USAT Mid Atlantic Council Meeting Minutes

Transcription

1 USAT Mid Atlantic Council Meeting Minutes Meeting came to order: 8:04 pm Attendance: Cory Churches Robert Vigorito Ken Modica Melissa Merson Absent: Otis Hopson Other members present: Karen Willard, Regional Administrative Assistant Taylor Knight, Collegiate Representative Christy Lausch, RADC Approval of September Minutes - Voice vote approved Council Chair report (Cory) USAT National board -- met October 13 to discuss nominations for the mid Atlantic regional representative appointment. Chuck Graziano is a front runner and may have already been appointed. No one from the board has given us any indication of who our representative will be. USAT Regional Chairs Council will meet in November in Colorado Springs. Each region is required to present a report on the regional impact of 2014 funding and a proposed 2015 budget request/allocation prepared.

2 Regional communications tool proposal - Cory discussed a proposal to purchase access to a communication platform and tools such as Mail Chimp, Survey Monkey and istock (photos) to better engage regional members. Vigorito proposed, Merson seconded. Council agreed unanimously this would be a good idea pending funding. Cory updated the council on her proposal for a 2-year strategic plan for the region and called for volunteers to work on this. Share the Win Program - Bags not yet received, nominations open. File to track nominations and backpack deliveries (when relevant) available on Shared Drive. Mike Wien, the USAT National Board South East Region representative joined the call to clarify the situation regarding North Carolina. Wien said that, eventually a national board realignment will need to take place, but for now North Carolina will remain part of the Mid-Atlantic for most purposes, such as rankings and budget but will be represented on the National Board by a different member due to the by-laws passed earlier this year to realign the regions. Wien did not address the protest of those by laws changes filed by more than 100 USAT members including much of the Mid-Atlantic Council. So, for now, USAT-MA will be divided for purposes of national board representation. Treasurer Report (Ken) There is $59k in the bank. There are some outstanding credit card payments and reimbursement requests pending including about $8k for Paratriathlon Committee, Club Championship requests, and Awards. Most spending accounted for so far has been for the regional officials program, which has fully spent its allocation, administrative costs for council operations and technology upgrades for council communications. Committee Reports: Collegiate: Taylor Knight reported that the regional conference championships were held at the Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon, which was hosted by Liberty University near Lynchburg. There were 260 collegiate triathletes participating, the most we've had so far. Liberty also bussed 150 volunteers to the race site. Collegiate National Championships will be held at Clemson University in South Carolina. USAT-MA expects a great showing by regional collegiate teams and athletes.

3 Taylor reviewed the budget submission (Attachment). The biggest area of need in the budget is to help collegiate clubs with travel costs, which enables and encourages teams to send athletes to the big national championship races. Another priority is to host a draft-legal clinic to help athletes prepare for national draftlegal races. Although there is a short race season for collegiate teams due to college and university calendars, the region should look for ways to help support the growth of draft-legal racing and training in the region. Cory noted that, with the ITU approval of draft-legal racing for the ITU Sprint World Championships in 2016, the Region hopes to support more draft legal racing locally.(vigo). The Collegiate Committee budget proposal was agreed to unanimously. Club Committee - Club Championship check requests have been submitted. Melissa (club liaison) suggested that a club presidents meeting be included at the Regional Expo. She said she has reached out to many of the club president in the region but it was difficult to get responses during the season. Paratriathlon Committee - Grant requests have been submitted. The committee is looking at races to select next year s regional paratriathlon championship event. Regional Championship Committee - Cory said USAT has released its schedule of National Championship events. (This info was shared by Cory on 10/8)The notes below show how the national event dates stack up next to the races selected for USAT-MA Regional Championships. In several categories, USAT-MA traditionally has not held a championship event for various reason. We can revisit these to see if we want to add any new championships and solicit bids from race directors to host them. Off-Road - XTERRA Southeast Championship at Oak Mountain - Birmingham, AL (date tbd, typically mid-may). Clydesdale and Athena - Grand Rapids Tri - Grand Rapids, MI - 6/14/15 Club Nationals - Halfmax Championship - Innsbrook, MO 6/27/15 Club Regional - NJ State Triathlon - West Windsor, NJ, 7/19/2015 Aquabike - TOUGHman Triathlon - Croton-on-Hudson, NY - 9/6/15 Aquabike Regional - Mighty Moraine Man Triathlon, 9/19/15 Long Course Tri - Redman Triathlon -Oklahoma City, Lake Hefner 9/19/15 Long Course Regional -Waterman's Half - Rock Hall, MD - 10/3/2015

4 Aquathlon - Route 66 - El Reno, OK - 10/4/15 Long Course Duathlon - Bronda's Duathlon - Fort Worth, TX - 11/15/15 NA -No regional championship held The Committee would like to know whether any races in the Mid-Atlantic Region submitted bids for any national championship because we may want to encourage our RDs to submit bids for these races in MOU's will be sent to RDs from National - Karen will handle outreach to RDs. Michael Clark from the Roanoke, VA Parks and Recreation Department contacted us. He is the RD for the Off the Rails Triathlon, which we had designated as the VA State Championship this year. Clark asked if we would do so again to help their race marketing. Without any objection, the council agreed. Richard Swor from Greensboro (RD for our 2014 Regional Championship Short Course Duathlon) contacted us to say he is considering adding a longer course Duathlon race, after he learned he had missed the deadline for submitting a bid to host the Short Course race. The region has not yet selected a Paratriathlon Regional Championship (See Paratriathlon Committee Report). Regional Officials Women s Committee (Monette). The committee knows of at least one application for a Women's Committee Grant. RADC Update (Christy) Christy reported she will be submitting grants for approval and check requests this week; She will also prepare a budget request for 2015 and send this week. Youth Guide Subcommittee (JoAnna Younts) - All articles for the guide have been submitted and compiled by JoAnna into one document. She has edited the document one time. Joanna expressed some concern about redundancies with the national youth guide. She said she will review the document and give it a more regional focus. USAT-MA Youth Guide Suggested Format: Multiple formats flash format (viewable online like a magazine see national Youth Guide at

5 as well as downloadable pdf. Color pages with photos and sidebar-type boxes with additional information and links. Links within each article to useful resources, comparable to the national version. As currently drafted, the guide has eight articles within 12 pages. Graphic design is needed. We have lots of photos Youth & Juniors Committee Melissa moved, Vigorito seconded, adoption of the revised USAT-MA Youth Triathlon Series proposal (attachment). The proposal would spend $10k for there years for a series of up to 15 races in the region. It includes funding for youth camps/clinics etc. with a goal of increasing opportunities for youth throughout the region to participate in triathlon closer to home. Following discussion, the proposal was approved unanimously by voice vote. Open Discussion - What should the the Council do regarding a regional Expo for next year. The annual meeting usually takes place at the Expo. Vigorito noted that the Multisport Expo will not be held at Georgetown Prep next year but in a new location. It will be held in March either in NW DC or in suburban Maryland. Council members discussed possibility of adding a coaching certification or continuing education class or course, as well as meetings for Race Directors, Club Presidents, etc. The Council discussed USAT National Board domestic violence case that appeared in the Chicago Tribune. Council decided to reach out to the USAT-MA representative on the USAT Women s Committee for further information. Meeting concluded at 9:45 pm November call will take place: Tuesday, November 18, at 8:00 pm. Dial in number: Password Respectfully submitted, Melissa Merson, secretary