NASA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MEETING MINUTES
4/16/2008
CALL TO ORDER: The NASA Board Meeting of April 16, 2008 was called to order at 6:25 PM. Joe Keller, Wendy Bernth, Brad Fisher, Kristi Sandt, Jessica Burbrink, and Bridget Griffin were present. The meeting minutes from March 25, 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. Items on the responsibility lists have been moved to specific board member’s lists. The list of board member responsibilities was reviewed with no changes at the present time. Board member attendance is requested at the New Parent Meeting on April 17, Tryouts on Monday, April 21 (6-7 PM), and on the Official Registration night which is April 29. The auditorium is reserved for the new parent meeting. Board members were reminded o continue compiling and updating procedure manuals. We will continue to focus on developing our new committee structure. This provides great training for future board members. Bridget and Wendy each oversee three of the committees. The importance of good communication among the board members was discussed. Brad Fisher will be resigning from the board at the end of the summer season. Wendy will include this information in the next Bits from the Board and ask for volunteers who may be interested in joining the board as Brad’s replacement. There have been two inquiries about our posted coaching position. Coach Keller plans to start individual family meetings this summer. The first families scheduled may be those with athletes who moved up as a result of the Concord meet at the end of the winter season. Coach Keller discussed the positive side of the year round programming. The Senior Group started earlier and at this point are more focused and in better shape than last year. The Age Group athletes had an opportunity for an extra week of training. Knowing how many athletes are planning to swim in the summer helps with the summer staffing and scheduling. On the downside, this creates a very busy week at the start of the season because we are having start-up meetings at the same time we have groups in the water. There is some uncertainty about the numbers at the start of the season because the new swimmers haven’t started yet and we don’t know who else may be a returning swimmer. Due to the uncertainty of the numbers, the coaching assignments are not finalized. We may have to change the coaching hours to reflect the actual group sizes. Some of the groups are small. For Year 2 of our V/M/P, we plan on hosting additional parent events including parent education, implementing race analysis (already started with coaching staff), and beginning the work for the Club Recognition program. Goals for Year 3 include beginning the private lesson program, beginning the Club Excellence Program, establishing a video library as a resource for parents and athletes, and beginning video analysis. If we are able to reach a certain level in the Club Excellence Program, we will qualify for USA swimming grant money which could be used for video analysis equipment. Coach Keller, Wendy, and Bridget met on April 14 to review the requirement for the Club Recognition Program. They are all going to begin inputting relevant data into the system. Bridget will work on the Parent/Volunteer Section, Wendy will work on the Business sections, and Coach Keller will work on Columns 3 & 4. The club’s goal is to have Level 1 finalized by the end of the Summer Season. Coach Keller reported that NASA’s position in the Virtual Club Championship is the lowest it’s been in the last 4 years but still ranks in the top 15% nationally. We will begin looking at possible ways to incorporate the IMX scores into our awards program. The IMX score is being incorporated in many areas of swimming. USA Swimming has replaced the Top 16 times with a listing of Top 10 times by exact age. USA swimming is beginning to focus on long course meter rather than yards due to new national team director, Mark Schubert’s vision! LCM will be used for qualifying for National Level Meets and the Olympics. The area of marketing and recruitment may shift to Kristi’s list. The new parent meeting and season start-up information has been publicized in several ways. The fliers have been sent to the schools, the school sign has information on it, and information has been sent to the newspapers. The board needs to consider how our team will participate in the Middlebury Summer Festival. (It falls on the same weekend as Jr. Nationals and Megazones). The recruiting tri-folds have been handed out to the middle school team, the 4th grade swimmers, and the middle school team. This could be a large recruiting year because of the Summer Olympics. When the move to the new high school is underway, the board may need parents to assist with the moving. There is nothing new on the new pool dedication. Coach Keller discussed the new time schedule for the high school next year and possible scheduling solutions that would minimize disruption to the Age Group training times. Students will be dismissed at 3:45 PM and then will need to travel from the new high school to the middle school pool. Consideration is being given to holding the main water training in the mornings and using the after school time for dryland and weights and limited pool time. During the summer season Phil will continue to maintain the website. Jeff Burbrink can also help if needed. Lori Hembree and Coach Keller have discussed the possibility of an aquatics website that would feature all aspects of aquatic programming. This would include having sections of the website available only by password. Coach Keller plans on using the email this summer in lieu of the white communication board. He will provide weekly updates that will include the information generally found on the white board. Hard copies will be available for those families without internet service (must confirm this with Coach Keller). As a reminder, NASA will be using a monthly contract with Hy-Tek for Team Manager until we renew for an annual contract in August. This gives the club a greater grace period if an annual renewal is not sent to Hy-Tek on time. This summer NASA will participate in a tri-meet with Irish Aquatics and Munster. This meet will replace the end-of-season time trials. Swimmers with state cuts will not be permitted to compete in the tri-meet. On May 24, NASA will host an Intrasquad Meet for Developmental, Blue, and Gold groups. Additional athletes may also swim this meet as a make-up for another meet with a coach’s approval. NASA will be participating in a new conference for developmental swimmers beginning in the next winter season. The conference will include NASA, SWAC, NACS, and Concord. The schedule for Winter 08-09 includes October 24 at NACS (single session meet combined with parent education), The NASA Sprint Meet, the SWAC Meet, the Concord IMX Meet, and a January meet similar to the first one of the season. Joe discussed the proposal to use our New Years classic to host this meet. Tony Young has agreed to come and provide a parent meeting with an educational topic. The tentative summer board meeting schedule includes The week of May 12, week of June 9, week of July 7, and the week of August 11. The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 14 at 6:15 pm in Coach Keller’s office.
WENDY: Wendy distributed and reviewed financial reports for the club. Outstanding bills include the travel bags and the summer Kast-A-Way order. We have received NASA caps and towels from the summer Kast-A-Way order. 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. Summer contracts will be finalized. The procedure for meet expenses will be detailed in the contract. If meet expenses are not turned in within 2 business days following the meet, reimbursement will not occur. Joe will make the changes to the contracts. Coach Keller provided Wendy with the summer pay dates. She will pass these on to the payroll service. Bridget provided Wendy with a listing of 13 and overs with AAA cuts. These swimmers are eligible to apply for the summer Counsilman grant. Summer dues collections will be Tuesday April 29, Thursday May 22, and Tuesday June 24. 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. New folders will be ready for the NASA box by Friday May 2. Chad Miller will owe the club money for the towel he ordered. 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 on May 24, the same day as the Great Race. The first dates for the swim shop will be May 8 and May 13. 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. The TYR contract is scheduled to expire in October 2008. The board unanimously agreed to extend the contract with TYR. The Summer Season Start-up packets are ready for the new parent meeting and returning swimmer sign-ups on April 17. For the official registration night on April 29 we will compile packets that include the pizza fundraiser information, the USA Swimming web account information, the Ad Packet, The Great Race information, the Ageility program, Handbooks, Cuts/Time Standards, the USA registration form, and a record keeping book. Following the sign-ups, Wendy will consolidate the summer members on one list. We still need to collect our club manuals from our attorney.
BRIDGET: The responsibility list and meeting minutes are due to Coach Keller by May 1. Once the meeting minutes are complete they can be emailed to Phil for the website. The Sectional Meet results are complete and will be included in the summer season awards. The Team Manager database will be updated with new athletes and any other changes that occur. The master phone/address listing will be available on Thursday, May 1. We still need a new laptop mouse. The new roster and attendance sheets are due to Coach Keller by May 2. Bridget has sent the sanction applications for both the Intrasquad Meet and the Summer Invitational. Once the sanctions have been received, the meet packet for the summer invitational can be finalized and posted on the NASA website and Indiana Swimming’s website. Awards for the Summer Invitational have been inventoried and need to be ordered from Kast-A-Way. We also need to order Heat Award Ribbons and Participation ribbons. As a reminder, we will not have awards for 15 & overs. Points earned in 10 & under events will not count toward 8 & under high point awards. The volunteer sheets for both meets will be posted beginning with the official registration on April 29. Coach Keller needs a meet eligibility report for the Boilermaker Meet. The Boilermaker entry will be completed this Saturday and the SWAC entry will be done the following week. The NASA Sprint Meet is on the winter schedule. Coach Keller will call Nate Hochstetler at Grand Rental about renting tables, chairs, and trash barrels. (all available NHS tables and chairs will be used for the Fish Fry that day). The Top Times Lists and Spreadsheets are complete for the winter season. The final Awards Report is due May 1. A copy of the records was given to Brad and Kristi so they can update the record board. Bridget will put updated records in the office window and provide additional copies to Coach Keller. The Senior State Certificates listed an incorrect location. These will be corrected.
BRAD: Capital projects are on hold until the new pool is complete. There will be new record boards at the new high school. Coach Keller and Philip restrung one lane line during Spring Break. There is sufficient cable for two more lane lines to be repaired. 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. Wendy will be one of the supervisors for the sale. Presale tickets were available at the Awards Celebration and are due back with payment on May 2. The goal is to sell 500 halves. Senior Group athletes who do not work the chicken sale will be required to work at the Intrasquad Meet. 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 call to confirm that Kast-A-Way has our summer meet on their schedule. The Little Caesars Pizza Kit information will be available at the official sign-up. The club will make $5.00 an item with $3.00 credit to families. The pizza will be delivered to school on Wednesday, June 11 at 3 pm. Brad will get information about having a Hacienda Giveback in the fall. Brad will provide Wendy with the hospitality sign-up sheets for the summer meet. She will update these and post them. Brad and Anita will finalize the concessions sign-up and post these so they are available for the official registration. Coach Keller will get the duct tape we need for covering the fieldhouse floor. Set-up for the summer meet can be Thursday evening . We should wait to set up the concessions until Friday as there are many students in the building for sports. There will not be any swim lessons scheduled the week of our meet. Brad reviewed the pizza order for the Awards Celebration. As a rule of thumb, we can order 20 large pizzas per 50 swimmers. We had a total of 60 pizzas. The board discussed using an RSVP for the awards celebration if we are going to serve food. The Swimmer Recognition Committee did a great job with set-up and clean-up. A thank you will be included in the Bits from the Board. Two other suggestions included asking people to turn off cell phones and having more drinks available. The board agreed to host a cook-out for the awards celebration at the end of the summer season. We will set a date at the next meeting. Brad and Kristi will update the record board.
KRISTI: The tri-folds and fliers are complete. Kristi will check on the status of Starr Photography. Mark Campbell will be taking action photos at the summer meet. Other possibilities for photography include VIBE and BeBlessed. The first Coaches’ Corner and Bits from the Board will be in folders the week of May 5. The swimmer recognition committee will meet on May 9. 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 drawstring bags need to be ordered from Kast-A-Way. These will be the new award for B cuts beginning this season. Kristi will help Brad update the record board. This responsibility will shift to her area. 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 will present the clinic. Carey Camarata is available for the Summer Invitational and the Sprint Meet in November. Jessica will check about his availability for the Intrasquad. There is no new information on the Ad program at this time. AD packets will be in the official registration folders. Jessica plans on talking to Mrs. Lamble about developing a marketing tool we can share with prospective sponsors. Coach Keller provided a Chamber of Commerce booklet that is a good source of business contacts. The club could also consider joining this group. The deadline to reserve hotel rooms for Senior State is May 24. After that the block of rooms will be returned to inventory. Coach Keller will make reservations for the coaching staff for all travel meets.
COACH KELLER: PRACTICE/TRAINING ITEMS: The final group sizes and numbers will be defined after this week. With that information, the coaching schedule will be finalized. The Blue group and the Star S group will be kept separate. Team and group reps will be selected by May 2. The coaches are beginning a “Take 5” procedure this season. If there is an issue on deck a coach may ask the athlete to “take 5”. The athlete will be required to sit near the bleachers for 5 minutes and then come and talk to the coach. This will help reduce interruptions to the training group. The Pre-Competitive Program will continue next winter. COACHING/EDUCATION: A Catch the Spirit Camp will be held at Concord High School on May 3. Coach Spilman will be on the coaching staff. Neither Coach Keller nor Coach Spilman applied for a Zone coaching position. Coach Keller will be at Jr. Nationals the same weekend as Zones. Kevin and Megan are completing their background checks. The club will reimburse them for the fee. Diving lessons will be offered by HS Coach Jenny Welch this spring. Checks will be payable to NASA. MEET ITEMS The Sectional Meet was held in Indianapolis. There were some outstanding performances. The first meets are SWAC and Boilermakers(at Purdue). Both of these meets will be the weekend of May 17-18. The Senior State Meet will be a team meet. The Senior Group will travel together. Mark Rushlow has qualified for Jr. Nationals. This meet will be held in Minnesota. Indiana swimming provides a stipend to help offset expenses and NASA will also contribute funds. The club will continue to fund packets for any athletes who qualify and attend the Zone Meet. ACTIVITIES: Coach Spilman is organizing a team activity for the Age Group swimmers. They will meet on Tuesday May 22 for miniature golf prior from 3:45 to 5:30 pm. There will be additional supervision. The board approved this activity. There is a 1 day camp for ages 9-12 at Concord on May 3. There will be a weekend camp at Crawfordsville over Memorial Day weekend for ages 11-14. There will also 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. There is no new information on a training trip for the Senior Group. OTHER PROGRAMS: NASA families can sign up for the swim lesson program along with MCS staff members during the early sign-up period. The first Saturday sign-up is April 26. Elizabeth Spilman has been named a High School Academic All-State. Her information is being forwarded to NISCA for Academic All American consideration. The plaque for All-American is quickly filling up. We may need to order a new one soon. This has been funded by NASA. The athletes named as All-American will be announced this summer. New college athletes include Elizabeth Spilman, Travis Hembree, and possibly Todd Wenger swimming at Ball State. New photos of the building construction can be viewed online. Phase I is the priority to finish for the start of school. The meeting adjourned at 10:58 pm. The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 14 in Coach Keller’s office starting at 6:15 pm.