator from Hawaii recently wrote to the editor of Aquatics International that colored flags alone are too general in nature to provide a meaningful warning.

The alternative proposal you made to the World Congress, with pictographs on the flags, would necessarily require specialized flagpoles (as depicted in your proposal) to ensure that regardless of wind conditions, the entire flag could be viewed. This is makes sense. A pictograph on a flag hanging limp, for example, could not be viewed. Thus, the flags you have depicted are either hung from the side of a lifeguard tower or flown from poles that ensure that the flags hang horizontally and vertically straight. I would also

2 posit that this proposal would require significantly more flags, in that one would need to be able to recognize not only the color, but the graphic upon them, thus one would need to be closer thereto.

I am not personally a big fan of beach safety flags. I do believe though, that if used, they ought to be of a consistent color and consistently flown by beaches which choose to use them. In my view, USLA should consider your proposal and decide whether to maintain the current approach or amend it in light of your suggestions. The sooner the better, as this effort is moving forward rapidly. I am happy to put this forth on your behalf or to invite you to do so. Our next Board of Directors meeting is in Chicago, November 7, 8, and 9.

In my view, the alternatives are these:

1) Stay the Course: Under this scenario, the existing standards are likely to be much more widely adopted, very possibly internationally. Comprehension of their meaning would be likely to increase. Thus, perhaps, 50% or more of beachgoers might understand the meaning of the primary three flags – green, yellow, and red. Advantages include simplicity, ease of recognition from a distance, ease of flying the flags, and greater recognition of international acceptance (due to similarity to other systems). As an example of the issue of recognition, I was recently in Pensacola where the flag on the pier could be seen for a couple of miles and advised everyone understanding it what the current conditions were. Detractors include the generalized nature of the warning and requirement that people understand the system to understand the message.

2) Make a Change: Under this scenario, the system now widely used in Florida and elsewhere (albeit somewhat inconsistently) would be scrapped in favor of the pictographs you recommend. Advantages include easier recognition and, very likely, better understanding of the meaning of the flags. Detractions include the difficulty of convincing municipalities nationally and around the world of such significant change, the need for devices upon which to fly the flags such that they are fully recognizable, and the relatively higher number needed to notify the same number of people.

I am intrigued, incidentally, with something you mentioned to me about the misunderstandings surrounding the numbering system. Essentially, as I understand this, many people seem to think that the number represents the number of the lifeguard stand or some similar message, and are thus confused. According to the Medical College of Wisconsin, “There are several types of colorblindness and the severity of the condition varies from individual to individual. Sometimes known as color-vision deficiency, it affects one of every 12 men and one of every 230 women. There are an estimated nine million colorblind people in the US. It is more common in Caucasians than other ethnic groups.” I wonder whether the greater good is served by utilizing flags without numbers, than by using flags with numbers, recognizing that this may impact colorblind persons.

3 Another option here that occurs to me is a more simple symbol on the flags. Example: A horizontal stripe on green flags, a vertical stripe on yellow flags, and a diagonal stripe on red flags. This could allow the colorblind to understand without causing confusion related to the numbers. I am inclined, personally, to support dropping the numeric concept altogether, based on the points you made.

With respect to your specific proposal, another approach occurs to me. That approach would involve maintaining the standards already approved by USLA, but offering the alternative of utilizing flags that also have specific pictographs upon them. For example, an agency could choose to use flags that are only yellow (or only yellow with the aforementioned stripe), or yellow flags with a pictograph on them. This preserves the general theme of yellow meaning caution, but allows agencies, in their discretion, to further refine the message. Thus, there is no inconsistency of color-based meaning, but there is the option of greater specificity.

In the end, the question is what approach appears to provide the greatest good to the most people in a reasonable cost-effective manner. It is my view that standardization is needed both for flags and beach signs. Once the flag issue is put to rest, the next goal is signs. One view, which you have put forward, is that the generalized information provided by simple colored flags is not adequately specific. Another view is that further complicating the flags would cause less use of them and greater confusion. In the end, USLA has made a decision and must decide whether to modify it.

I would be interested in your thoughts on this matter.

Lifesaving Aye,

B. Chris Brewster Chair

BCB c: National Certification Committee

4 United States Lifesaving Association

National Certification Committee

PO Box 366 Huntington Beach, California 92648 Tel: 866-FOR-USLA

www.usla.org

Chair September 14, 2002

B. Chris Brewster

Members Mayor Craig Barker Eric Bauer City of Destin Southwest Region 4200 Two Trees Road Jerry Gavin Destin, FL 32541 -3323 Great Lakes Region

Mike Hensler Dear Mayor Barker: South Atlantic Region

Jim McCrady At your kind invitation, it is my pleasure to offer the services of the United Southeast Region States Lifesaving Association in helping Destin develop an improved aquatic safety program aimed at preventing drowning and related incidents, and Dave Shotwell Mid-Atlantic Region otherwise improving the safety protections provided to beach users in your city. As you know, USLA is America's nonprofit, professional association of beach Kim Tyson Gulf Coast Region lifeguards and open water rescuers. USLA works to reduce the incidence of death and injury in the aquatic environment through public education, national Cathy Wiederhold lifeguard standards, training programs, promotion of high levels of lifeguard Northwest Region readiness, and other means. Dr. Peter Wernicki Medical Advisor USLA has limited funding, but a rich resource of experienced aquatic safety professionals. My experience includes serving as a professional lifeguard for the City of San Diego for 22 years, 13 of those as Lifeguard Chief (http://www.ci.san-diego.ca.us/lifeguards/). As well, I have traveled throughout the world on behalf of USLA and the International Life Saving Federation (www.ilsf.org), for which I serve as President of the Americas Region. For further information, please review my curriculum vita at www.bcbrewster.net.

In keeping with the goals of USLA, I would like to recommend that a small number of USLA officials visit your area, meet with as many interested persons as possible, conduct on-site visits of the waterfront, and ultimately present your city with written recommendations. I suggest that the team include myself, USLA Southeast Region President Jim McCrady, and USLA Southeast Region Panhandle Representative Sean Turner. I have worked with these two gentlemen in the past with very good result.

The three of us would provide the noted services at no charge to Destin. We would all be volunteering our time in the interest of helping you improve the safety of your beaches. We would however, request that you cover reasonable transportation, lodging, and meal costs. I would anticipate total airfare to be

Committee Chair's Address: 3850 Sequoia Street San Diego, CA 92109-6518 Tel: 858-581-1221 Fax: 443-583-0744 Internet: [email protected] under $1,500, perhaps less. We would need a single rental car. Ideally, you may be able to have lodging and meals donated to further limit expenses.

Timing of our visit would need to be coordinated among the three of us, in consultation with you. I would anticipate a four or five day visit. In any event, it would not be scheduled until funding could be arranged. As well, I would wish to consult with the USLA Executive Board for final approval, but do not anticipate difficulty in that regard.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a publication entitled, “Lifeguard Effectiveness – A Report of the Working Group.” I had the honor of participating in its development. I would like to encourage you to review this report, which is available on-line at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/lifeguard/lifeguard.htm. It is specifically designed for decision-makers like yourself and your colleagues.

We look forward to the opportunity to work with your city to help you enhance the level of public safety presently maintained.

Kind Regards,

B. Chris Brewster Chair

BCB c: USLA President USLA President – Southeast Region

2 United States Lifesaving Association

National Certification Committee

PO Box 366 Huntington Beach, California 92648 Tel: 866-FOR-USLA

www.usla.org

Chair September 26, 2002

B. Chris Brewster

Members Dr. Stephen Leatherman, PhD Eric Bauer Laboratory for Coastal Research Southwest Region Florida International University Jerry Gavin University Park Great Lakes Region Miami, FL 33199 Mike Hensler South Atlantic Region Dear Dr. Leatherman:

Jim McCrady Southeast Region After our meeting in Tampa in June and your subsequent mailing to me of various materials, I had intended to write much sooner. Regrettably, a variety of Dave Shotwell Mid-Atlantic Region pressing business got in the way. For that I apologize.

Kim Tyson Gulf Coast Region When we met, I questioned the selection and promotion process for your annual America’s Best Beaches list. In particular, I reiterated past concerns with Cathy Wiederhold respect to what I perceive to be your lack of emphasis on public safety and lack Northwest Region of a truly scientific (or objective) basis in selections. Dr. Peter Wernicki Medical Advisor With respect to the public safety issue, you have in the past, and continue to, highly rate beaches with no lifeguards, some of which may have very poor safety records. You have a published list of 50 rating criteria. Though it is not clear to me, it appears that you give beaches a weighting from 1 to 5 for each of the 50 criteria. Thus, it appears that a perfect score would be 250 points. In any case, one of those 50 involves the presence or absence of lifeguards. Apparently, a beach with “some” lifeguards is given a rating of 5, while a beach with “none” is given a rating of 1. It would appear to me then, that a beach could conceivably achieve an almost perfect rating of 246 with no lifeguards on duty, ever.

In addition, with particular respect to lifeguard protection, there appears no effort to rate based on the quality, quantity, or frequency of lifeguard staffing. In theory, it appears that a three mile beach with two poorly trained lifeguards staffed for an indeterminate period would receive the same rating (5) as another three mile beach with 50 lifeguards trained and equipped to USLA standards and on duty year round. This seems lacking in validity.

Perhaps of even greater import, another of the 50 criteria is, “safety record (deaths).” A beach with “some” falls in category 1. A beach with “none” falls in

Committee Chair's Address: 3850 Sequoia Street San Diego, CA 92109-6518 Tel: 858-581-1221 Fax: 443-583-0744 Internet: [email protected] category 5. (There is no in-between.) My impression is that you do very limited actual research. For example, one year you rated a beach in San Diego in the top ten despite the fact that it had been closed for months due to water contamination. You also highly rated St. Andrews Beach (adjacent to Panama City Beach) as the top beach in 1995 and insisted that it had lifeguards, when in fact it had none. Even if you were to conduct extensive research, the term “some” seems a very general classification with respect to deaths. Under this system, a beach with 40 drownings would appear to receive the same rating as one with two drownings.

To use my earlier example with respect to drownings, as I understand your rating system, a one mile beach with two lifeguards on duty for two months of the year and 40 drownings in a year could receive a score of 246. Do you see the problem here? Moreover, do you see how it might seriously conflict with efforts to reduce drownings?

I do not personally have a problem with a beach rating system that is truly objectively based and primarily aimed at aesthetics, so long as the latter is made abundantly clear. The problem I see is that your term “Best Beaches” has broad implications. I think most people would assume that these are not only nice places to visit, but also safe places to visit. Your use of, and reference to, certain safety criteria, furthers this impression. With respect to aesthetics, if you’re wrong, there is something to argue about, but no one is hurt. With respect to safety, if you’re wrong, you may have encouraged someone to visit a beach where they die.

When you publish a list of Best Beaches, the press inevitably picks up on which ones were first, second, third, whatever, and this becomes a major tourism enhancement tool, thus an encouragement for people to visit these beaches over others. In my view, you should either ensure that no beach with a poor safety rating is included, or you should find some way to convey to the press that your rating system does not take safety into account in a meaningful way. Making a half-hearted attempt to evaluate safety and then implying that you have meaningfully considered safety is, I think, an irresponsible use of the fame you have achieved through this annual exercise.

I believe that the “Prevention” portion of your website (www.drbeach.org) has some value, but I think it inadequately emphasizes minor problems over the most serious. Were I to write something of this nature, I’d begin by stating that the most serious threat to safety at any body of water is drowning and then make recommendations as to how people can avoid this. A primary method would be swimming near lifeguards, since USLA figures indicate that the chance of drowning in an area under the protection of lifeguards associated with USLA is 1 in 18 million. Bottom line, I would suggest emphasizing this issue and moving it up, placing information about things like sunglasses, sunburn, etc., lower down, as they are of less import. Nevertheless, I must believe that a tiny percentage of people who read about America’s Best Beaches will visit your website, and thus benefit by this element.

My second concern has to do with the ratings rules you employ. The concept of churning beaches through the top ten, such that different beaches are represented each

2 year, has the potential to invalidate the whole process. That is, it seems like the idea is to give everyone with a nice beach the chance to get on the list at some point. If, on the other hand, this were approached from a truly scientific (or truly objective) rating standard, then the same beaches might be on the list year after year. Boring? You bet. So the media wouldn’t be anywhere near as interested. On the other hand, it would have much more integrity.

In the end, of course, this isn’t really a scientific rating system, which is why I questioned the science that you imply is involved. Rather, it is a system based primarily on some aesthetic criteria, weighted in accordance to your tastes, which tastes may well be quite well received by others. That part though, is of far less concern to me than the issue of public safety that I believe is being compromised.

As I have offered in the past, if you would like to collaborate in some way to more meaningfully take safety into account in future ratings, please let me know. I would be happy to convey that sentiment to the USLA Board of Directors and try to develop some mutually satisfactory process. Absent some meaningful changes though, I must regretfully maintain a view that this is an unscientific process which conflicts with my goals and that of the organizations for which I volunteer – water safety.

Sincerely,

B. Chris Brewster Chair

BCB

attach: Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman's Fifty Criteria

Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman’s Fifty Criteria

PHYSICAL FACTORS CATEGORIES (relate to the 1 2 3 4 5 vacation/holiday season) 60- <10 m 30-60 >100 m 1. Beach width at low tide 10-30 m 100 narrow m wide m coarse 2. Beach material cobbles sand/cobbles ----- fine sand sand 3. Beach condition or variation erosional ----- stable ----- depositional 4. Sand softness hard ------soft warm 5. Water temperature cold/hot ------(70°-80° F) < 60° F 6. Air temperature (midday) ------80°-90° F > 100° F 7. Number of sunny days few ------many 8. Amount of rain large ------little 9. Wind speeds high ------low 10.Size of breaking waves high/dangerous ------low/safe 11. Number of waves/width of none 1-2 3-4 5 6+ breaker zone gently sloping 12. Beach slope (underwater) steeply sloping bottom ------bottom 13. Longshore current strong ------weak 14. Rip currents often ------never light 15. Color of sand gray black brown white/pink tan 16. Tidal range large (>4 m) 3-4 m 2-3 m 1-2 m small (<1 m) 17. Beach shape straight ------pocket 18. Bathing area bottom rocky, cobbles, mud ------fine sand conditions 19. Turbidity turbid ------clear 20. Water color gray ------aquablue 21. Floating/suspended human plentiful ------none material (sewage, scum) 22. Algae in water amount infested ------absent 23. Red tide common ------none 24. Smell (eg, seaweed, rotting bad odors ------fresh salty air fish) 25. Wildlife (eg, shore birds) none ------plentiful 26. Pests (biting flies, ticks, common ------no problem mosquitoes) 27. Presence of sewarage/runoff several ------none outfall lines on/across the beach

28. Seaweed/jellyfish on the many ------none beach 29. Trash and litter(paper, common ------rare plastics, nets, ropes, planks) 30. Oil and tar balls common ------none 31. Glass and rubble common ------rare 32. Views and vistas - Local obstructed ------unobstructed scene 33. Views and vistas - Far vista confined ------unconfined 34. Buildings/Urbanism overdeveloped ------pristine/wild 35. Access limited ------good 36. Misfits (nuclear power present ------none station, offshore dumping) 37. Vegetation (nearby). Trees, none ------many sand dunes 38. Well-kept grounds/promenades or natural no ------yes environment 39. Amenities (showers, chairs, none ------some bars, etc) 40. Lifeguards none ------present 41. Safety record (deaths) some ------none 42. Domestic animals (eg, dogs) many ------none 43. Noise (cars, nearby much ------little highways, trains) 44. Noise (eg, crowds, radios) much ------little 45. Presence of seawalls, riprap, large amount ------none concrete/rubble ample open 46. Intensity of beach use overcrowded ------space 47. Off-road vehicles common ------none 48. Floatables in water common ------none (garbage, toilet paper) 49. Public safety (eg, common ------rare pickpockets, crime) 50. Competition for free use of beach (eg, fishermen, boaters, many ------few water-skiers)

United States Lifesaving Association

National Certification Committee

PO Box 366 Huntington Beach, California 92648 Tel: 866-FOR-USLA

www.usla.org

Chair May 23, 2002

B. Chris Brewster

Members Walter McLeod, President Clean Beaches Council Eric Bauer 618 Kenmore Avenue, Suite 2A Southwest Region Fredericksburg, VA 22401 Jerry Gavin Great Lakes Region Dear Mr. McLeod:

Mike Hensler I recently became aware of the efforts of your organization to rate the cleanliness and safety South Atlantic Region of America’s beaches. As you may know, the United States Lifesaving Association is the nation’s association of professional open water lifesavers. We promulgate recommended Jim Crady Southeast Region safety standards for beaches and certify lifesaving organizations which meet our standards. A list of certified agencies is available on our website. Dave Shotwell Mid-Atlantic Region Our goal does not involve evaluating water cleanliness, but rather the quality of lifesaving services. Thus, we are primarily concerned for public safety related to drowning prevention. Kim Tyson As you may know, this is the most serious threat to public safety at the nation’s beaches. Gulf Coast Region

Cathy Wiederhold Your organization recently issued a release (http://www.cleanbeaches.org/) asking the Northwest Region question, “Is Your Summer Beach Destination Clean and Safe?” This press release included a list of beaches, “… which have been officially certified for public safety, cleanli- Dr. Peter Wernicki ness, and environmental quality.” Medical Advisor I am not in a position to judge the efficacy of your methodology with respect to evaluating cleanliness and environmental quality. I am interested to know however, on behalf of USLA, what methodology your organization is using to evaluate public safety (aside from water quality issues). I am also interested to know the source of the expertise of those evaluating applicants in this regard.

Asserting that a beach is “safe” is a major step toward encouraging use of that beach and reducing apprehension with respect to the chance of drowning. Considering the broad ramifications of this term and the fact that anyone can drown, under the right circum- stances, in any body of water, declaring an area safe is fraught with the potential for misin- terpretation. Our approach is to make people aware of the hazards and encourage them to take steps to help reduce the chance of drowning (one of which is to swim near a lifeguard).

I would value the chance to discuss this issue with you at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

B. Chris Brewster, Chair

BCB

Committee Chair's Address: 3850 Sequoia Street San Diego, CA 92109-6518 Tel: 858-581-1221 Fax: 720-535-3274 Internet: [email protected]

United States Lifesaving Association

National Certification Committee

PO Box 366 Huntington Beach, California 92648 Tel: 866-FOR-USLA

www.usla.org

Chair June 6, 2002

B. Chris Brewster

Members Walter McLeod, President Eric Bauer Clean Beaches Council Southwest Region 618 Kenmore Avenue, Suite 2A Jerry Gavin Fredericksburg, VA 22401 Great Lakes Region

Mike Hensler Dear Walter: South Atlantic Region

Jim Crady My thanks for your time on the telephone today. In my view, there are many posi- Southeast Region tive possibilities for the future for our respective organizations. With some continued sensitivity to the important public benefit goals of each group, I’m sure we’ll Dave Shotwell Mid-Atlantic Region find a good path forward that ensures that our efforts are complementary, rather than contradictory. I would value the opportunity to speak further with you to try to Kim Tyson Gulf Coast Region develop an approach of mutual benefit and collaboration.

Cathy Wiederhold Attached is a copy of the USLA Position Statement on Flag Warnings. In my dual Northwest Region roles as National Certification Committee chair and as President for the Americas Dr. Peter Wernicki Region of the International Life Saving Federation, I have been working diligently Medical Advisor to encourage development of a flag warning system that is acceptable both in the U.S. and internationally. Major strides have been made in this regard with adoption of the attached. I anticipate that a slightly modified version of this approach will be adopted by the International Life Saving Federation in the spring of 2003 and it is my hope that the USLA standards will be modified accordingly. Thus, a true international standard will be in place.

As you may know, the Florida legislation on this issue involves direction to administrators within the State of Florida to develop a consistent system. It is my understanding, in speaking with the office of Representative Maygarden, that the intent is to adopt the standard recommended by USLA. I would like you to know that the Florida Beach Patrol Chief’s Association’s President was involved in development of this position statement.

I gather from our conversation that you may be unaware of some of the important work done by lifeguards in the U.S. with respect to drowning and accident prevention. In that regard, I would kindly refer you to two documents. One is the Life- guard Effectiveness report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The other is a copy of the most recent statistics compiled by the United States Lifesaving Association. I would hope you might find these of interest.

Committee Chair's Address: 3850 Sequoia Street San Diego, CA 92109-6518 Tel: 858-581-1221 Fax: 720-535-3274 Internet: [email protected]

With specific reference to the CDC report, allow me to quote the following excerpts:

Each year, about 4,000 people die from drowning in the United States (National Cen- ter for Health Statistics, 2000). Drowning was a leading cause of unintentional injury death among all ages in 1998, and the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among children ages 1-14 that same year (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000). Approximately 50-75% of drownings occur in open water such as oceans, lakes, rivers, and ponds (Dietz & Baker, 1974). About 60% of drowning deaths among children occur in swimming pools (Dietz & Baker, 1974).

Most drownings are preventable through such means as restricting swimming areas, posting warning signs, and fencing the perimeters of pools and waterways. Two important preventive strategies are providing lifeguards in public areas where swimmers fre- quent, and encouraging use of such protected areas. The United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) compiles statistics for drownings that occur at about 95% of ocean beaches and at some non-ocean sites patrolled by lifeguards. For the years 1988- 1997, USLA recorded fewer than 100 drownings at these sites with more than three- quarters occurring during hours when the beaches were unguarded (USLA, 2000). These data indicate that the vast majority of drownings each year occur at unguarded locations (Mael, Seck, & Russell, 1999); about 60%-70% of U.S. beaches are unguarded (Brewster & Richardson, 2001). USLA statistics estimate that the chance of drowning at a beach protected by lifeguards trained under USLA standards is less than one in 18 million per year (USLA, 2001).

Finally, if a community develops water recreational facilities to attract patrons who spend money in the local area, then it can be argued that the community has an obligation to protect these patrons. When weighing the costs and legal implications of in- terventions to prevent drowning, decision makers should never lose sight of the enor- mous importance of protecting people from harm and preventing tragedy at beaches and pools, places where people go for pleasure, for health, and for solace.

I trust this letter finds you in good health and look forward to working with you in the future.

Regards,

B. Chris Brewster, Chair

BCB attach: USLA Position Statement – Warning Flags USLA 2000 National Lifeguard Statistics Lifeguard Effectiveness – A Report of a Working Group

2 United States Lifesaving Association Position Statement Warning Flags

Approved by the USLA Board of Directors: May 5, 2002

INTRODUCTION

In parts of the United States, as well as in other parts of the world, warning flags are sometimes flown to notify beach users of current water conditions. This form of public education is intended, in part, to help prevent drowning and other injury by notifying beach users of the degree of hazard and thus, the level of caution that may be warranted.

Prior to enactment of these guidelines, no consistent national flag warning scheme was in existence. It is the intent of USLA that these guidelines serve as an encouragement to lifeguard organizations, which choose to use warning flags, to adapt to a consistent system, as detailed here. This can be expected to improve understanding and lessen confusion among beach users. If these guidelines are consistently followed, tourists can expect the same warning system at any beach to which they travel. Public education efforts as to the meaning of the flags will then be complimentary, rather than contradictory. It is the intention of USLA to encourage international adoption of a similar system throughout the world through the International Life Saving Federation.

Flags, signs, and other public education efforts are not a substitute for the provision of lifeguards. USLA has calculated, based on a ten year study of reports from USLA affiliated lifeguard agencies, that the chance that a person will drown while attending a beach protected by USLA affiliated lifeguards is 1 in 18 million (.0000055%). Signs and flags may help some people avoid distress, but when a person encounters distress in the water, flags and signs cannot effect a rescue. That can only be reliably accomplished by trained professionals. Therefore, USLA strongly recommends that these guidelines be implemented as an adjunct to the provision of lifeguard protection, not as a substitute.

GUIDELINES

Drowning is one of the leading causes of accidental death in the U.S. and throughout the world. Regardless of conditions, water can be hazardous. A person of any level of swimming ability can drown on any given day. Calm conditions, for example, do not ensure safety. As well, conditions can change quickly. For this reason, USLA recommends that regardless of conditions, persons should always swim in an area under the protection of lifeguards.

Ocean conditions vary throughout the United States. Conditions that may be considered relatively mild in some areas, may be seen as a safety threat in others. Therefore, in each area where warning flags are employed, USLA recommends that specific local criteria be developed that provide objective, measurable criteria for posting the flags, and that the public be clearly notified of those criteria. These guidelines are intended to provide general levels of hazard to be further defined locally.

USLA Position Statement Page 1 of 2 Warning Flags

The first four flags are intended to provide general notification of overall conditions for a beach area. That is, if it is decided that water conditions present a “moderate hazard” on a given beach, it should cover the entire beach, not a portion or area thereof. This does not prevent use of additional flags of the same warning level to accentuate the notification, but a single beach should not fly a green flag in one area and a red flag in another, for example.

Some or all of the flags listed below may be employed. It may be decided, for example, to adopt the first three, but none of the others. This is a local decision. However, USLA strongly discourages use of flags of similar colors that conflict with the meaning of those listed below. This would jeopardize the value of consistency and confuse the public. In any case, with the exception of the double red, which indicates a closed beach, the first three should never be flown simultaneously.

Where warning flags are flown, the public should be notified of their meaning via signs placed at multiple, conveniently located places. Examples might include beach access ramps, lifeguard towers, parking lots, and the flagpoles themselves.

All warning flags flown should include not only a clearly identifiable color, but also a number. This is intended to assist persons who are colorblind in determining the level of hazard. Explanatory signs should clearly explain the meaning of numbers as well as colors.

Flag Number Condition Color Green 1 Low Hazard (small surf, light currents, and clean water) Yellow 2 Moderate Hazard (moderate surf and/or strong currents) Red 3 High Hazard (high surf and/or very strong currents and/or contaminated water advisory) Red over 3 Water is closed to public contact. (One red flag flown above a second Red red flag.) Purple 4 Marine pests present (e.g.: jellyfish, stingrays, Portuguese man-o-war) - Note: This is not intended to be used to notify of the presence of sharks. If water is closed or hazardous due to the presence of sharks, use red flag(s). Yellow 5 Surfing prohibited - Note: According to local regulation, this may with Black include a variety of defined surfriding devices. Ball Black 6 Surfing permitted Checkered 7 Use Area Boundary (example: boundary of a swimming and surfing area) Red over 8 Protected Area Boundary (end of lifeguard protection) Yellow

USLA Position Statement Page 2 of 2 Warning Flags United States Lifesaving Association

2000 National Lifesaving Statistics

Beach Attendance 264,156,728 Rescues Total 70,771 Primary Cause: Rip Current 22,668 Surf 4,469 Swiftwater 88 SCUBA 227 Cliff Rescues 102 Boat Rescues Total 2,257 Passengers 2,665 Vessel Value $48,688,728 Boat Assists Total 3,236 Passengers 3,823 Vessel Value $233,346,502 Preventive Actions 3,444,192 Medical Aids 236,642 Major 10,041 Minor 226,245 Drowning Total 74 Unguarded 62 Guarded 12 Fatalities 58 Enforcement Actions Total 757,301 Warnings 718,746 Boat/PWC 30,819 Citations 6,716 Arrests 1,020 Lost and Found Persons 27,308 Public Safety Lectures Total 4,327 Numbers of Lectures 307,211

FROM: Norm Rooker – National Association for Search and Rescue

Chris, Just a quick note to touch bases, proposition you on an idea and extend 2 invitations. The proposition. I came up with the idea of contacting the Outward Bound Organization (I'm an alumni of the Colorado Outward Bound School, 1975) and arranging for them to hand out a description of NASAR at the students graduation from their various schools and courses. (Outward Bound has 26 separate schools in the US.) However, since Outward Bound has Mountaineering, Caving, Sea Kayaking and Sailing programs as well as the standard wilderness program, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have a 4 part brochure. Us, the National Association for Search And Rescue, the mountain Rescue Association, the US Cave Rescue Association and you guys. This would be a possible education/recruiting/awareness format for those folks who want to expand their interest in our respective organizations. My thought is we each developed a half page information sheet that can be made into double sided single page brochure. So what do you think? Is this something the USLA would be interested in participating in? (By the way, I'm also in the process of propositioning the MRA & USCRA and I won't be approaching Outward Bound until I have all of your opinions back on whether you would like to participate or not. Say by October 5th.) Secondly, I would like to extend an invitation for you or one of your designees to attend our next NASAR Board of Director's meeting to be held at our HQ office in Chantilly, VA January 23rd & 24th, 2003. We would also like to extend an invitation to the USLA to have a complimentary information booth at our annual Educational Conference, SAR 2003 to be held at the Nugget Hotel & Casino in Sparks (Reno) Nevada may 28th - the 30th, 2003. Lastly, we've reactivated the NASAR Swiftwater Rescue Advisory Group and renamed it the NASAR Flood & Water Rescue Advisory Group. You or your designee are invited to attend the Advisory Group special interest meeting at SAR 2003 as well. That's a nutshell view of what's happening with NASAR in the water rescue venue. How about you folks at the USLA? Conferences? Legislation? Updates? An inquiring mind/organization is curious. Lastly, if you e-mail our office manager and web mistress Mylea Wade with the USLA web site, she will be glad to list it on the NASAR web site's links section. She can be contacted at [email protected] Thanks and stay safe, Norm National Textbook Committee Activity Report

Fall 2002 Board of Directors Meeting Book Sales

• Through June 2002, a total of 12,244 books had been sold. USLA received a royalty check for $869.38 for the period of July through December. Total earnings to date are $14,466.54. Our royalty is now 10% for regular sales in the United States. Books sold to other countries or via mail order have a fixed 5% royalty.

Second Edition

• After months (almost years) of problems, USLA has signed an agreement with Prentice Hall's Pearson Custom Publishing subsidiary for the second edition of the USLA manual. A copy of the contract has been signed by Dave Shotwell and Don Rohrer after review by Chip More. My thanks to Chip for the many, many hours of work done on this project. It was a difficult process, but we were able to achieve agreement on major concerns of USLA.

• Several things held us up in contract negotiations. The primary issue was that we wanted a clause that reverted all copyright of the book to us in case the publisher decided to no longer publish. Our original contract did not provide this. The new contract does so.

• The contract, which is actually an amendment to our original contract, includes all elements we had requested, with the exception of publication of a separate workbook. Thus there will be a Test Manager (for which we are paid $500); Powerpoint slides (for which we are paid ($1,000); and an Instructor’s guide (for which we are paid $1,800). This publisher, as well as another we had spoken to, recommends that workbook items be included at the end of each chapter, thus making the book more "dis- posable," and reducing the problem of librarying books, which reduces our income. Overall, it appears that we will be publishing a learning package, instead of only a manual. This should be of particular assistance to organizations just starting out with the USLA program. Instructors will have, for example, a ready-made Powerpoint presentation, test questions, and an instructor manual.

• Over the next several months, extensive work will be undertaken by the Chair, members of the Text- book Committee, and the Curriculum Committee to prepare the second edition of the book.

Buy Books

• Remember, one of the best ways agencies can support USLA and educate lifeguards and junior lifeguards is to buy books for your training programs and for the reference of your lifeguards. Please mention this in your newsletters, regional meetings, and in any other way possible.

B. Chris Brewster National Textbook Committee Chair

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected]

Page 1 of 1 USLA.ORG USLA Website Activity Report Fall 2002 Board of Directors Meeting

Competition Chat

• At the direction of the Board of Directors, competition discussion is no longer permitted on the USLA bulletin board(s). A notice to persons posting messages now contains the introductory phrase, “Anyone is welcome to post a message which pertains to lifesaving, with the exception of lifesaving competition, on the USLA Guard to Guard bulletin board.” This has been met with something less than enthusiasm from some users, who have expressed their frustrations. However, when another venue was offered for this discussion by Mid-Atlantic Region member Phil Rogers (on Yahoo), there was apparently little interest.

Advertising

• Little interest has been spurred by our banner advertising opportunity, although we have had some ads placed in this manner. Our site sponsors, Medtronics, paid a sponsorship fee in 2000 for two years of sponsorship. Their logo was placed on the site in April 2000. This sponsor’s exposure opportunity ex- pired in April of 2002, but has been left on the site. An extension would be of value to USLA.

USLA Store

• It was decided in November 1999 that a USLA Store should be developed on the website where links would be made available to any USLA revenue partner willing to sign a contract with USLA for a certain percentage of income and to design a site to agreed specifications. The first revenue partner to meet the required standards is Uniserv, which is now linked in the new USLA Store. This allows anyone visiting USLA.ORG to purchase a variety of branded USLA items. So far, no other revenue partners have chosen to meet the USLA requirements to be linked to the store.

Amazon.com Link

• For some time, we have maintained a link to Amazon.com from our page describing The United States Lifesaving Association Manual of Open Water Lifesaving. This allows people interested in buying a single copy to purchase it easily from Amazon. Amazon pays USLA a percentage of income from the pur- chases. The cost to the customer is no greater.

Upgrades

• A variety of upgrades to usla.org were made over the past six months. Input, in this regard, is always welcome.

Respectfully submitted,

B. Chris Brewster, Website Editor

Telephone: (619) 221-8832 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected]

UNITED STATES LIFESAVING ASSOCIATION

National Lifesaving Statistics Report 2001

Since inception as the National Surf Life Saving Association in 1964, the chapters and agencies involved in lifesaving efforts in United States have endeavored to record the activity performed by their lifeguards. These records have been compiled in a statistical format to record the various categories of activity performed by these agencies. The Association, now known as the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA), has published this information for many years for several purposes. The main function is to educate the public about the profession of lifesaving. The statistics also serve to highlight particular professional areas of interest, to provide tools in agency budget development and to further the knowledge base about the open water environment. This report highlights the 2001 statistics of the USLA. Complete records of USLA statistics dating to 1960 may be downloaded from USLA's Website at www.usla.org.

The United States Lifesaving Association

The United States Lifesaving Association is a non-profit, professional organization of lifeguards who work at open water beaches (both surf and inland). Members are organized into chapters, which are generally formed by reason of a common employer of the member lifeguards. Since this is not a union, membership extends to all ranks of lifeguards and there is strong participation from management level employees through line lifeguards. Open water lifeguard agencies, most of which are governmental bodies, participate in USLA through their employees and benefit through various means, such as promulgation of public safety material, collection and dissemination of statistics, development of lifeguard educational material, and the USLA Lifeguard Agency Certification Program.

Beaches, Collection and Categories

The USLA collects lifesaving statistics for all beaches affiliated agencies and also accepts reports from other ocean beaches indirectly associated with the USLA. The collection efforts date to 1960 and for much of the first twenty years, focused exclusively on California beaches, especially the greater Los Angeles area. In the late 1980's, collection efforts began in earnest for the entire United States. This report reflects thirteen years of active national statistics collection, with a gradual progression from a west coast based report to the more national look presented here. USLA now reports lifesaving statistics from 8 geographical regions of its organization. Typically, over 85 agencies/beaches report each year. These include most of the major United States beach lifeguard agencies such as Los Angeles County, the State of California, the Cities of San Diego and Huntington Beach, CA, the City and County of Honolulu,

the Chicago Park District, Volusia County and Ft Lauderdale, Florida and Long Beach and Cape May, New Jersey.

UNITED STATES LIFESAVING ASSOCIATION 2001 National Lifesaving Statistics Beach Attendance 227,653,486 Rescues Total 44,912 Primary Cause Rip Currents 25,517 Surf 3,184 SCUBA 188 Swiftwater 72 Cliff Rescues 103 Boat Rescues 2,849 Passengers 4,778 Vessel Value $88,753,351 Boat Assists 9,781 Passengers 10,170 Vessel Value $82,786,971 Preventive Actions 3,044,565 Medical Aids 193,236 Major 23,101 Minor 170,109 Drowning 80 Unguarded 72 Guarded 8 Fatalities 42 Enforcement Actions 658,312 Warnings 622,424 PWC Warning 27,461 Citations 7,269 Arrests 1,158 Lost and Found Persons 11,131 Public Safety Lectures 5,212 Students 307,092

Table 1

The 2001 statistics show a relatively quiet season in most activity categories. This slowdown is especially true in California and comes despite an increase in reporting agencies from 2000. The rescue category, which continues to be dominated by the West Coast, shows a significant decrease. Both Preventive Actions and Medical Aids mirror the downward trend in the rescue category along with the modest attendance decrease.

Beach activity levels show little change in such areas as Drowning, where totals have remained stable over the last 5 years. Following a predictable pattern, the number of guarded drowning remained close and the ratio between unguarded and guarded remained relatively stable. Boat Rescues stayed the same but Boat Assists jumped

significantly after years of continuing to show a decrease. No rationale is available to explain the disparity. A new categories included in this report since 1996 is the Law Enforcement section sub heading for warnings given to personal watercraft (PWC) and the numbers are substantial, highlighting a growing problem area for lifeguard agencies.

The National Statistics Coordinator cautions that the 2001 statistics must be viewed carefully if any long term trend analysis or forecasting is contemplated. This report comprises the totals from each of the USLA's regional councils. In 1997, the USLA received reports from 105 beaches and 92 in 1998. This year, the total number of reporting beaches has dropped substantially, especially in the East, to 78 in 2001. As such, representative samples should be taken on an agency to agency comparative model, rather than on a national or regional scale.

Primary Causes of Rescues

Using the data developed in 1994-2001 the USLA has identified the Primary Cause of Rescue to be predominately from rip currents. The data developed has been analyzed in several ways. First, from the perspective of all reporting agencies, the data provided indicates rip currents account for roughly 45% of all rescues performed by the USLA. However, this analysis must be adjusted for environmental conditions. First, the data includes reports from agencies that operate open water/lake beaches without these conditions. Second, several of the reporting agencies were unable to redesign their reporting procedures to identify all the causes. Thus, well over 20,000 rescues are not attributed to cause, classified in the analysis as 'other.' USLA is encouraging agencies to begin to carefully collect this data in the future.

In order to compensate for these conditions, the data was evaluated to identify the agencies that should be included in the primary cause analysis, those situated on surf beaches. This analysis finds the predominant cause of rescues again to be rip currents, exceeding 82% of all rescues. California beaches recorded a significant percentage for rip currents, and the percentage rose in 1998 to 90.12%. While the rip current percentage slips below 90% this year, it still remains the dominant cause of rescues.

Links to National Certification System

The USLA has linked the national statistics reporting system to the Lifeguard Agency Certification program. First, all agencies that are certified by USLA are required to submit their agency activity annually in order to maintain certification in good standing. Second, the Certification program will distribute statistics collection forms to all identified agencies each fall to assist in statistics collection. This relationship has been highly beneficial, with a number of non-USLA reports included in the 2001 statistics. It is not hard to speculate that full reporting by Chapters and certified agencies could result in recording over 100,000 rescues annually. For example, over 50 agencies along the Atlantic seaboard have reported in the past, but have failed to do so this year.

Internet Reporting

In 1997 approximately 25% of all statistics reports were submitted by using the Internet and the USLA Website. In 1998, over 50% of all submissions have been produced suing the Website. In 2000, close to 90% of all reports were submitted through the Website. Only three reports were received from non-Internet sources in 2001. Not only has the Website significantly contributed to statistics collection, it serves as a focal point for distribution of the information. Research Institutions, national news media such as NBC News and business are now regularly seeking USLA data. With the addition of the statistics, from 1960 to 2001 to the Website as a downloadable file, the Association continues its education and public service goals in teaching the public about lifesaving efforts nation wide. USLA hopes to add software to allow direct reporting into a statistics database that will allow users to search for more specific information from the organization's statistics.

United States Lifesaving Association

PO Box 366 ! Huntington Beach, California 92648

World Wide Web: USLA.ORG

AMERICAN LIEGUARD M*A*G*A*Z*I*N*E Don Rohrer President 15481 Cottonwood Circle ! Huntington Beach, CA 92647 Jerry Gavin Tel: (714) 898-6966 ! Fax: (978) 428-7853 ! Internet: [email protected] Vice-President ======

David Shotwell FALL 2002 USLA Board Meeting Secretary Summer Issue Greg Farry Treasurer The Summer Issue of the American Lifeguard Magazine was printed and mailed out to our membership in August (about 2 months after our deadline.) We had a delay due to our typesetter had a death in her Duke Brown family. The Summer Issue expenses were $14,862.72 with ad revenue of $2,865.00 (see reverse side for Recurrent Representative 2002-2003 ALM Budget). This equates to roughly $1.33 per magazine up from the previous issue of $1.13 per magazine. This was partly due to increases in postage, mailing, and typesetting coupled with a B. Chris Brewster decrease in advertising revenue. Companies are cutting their advertising budgets and we are feeling the Liaison Officer effects of the slowing economy.

William Richardson Advisor Highlights from the last issue include Dr. Peter Hartsock’s article “A Model of Emergency Response Teamwork, USLA Jr. Lifeguard is a Strongest Link” and Phil Roger’s article “Last Row for the Woodie”. Dr. Peter Wernicki In that issue, you will note the new additions to the ALM and USLA Staff page. We added email Medical Advisor addresses next to everyone’s name to facilitate better communication and access to our leadership. There were a couple of minor errors in the ALM, one in which a person did not receive credit for their photo Michael S. Bartlett ALM Managing Editor and one author was not given a byline credit for his article. These will be noted in the Corrections Corner of the Fall Issue (due out Nov. 1).

ALM Cost Increases (Postage, Mailing, and Typesetting) In order to offset the postage, mailing, and typesetting cost increases noted in the Spring 2002 ALM Report, the Executive Board decided to make a change in our magazine paper weight per my recommendation. Basically, we have been using the heaviest paper weight #100 for the entire magazine which is expensive to purchase, heavier in weigh, and expensive to mail. We will be printing the cover at #80 and reduce the inseam book pages to #60. Most members won’t even notice the difference. At 9000 magazines, this change will cost $7,445.61 compared to $9,220.95 previously. This equates to a per issue savings of $1,775.34 or $5,326.02 per year. This does NOT include an additional savings on mailing costs since the magazine will weigh slightly less from 6.1 oz to 4.1 oz, meaning it will be cheaper to mail. These changes are reflected in the 2002-2003 ALM Projected Per Issue Budget on the reverse side.

Next Issues The Fall Issue is completed and should be mailed out by Nov.1. The Winter Issue article submission deadline is Jan. 1 and distribution deadline of Feb. 1. If you submitted articles for publication, please be patient. They will make it to the magazine. To give you an idea, we had over 30 articles lined up for the Fall Issue however we only used about half of those. Time sensitive articles usually have top priority along with maintaining regional balance. And don’t forget, send me photos please!

ALM Managing Editor’s Address: 15481 Cottonwood Circle ! Huntington Beach, CA 92647 Tel: (714) 898-6966 ! Fax: (978) 428-7853 ! Internet: [email protected]

2002/2003 ALM Projected Per Issue Budget (Revised Printing Costs)

EXPENSES Per Issue Printing 9000 issues (32 B&W pages + 4 color) $ 7,445.61 $0.827 per Misc. Print Fees (scanning/design) $ 500.00 magazine Mailing @ $.37117 per magazine $ 3,345.30 Bundling/affixing labels/postal delivery $ 800.00 AOL High Speed ISP (Mike Bartlett) $ 200.00 Typesetting (Renee Story $30 x 25 hrs.) $ 750.00 $ 13,040.91 ALM Annual Budget Allocation $40,000 $ 39,122.73 3 issues per year REVENUE w/o ads Advertising (estimated not including commissions) $ 3,000.00 $ 3,000.00 TOTAL PROJECTED COST $ 10,040.91 $1.11 each Actual Per Issue Cost

EXPENSES WINTER 02 SUMMER 02 FALL 02 WINTER 03 Printing 9000 issues (32 B&W + 4 color) $ 9,220.95 $ 9,220.95 Misc. Print Fees (scanning/design) $ 267.93 $ 948.93 *Mailing @ $0.37117 per magazine $ 3,069.18 $ 3,007.17 Bundling/affixing labels/postal delivery $ 769.02 $ 750.00 Mail Extras $ 75.00 $ 0.00 Office (misc. items) $ 0.00 $ 35.67 **Typesetting (Renee Story) $ 450.00 $ 900.00 $ 13,852.08 $ 14,862.72

REVENUE (advertising) $ 3,680.00 $ 2,865.00 TOTAL ACTUAL $ 10,172.08 $ 11,997.72 $1.13 each $1.33 each

*Mailing costs recently increased to $0.37117 per magazine **Typesetting at $30/hour Official Report National Curriculum Accreditation Program Fall 2002 National Board of Directors Meeting United States Lifesaving Association

Renewed Opportunity to Review and Revise

Please accept the following report as an addition to the preparatory documents that will be distributed prior to the fall 2002 meeting of U.S.L.A.’s national board of directors in Chicago, Illinois. This report provides a summary of some key concepts of this fledgling program. These concepts represent the consensus of a number of contributors—none perhaps more valued than the late Dr. Alfred W. “Bud” McKinley, formerly chief of operations of the Ocean City Beach Patrol (New Jersey). These concepts also have been included in periodic reports accepted by the national board of directors from 1996 to 2002. They are presented here for the first time all together, so that the directors can review them anew and—if desired—revise them. For these concepts will provide the basic underpinnings of this new program as it evolves in the years to come.

Mission Statement and Key Responsibilities

1.1 Mission Statement.—The National Curriculum Accreditation Program of the United States Lifesaving Association is dedicated to helping reduce the preventable loss of life in this Nation’s open waters both through the acquisition and application of relevant knowledge and skills.

1.2 Key Responsibilities.—These key responsibilities, or tasks, aim to advance the program mission:

Establish and develop core curriculum components for the full educational spectrum. Establish and develop standards for the accreditation of education programs. Identify and implement accountable mechanisms to administer the program. Identify and implement other strategies that help advance the program mission.

Agency Certification / Curriculum Accreditation

2.1 The U.S.L.A. National Agency Certification Program will serve as the basic model, or template, for the U.S.L.A. National Curriculum Accreditation Program.

2.2 “ACCREDIT and CERTIFY usu[ally] imply official endorsement attesting to conformity to set standards” (according to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, 10th ed., p. 58, top left, under syn APPROVE).

2.3 The National Agency Certification Program provides the mechanism by which applicable agency programs are certified as conforming to U.S.L.A.-established standards for such programs. Likewise, the National Curriculum Accreditation Program will provide a mechanism by which applicable curricula will be accredited as conforming to U.S.L.A.-established standards for such curricula.

2.4 The National Agency Certification Program deals with agencies and their requests, not with individuals. The issue of liability figured strongly in U.S.L.A.’s decision to deal with agencies, not individuals. Likewise, the National Curriculum Accreditation Program will deal with educational entities and their requests, not with individuals. Larger Audience Sought

3.1 To date, this nation’s well-known (read surf-) lifeguard agencies have been the primary audience for U.S.L.A.’s products and services.

3.2 This new program will target a substantially larger audience—namely, the academic community of this nation.

3.3 The full potential bandwidth of this larger audience extends all the way from pre-kindergarten through college and university.

Interests and Concerns

4.1 From the very outset, a consensus developed around the idea that any initial program effort should focus on the post-secondary-school band of the educational spectrum. However, no one suggested forgetting about the other bands of that spectrum. Nor did anyone oppose the idea of including them.

4.2 Concern was raised that this program should aim at setting high standards—and not low standards. Concern was also raised that this program should definitely respect the autonomy of lifeguard agencies.

Establishing Standards 5.1 Before applicable curricula can be accredited as conforming to U.S.L.A.-established standards, U.S.L.A. must establish the standards for the particular band of the educational spectrum in question. These standards will take two forms — (a) content standards and (b) performance standards. 5.2 “Content standards” provide clear, specific descriptions of the knowledge and skills that should be taught to students at any particular band along the educational spectrum. They answer this question: “What should the student know and be able to do at a given juncture in a given course of instruction?” 5.3 “Performance standards” provide clear, specific descriptions of levels of student attainment, ranging from inadequate to outstanding, concerning what has been taught. They answer this other question: “How well has the student mastered the knowledge and skills at that same juncture in that same course?”

Autonomy of Lifeguard Agencies

6.1 Any product or service resulting from this new program will respect the autonomy of lifeguard agencies. For the individual lifeguard agencies are ultimately the ones responsible for assuring the quality of service they deliver at the local level.

6.2 Thus, no product or service resulting from this new program will undermine the autonomy of the individual lifeguard agencies, nor the means the individual lifeguard agencies deem appropriate and use to assure the quality of service they deliver at the local level.

Intellectual Property

7.1 This program’s work products or services or both constitute intellectual property owned exclusively by U.S.L.A., whether the result of explicit or implicit U.S.L.A. authorization or direction or both.

7.2 The organization should devise and implement measures to ensure that intellectual effort expended to advance or achieve this program objectives is, where due, appropriately recognized.

CARL MARTINEZ, chairman National Curriculum Accreditation Program United States Lifesaving Association United States Lifesaving Association

Competition Committee www.usla.org

Committee Chairman's Report November 7, 2002

2002 USLA NATIONALS

San Diego did an excellent job of hosting the USLA National Lifeguard Championships again. Thank you to the sponsors and the San Diego Organizing Committee for an outstanding event. The television production of the 2002 USLA Nationals, on Fox Sports West, was among the best surf lifesaving shows I have seen. It is my understanding that tapes of the show are going to be made available by Fox, and/or the SDOC. Complete team and Individual results can be found at www.uslanationals.org. I have been made aware that some of the officials did not receive the stipend that they had expected for working the 2002 Nationals. Hopefully we will be able to resolve that issue at this meeting. We will review and critique the 2002 Nationals in committee today.

2003 USLA NATIONALS

We return to Cape May on August 7,8, and 9, for the 2003 USLA National Lifeguard Championships. Ed Zebrowski is the chairman of the organizing committee and planning is underway.

2004 USLA NATIONALS

I believe that the Pacific Northwest Region is next up in the rotation to host the USLA Nationals. Several competitors have expressed an interest in Lake Tahoe as a venue. It would be ideal if we could select the next site for Nationals at this meeting.

RESCUE 2002

I had the opportunity to officiate at Rescue 2002 in Daytona Beach following our Spring BOD meeting. Those of you that stuck around were able to see international competition at its best. The officials I worked with from other parts of the world were great, and I'm sure others that officiated from the USLA would agree that it was a wonderful experience. The USLA Team finished seventh overall and fifth in the surf events. A total of twenty-three nations participated in the event. Blaine Morgan set a new World Record in the 200 meters swimming with obstacles. Considering that this was the first international competition for several of our competitors, our overall finish was very respectable, although we still have plenty of room to improve our performance in the pool. Complete results can be found at www.ilsf.org/sport/world_championships.html.

Page 1 of 2 RULE CHANGE PROPOSALS

We will be voting on the following rule change proposals in committee today:

The USLA S.E. Region proposes the following changes to competition rules and/or standards.

#1: Change Women's Surfboat from Single lap to 2 laps.

#2: Change Women's American Ironman event to same distances and disciplines as Men's event.

#3: Adjustment of land course to single lane finish to facilitate accurate officiating

#4: Proposal of on-site Protest System mirroring ILS Model – (see ILS guidelines)

The Southwest Region Competition Committee proposes the following change to the United States Lifesaving Association Competition Rules, revised 8/2001. That the following sentences in section 1.8 Eligibility, be deleted:

A Non-professional members must donate 24 hours a season to their USLA Chapter Lifeguard Agency in service not connected to competition.

An application for a non-professional member must be submitted to the USLA Competition Chairman.

1.8 ELIGIBILITY -- Each individual must be a bona-fide PROFESSIONAL MEMBER of a USLA chapter lifeguard service or a retired professional lifeguard receiving a pension from said lifeguard service. Foreign competitors must apply in writing to the USLA National Committee Chairman for a waiver of eligibility requirements and will not be eligible for awards or points. Foreign competitors may compete in individual events only (no relays involving the flag line of buoys). A NON-PROFESSIONAL MEMBER may compete if they were a professional member for three seasons/years and maintain their membership in the USLA. Non-professional members must donate 24 hours a season to their USLA Chapter Lifeguard Agency in service not connected to competition. Non-professional members may only compete for a USLA Chapter that they formerly worked for. An application for a non-professional member must be submitted to the USLA Competition Chairman. COMPETITORS must have paid their USLA dues prior to commencement of USLA Championships.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert McGowan

Robert McGowan, USLA Competition Committee Chair Telephone: (310) 545-3222 (Home) • (310) 372-2162 (Work) • Fax: (310) 372-6902 Email: [email protected] (Home) • [email protected] (Work)

Page 2 of 2

United States Lifesaving Association Junior Lifeguard Activity Report Fall 2002

2002 National Competition Thank you San Diego for hosting the National Junior Lifeguard competition on August 8th last summer. A good safe time was enjoyed by all. One of the high lights of the event was the suburb officiating job done by our USLA officials!

Junior USLA Membership We have a record number of Junior USLA Members. Thanks for your participation in this program. (As of Sept.15th 4,270 JG’s)

American Lifeguard Magazine During our Committee meeting we will review articles that are due and make new JG assignments.

Junior Lifeguard National Rule Changes At our Committee meeting there will be a presentation on a proposal to change the distances of JG races and to add an additional event. Copies of these changes will be available during our Committee meeting. (Thanks Bill Richardson.)

2003 National Junior Lifeguard Competition We will discuss a suggestion to issue awards for each race immediately following every event and remind organizers that there is not to be a JG entry fee for participation in the National Competition.

Junior Lifeguard Safety Sticker At Committee we will have samples of a new safety sticker to encourage surf condition awareness, it lets participants “color in the flag to match the present surf conditions”.

Reenie Boyer P.O. Box 1768 Newport Beach, CA 92658-9815 Telephone: (949) 644-7170 [email protected]

USLA Board of Directors Meeting November 6 - 9, 2002 Chicago IL

Committee Action Reports

27 Resource Development 28 Public Education 29 Certification 30 Textbook 31 Website 32 Competition 33 Heroic Acts 34 Junior Lifeguards 35 Bylaws, Policy and Procedures Resource Development Committee Board of Directors Meeting Chicago, IL November 9, 2002

The committee began with a general discussion of the purpose of this new committee. It was decided that the committee's purpose is to review proposals for the betterment of the USLA; prevent conflict with sponsors; make recommendations to the full board of directors; act as an intermediary between the board and proposed sponsors; and seek advise from those knowledgeable about different aspects of the proposals.

The committee will review proposals and make recommendations and not negotiate contracts. This is properly the task of our legal advisor and the President and Secretary.

We discussed the need to make a recommendation to the regions and nationals to pick and announce the proposed sites of their games, hopefully, by the Fall meeting each year in order to facilitate contract proposals and negotiations.

We discussed the need for the regions to have a drop dead date for national sponsorship so that the regions could seek their own. Our discussion revolved around the various deadlines of the companies that make proposals and the negotiating process needed to complete a contract. This will be explored further by the committee.

We strongly recommend better communication between fund raisers, legal and the board.

We will explore a Request for Proposal (RFP) to seed a sports marketing company to market our games. Kathy Wiederhold of the NW will coordinate this activity. Members are asked to send ideas to her.

The proposal from Scott Hubbell Productions (SHP) was discussed and decided that further information in a more formal format is needed from SHP in order to evaluate the proposal. Rob McGowan of CSLSA agreed to contact SHP and forward our concerns.

Respectfully,

Jerry Gavin United States Lifesaving Association 2002 Autumn National Meeting Chicago, Illinois Public Education Committee Minutes

First Chair Mike McKenna called the meeting to order at 1:30 PM. All regions were represented except New England. Bob Moore advised the committee that Los Angeles County had obtained a government grant for more than a half-million dollars. Bob presented material for the committee’s perusal. The monies were given in support of web cams that would be installed along their beaches. Grants and endowments were further discussed, along with follow-ups needed to complete the teachers’ curriculum earmarked for our first attempt. The Co Chairs will again subscribe to “Foundations Center On-Line” in search of other funding. The committee reviewed progress on other current projects. Volunteers agreed to meet early Friday morning, in order to hammer out the final wording of the “Beach Survivors’ Guide” poster. Expenditures of approximately $3,000 should allow the printing of about 10,000 posters. Discussion ensued on possible partnerships with organizations, such as our developing liaison with Hoag Hospital and their updated “Project Wipeout”. Specific reference was made to contacts with Sea Grant, National Education Association (NEA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and federal water safety programs. Hopefully these seeds will bear fruit by our next meeting. The need for regional and national public service announcements (PSA) was discussed. A number of options were brought forth. Peter Davis offered to share the thirty-second rip current PSA being developed by the Gulf Coast Region. Web site enhancements were discussed. Coloring book art and text needs to be reviewed for needed revisions. Once available for download, the contacts with the NEA should be in place. A publisher should be found to work with the proposed on-line store. This would allow anyone requesting educational materials to purchase through the Internet. Among new suggestions were temporary tattoos and adhesive bandages bearing “Swim near a Lifeguard” or some other beach safety messages. Volunteers will research the cost of these proposals before our next meeting. Possible sponsors for these ideas will be pursued. Mike McKenna explained the evolution of “The Parents Guide to Beach Safety” from a booklet to a DVD. Bill McNeely will assist with it’s filming. The First Chair will personally absorb the cost of this endeavor. Budget allocations were earmarked for the funds proposed for the upcoming budget. Those are consistent with the allocations detailed in the activities report presented on Thursday morning. Manning a booth at the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) convention from May 28 – 30, 2003 by the Committee Co Chairs is pending upon alternative funding, so as to remain within the new 2003 budget of $7,000. National Certification Committee

Action Report Fall 2002 Board of Directors Meeting

Applications for Board Action

Applications Held Over

1. California State Dept. of Parks & Rec., CA – Not in compliance, but provide until May 2003 to adjust practices and reapply. 2. Del Mar, CA – Deny application, but provide until May 2003 to adjust practices and reapply. 3. Delaware, State of – Approve at advanced level 4. Fernandina Beach (City of), FL – Extend six months 5. Jacksonville (Consolidated City of), FL – Approve at advanced level 6. Kure Beach, NC – Drop from program due to lack of response 7. Lavallette Beach Patrol, NJ – Deny application due to apparent failures of CPR and first aid training. Advise applicant and provide until May 2003 to adjust practices and reapply. 8. Ocean Beach (Village of), NY - Deny application due to swim standard problems, but provide until May 2003 to adjust practices and reapply. 9. Ocean Grove, NJ – Approve at advanced level. 10. Ponte Vedra Beach Resorts, FL – Deny application and send letter to CEO advising of reasons.

Recertification Applications

11. Boca Raton, FL – Approve 12. Cape May Beach Patrol, NJ - Approve 13. Camp Pendleton, CA - Approve 14. Delray Beach Ocean Rescue, FL – Approve advanced 15. Encinitas (City of), CA – Approve advanced 16. Hollywood, FL - Approve advanced 17. Lack's Beach Service, Inc., SC – Approve 18. MCCS Water Safety Kaneohe Marine Corps Base – Provide six month extension and check with Certification Officer Ralph Goto 19. Nag's Head Ocean Rescue, NC – Approve advanced 20. Newport News, VA – Approve regular, but provide agency six months to upgrade to First Responder and approve at advanced level when/if that occurs. 21. Palm Beach (Town of), FL - Approve 22. Port Hueneme, City of – Provide six month extension to address first aid questions. 23. Port San Luis Harbor District (Avila Beach), CA – Approve pending letter of completion with reference to swim test. 24. St. Lucie County, FL – Approve advanced 25. Santa Cruz, CA - Approve 26. Seal Beach, CA – Approve advanced

Page 1 of 2

New Applications

27. ARCVLSC/Jax Beach Ocean Rescue, FL – Approve 28. Indian River County Ocean Rescue, FL – Approve advanced pending favorable on-site review by CO 29. Los Angeles City, Dept of Parks & Rec., CA – Deny, but provide until May 2003 to adjust practices and reapply. 30. Michigan City, IN – Drop from program and advise. 31. Rehoboth, DE – Deny, but provide until May 2003 to adjust practices and reapply. 32. Scarboro Beach Park, ME - Approve 33. Wrightsville Beach (Town of), NC – Hold pending receipt of further information Flag System

• The committee reviewed a letter from Lt. Luiz Morizot of Miami-Dade with respect to studies he had conducted on flag systems. • It was agreed to modify the USLA Flag Warning Position Statement issued on May 5, 2002 to delete recommendations related to numbers on flags. This decision is based on the potential for confusion raised by the numbers. In future, the Committee may consider alternatives, such as design modifications. • The Committee discussed the concept of utilizing pictograms on flags, to help beach users better understand the meaning of the flags. The Committee decided to defer action on this issue to the future and to consider this possibility further at that time. Clean Beaches Council

• The Chair will continue to follow up with issues noted in the Activity Report in an effort to resolve issues of concern. Americas Best Beaches

• The Chair will continue to follow up with issues noted in the Activity Report in an effort to resolve issues of concern. NASAR

• The National Association for Search and Rescue has invited attendance of the Chair or a designee at their Board of Directors meeting at their headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia on January 23 and 24, 2003. Bob Ogoreuc and Dave Foxwell have agreed to attend and represent the standards of USLA.

Lifesaving Aye,

B. Chris Brewster, Chair

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.bcbrewster.net

Page 2 of 2 National Textbook Committee Action Report Fall 2002 Board of Directors Meeting

Committee Members • Mid-Atlantic – Dave Shotwell • South Atlantic – Duke Brown • Southeast – Jim McCrady • Gulf Coast – Kim Tyson • Southwest – Nick Lerma • Northwest – Dan McCormick • Great Lakes – Jerry Gavin • Medical Advisor – Peter Wernicki • Ad Hoc – Bob Ogoreuc, Carl Martinez, Eric Bauer

Manual Development • Timeline – Complete by February 28, 2003, publish by May 15, 2003. • Process – Chair to edit chapters, then email to committee for review and comment. Committee to re- spond within two weeks on each chapter with comments, approval, or disapproval. • Format – Publisher’s representative recommends that chapters flow as follows: Title “In this chapter you will learn …” Then insert list of things you will learn to explain this and why you should read the chapter. Thus, we combine the proposed “chapter objectives” and “key elements” in one place. Retain the “In this chapter,” quotation. Body of chapter (footnotes to be converted to APA format) Use case studies as appropriate Chapter summary with bulleted list or paragraph. Discussion points (ask thought provoking questions that help instructors teach and students reflect on issues in the chapter) • Photos – Dan McCormick to coordinate photos and artwork.

Workbook Development • To be coordinated by Jerry Gavin with assistance of Eric Bauer and input of all members of the committee • Workbook to be an element of the book itself, with workbook elements located either at the end of each chapter or at the end of modules (i.e. groups of chapters). • It is anticipated that there will be 8 – 20 questions per chapter, as appropriate to chapter length and content.

Page 1 of 2 Instructor’s Guide • Expected to be approximately 96 pages of textual material for use of instructors with elements similar to those developed by San Diego Regional Lifeguard Academy model. • To be handled by Carl Martinez, with input and assistance from Nick Lerma and Kim Tyson. • Pearson requires a camera ready version and a software version in MS Word.

PowerPoint Slides • To be developed by Bob Ogoreuc, with assistance of Phil Rogers. • Efforts to be made to make presentation both factual and interesting.

Test Manager • To be developed by Duke Brown, using initial work of Eric Bauer as a basis.

• Pearson Custom Publishing to provide software.

Pedagogy • Bob Ogoreuc has arranged to have the work reviewed by an expert on pedagogy and to provide her input to the editor and committee.

Lifesaving Aye,

B. Chris Brewster National Textbook Committee Chair

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected]

Page 2 of 2 USLA.ORG USLA Website Action Report Fall 2002 Board of Directors Meeting

Bulletin Board

• The sole topic of conversation related to the website was to address concerns of the Board of Directors with respect to decorum on the Guard to Guard Bulletin Board. Members of the committee expressed a universal concern that some posts and conduct in this area are deleterious to the goals and image of USLA. At the same time, it was agreed that the Guard to Guard Bulletin Board has value in providing a forum for exchange of ideas. The challenge appears to be finding a way to allow exchange of ideas without allowing the BB to become a chat room that constitutes an embarrassment to USLA and its members. • The Chair, who monitors to BB, asked that any criteria developed be objective, so that the Chair does not suffer undue criticism for interjecting personal taste in decisions as to what posts are or are not permitted. • An option was discussed of having posts pre-screened by the Chair, but this was determined to be too cumber- some at this time. • It was agreed that criteria for posting on the BB would be changed to the following, with a literal recitation of the specifics posted on the BB: “The Guard to Guard Bulletin Board is a service of the United States Lifesaving Association intended to allow persons with an interest in lifesaving to pose questions and exchange information related to USLA’s organizational structure, lifesaving techniques, public education, sale of personal lifesaving equipment, lifesaving equipment, policies and procedures of lifesaving agencies, public safety, lifeguard training, and lifeguard employment. Any person is welcome to post a message consistent with these criteria. Messages which fall outside of these criteria or which include personal attacks or profanity are not permitted. USLA retains the sole right to determine what messages are appropriate and, through its designee(s), to remove those it deems inappropriate. This bulletin board is not a chat room. You must include your full name and a valid email address. Commercial vendors may not use the bulletin board to advertise products for sale or post messages referring inquiring lifeguards to their own company or products. Those who repeatedly violate the rules of the BB may be prevented from future posting, regardless of content.” • The Chair will, as appropriate, notify USLA officials when an issue relating to their area of expertise is posted on the BB and will post a message indicating that this has been done. USLA officials are strongly encouraged to reply to such issues in an effort to inform those inquiring and to demonstrate responsiveness on the part of USLA.

Lifesaving Aye,

B. Chris Brewster, Website Editor

Telephone: (858) 581-1221 • Fax: (443) 583-0744 • E-mail: [email protected] United States Lifesaving Association

Competition Committee www.usla.org

COMPETITION COMMITTEE REPORT November 7, 2002

I. 2002 SAN DIEGO NATIONALS REVIEW A. Officials and their funding - tier system 1. Much discussion on this issue 2. How many officials are necessary? 3. 40 were funded for 2002 4. Will determine numbers for 2003 at Spring meeting based on the budget 5. Need for a "flow chart" for officials 6. Suggest need for some sort of testing process for new officials at the regional level 7. Sub-committee formed to come up with recommendations and report 8. Members are (one from each region): a. SW – Marshall Parks (chairman) b. MA – Andy Healy c. SA – Paul Pivec d. SE – Eric Bebchick e. GL – Eric Bushonville f. NW – Bert Whittaker B. Program (past winners – Jack Lincke won the paddle in 1979) C. Protest Review – Landline protest from Boca Raton discussed – it was suggested that regions run their competitions as closely as possible to USLA Nationals to avoid conflicts D. Utilization of courses – Masters, Vets, Super Vets 1. Leave room for flexibility 2. Run Finals in morning when possible E. Rule book needs to reflect 2 Km Run, not 2 Mile

II. 2003 USLA NATIONALS A. Dates: August 7, 8, and 9, 2003 B. Hosted by Mid Atlantic Region and Cape May C. Update 1. Cards with contact information handed out 2. Make reservations ASAP 3. Beach Flags under the lights run by Dereck Shockro and crew

III. 2004 USLA NATIONALS Pacific Northwest Region will report at Spring Meeting as to whether they will host and location

Page 1 of 3

IV. RESCUE 2002 REVIEW Tim Gallagher will make a presentation following committee report on Saturday

V. RULE CHANGE PROPOSALS Voting for the Regions - SW: Marshall Parks, MA: Ed Zebrowski, SA: Paul Pivec, SE: Eric Bebchick, GL: Erin Joyce, NW: Bert Whittaker

The USLA S.E. Region proposes the following changes to competition rules and/or standards.

#1: Change Women's Surfboat from Single lap to 2 laps. After clarification that this applies to Open Women only, PASSED (4-2)

#2: Change Women's American Ironman event to same distances and disciplines as Men's event. FAILED (1-5)

#3: Adjustment of land course to single lane finish to facilitate accurate officiating FAILED (1-5)

#4: Proposal of on-site Protest System mirroring ILS Model – (see ILS guidelines) WITHDRAWN

A Non-professional members must donate 24 hours a season to their USLA Chapter Lifeguard Agency in service not connected to competition.

An application for a non-professional member must be submitted to the USLA Competition Chairman.

1.8 ELIGIBILITY -- Each individual must be a bona-fide PROFESSIONAL MEMBER of a USLA chapter lifeguard service or a retired professional lifeguard receiving a pension from said lifeguard service. Foreign competitors must apply in writing to the USLA National Committee Chairman for a waiver of eligibility requirements and will not be eligible for awards or points. Foreign competitors may compete in individual events only (no relays involving the flag line of buoys). A NON- PROFESSIONAL MEMBER may compete, with the approval of their Chapter, if they were a professional member of that Chapter for three seasons/years and maintain their membership in the USLA. Non-professional members must donate 24 hours a season to their USLA Chapter Lifeguard Agency in service not connected to competition. Non-professional members may only compete for a USLA Chapter for which formerly worked. An application for a non-professional member must be submitted to the USLA Competition Chairman. COMPETITORS must have paid their USLA dues prior to commencement of USLA Championships. PASSED (6-0) Page 2 of 3

VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Funding for officials that did not receive it at San Diego 1. Committee voted to reimburse 2 officials from Great Lakes region $433.00, and 1 official from the South Atlantic Region $630.00 2. Money to go either to individual or the region, if the individual was already reimbursed by the region 3. Committee voted to reimburse Mr. McGowan $138.00 for officiating B. Change age groups to 5 year increments – Sub-committee headed by Paul Pivec (same members as officials sub-committee) will report at Spring 2003 meeting C. Marshall Parks submitted a proposal for a rule change to ILS to allow competitors that wish to compete in relay events in Masters World Championships, but lack a sufficient number of club members to field a team, that would enable them to place their names in a "relay pool." Names would be "blind drawn" from this pool to form teams. The motion passed unanimously and was forwarded to Tom Daly for presentation at the next ILS Sports Commission Committee meeting. D. Phil Rogers proposed the addition of an "Under 18 Professional Division" classification at USLA Nationals. This would be a sub-division of the Open Men's and Women's categories, would be non point scoring, and would award a first place medal to the under 18 year old male and female competitor in the Swim, Run-Swim-Run, Rescue Board, and 2 K Run events. Junior Lifeguards are not eligible. MPU for a trial basis at the 2003 Nationals at Cape May. E. Kim Tyson offered the facilities at the University of Texas, Austin for pool training to improve the pool performance of USLA team at the World Championships. The offer included coaching and input from professors on technique, nutrition, etc. F. Bob Dillon requests that anyone with input on the equipment list for Nationals submit them to him via Charlie Hartl's email: [email protected]

Page 3 of 3

United States Lifesaving Association Junior Lifeguard Activity Report Fall 2002

2003 National Competition The JG National Competition will be hosted by Cape May, NJ on August 7th next summer.

Junior USLA Membership A reminder to encourage all JG’s to join the USLA. This is built into many programs registration fee. JG Membership application forms and fees must be submitted by the JG coordinator as a group not on an individual basis. This takes effort but the JG’s win!

American Lifeguard Magazine Please submit any/all JG articles for our magazine.

Junior Lifeguard National Rule Changes Thanks to Bill Richardson we have a new set of JG rules with accurate distances and course diagrams. In addition to this we have a new premier JG event called the Junior Iron Lifeguard! It will be the last event of the day in each division with each chapter able to enter 2 boys and 2 girls in the AA, A, B and C divisions. The event will consist of a Run, Swim, Paddle and Run. This will be posted on the USLA web site.

National JG Entry Fee (New wording under Edibility on our official rules) D. There shall be no fee to enter the National Junior Lifeguard Competition. The host agency may charge an optional participant fee for JG competitors lunch and event memorabilia such as a T-shirt.

2003 National Junior Lifeguard Competition Awards Our Committee is suggesting that at all National Competitions the JG awards a re presented at the conclusion of each event. This would be after the OK is received form the head official at each venue. Awards would be issued when the place stick is given to the scribe at each divisional area.

Virtual JG Web Site If you are interested in participating in the project contact Don R. in the next month. Reenie B. and Paul P. have volunteered.

Reenie Boyer

P.O. Box 1768 Newport Beach, CA 92658-9815 Telephone: (949) 644-7170 [email protected]

United States Lifesaving Association USLA Bylaws, Policies and Procedures Committee

TO: USLA Board of Directors FROM: Bill Richardson, Committee Chair DATE: November 9, 2002 SUBJECT: Bylaws Committee Action Report

1. The Bylaws recommended at the Idaho meeting are being brought forward under Old Business for ratification. 2. The following items were recommended for wording to be included in the Policies & Procedures Manual. Their inclusion will be voted upon under New Business at the Spring 2003 meeting in Hawaii. a. III-I - MEETING DECORUM – Adding Section E as noted below: A. No smoking is allowed in the rooms of the USLA Board of Director’s meeting or any Committees. B. No alcoholic beverages are permitted in the meeting rooms of the USLA Board of Director’s meeting or any Committees. C. Business attire is to be worn by all Delegates to the initial day of the Board of Director’s meeting and the Educational Conference. (05/08/93) D. A businesslike and professional atmosphere is to be maintained during the Board of Director’s or Committee meetings, with all members conducting themselves with property etiquette and respect for all those present. 1. Failure on behalf of any person to adhere to these rules after sufficient warning, shall result in the meeting being recessed, the individual removed from the meeting, their voting privileges suspended or issued to another Delegate of the same region in the form of a proxy. 2. Additional sanctions may be imposed at the discretion of the Executive Committee. (11/09/02) E. It will be the responsibility of each Delegate to turn all electronic communications devices to silent or vibrate settings so as to eliminate unwarranted interruptions to the meeting. The President shall advise the Delegates of this policy at the commencement of each meeting. In the interest of maintaining emergency contact, Delegates who are attending the meting while on duty may keep such electronic devices on, but will take whatever action possible to keep all communications to a minimum and to avoid unwarranted interruptions. (11/09/02)

b. III-J - VOICING OPINIONS ON BEHALF OF USLA – this addition to the Policies & Procedures Manual addresses the voicing of opinions by Committee Chairs and others of the board of Directors, to insure that such opinions are in line with USLA policies and meet with Executive Committee approval. The recommended language is noted below: No Officer, Committee Chair, or any other person shall express an opinion on behalf of the United States Lifesaving Association without the prior approval of the Executive Committee of USLA.

Matters of existing policy, procedures or previously established opinions generated through action of USLA may be expressed only by the Officers of USLA or appropriate Committee Chairs, but only with regard to subject matter related to their responsibilities.

Inappropriate or unauthorized statements or opinions, expressed on behalf of USLA may result in censuring of the violator or in the case of continued infractions by a committee chair, replacement of the violator with a new committee chair.