South Axholme
Sharks Committee Meeting Present:Kevin Dunne (Head Coach), Jill Watson, Bev Webb, Claire Windle, Jim Cook, Simon Latham, Jeff Buxton, Angie Shyplka, Lynn Crawford & Sandra Temperton. Apologies:Margaret & David Gray, Julie Hirst, Jan Simm. Minutes of Last Meeting Agreed as a true record. Matters Arising The new Team Manager record system has not been purchased yet, for which Julie sends her apologies and will endeavour to purchase shortly. Bev/ Angie – email Julie re this and remind her to purchase Team Manager 4, the latest version. Kev suggested that Angie should sit with him and gain some experience at inputting the data on this system for the future. The Sharks Open Meet Committee advised that they have received two bulk sets of entry forms from other Clubs wishing to participate. Their next meeting will be on the 26th of June. Jim is still recruiting helpers for the day. Entry slips for our swimmers are available and letters are to be sent to other Clubs to remind them of this event. Simon advised that he has devised a risk assessment form to be used for the Galas and showed this to the Committee, who were happy to take forward (refer to details later). Kev advised that the Club Champs trophies would cost circa. £450 plus VAT, with the Sprint Ladder trophies costing £120 plus VAT and engraving of the larger trophies £200 on top of this. It was noted that the glass trophies seemed very popular at Club Champs and we would definitely look at purchasing these in the future. Sandra apologised for not displaying the Swim 21 Certificate at the Pool however, she thought it best to purchase a wall mounted frame and is still looking for a suitable one to use. The Committee agreed that it was important to promote our Swim 21 status and therefore we should make note of this on our website. Bev to remind Margaret to send Cris the information for the website. Lynn advised that she has booked the DJ for our forthcoming social evening and he has agreed to set up some games for the children on the evening. Simon advised that he is still looking into the aspect of fund-raising for the Club via a sponsored swim. Jan is writing to the Supermarkets in Scunthorpe for information on how we go about arranging some fund raising by the swimmers bag packing. Sandra advised that she may be able to obtain some items of swimwear from Pro-swim on a sale or return basis, which she would use to show people the quality, sizings etc before purchase. It was suggested that we may be able to sell these items at our Open Meet however, Gerrards Swimwear have already been booked for this. Correspondence We have received a letter from Mrs. M Crowley (Secretary of the Lincolnshire Junior League), dated the 24th of May 2007, regarding the second round of this League organised by ourselves at Gainsborough Pool on the 19th of May. Outlined in this letter are two complaints: firstly regarding some of the timeslips being incorrectly recorded i.e. the official average times were not recorded in some instances and secondly that some of our officials at this Gala were not qualified to carry out their respective roles. Sandra replied to this letter on the 28th of May, after reference to Kev & David and advised that we would be investigating the matter regarding the timings recorded and the subsequent League points situation and apologised for the use of some officials who were not fully authorised, but advised that as a small Club it is sometimes very difficult to have a full quota of qualified officials, as all our officials are volunteers. Sandra advised Mrs. Crowley that we would respond as soon as we had been able to look at these matters more fully. A copy of this letter was forwarded to Mrs. Crowley on the 28th of May by email and as yet we have not had a response. Kev also advised the Committee that he had emailed Mrs. Crowley on the 5th of June 2007, as well, regarding this and received a response making the point that every Club who took part in this Gala had some DQs apart from ourselves, which they found hard to believe! There was also some argument about some over-age swimmers, which David advised did not make a difference to the swimmers times, in addition to this the placings were correct. Cris has been advised re the points system for the Lincolnshire League and apologises for any mistakes that may have been made. David advised that when we are hosting a Gala within the Lincs league, we should only have to make sure that we have a Referee, an Announcer and both a male and female Competitive Steward available, all other positions could be filled by other Clubs if necessary. Kev also mentioned that he had requested a copy of the League rules about a week before this Gala, in order to check something else but had never received a copy. David advised that the points would be altered if need be however, the swimmers times could not be altered at this stage and it was agreed that we should wait for an official response from our last letter before we respond again. Sandra received a letter from Dr. Elizabeth Pike from the University of Chichester regarding Masters swimmers. Dr. Pike is undertaking a research project regarding physical activity for older people and as we have an active Masters group, she would appreciate our input. She has sent a form, which she would like as many Masters swimmers to complete and return. Bev to photocopy and hand out to the Masters. Email received from Dearne Valley Swimming Club regarding a friendly Gala to be held on the 14th of July at St. James’s Pool, Doncaster. Kev has responded advising that he will take a team of our Tiger and Reef Squad swimmers to give them some experience. We have received an email from Nigel Hunstan (DMASA Chairman) regarding the post of Assistant Chief Coach, which is to become available the final interviews are to be held on the 29th of June. This position will be, in the main, to assist the Chief Coach at DARTES and he/she will also visit the feeder Clubs to carry out additional training in line with DARTES training, organisation of events for DARTES and talent spotting at the feeder Clubs. The salary should be in the region of £16,000 pa with an additional £4,000 in costs available and in this respect DARTES need to raise £10,000 as its contribution towards this, in addition to some ‘match funding’, which may become available from the DMASA. It was suggested in the email that each feeder Club may like to contribute towards this salary, in order that the DMASA will give DARTES the match funding they require. Kev responded to the email by advising, in his own personal view, as our next Committee meeting was not to be held until the 19th of June, that we could only really contribute towards this by fund raising, as our own funds were not substantial enough. The Committee agreed that we were all in support of the new post but we would only be able to contribute on a fund raising only basis. Jeff to confirm our decision at the next DMASA meeting. Coach’s Report The Fenland Meet on the 27th of May was again thought to be a good weekend by all who attended, with an entertaining night at the local Pub afterwards. The weather conditions were bad however from the 16 swimmers who attended, 1 Club record was broken by Luke Shyplka, who broke Jonathan Pennells 10yrs 50m free record, 31 personal best times were achieved and the swimmers brought home 24 trophies between them (4 golds, 4 silvers, 3 bronzes and 13 fourth to sixth place trophies). Anna Laird and Holly Lewis both narrowly missed out on the top girl positions in their respective age groups. Club Champs 1 and 2 were held on the 2nd and 9th of June and were well represented. Gala 1 saw 85 competing swimmers who achieved 140 PBs, 18 Championship & Club records; two of these Championship records have stood for the past six years (Anna Laird broke Rebecca Milnes’s 12 yrs 200m breaststroke record and Jackie Buxton broke Cheryl Futters Masters 200m breaststroke record. Gala 2 saw 89 competing swimmers, with 145 PBs, 17 Championship records broken and 8 Club records broken (Dan Leggott broke Chris Watson’s 5 year old 12yrs 50m fly record by nearly 2 seconds! Kev and the Committee are very proud of all the swimmers and their achievements. At these Galas the Committee had decided to run them as ‘cardless’ Galas and agreed that this went very smoothly in all aspects of the arrangements and running of the Galas. The 17th June saw 22 Sharks swimmers taking part in the Retford B Grade Meet at Ponds Forge; these included four 9yr old girls who swam in their relay team. Seven Club records were smashed at this event; Luke Shyplka who broke 3 records two of which were long standing records in the 10yrs 200m free and the 4X25m Individual Medley, Dan Leggott broke 3 Club records, one of them being a five year old record in the 12yrs 4x50m IM and Lewis Starbuck broke Chris Watson’s 11yrs 50m fly record from 2003. All in all, Sharks came away with 19 trophies (7 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze) plus 12 fourth to sixth placings), 9 speeding tickets and 46 PB times. Sharks were also placed 4th in the Top Club award, which was won overall by South Holderness. Some Sharks swimmers took part in the NE District Championships held at Ponds Forge, under the DARTES banner. Matthew Hirst coming 5th in the 10yrs 100m Backstroke, Holly Lewis coming 7th in the 11yrs 100m Breaststroke and Hannah Hirst coming 10th in the 12yrs 100m Breaststroke. Well done to these swimmers. A special mention for Jackie Buxton, who is our first Master swimmer to represent Sharks at a National Masters Championship. She swam at Manchester’s 50m Pool and finished an excellent 3rd place in the 50m fly and 4th in the 200m Breaststroke. Forthcoming Galas Lincs Senior League round 3 to be held at Deepings on the 30th of June. A coach has been arranged for this. Sunday the 1st of July – Barnsley Minor League round 2 at Askern, warm up 4pm. Dinsdale League at Rossington on the 8th of July. Friendly Gala held at St. James’s Pool on the14th of July (see earlier reference). Barnsley Minor League to be held on the 8th of September at Gainsborough (we are hosting) and the Lincs Junior League on the 15th of September. Kev will not be here for these two Galas as he is on holiday; he will select the teams though and advise in plenty of time. Any Other Business Simon has devised a risk assessment template, which can be used for all Galas. Our own risk assessment is on our website for other Clubs to view. We need a risk assessment for all Club activities including all Galas, Sprint nights and social events. If we do not have a risk assessment in place our ASA insurance will be higher, therefore the Committee agreed that we should do a risk assessment for every Gala etc that Sharks takes part in. Simon to print this form for every Gala, where someone, preferably a Committee member, should complete every time. We have only sold 42 tickets for the social evening. Kev/Claire to approach parents and swimmers re purchase of the tickets early so we can advise Brumby Hall for catering purposes by the 1st of July. Kev advised that 10 swimmers had passed the Competitive start Award and he is looking to run another course in September. The Committee must decide in what direction we are going in respect of which Leagues we wish to compete in next year. Do we want to swim in the Barnsley Minor League again or possibly the Dinsdale League again? Jeff suggested that our swimming Calendar should firstly include dates that DARTES will be using. Jim suggested that we should re enter the Dinsdale League and use it for the novice swimmers to gain some experience. It must also be remembered that if we are to enter the Lincs leagues again next year the dates for these Galas are generally ‘set in stone’ and the Barnsley and Dinsdale League Gala dates are arranged at their respective AGMs in October, November or December every year. Perhaps we should pull out of the Lincs Senior League as the older swimmers tend to move on from swimming & we haven’t got a lot of older swimmers at the moment apart from the 12-14 year age bracket. Perhaps we should consider pulling out of the Barnsley Minor League, as some Sharks swimmers are not allowed to swim in this League for various reasons? Should we re-enter the Pocklington League for 2008? We should also reconsider the Open Meets? Julie Hirst has now taken the fixtures list on board and the Committee felt the 2008 fixtures should be an Agenda item for the next meeting in September. Date of Next Meeting Tuesday the 4th of September 2007 at the Red Lion Hotel, Epworth to start at 7.15pm. |