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Home Page 2008 Meeting Minutes

NASA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MEETING MINUTES

3/25/2008

CALL TO ORDER: The NASA Board Meeting of March 25, 2008 was called to order at 6:30 PM. Joe Keller, Wendy Bernth, Brad Fisher, Kristi Sandt, Jessica Burbrink, and Bridget Griffin were present. The meeting minutes from February 19, 2008 were approved as written.

ALL MEMBER: The new system of board members having greater responsibility for reporting on their items continued with this meeting. Coach Keller distributed a responsibility list for the end of winter season/start of summer season. Board members were asked to review the list and make changes as necessary. The USA Swimming manual and our NASA manual were used as background information for the attorney as we developed updated by-laws. Wendy is following up on the return of these manuals. Information on the Agelity program is available on Indiana Swimming’s web site. This discount prescription program is available free of charge. ID can be printed from the web page. More information will be distributed to NASA families this summer. Board members were asked to be available for the Award Celebration on March 31, the new swimmer parent meeting on April 17, tryouts on April 21, and the official registration on April 29. Coach Keller reviewed the calendar for the summer season.

March 17 - Some Senior Group starts, AGS, HMS, and sectional swimmers start after their respective breaks.

April 14 - Year round Age Group swimmers begin training

April 17 - Meeting for parents of new swimmers, sign-up for returning athletes not on the year round program/Coach Keller will have date placed on the NHS sign and important dates sent to the newspapers this week! He will also reserve the auditorium for the meeting.

April 21 - Tryout for new swimmers, first day for returning swimmers not on the year round program.

April 22 - First day of training for new swimmers

April 29 - Official registration, Level IV timers clinic, first dues collection

April 14 – 17 – Meet exceptions sign-up (sign up to indicate any meet or part of a meet you are unable to attend)

Senior Group athletes who did not sign up for the year round program will be able to begin training but will have to attend the April 17 sign-up. Wendy will assemble the packets. The packet will contain information including training group assignment, Parent Meeting information, practice calendar, meet schedule, board rules, and swim lesson information. New families, and those who did not swim this winter, will also receive a Medical Release Form and Terms and Conditions Form. New members will also receive the Vision/Mission/Purpose at the meeting. Fundraising information on the pizza kits will be available at the official registration along with agility and USA web account information. Coach Keller outlined the coaching staff for the summer season. Coach Keller will have the Senior Group (with Coaches S. Troyer, K. Troyer, E. Troyer, and A. Miller helping as needed). Coach Spilman will have the Star Z and Gold groups (A. Miller and E. Troyer will coach mornings). Coach S. Troyer will have the Star S group until June1 when Coach K. Troyer will take over the group. Coach E. Troyer will have the Blue group. Coach Marfa will have both Developmental groups. Megan Wenger and A. Miller are available as needed. During the moratorium week, Coaches A. Miller, E. Troyer, and K. Troyer will assist the Senior Group. The first year of the Vision/Mission/Purpose continues through the summer season. Progress to date has been very positive. Coach Keller plans to begin individual family meetings this summer. The shooting stars visuals that are displayed on deck seem to have provided a growing awareness of the progression of cuts and meets. At the end of the summer season, Senior Group athletes will have 3 –5 weeks off before the winter season begins. Training will not begin until after Labor Day. Coach Keller reported on the High School/Senior Group parent meeting held on March 17. Information was handed out to the families and many relevant items were discussed. Shifting to a committee structure is a goal that spans both year 1 and 2 of the V/M/P. Board members were asked to continue working on the development of committees and on our Procedure Manuals. Hosting parent and family events is one area that the board would like to improve. The board agreed to plan a family/athlete dinner on one night during each state meet to bring everyone together. This could be an evening out at a restaurant or as simple as ordering pizza at the team hotel. The activity will be planned and communicated to families prior to the meet. The status of a private lesson program will be dependent on the staffing levels. This may become a year 3 item. Race Analysis is a year 2 item. Bridget, Wendy, and Coach Keller will meet on Monday, April 14 to work on the Club Recognition Program. This is the first step toward the Club Excellence Program. Coach Keller is considering ways to incorporate the IMX scoring into our award structure. This would keep our club focus in line with the focus of USA Swimming (using IMX scores as the basis for evaluating a swimmer’s performance). Information on the summer season sign-up will be sent to the schools and the newspapers. Tri-folds are being provided to 4^th grade swim classes, the Heritage Swim Team, and middle school swim classes. Beginning this summer, Kristi will send meet results to newspaper in the required format. Bridget will provide meet results to her by the Tuesday evening following meets and Kristi will email results by Wednesday. The school administration has approved the concept of an aquatic website. Access to certain parts of the website may be password restricted. Coach Keller will be meeting with Lori Hembree about the high school web page. He has met with Phil Schieber about the NASA webpage. Phil will continue maintaining the site through the summer. Jeff Burbrink is able to help if needed. The club will expand the use of email this summer to include “white board” information beginning May 1. After the first few weeks of summer the white board will no longer be used. It is important that families provide up to date email addresses to the club. Athlete retention continues to be an important goal of the board. This summer a tri-meet is scheduled to provide an additional meet opportunity for our swimmers. There is still interest in beginning a conference focused on the less experienced swimmers. The interested clubs will continue to discuss this with a goal of starting summer 2009. The packet for the 2008 NASA Summer Invitational was finalized. Bridget will apply for a sanction. Once the sanction is approved, she will post the meet packet and set-up files on the web. State Team hotel reservations are set for this summer.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, April 16 at 6:15 pm in Coach Keller’s office.

WENDY: Wendy distributed and reviewed financial reports for the club. USA Swimming registration forms will be preprinted for registration. As new coaches are hired they will be required to sign a contract as well as complete the government employment forms. The procedure for meet expenses will be detailed in the contract. If meet expenses are not turned in by the Monday following the meet, reimbursement will not occur. Coach Keller provided Wendy with the summer pay dates. She will pass these on to the payroll service. Bridget will provide Wendy with a listing of 13 and overs with AAA cuts. These swimmers are eligible to apply for the summer Counsilman grant. Wendy will review all group changes that were made toward the end of the season to make sure we are up to date for the summer season. Coach Keller reviewed the inventory and proposed the summer order. The board reviewed a new swim distributor and agreed unanimously to remain with Kast-A-Way. The swim events for the Great Race will be held at the Elkhart Y. Wendy will distribute information to our swimmers and lap swim participants. NASA will be hosting an intrasquad meet the same day. Wendy will schedule the Mancino’s Giveback. We will promote the purchase of gift certificates as an added area of revenue. Wendy will update the medical release booklets for the summer season. Coach Keller will need blank USA registrations to have available for new Senior Group athletes.

BRIDGET: The responsibility list and meeting minutes are due to Joe by April 3.

Once the meeting minutes are complete they can be emailed to Phil for the website. Meet results and awards have been finalized for all the winter meets. Reports for the award celebration meet packet are completed. The Sectional Meet results will be included in the summer season. There were numerous new cuts at every meet this season. Our athletes had great swims at the Concord Meet. This was our season ending team meet. The decision to eliminate Divisionals from our meet schedule was based on several factors. We wanted to eliminate back-to-back meets, reduce travel costs, and be close to home. Historically, our athletes have done well at Concord and it is a great end of season tem meet. As the summer season begins, Bridget will update the database and produce the phone/address book, an email list, and complete the athlete registrations. A new mouse is still needed for the laptop. The NASA Sprint Meet is scheduled for November 7, 2008. The Scheduling Request has been approved and the facility rental agreement is complete. We will be renting tables, chairs, and trash barrels from Grand Rental due to the MMPA Fish Fry being scheduled on the same day. The meet packet will be updated in early summer. The New Year’s Classic meet is scheduled for January 17, 2009. The scheduling request and facility rental are complete. In future years, the date for this meet may need to change due to conflicts with the high school schedule. This meet will be held at the current NHS pool. The summer meet packet will be sent in with our sanctioning application. Once we receive a sanction, the meet packet and set-up file will be posted on Indiana’s web page and the NASA web page. Bridget will order the awards. Bridget will finalize the certificates (including for Pre-Competitive) for the awards celebration. In addition to the participation certificates, Bridget will make certificates for the Senior State athletes. Age Group State provided us with certificates. Three sets of records are needed – for the record board, the window, and Coach Keller. The final reports for winter awards and the starting spreadsheet for summer season are needed by May 1.

BRAD: Capital projects are on hold until the new pool is complete. Brad reviewed the chicken sale information. We will sell it for $5.00 per half. The Senior Group will be responsible for the first sale, which will be May 10 in Middlebury only. An adult supervisor is needed for May 10. Presale tickets will be available at the Awards Celebration. The second chicken sale will be club wide with two locations, Middlebury and SR 120/CR17. The board will purchase team t-shirts for all new swimmers this summer. Any current swimmer has the option of purchasing a replacement shirt if they need one. Coach Keller will confirm that Kast-A-Way has our summer meet on their schedule. Brad will get more information on having this fundraiser in the fall. The Little Caesars Pizza Kit information will be available at the official sign-up. Brad discussed having coolers with ice available for the Award Celebration. Coach Keller will develop the agenda! Brad will coordinate the pizza order. Kristi has a set-up crew and a clean-up crew for the Award Celebration. Brad will work with Kristi on updating the Record Board. This responsibility will transfer to Kristi as part of swimmer recognition.

KRISTI: The board reviewed the recruiting fliers for the summer season that will be distributed to the schools the week of March 31. Mark Campbell will be taking action photos at the summer meet. The swimmer recognition committee will meet by May. One assignment is to develop a proposal for an alternative award valued at $30 that can be offered to swimmers earning duplicate awards for A cuts and above. The towels have been embroidered and are ready for the Award Celebration. Kristi will take over sending meet results to the newspapers. Bridget will continue the award system.

JESSICA: A Level IV Timers clinic will be held on April 29 at 6:45 pm. Jessica reviewed the current status of officials. The need for officials will be mentioned at the Award Celebration as well as the new parent meeting. Jesica outlined the incentive plan for officials. If an official from NASA works at least 6 away sessions and all the NASA meet sessions in one year, the club will pay their USA registration fee for the following year. A copy of the official’s card with referee signatures is needed to verify sessions worked. Jessica has confirmed Carey’s availability for the Sprint Meet and the New Year’s Classic Meet. The club is within $1000 of the goal for advertising/business sponsorship for the year. An updated ad packet will be available to families on April 29. There is nothing new on grant writing.

COACH KELLER: PRACTICE/TRAINING ITEMS: The last regular practice of the winter season was February 25. A family fun night was held on Friday, February 29. There will be several move-ups at the start of the summer season. Pre-Competitive swimmers interested in summer swim lessons will have the opportunity to sign-up from April 16-23. The first regular sign-up for swim lessons is scheduled for April 26. The stroke evaluations were distributed to all age group swimmers. All coaches have turned in their end of season paperwork (with the exception of Evan). Toward the end of the season, there were several attendance issues, which made planning difficult. Sectional athletes have been practicing in the mornings while the Middle School Team has been practicing after school. The summer group structure will be similar to last summer with the exception of Developmental which will be similar to this winter. The Developmental groups will practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. COACHING/EDUCATION: Coach Keller has his registration up to date. Coach K. Troyer is in the process of finalizing his requirements. Coach evaluations are available for board member review. Wendy and Coach Keller will work on summer coaching contracts. Coach S. Troyer attended a clinic hosted by The Indiana Association of Girls Coaches. NASA will not have anyone attend the Central States Clinic in May because there are two meets scheduled the same weekend. None of the NASA coaches applied for the Zone coaching positions. Coach Spilman will coach at the “Catch the Spirit” Camp this spring MEET ITEMS There are still a few awards to be distributed for the winter season. NASA finished 21^st at the Age Group State Meet; the boys finished 13^th and the girls finished 31^st. The Sectional Meet begins March 27. Coach Keller has applied for 1 day of unpaid leave to attend. Coach Keller presented a proposal for the summer Senior State Meet. The athletes would attend the meet as a team, travel together (1 rented van and Coach Keller’s truck), and stay together as a team. This could provide a greater focus for the athletes, provide cost savings to families as well as build team unity. The board approved this proposal. Two male coaches would attend. One female chaperone would be needed. Funds raised from the chicken sale could help offset some of the expenses for this trip. The Indiana Top Ten Times are being recognized with certificates beginning this season. Athletes earning plaques in previous years will still get plates this year. There will no longer be National Top 16 Reportable Times. The national focus is shifting to IMX performance. This past season NASA spent $1431 in awards. Last year this amount was $1260. The meet schedule for the summer season will be available in the summer packet. The first meets are SWAC and Boilermakers(at Purdue). Both of these meets will be the weekend of May 17-18. ACTIVITIES: The family pool party on February 29 was very successful with many families attending. Catch the Spirit Camp information will be available at the Award Celebration. Registrations are due during Spring Break. There is a 1 day camp for ages 9-11 at Concord on May 3. There will be a weekend camp at Crawfordsville over Memorial Day weekend for ages 11-14. There also will be a camp June 18-22 for 15-16 year old swimmers that will be by invitation only. 26 swimmers from Indiana will be invited to this camp in Arizona. This camp will be funded by Indiana Swimming. OTHER PROGRAMS: The Middle School Team finished their season this week. At the A conference, the Heritage boys won and the Heritage girls were 2^nd. At the B conference, the Heritage boys were 2^nd and the Heritage girls were 4^th. Mark Hesse has invited a group of our senior athletes to train with his team and learn more about Race Analysis. The high school boys’ team placed 11^th at state. Both high school assistant coaches will continue. Coach Keller has had his evaluation with the Athletic Director. Joe reviewed the former NASA athletes now swimming in college. AJ Miller, Spencer Hanson, Whitney Hackman, Bill Griffin, Becca Gingerich, Kyle Hembree, and Ali Schieber are all swimming in college. Elizabeth Spilman and Travis Hembree will be swimming at Ball State next year. Trace Hanson and Todd Wenger may be swimming. The meeting adjourned at 11:15 pm. The next meeting will be Wednesday, April 16 in Coach Keller’s office starting at 6:15 pm.