Absent: Serra, Tempe Town Lake, California Yacht Club

Roll Call

Present: Berkeley, Capital, Humboldt, Deep Water, Casitas, Long Beach, JLAC, Los Gatos, Marin, Marina, NorCal, Newport, Palo Alto, Pacific, River City, San Diego, Saint Ignatius, Stanford, Stockton, Tempe (proxied by Xavier), Xavier, ZLAC, Upper Natoma, Brophy (proxied by Humboldt

Absent: Serra, Tempe Town Lake, California Yacht Club

Introduction of Coaches

Election of Stewards: Eric Weir, Sandy Armstrong and Beth Andersen are up for re-election.

·  Eric Weird is nominated and seconded

·  Adrienne McConnell is nominated and seconded

·  Sandy Armstrong is nominated and seconded

·  Beth Andersen is nominated and seconded

·  Result of election –

Discussion of USRowing’s “Inclusion Initiative.” Eric Weir is on the committee that is looking to increase the diversity of membership within the rowing community and expand the reach of the sport to traditionally underrepresented demographics. Questions can be sent to Eric Weir or to Richard Butler .

Discussion of the 2010 Regatta Operations by Paul Wilkins.

Youth Advisory Committee Report (Dave Hinshaw)

·  Bid allotments – no changes in the bid allotments

·  Youth Nationals will be at Oak Ridge for two years

·  Petition system will be streamlined in future, including online systems, in an effort to reduce the number of frivolous petitions that are accepted.

o  Most petitions in 2009 and 2010 came from regions other than the NW and SW and most finished in the third final or no final.

·  Membership in USRowing and the benefits thereof was discussed.

·  Seeding will be done earlier for the 2011 regatta

·  “Post Graduate” was discussed

·  The regatta’s order of events will be changed

USRowing CEO Glenn Merry

·  Mr. Merry spoke of changing the direction of the organization after years of fiscal mismanagement.

·  Mr. Merry explains that USRowing provides officials

·  Mr. Merry explains that USRowing provides liability insurance for many clubs

o  Because of several lawsuits, the financial burden of insurance on the NGB has increased over three-fold.

·  Remarks on the need to require membership for all participants.

o  In an effort to improve USRowing’s ability to provide services, they need to increase revenue.

o  Corporate sponsors want to see more numbers “inside the tent” before they’ll commit to supporting USRowing.

·  USRowing is seeking to increase the total number of participants in the U.S.

·  USRowing is seeking to improve its performance on the international stage.

·  USRowing is seeking to increase diversity in the sport so that its participants better reflect the communities in which they exist.

·  USRowing is seeking to reconnect with the collegiate rowing community.

o  NCAA inclusion of rowing led to a major expansion in rowing participation – from 30,000 in 1990 to 150,000 in 2010.

o  During this time, USRowing’s relationship with collegiate rowing has declined.

·  USRowing is seeking to increase the number of masters rowers in the U.S.

o  Water access issues. USRowing can help deal with local and state government.

·  Graham Willoughby of Marin presents three grievances regarding the YNC

o  Location of the regatta – the current, East Coast-based regatta is inequitable to the teams in the west.

o  Post-Grad athletes should not be allowed to participate in the YNC

o  Athlete poaching needs to be addressed.

·  Response to the grievances from Glenn Merry

o  Location of the regatta

§  The location for 2011 was put out for bid.

§  Bids received from Mercer, Oak Ridge, Natoma and Cincinnati

§  Oak Ridge is going to hold the regatta in 2011 and 2012

§  USRowing is trying to set up a west coast regatta for the future

·  There appears to be some miscommunication regarding the ongoing negotiations for future sites.

·  Mr. Merry is committing to exploring subsidies for boat transportation to the 2011 YNC

o  The Post-Grad Question

§  The majority of the SW community would like to see the rule changed so that crews do not gain a competitive advantage by recruiting and racing 5th year seniors at the YNC.

§  Mr. Merry agrees to look into the matter.

o  Athlete poaching or the creation of “Super Crews”

§  The SW community would like to see the rule changed so that unscrupulous coaches who are seeking to improve their program by poaching athletes from other programs have a harder time doing so.

§  Discussion revolved around the merits of broad-based regulation to prevent unethical coaches from poaching athletes vs. allowing athletes the freedom to find a good fit for them.

o  Discussion regarding the need for greater transparency and clarity regarding petitions for grievance and decisions that are being made that affect the junior rowing community.

New Business

·  Seeding for Regionals

o  Zohar Abramovitz proposes that the region go to a committee seeding system as opposed to the survey system that has been in place for the last few years. The stewards of the regatta would be charged with coming up with a draft seeding that would be then sent out to the members. Members would then have a window of time to challenge their seedings in writing. The stewards are empowered to invite other coaches to help them with this process.

o  Vote passes unanimously

o  Coaches are encouraged to be upfront about revealing lineup changes that will affect performance at Regionals.

·  Schedule issues

o  Monica Hilcu proposes that we alter the schedule in an effort to better balance the schedule by moving a sculling event to Saturday. Motion is seconded.

o  Vote: Aye – 34; Nay – 0; Abstain – 8

o  Stewards will look at moving a varsity sculling event to Saturday for 2011 Regatta.

·  Coaches are encouraged to post results to row2k in a timely fashion.

·  Coaches are encouraged to donate to row2k.com

·  Pacific Coast Rowing Championships is offering the opportunity for junior racing starting in 2011.

o  Coaches who would like to race at PCRCs should email Monica regarding events that they might like to enter.

·  Bob Whitford speaks about the Head of the American and issues relating to trailer, bus and spectator parking and launch timing.

·  Jaime Velez from Los Gatos asks for clarification regarding lane assignments as it relates to the progression from heats to finals at Regionals.

·  Los Gatos would like to have the issue of the launches carrying photographers or spectators addressed by the CSUS.

·  Pacific raises the issue of the “DeathTron” that gassed out the Tempe JC tent.

o  Discussion regarding the merits of having a video component at the venue.

o  Consensus was that the system needs tweaking, but that the screen is worth having.

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