USA Swimming Southern Zone Meeting September 17-18, 2009 Hyatt Regency O’Hare Rosemont, Illinois Zone Directors: Zone Officials Chair – Clark Hammond Richard Pockat – Non-Coach Zone Age Group Chair – Brian Dangelmaier Shannon Gillespy – Coach Zone Athlete Representative – Hannah Wilson Zone Secretary/Treasurer – Herb Schwab Call to order by Richard Pockat, Zone Director, on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 7:07 p.m. Richard reminded the Delegates of the Mission statement that was adopted at the 2008 Convention: “To develop athletes, coaches, and officials who exemplify the highest levels of sportsmanship, honesty, and dedication in the pursuit of excellence.” Roll Call – Herb Schwab 13 LSCs in attendance with 101 delegates. KY and WT are absent. LSC Delegates LSC Delegates Border 1 North Carolina 11 Florida 7 North Texas 10 Florida Gold Coast 6 South Carolina 6 Georgia 11 South Texas 10 Gulf 14 Southeastern 9 Kentucky 0 West Texas 0 Louisiana 8 West Virginia 1 Mississippi 7 Moment of Silence for all Zone Members who have passed away during this past year Introduction of Zone Officers Agenda distributed and approved Approval of 2008 Meeting Minutes Moved/Seconded/Passed (as corrected) Reports of Officers, Committees and Others: Richard Pockat, Non-Coach Zone Director Richard reported on the activities of the Board of Directors. Herb Schwab, Secretary/Treasurer Herb reported that the Southern Zone account balance is $6,802.24. Brian Dangelmaier, Age Group Chair Brian reported that he needs to form a Meet Evaluation Committee. The Committee is composed of these members: Gloria Schuldt (NT) Robby Fritscher (LA) Brian Haddad (SE) Gay Wright (FL) Chrissy Oberg (SC) Holly Myers (MS) Southern Zone Committee September 17-18, 2009 Page 2 of 29 There were 525 athletes from 13 LSCs participating in the Age Group Championships. There were 3 disability athletes. Thirty-five meet records were set. There were 72 Short Course National Cuts achieved, along with 14 Junior cuts, and 12 US Open cuts. Brian showed pictures from the meet. He thanked the YMCA Aquatic Center Staff, Gay Wright (Meet Director), Helen Kelly (Florida Swimming), Stu Michelson (Meet Referee), Gloria Schuldt, and Melissa Hellervik-Bing. Florida Swimming finished in first place in the Combined Team Scores, the Girls Team Scores, and the Boys Team Scores. Louisiana Swimming won the Charlene Craddock Sportsmanship Award. The Open Water meet was held in the pool, due to health concerns with the lake venue. There were 214 athletes from 7 LSCs participating. Thanks to the Meet Referee, Matt Wilson. Kentucky Swimming was first in the Combined Team Scores. Gulf Swimming was first in the Girls, and Kentucky Swimming was first in the Boys Team Scores. Clark Hammond, Officials Chair Clark was unable to attend the Convention this year, due to work commitments. Richard gave Clark’s report. Clark would like to run again as the Officials Chair. Clark also thinks that there should be term limits for this position. He suggests that this position should run parallel with the Non-Coach Zone Director position. Thus, he would like to suggest that the term be extended one year at which time he would rotate off. He also suggested that we limit the term for two periods or 4 years straight. Then the Officials Chair should rotate off for at least a year. Hannah Wilson, Athlete Representative Hannah asked that the athletes meet with her after this meeting is adjourned. She is trying to find ways to communicate with the athletes in the Zone. She has tried using Facebook without much success, since LSC representatives change and e-mail addresses change. She also asked how the Sectional Meets were during the past year. There were some complaints about the Eastern Sectional meet, with two pools running at the same time, causing some false starts. 2009 Southern Zone Senior Championships, Kate Chronic Kate is the chair of the Task Force created to conduct and evaluate the Senior Zone Championships. There were 75 athletes competing in the meet, from 9 LSCs, for a total number of 330 individual entries and 16 relay entries. Each Prelim session started at 9 a.m. and finished approximately between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. Due to the number athletes, a 15-20 minute break was held after each stroke series for Prelims and Finals. Each Finals session started at 5 p.m. finishing approximately between 6:30 and 7 p.m. As decided at the 2008 Convention, this Task Force will remain in place and meet to discuss and evaluate the meet, and suggest any changes necessary for 2010. Nominations Zone Director – Coach: Shannon Gillespy, North Texas Motion to close the nominations/S/P Zone Officials Chair: Clark Hammond, Southeastern Gloria Schuldt, North Texas Rick Kehlenbach, Gulf Motion to close the nominations/S/P The Elections will be conducted at the Friday session. Southern Zone Committee September 17-18, 2009 Page 3 of 29 2010 Southern Zone Age Group Championship Dates The meet will be held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, from July 27 – July 31 (4½ Days), with Open Water on August 1, 2010. 2011 Southern Zone Age Group Championships Dates and Site Nominations/Presentation There were three bids submitted for the 2011 Age Group Championships: North Carolina North Texas Florida State University North Carolina’s bid was presented by Wayne Shulby. The meet would be held at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, North Carolina. The pool has run other large quality meets, such as the National Black Heritage ’09, the Speedo Series SE Sectionals ’09, the Greater Raleigh meet, the Virginia Long Course Senior Championships ’08 and ’09. There is spectator seating for 1000. The pool is 8 lanes, with depths varying from 9 to 14 ft. There is a 10 lane 25 yard warm-up/warm-down pool. There are spacious locker rooms and deck space, convenient free parking, complimentary wireless Internet. The venue is adjacent to the Cary Towne Center Mall. The meet would be hosted by the Raleigh Swimming Association. The venue is easily accessible by ground or air travel. The Open Water competition would be held in either of two lakes that are both within 15 minutes of the pool venue. North Texas’ bid was presented by Gloria Schuldt. The championships would be held in a brand new facility built by the Rockwall Independent School District. The pool is a 50 meter indoor pool. It has seating for 1000 spectators. There are movable bleachers on deck that would seat 800-900 athletes. The timing system is a Daktronics system. The venue is located northeast of Dallas. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants in the vicinity. The Open Water competition would be held in either Lake Carrollton or Lake Ray Hubbard. The championships would be hosted by the North Texas LSC. The Florida State University bid was submitted to Shannon Gillespy, who presented their bid. The FSU pool is an outdoor 50 meter pool, with a separate diving well. The pool is owned and operated by FSU. The Open Water competition would be held, but no specific information was listed on the bid form. The dates for the 2011 competition is July 26 – July 30 (4½ days), with Open Water on July 31, 2011. The vote on these bids will be conducted at the Friday Zone meeting. Disability Committee Each year the Disability Committee awards several awards. This year there are a couple of Southern Zone delegates that are nominated for the awards. Tucker Dupree (NC) is nominated for the Trischa L. Zorn Award for the Disability Swimmer of the Year. And, Fred Lamback (GA) is nominated for the Jimi Flowers Disability Coach of the Year Award. Old Business None New Business Shannon asked that all of the LSC General Chairs stay after this meeting is adjourned to discuss formulating written guidelines for the Sectional meets. A question was raised about what the eligibility would be for the 2010 Age Group Championships. Brian Dangelmaier presented items that were tabled from the 2008 Southern Zone Committee Meetings. After Southern Zone Committee September 17-18, 2009 Page 4 of 29 much discussion, a motion was made to leave the Age Group Championship qualifications, ages, and events as they currently are. M/S/P Currently there are no bids for the 2010 Senior Zone Meet. The Senior Zone Task Force was directed to solicit bids for the 2010 meet and to bring those bids forth at the Friday Zone Meeting. The Age Group Championships meet records have been updated through this year’s meet and will be posted on the website shortly. Richard raised several issues of Bylaws changes that need to be updated to bring the Bylaws current, including: 1. The addition of the Senior Zone Meet 2. The elimination of the Age Group Planning Committee 3. The corrections of references to the USA Swimming Rules & Regulations Since these changes were not distributed 30 days prior to this meeting, a 90% vote is necessary to approve these changes. A motion was made to amend the Bylaws to update the three items above. M/S/P. Herb Schwab will update the Bylaws, as directed. Announcements The Athletes were asked to meet after this meeting is adjourned. The Southern Zone Senior Meet Task Force members were asked to meet after this meeting is adjourned. The Meet Evaluation Committee was asked to meet after this meeting is adjourned. Motion to Adjourn at 8:24.07 p.m. until Friday, September 18, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. Southern Zone Committee September 17-18, 2009 Page 5 of 29 USA Swimming Southern Zone Meeting September 17-18, 2009 Hyatt Regency O’Hare Rosemont, Illinois The meeting was reconvened and called to order by Richard Pockat, Zone Director, on Friday, September 18, 2008 at 3:33 p.m.