Sailor Athlete Advisory Council Conference Call Minutes

9-17-03

Attending: Lee Parks, Louise Gleason, Ned Jones, Bob Merrick, Betsy Altman, Roger Cleworth, Susannah Carr, Hal Haenel

1. 20% Athlete Committee Compliance
Bob Merrick reported on the compliance with the USOC mandate of US SAILING Committees. The Jr. Women’s Committee and US Singlehanded Championship Committee are not compliant. A discussion took place regarding the athlete requirements for various committees. Louise commented that ISAF is in the early stages of ensuring athlete representation. The Olympic Sailing Executive Committee ought to be compliant, it should be listed separately from the Olympic Sailing Committee, and paid staff should not be counted in determining compliance. The Committee thanked Bob for his work.
 

2. Publicity and Promotion
Susannah Carr reported that she and Betsy Altman worked together to create a short paragraph describing SAAC and encouraging people to register. Susannah detailed the promotion she did via US SAILING. The Committee determined that those efforts had not brought any noticeable increase in registrations. Ned Jones recommended advertising or posting in Scuttlebutt. He will talk to Craig Leweck about details. Bob Merrick suggested emailing registered sailor-athletes an occasional SAAC update. The Committee determined that a quarterly update would suffice. Louise Gleason will find out if SAAC can put together a list serv of registered athletes. Roger Cleworth recommended encouraging people to register when they renew their US SAILING memberships on the web. Lee Parks offered to get a cost estimate for implementing that suggestion.
 

3. Registration Confirmation
Registration has been light. Louise Gleason instructed Committee members in charge of registration to check the website manually for submissions because some committee members are not receiving the emails notifying them of a pending registration. Louise also suggested using US SAILING’s online regatta registration to promote sailor-athlete registration.
 

4. 2003 AGM
US SAILING’s Annual General Meeting will be in St. Louis, MO on October 16-19, 2003. Expected SAAC attendees are Louise Gleason, Betsy Altman, Dean Brenner and Hal Haenel. Bob Merrick is possibly attending. Louise Gleason will work with Lee Parks to organize sailor-athlete registration information at the AGM. Louise will also email SAAC the AGM agenda.
 

5. SAAC Election
The offices of Secretary, Vice Chairman and Chairman are up for annual reelection. Nominating and voting will take place on the SAAC webpage. http://www.ussailing.org/sac/referendum/
Results will be reported at US SAILING’s Annual General Meeting. The Chairman also sits on US SAILING’s Executive Committee.
 

6. Other Business
Committee members reviewed the work they have done to communicate with athletes. The Committee stressed the importance of continuing to register athletes.
 

Adjourned