Sailor Athlete Advisory Council Conference Call Minutes
March 11, 2003
Attendance: Hal Haenel, Betsy Altman, Louise Gleason, Lee Parks, Dean Brenner, Roger Cleworth, Susannah Carr, Geoff Ewenson, Bob Merrick, Jim Muldoon, Mark Reynolds, Cory Sertl
1. Bylaws
Betsy Altman recommended that SAAC remove the word "Advisory" from its name, changing it to "Sailor-Athlete Council." She feels the latter name is more active and conforms to the other US SAILING Council names. It was noted that SAAC, when it was created, had included the word "Advisory" to conform to USOC committee names. SAAC voted to change the name to Sailor-Athlete Council, subject to approval by US SAILING.
Louise Gleason made a motion to vote to approve the bylaws. Dean Brenner seconded. The Committee voted unanimously to approve the current draft of the bylaws as final. Louise will present the bylaws to the Executive Committee of US SAILING on Thursday, March 13.
2. US SAILING Committee Compliance
Bob Merrick assembled a report detailing which US SAILING committees comply with the USOC mandate for sailor-athlete representation. Various committees are out of compliance, and SAAC needs to promote compliance. There was a group discussion about how to complete this task. SAAC determined that 1) it should get everyone who is on US SAILING committees to register; 2) it should promote compliance among the malleable US SAILING committees first; and 3) bringing the ISAF Committee into compliance is important.
Regarding the non-compliant ISAF Committee, SAAC will educate the US SAILING Nominating Committee about the necessity of nominating A level athletes to ensure ISAF Committee compliance. The composition of the ISAF committee can’t be changed before the next year.
The O’Day Committee is also out of compliance. Christin Feldman, Clay Bischoff, Senet Bischoff, John Myrdal, James Appel and Andrew Campbell were suggested as potential members that would increase the level of compliance. Bob Merrick will contact Clay, Susannah Carr will contact Christin, Louise Gleason will contact John and James, and Geoff Ewenson will contact Andrew to gauge interest.
3. Athlete Registration
Louise Gleason emphasized that right now SAAC’s biggest responsibility is to register athletes. She encouraged all SAAC members to promote athlete registration. Betsy Altman suggested placing an article about SAAC in the next US SAILING newsletter. Louise said that SAAC is in line for an article.
Betsy suggested the One Design Council, class presidents and the Olympic classes listserv as other avenues of promotion.
Review of procedure for registering athletes.
1) Designated SAAC Committee members receive an email stating there is a pending athlete registration with a link to a web page.
2) Go to the website, follow its prompts and check the athlete’s data.
3) Email the athlete with any questions or problems.
4) If there are no problems, or once the problems are solved, confirm the athlete. The athlete will automatically receive an email from the webmaster saying he/she is confirmed.
4. US SAILING Spring Meeting
Council members who will attend the Spring meeting discussed scheduling and attendance at various committee meetings.
5. USOC update
Hal Haenel updated SAAC on events at USOC. Because of allegations of corruption, the CEO, Lloyd Ward resigned. Two USOC reform commissions, one internal and one Congressional, have been created. In addition, USOC is busy working on the Pan Am Games and test events in Athens. A resolution stating that no NGB athlete funds will be reduced if money needs to be redirected for PR because of the recent scandals has been sent to USOC.
Hal also added that SAAC needs to educate sailors about the qualification process for the 2003 ISAF Worlds in Cadiz. In addition, SAAC should voice its concerns to ISAF and US SAILING about the delay in naming the 2004 Olympic country qualifiers because planning has become very difficult.
Discussion returned to the USOC reform commissions. Hal commented that the reforms should occur by June. Louise Gleason emphasized the importance of watching for changes to the Sports Act.
Respectfully submitted by Susannah Carr