UNITED STATES AQUATIC SPORTS AQUATICS COORDINATING BOARD - MINUTES OCTOBER 2, 2015 KANSAS CITY, MO
The following people attended the meeting: Steve McFarland, Laurette Longmire, Tom Boak, Bruce Stratton, Bill Smith, Judy McGowan, Myriam Glez, Jim Sheehan, Chris Ramsey, Nadine Day, Dale Neuburger, Jim Miller, Carol Zaleski, Tom Gompf, Greg Eggert, Betty Hazle, Jeri Marshburn, Kathy Parker, Elaine Cox, Penny Taylor and Van Donkersgoed. Myriam Glez is the new CEO for USA Synchro in addition to High Performance Director.
Van Donkersgoed thanked USAS for supporting his outreach opportunity to help the Nican Natadores (NCA) build a pool.
President Steve McFarland called the meeting to order at 7:15am. A quorum was present: USA Swimming (Sheehan), USA Synchro (McGowan), US Masters Swimming (Day), USA Water Polo (Ramsey) and USA FINA Bureau member (Neuburger).
I. SECRETARY’S REPORT A. Minutes: The minutes from April 18-19, 2015 (International Relations), May 13, 2015 (Conference Call – FINA Extraordinary Congress) were approved as distributed. An email vote from June 2, 2015 (Approval of USA UANA OWS Tech Committee Members) was ratified. MSP Neuburger
B. Code of Regulations Revisions: The proposed revisions to the USAS Code of Regulations were approved for presentation to the Board of Trustees. MSP Neuburger
II. TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Tom Boak distributed a financial report. At this time there is a $37K loss for the 2015 USAS Convention as no revenue has been posted. Prize money checks from the FINA World Championships in Kazan (RUS) have been distributed.
III. PRESIDENT’S REPORT: President Steve McFarland congratulated Dale Neuburger on his election as FINA VP from the Americas for the 2017-2021 quad.
IV. CONVENTION – UPDATES / SELECTION: Convention Committee Chair Elaine Cox shared the registration numbers for 2015 are similar to 2014 – about 1,300. A bid has been received from Spokane (WA) for the 2021 USAS Convention. Arizona and Chicago areas have also expressed interest. Elaine will continue to review locations for 2021.
President McFarland thanked Elaine and the entire Convention Committee for their great work.
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V. FINA and UANA EVENTS / INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS A. FINA Bureau Report: Dale Neuburger shared several updates: From the Extraordinary Congress in Kazan, FINA Constitution changes have the FINAVP’s as members of the Bureau Executive for the next 6 years. FINA issued a letter to Rio’s Mayor with concerns about the shared venue for WP, SS and DV; water purity and anti-doping. The OC for 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo proposed new events will be taken into consideration when setting the final competition schedule. Aquatics (FINA) has 46 medal events with Athletics (IAAF) having 47. The IOC has capped athlete numbers at 10,500; the proposals identify 474 potential new athletes participating. FINA is attempting to increase 1) Women’s WP teams from 8 to 12 and 2) Synchro Teams from 8 to 12. More information will be known at Rio 2016 with recommendations and decisions. Julio Maglione, as FINA President, is the best representation Aquatics can have to keep events on the Olympic programme.
B. UANA Executive Report: UANA President Dale Neuburger noted: The Committees and Commissions are in place. Early to mid-January a strategic plan as well as a 4-year budget should be set. The UANA Constitution will be modernized. Julio Maglione, as PASO President, has increased Aquatics numbers for the Pan American Games. Dale was elected to join ACODEPA. USAS Max Ritter Awards were presented to Rose Cody (PUR) and Giovana Moiera (BRA) in Toronto at the Pan American Games.
Nadine Day was approved as the Athlete Representative to the UANA Masters Committee. MSP Smith
C. 16th FINA World Championships (24 Jul-8 Aug 2015) – Kazan (RUS) Chef de Mission Recap: A final report was distributed electronically prior to the meeting. President McFarland thanked Betty Hazle and Jeri Marshburn for their work as USA Chefs. Main areas of focus: getting the right hotel; health & safety standards for food; GMS used first time this year (a large learning curve) – photos were an issue with RUS due to visa and accreditation use; SW dietitian was helpful; FINA Staff attended the Luncheon.
It was moved, seconded and approved to recognize the work done by the Chefs. MSP McGowan
FINA GMS Update: Laurette will provide an update as new features/functions are implemented.
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D. FINA Masters World Championships (2-16 Aug 2015) – Kazan (RUS): Nadine Day issued a report electronically prior to the meeting. She sees the benefit of helping other federations to grow both elite and Masters by having these 2 World Championships held together. Roughly 3,000 participated this year. Once the elite competition was completed, all the services were reduced and training facilities were limited.
In the future, having Masters know about the Chefs and the resources available should help each sport attending. It was suggested that Masters be included in the services provided to elite participants.
E. 2016 Olympic Games – Rio (BRA) Test Events: Swimming – 12-16 Apr 2016 (Brazil Championships) Open Water – 22-23 Aug 2015 (Aquece Rio Int’l Swim) Diving – 19-24 Feb 2016 (FINA Diving World Cup) Water Polo – 18-22 Nov 2015 (Aquece Rio Int’l Tournament) Synchro – 2-6 Mar 2016 (Olympic Qualifying Tournament) Disability Swimming – 19-23 Apr 2016 (CPB Disability Int’l) Competition Dates: Swimming – 6-13 Aug Open Water – 15-16 Aug Diving – 7-10 & 12-20 Aug Water Polo – 6, 8-20 Aug Synchro – 14-16 & 18-19 Aug Qualifying Updates: Swimming: Open Water – 3 named from Kazan; Pool – Trials are next year; unknown if attending the Test Event Diving: David Boudia qualified in Kazan; will attend the Test Event; concern over Olympic venue training times and coordination with Water Polo are unknown at this time Water Polo: Men – qualified; Women – still pending; shared venue in Rio is unfortunate; engaged with UANA to promote officiating competency- based system; planning 3 hour Olympic prime time special with NBC Synchro: Duet selected and will attend Qualifier (Test Event) in March; unknown about Team attending Qualifier; Mixed Duet in Kazan was a plus; focusing on UANA and judges training; discipline name change to Artistic Swimming planned by FINA
F. High Diving: Not an Olympic discipline; 3,400 seats in Kazan and events were sold out 1 year in advance; probably no High Diving for 2020 – number of participants are not high for men and women’s are lower; FINA Trophy in High Diving will be held in Abu Dubai (UAE); World Cup will be in Budapest (HUN) in a temporary pool in front of Parliament.
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G. Masters: President McFarland recognized the representation from and for Masters. Nadine Day reported interest in bidding for the 2018 Masters Pan Ams. She is looking for a representative from each discipline to help decide on a location to promote for the bid. Orlando and San Antonio are interested. Nadine also noted that the USA is the only federation where Masters are involved with governance.
H. Max Ritter Award: Two names were identified for consideration. Carol Zaleski will take all names, with a small bio, for consideration.
VI. ELECTIONS A. Sport Updates: Masters will have a new President following their election today.
VII. MEDIA: Greg Eggert, USAS Media Officer, reported the following: A. All directories are up-to-date and any revisions as a result of elections will be made.
B. Thank you to Kathy Parker for her work organizing the UANA Congress registration in Toronto.
C. Thank you to USA Swimming for the use of their online meet entry system for UANA Congress registration in Toronto.
D. Thank you to Fernando Canales for his work as UANA Secretary/Treasurer; there was perfect federation attendance at the UANA Congress in Toronto.
E. The UANA website will be implementing live streaming.
F. Possible future meeting of UANA Executive and Committee Chairs in the spring, possibly in Miami.
VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Chef de Mission 2017: It was moved, seconded and approved to continue with Betty Hazle and Jeri Marshburn as Chefs for the 2017 World Championships in Budapest. MSP Day
With no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45am.
Respectively Submitted,
Laurette I. Longmire Secretary
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