Live Minutes from Convention?

Hi Jim: Thanks for providing the meeting minutes from the convention. I noticed that the Board of Directors minutes were not posted and I think we may have received them in the HOD. What I think people are most interested in is the Board of Directors meeting minutes from Sunday with the new BOD meeting from 10:00 to 2:00 in the afternoon. Mainly I was interested in the follow up and next steps for the people participating in 2005 All Americas LATyCar Championships. If people are interested go to the International Committee meeting minutes and read about the actions that ASUA/UANA/FINA. Off all of the topics at the convention this was the most controversial. Delegates had come to be prepared for governance issues, approval for the creation of a new position of Executive Director with sticker shock, national elections, and publication issues but not this topic. There was much debate on the floor on how to solve this issue. If any swimmers signed up for this competition by the deadline of September 15, 2005 and swims in the competition they risk being ineligible for the World Championships in Stanford. If they don't swim in the competition to be eligible for the World Championships they will be ripped off of all of the funds they paid to swim in the 2005 LATyCar championships.

I'm most intrigued by this page: www.latycar.org/.../sanctions.htm I can't read any Portugese, anyone know what the deal with these sanctions is? If the event is sanctioned by the Brazilian Masters Swimming organization, how can they now say its a renegade organization and people are subject to penalty under FINA rules? This seems like a sticky situation with a lot of politics involved...

Hi Meg: You don't need to applogize and I am sorry for being impatient. Actually I just wanted to know the follow up to the LATyCar Championships after it was discussed in the House of Delegates. Thanks Rob for sharing with us what is going on. What a situation for the new Executive Committee and the BOD to deal with in the first week of office. Mark, on the top of the website if you hit english the whole LATyCar website is translated to english. On our USMS website we have a link to them also. If you go to the LATyCar website you will see quite an extensive history of the organization. I didn't realize that they organized the first FINA regional championship in 1986. In fact one of our delegates who spoke on the floor of the HOD, Myriam Pero, is listed on there website as a mermber of there BOD as a consultant of Columbia. Of course this website could be out of date. They have a clock with a count down to the Championships which are less than 20 days away.

On the LatyCar website they have posted a letter to FINA (dated September 18th) concerning this issue: www.latycar.org/.../fax_fina_2005.pdf It is in English.

Mark, The USMS board of Directors is working with USAS, FINA, AUSA and LATyCAR to understand what the deal is. Within the next few days, the USMS board will take appropriate action. At this time we don’t know what that action will be.

Originally posted by Frank Thompson What I think people are most interested in is the Board of Directors meeting minutes from Sunday with the new BOD meeting from 10:00 to 2:00 in the afternoon. Skip, I'll get them done as soon as I can. It takes quite awhile to write minutes to a 4-hour meeting. I didn't get home until 9:30 Sunday night, and then I had a lot of catching up to do at work yesterday after being out of the office for a week. I have started to work on them, but am not finished yet. Sorry!

Originally posted by Frank Thompson Hi Meg: You don't need to applogize and I am sorry for being impatient. No need to apologize, Skip! I'm not a patient person either. Just wanted you to know I am working on them!

If you enter the WORLD AQUATICS MASTERS ORGANIZATION "WAMO" forum, you'll get an update on the situation of LATyCAR which has been in existence promoting friendships, fitness and competition south of the Rio Grande since 1990 (LATyCAR had no participation in organizing a Worlds ... but any way you look at FINA is a "brick wall" ). Anyway, just as LATyCAR was legally recognized by USMS for its Championship held at ISHOF in '99, it has ALWAYS been legal in every country, most recently Brazil, since 2003! "Politics"? "Brick wall"...? YES... our meet had over 800 participants INCLUDING POLO! FINA/ASUA/UANA panamericans only 138... did the math and they turned green with ENVY!! Regards, Davidhttp://www.wamo.info