USRowing

MEETING

NOV. 30 - DEC. 2, 1995

RADISSON INN

AUGUSTA, GA

Present: Appleyard, Chen, Craig, Fuller, Grudt, Johnson, Langford, Sholl, Wiener

Also in Attendance(partial): D. Alcock, A. Day, S. Dempsey, R. Espeseth, P. Gardner, K. Glass, S. Hand, P. Kay, M. Keggi, J. Kelly, A. Koch, C. Lang, B. Peterson, J. Pope, R. Scurria, J. Tewkesbury, S. Thayer, L. Tolle, P. Wilson, J. Wolf, J. Wylder, P. Wylder, J. Zandbergen,

1. Call to Order: Langford (8:10 PM, 11/30/95)

2. Approval of the Agenda:

MOTION: (Chen/Fuller) Approve the agenda. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

3. Approval of the Minutes: Per the Internal Operating Procedures the Minutes of the last meeting were previously approved.

4. Treasurer's Report: Fuller reported that the Committee is on target for hitting the 1995 budget. There is one cost for the 1995 Judge-Referee College that has not been submitted to date. This expense and the estimated expenses for the December meeting will bring the Committee with in $400 of hitting the $10,000 target. Preliminary indications are that the Committee budget will remain the same for 1996. Committee members are requested to promptly submit the expenses for this meeting.

The Committee video camera was stolen earlier in 1995. A question raised as to the status of the insurance claim for the camera. Fuller will follow up with USRowing staff regarding this matter. It does not appear that any money will flow back to the Committee for loss of this camera.

5. Judge-Referee Clinic at the Convention: Craig will be conducting a clinic for Judge-Referees and coaches on Saturday 12/2 at 1:30 PM. Fuller volunteered to help conduct the clinic. It was emphasized that in addition to the normal clinic material, this clinic/workshop should be practical in nature.

6. E-Mail: Wiener reported that there are an increasing number of services offering access to Internet. The current Committee will maintain the current service and addresses.

Chen has set up a webpage for the Committee which contains useful information including the Rules of Rowing and venue maps. A FISA webpage is also being created by Chen. The Committee webpage can be reached at:

http://erebus.rutgers.edu/~ronchen

8. Newsletter: Two issues of the Clipboard were published in 1995. Two new issues are planned for 1996 with target publication dates of March and September. The Committee serves as an overview board for the Clipboard. B. Walton and B. Appleyard acting as co-editors plan to continue to refine the layout. Regional news and specific news regarding the Judge-Referee corps is requested both from the Committee and the entire corps.

9. Franklin and Wolf Awards: The 1995 winners of the Franklin and Wolf Awards are Thomas Dowd and Peter Kay respectively.

The Committee clarified the policy that the Franklin Award for life time achievement should be awarded to an individual only once. After consulting with J. Wolf this same policy will be applied to the Wolf Award. The Secretary is instructed to include a list of past winners of both awards in the call for nominations for these two awards.

MOTION: (Grudt/Chen) Internal Operating Procedure 40 be changed to read as follows to incorporate the new Wolf Award selection process:

IOP 40. In selecting the annual recipient of the Julian Wolf Award for Outstanding Performance, the Chair of the Committee will appoint a sub-committee of the five most recent Julian Wolf Award winners who are not current members of the Committee. This sub-committee will select the recipient of the Julian Wolf Award. In determining the annual recipient of the Jack Franklin Award for Outstanding Lifetime Service, a vote is held among Committee members, but the Committee reserves the option not to bestow the award in any given year. The call for nominees for both awards will be made annually on or before September 1 with a final decision made by October 15. Nominees will be solicited from the entire Judge-Referee corps.

MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

10. Trials: Trials for the 1996 Olympic events will, pending USOC approval, be using a FISA progression to determine the final 6 boats in each event. A best 2 out of 3 format would then be used to determine the boat that will represent the US. There will not be a selector involved in the racing. Without the selector all decisions will default to the Rules of Rowing including the trials provisions. These trials are scheduled to be held mid-April at Lake Lanier.

With the most recent Trials procedure, the role of the selection panel has been to act as an ombudsman to both the athletes and the Judge-Referees. With this not in place for the Olympic trials, there is a potential risk when the special trials portion of the Rules of Rowing are applied. Given the risk, should the Committee to have the current Rules of Rowing trials rules provisions suspended during the Olympic trials? General consensus was that the Trials rules should be used.

Trials for non-Olympic events will be held around the USRowing National Championships in Indianapolis utilizing the 1995 trials selection process.

******** Executive Session ********

11. Review of Judge-Referees achieving the age of 65: The Judge-Referees who have achieved the age of 65 were reviewed.

16 licenses were extended

2 Judge-Referees were retired

12. Review of Judge-Referee Corps.: The Judge-Referee corps was reviewed:

11 promotions to Full

7 deferred for future consideration

13. Assignment of Chief Referees:

American Rowing Championships (Syracuse)

Chief: Bill Howard

Deputy: Earl Segal

Master's National Championships (Syracuse)

Chief: Carol Johnson

Deputy: Larry Tolle

USRowing National Championships (Indianapolis)

Chief: Sam Dempsey

Deputy: Nick Vajda

Trials: Olympic - Ron Chen & Bob Appleyard

Non-Olympic and Juniors - Tom Fuller &

Kris Grudt

Cambridge/Harvard/Oxford/Yale Race: Sam Dempsey

The Committee is developing a pool of candidates interested in serving as Chief Referee for National Championship events. Individuals interested in being considered for National Championship Chief Referee positions are asked to contact either the Chairman or the Secretary of the Committee. This is intended only to be a pool of interested individuals.

14. FISA Regattas:

Junior/non-Olympic World Championships

MOTION: (Chen/Sholl) The Committee submit a list of all of the U.S. FISA Umpires who have not worked a Junior World Championships and who express interest in working this year's Junior/non-Olympic Regatta to FISA for their selection.

MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

The Committee recognizes the need to encourage and coordinate U.S. FISA officials working at non-championship FISA regattas. Chen will publish a list of all other FISA regattas and solicit feedback on individuals interested in working these regattas. The intent is to coordinate the submission of individuals to the LOC's for these regattas.

15. FISA Umpires Examination: The Committee reviewed the applications of the three individuals who requested to be considered to sit for the FISA Umpires examination under the new guidelines.

It was determined that Kristopher Grudt has met all of the requirements.

MOTION: (Fuller/Sholl) Kristopher Grudt be allowed to sit for the FISA Umpires Examination.

MOTION PASSES. (8Y, 0N, 1A)

The other two candidates, Seth Ahlborn and Michael Richardson-Bach, after review were assigned mentors to support them in the preparation for the FISA exam.

16. At Large Members:

MOTION: (Chen/Johnson) Election of the three At-Large members be deferred until after the results of the regional elections are known but before the new Committee takes office on 3/1/96.

MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

***** Out of Executive Session *****

17. 1996 Olympic Games: Mara Keggi brought the Committee up to date with the status of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. ACOG has selected 30-35 U.S. Judge-Referees to act as National Referees. These individuals will act in support of the FISA Officials, racing, and training activities during the Olympics. Tickets for the rowing competition have all been sold. There is some possibility that additional tickets maybe released when the venue is finally set up.

18. Regional Development:

a. Mid-Atlantic: The Mid-Atlantic is utilizing a 3 year cycle in developing Judge-Referees. The first year concentrates on Rules of Rowing, 2nd year Refereeing skills, 3rd year Regatta administration. Clinics are scheduled for Philadelphia in Jan. and Washington DC in Feb. A mentoring process is being used with each Judge-Referee responsible for recruiting at least one new candidate.

b. Midwest: 21 mentors have been designated but not all have been active in recruiting new candidates. 7 clinics have been held in 1995. The quality of Judge-Referees is increasing but the quantity is following at a slower rate. Wisconsin is one particularly weak area.

c. Northeast: 4 new Judge-Referees have been licensed in 1995. A strong group of observers has been developed. An adequate number of clinics was held.

d. Northwest: The goal of increasing the number of Judge-Referees form 29 to 35 by 3/96 will not be met, however the goal of 6 observers is being met. 6 Judge-Referee clinics were held in 1995 and 2 clinics for coxswains that included segments on the Rules of Rowing were held. A 2 day clinic for all Judge-Referees will be held the first weekend in March. This will serve as a warm up for the spring racing season. All of the Judge-Referees will be asked to fill out a self evaluation form prior to the clinic.

e. Southeast: Jim Buckalew has been instrumental in the recruiting and development of new officials. The regional advisory board is working and being driven by Master's and Judge-Referee's. 5-6 clinics will be held in Jan. and Feb. In Feb., an all day coxswain clinic will be held.

f. Southwest: Observers are being developed with mentors being assigned to each one. A clinic that was scheduled to coincide with the regional Master's Championship Regatta was not held when the regatta was canceled. The lack of clinics in the Southwest was brought up and discussed.

Regional Representatives have a responsibility in guiding the scheduling and the subject matter of clinics in their region. Clinicians within a region also have a responsibility to ensure that clinics are held. After an election, the outgoing Committee member has a responsibility to ensure that the incoming member continues with the development of Judge-Referees in the region.

19. Hawaii Regatta: Julian Wolf updated the Committee on a regatta that will be held at the end of December in Hawaii. The University of Hawaii will be starting a women's crew program in the coming year. With the increase in rowing activity in Hawaii there is the need for Judge-Referees in this area. Julian will be conducting a clinic for candidates in conjunction with the Regatta. Only one women's crew will be attending this year's regatta. To give the crew competition they will race against men's crews. Julian solicited feedback on what the proper off set between men's and women's crews should be over 500 and 1000 meters.

20. Chief Referee College: A Chief Referee College was held in Colorado Springs in October with 15 students attending. Bob Scurria was the main organizer of this school. Feedback from the participants has been very positive. It was emphasized that development and utilization of the attendees of the school needs to continue after the college is over.

The 1996 school will be the basic school tentatively scheduled for Colorado Springs for the fall. This school is geared towards Judge-Referee Candidates, Associates and also Full Judge-Referees. Julian was asked about the possibility of holding the school at one of the USOC's other facilities. The San Diego facility has limited housing which would require the attendees to pay for their own lodging which would be limiting. The Lake Placid facility has limited access which makes it prohibitive.

The need for developing material that will enable the school to be brought to the regions was raised. To address this, the 1996 instructors will be asked to submit outlines of their presentations. Audio tapes will also be made of the sessions. Two people will be asked to attend the sessions with the goal of developing the regional material.

MOTION: (Grudt/Langford) The Committee thanks Julian Wolf and Bob Scurria for their work on making the College a success. MEASURE PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

21. .Judge-Referee Pins: Joan Zandbergen presented her work in creating a pin for Judge-Referees based upon the USRA Judge-Referee emblem. The pin will have the Judge-Referee in English rather than French. The initial run of 500 pins contained several defects and the manufacturer is working to replace these with corrected pins.

MOTION: (Fuller/Johnson) The pins should be made available to both Associate and Full Judge-Referees and should be encouraged to be kept in the Judge-Referee community. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

MOTION: (Grudt/Chen) The pins should be sold for $5 with the profits going to establish a scholarship to allow Judge-Referees to attend the Judge-Referee College. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

Additional uses for profits generated by the sales of pins was discussed and tabled.

MOTION: (Chen/Johnson) The awarding of the scholarships should be made be the Dean of the College subject to review by the Committee. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

MOTION: (Chen/Grudt) The price of the pin shall be set by the Treasurer of the Committee taking into account the cost and other economic considerations. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

22. Rules of Rowing:

a. Starts

MOTION: (Chen/Johnson) Return to the French starting commands. MOTION FAILS. (2Y, 6N, 1A)

MOTION: (Chen/Sholl) Change the starting starting commands to:

Rule 2-306 a) After the crews have been polled, the Starter shall start the race by: (1) calling out "Attention!", (2) raising a red flag overhead, preferably using two hands, and (3) after a distinct pause, calling out "Go!". The command "Go!" shall be accompanied by a quick downward motion of the red flag to one side.

MOTION PASSES. (5Y, 4N)

With the change of the starting commands the question of the need for the quick start was raised.

MOTION: (Appleyard/Chen) Eliminate the quick start from the Rules of Rowing. MOTION FAILS. (0Y, 7N, 2A)

b. Interference: Concern was raised regarding one crew in a head race deliberately interfering with another crew in order to give advantage to another boat from the same organization. It was determined that this falls under the present rules governing unsportsmanshiplike conduct, Rule 1-201w, and the penalties associated with it.

c. Coxswain Weights: FISA has raised the coxswains weights mainly for health purposes. The Committee adopted the new weights as a temporary measure for the 1995 USRowing Championship. The response of the athletes was very positive to this change.

MOTION: (Chen/Fuller) Change rule 4.109 as follows:

Rule 4-109 (a) A coxswain in an event for men's crews shall weigh at least 120 lbs. A coxswain in an event for female crews shall weigh at least 110 lbs. Weight shall be determined as provided in Rule 4-110 ("Weighing of Competitors").

MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY

d. Blade Designs: Rules requiring uniform blade designs in a boat (with the exception being boats entered as composite crews) was discussed. No action other than asking chief referees to ensure that this rule is enforced at championship regattas is required.

e. Head Race Overtaking Rule: Michael Bergen requested that the Committee reconsider the current head race rule giving the right of way to a crew that is over taking another crew. When a coxed crew overtakes another crew confusion can result when requests are communicated between crews (i.e. "port", does this mean "move to port" or "passing on the port side"). If the rule was changed giving the crew being overtaken the right of way it would eliminate some of this confusion.

MOTION: (Grudt) Change the current head race rule regarding a crews over taking another crew which assigns the right of way to the crew doing the over taking, to one assigning the right of way to the crew being overtaken. MOTION DIES FOR LACK OF A SECOND.

Giving the right of way to the crew being overtaken would penalize the faster crew. The Committee does emphasis the need for the Chief Referee and LOC be as clear as possible concerning the commands that should be used when one crew requests another crew to give way.

f. Conflict of Interest: A referee involved in a race where there is a relationship between the referee and a participant in the race can be seen as a conflict of interest. This can be accentuated in a Head race format where an Official is exposed to all competitors unlike a Sprint race where the rotation can be used to avoid potential conflicts of interest The importance placed on Head races by both coaches and athletes has also increased. IOP 28 deals with conflict of interest for race officials and Judge-Referees are reminded that not only actual conflicts of interest but the perception of a conflict of interest needs to be considered. IOP 28 is somewhat narrow in it's wording as it only specifies where family members are "competing", this may not fully cover the situation where the family member is a coach.

MOTION: (Chen/Grudt) Change the wording of IOP 28 to read as follows:

28. The presence of a crew from an official's own rowing club does not automatically disqualify a Judge-Referee from officiating in a race, but the official should use good judgment in avoiding the appearance of partiality in cases where he or she is particularly identified with competitors in a crew (such as being a coach of the crew). Officials should not be put in positions where they must exercise judgment involving crews in which close family members are competing participating.

MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

23. Regatta Review:

a. Empire State Games: The organizers of this regatta have requested that USRowing reimburse crews for their entry fees after the Chief Referee canceled racing due to weather conditions that made racing unsafe. The LOC then attempted to resume racing after the Judge-Referees had left the venue. The Committee supports J. Matzdorf in his decision to suspend racing and recommends that USRowing not grant the requests of the LOC for reimbursement. The Chair is requested to work with USRowing to place the Empire State Games under probation.

b. Olympic Sports Festival: Johnson reported that the Sports Festival in Denver was very successful. This will be the last Sports Festival that will be held at least through 1999 due to funding issues within the USOC.

c. Master's National Championships: Concern has been expressed by officials, that the 1995 regatta had a race schedule that was very aggressive. These concerns were addressed with the Master's Committee, which agreed to lengthen the 1996 regatta to 4 full days to alleviate the 1995 compressed schedule.

24. Update on Athletes with Medical Preconditions: Sholl reported that John Rudolph, through Sholl, will keep the Committee updated on the progress of some new studies that are being conducted into the effects of exercised induced asthma.

25. Waivers: The Committee reviewed the current waiver policy requiring that chief referees require all referees working at a regatta covered by USRowing insurance to sign waivers. The waiver forms should be returned to USRowing with the safety data sheet. If the waivers are not signed, the insurance is not negated but rather the deductible increases to $25,000. It is the current stance of the USRowing legal staff that if a Judge-Referee signs a waiver and then later rescinds it, it is beyond reasonable expectations for the chief referee to know this and therefore would not be held liable. The Committee is still exploring options to minimize the need for Judge-Referees to sign multiple waivers.

MOTION: (Chen/Fuller) A waiver form should be sent out with the January Secretary's mailing to all Judge-Referees with instructions to return the signed waiver to the Secretary by a specified date. The Secretary will then prepare a list of all of the Judge-Referees that have signed the waiver and forward the list to USRowing. This list would then be included with the safety data sheet for registered regattas when it is mailed to chief referees. Chief referees would then be asked to have any Judge-Referee not on the list sign a waiver form at the regatta. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

It is within reason that the Chief Referee at a registered regatta disallow a Judge-Referee who has not signed a waiver from officiating.

26. Service Pins: Appleyard presented the idea of a service award pin that would be awarded to Judge-Referees based upon their length of service as Judge-Referees.

MOTION: (Appleyard/Chen) The Committee commission the design of a service pin for Judge-Referees to be awarded for 10, 15, and 20 years of service. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

Appleyard was assigned to spearhead this project.

27. Support of Chief Referees: Concern was raised in 1995 regarding the support of the Committee for Chief Referees at the national championship regattas.

MOTION: (Fuller/Wiener) The Committee assign a member to act as a liaison for the chief referee the Committee has designated for each of the three national championship regattas. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

Under the current system of staffing the championship regattas, three individuals from each region are asked to individually evaluate the Judge-Referees in their region as to their abilities to work national level regattas. They are then asked to divide 100 points among the Judge-Referees in the region with no more than 25 points going to one individual. The points from each of the three individuals are then added together and a ranked list of the Judge-Referees for the region is developed. Using this list, and the regatta interest cards that have been solicited from all referees, Judge-Referees are assigned to the regional representative slots at each of the championships. The individuals ranking the Judge-Referees are not eligible to be selected for the regional positions and all rankings are kept confidential. The remaining positions on the jury of the championship regatta are filled by the Chief from Judge-Referees who have requested to work the regattas.

There has been a recognized weakness in the system in that not all of the Judge-Referees that have expressed an interest in working a regatta were notified in a timely manner regarding the selections to the jury. Additionally concern was raised as to the individuals that have been chosen from a region. The Committee requests that the Chief Referee confer with the Committee liaison when finalizing the jury at a championship. Also lists of the at-large members of the Jury should be shared between the chiefs to coordinate the assignment of people.

MOTION: (Chen/Sholl) The Secretary should send out a letter informing all individuals who have expressed an interest in working the three championship regattas listing the names of the Chief Referees and the individuals who have been chosen for the regional representative positions on the Juries of the regattas. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

The Committee confirmed the policy that the three individuals from each region who are asked to take part in the selection process be reviewed and approved by the entire Committee. This will work to ensure even coverage from each region.

MOTION: (Craig/Sholl) Appoint Langford as the Committee's liaison with the Chief Referees for the three national championship regattas. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

28. Use of Videos in Juries: Appleyard raised the issue of the use of videos in jury hearings. With the greater abundance of video recorders, there is a greater chance that a part of each race maybe video taped. The Committee reiterated the fact that findings of fact by a Judge-Referee are not protestable. Juries can at their discretion use video tapes as evidence but are reminded that angles from which tapes are recorded can be deceiving.

29. Reimbursement Policy for National Regattas: In the last couple of years each national championship has adopted a different reimbursement policy for Judge-Referees attending the regatta. The Committee requests that all of the national championship LOCs review the policy that was previously adopted by the Board that Judge-Referees named to a national championship jury should be reimbursed for 60% of reasonable travel expenses to the regatta.

MOTION: (Fuller/Johnson) USRowing include in their mailings to all LOC's that Judge-Referees should be offered a stipend to help cover travel expenses, meals during the regatta, and any overnight housing that may be required. A reasonable stipend is $50 per day. MEASURE PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

30. St. Catherines World Championships: St. Catherines has been awarded the 1999 World Championships. The Chair will approach the LOC regarding support that the U.S. Judge-Referee corps can provide for this regatta.

31. Changing the Terms of Office for the Committee: Many of the issues that the Committee is asked to address require resolutions that extend beyond the two year term of office. If the Committee were to entirely change over the problem of continuity could become an issue. To minimize the potential effect, terms of office could be lengthened and offsetting elections be established (i.e. not electing all of the Committee every other year but possible electing part one election and the remainder the next). The issue of term limits and changing the election from an organizational vote to a vote by Judge-Referees was discussed. These issues were deferred to the new Committee that will take office after the upcoming elections.

32. Rule Book Size: The Committee was asked to consider reducing the size and complexity of the Rules of Rowing. This issue was deferred to the new Committee that will take office after the upcoming elections.

33. Promotion Timing: Racing seasons are becoming longer with additional regattas being established. This has led to confusion as to the constitution of a racing season in IOP 17 which states that "promotion to a Full from an Associate is possible after a minimum of two racing seasons" .

MOTION: (Appleyard/Fuller) For the purposes of considering promotions, the current racing season minimums be changed to require calendar years based upon the date of licensure. MOTION PASSES. (8Y, 0N, 1A)

34. NCAA: Chris Lang updated the Committee on the status of the women's collegiate rowing becoming an NCAA sport. For the 1996-97 season, women's collegiate rowing will come under the auspices of the NCAA. At this time it is only women's rowing and not men's rowing programs. A number of allowances for rowing have been requested in the NCAA's general guidelines covering sports and practices. These will be voted on at the NCAA's meeting in January. Work is just beginning on the rules for rowing competition, however there is an attempt being made to try and avoid another layer of bureaucracy in the sport. The NCAA currently contracts out the officiating for some sports. One possibility is for the NCAA to contract with USRowing to provide rowing officials. A sub-committee composed of Chen, Craig, and Grudt was established to support the CRCA/NCAA group working in the area of rules. Chris Lang will be the contact for this group.

35. Uniforms/Merchandising: Karen Glass of KGA made a presentation of different uniform options. KGA has been contracted to handle merchandising for USRowing. Judge-referees will be offered uniform components at cost. KGA has worked to outfit several other NGB's and has worked with Nike, USRowing's new sponsor. Among the offerings for Judge-Referees are the light blue polo, a short and long sleeve oxford with the Judge-Referee emblem, several different hats, light rainwear, and sweatshirts. The Committee adopted a khaki colored hat due to the availability of a design that will offer more protection in the sun. A brochure of the items available along with ordering instructions will be included in the Secretary's January mailing. A list of the Judge-Referees will also be forwarded to KGA to ensure that only Judge-Referees will have access to the Judge-Referee uniforms.

MOTION: (Fuller/Sholl) Change the Juge-Arbitre to Judge-Referee on all patches and emblems for Judge-Referees. MEASURE PASSES. (6Y, 3N)

36. Rank and Structure: Appleyard reviewed the work that the Committee had done at our last meeting. Peter Kay's work in documenting and quantifying the training, qualifications, and expectations of a Judge-Referee moving through the process was presented. Patty Wilson also summarized the work that Bruce Wilson had done in breaking down the position of Chief Referee into elemental tasks.

There has been positive feedback regarding the new rank structure which incorporates the Candidate, Assistant, and Judge-Referee ranks. The Committee believes that the July 1, 1996 implementation date is still a realistic date. There have been no requests for changes to the proposed structure. What remains to be worked on are: 1) limitation of the Assistant; 2) do all Assistants need to progress through to the rank of Judge-Referee, 3) what at happens after the rank of Judge-Referee is attained?

The Wilson work on the breaking down the Chief Referee position will be expanded to encompass all of the roles of a Judge-Referee and become a national referee development manual. The training manual should be finished by April 1, 1996. A letter should be sent out prior to that date describing the general agreement on the basic structure.

The primary responsibility of the Judge-Referee corps is to serve our constituency of rowers by providing them with Judge-Referees who can 1) ensure safety, 2) provide for fair and consistent officiating. With this as a basis, the new rank and structure needs to bring all Judge-Referees to a base line. This base line is the rank of Judge-Referee. This is not the same as our current Full rank, but rather a base line of skills that an official must achieve and maintain so that our obligation to the rowing community can be fulfilled. The Assistant position is true apprenticeship to bring officials to this base level. The practical examination for Assistant Judge-Referees and the quality control of mentors becomes critical in this new process.

MOTION: (Fuller/Wiener) Publish the new rank and structure process by April 1, 1996. MOTION TABLED.

Discussion centered around the need to retain a level similar to the current Associate where those people who do not want to progress to the Full position. It was emphasized again that the current Full and the new Judge-Referee rank are not the same. The new Judge-Referee position represents a basic level of competence that will be required of all officials. A suggestion that all current Associates should be grandfathered into the Judge-Referee rank was made. The justification is that the current Associates have taken all of the tests that the current Full referees have taken.

The training objective for the Assistant should fulfill the following basic objectives:

- exposure to the 5 basic positions (Start, Judge at Start, Referee, Chief Judge, Marshall)

- exposure to regattas, competitors, coaches

- water and boating skills

- level 1 coaching

MOTION: (Fuller/Sholl) The Assistant will be exposed to each of the 5 positions a minimum of 5 times within the 2 to 4 year Assistant period. The 5 positions being : Start; Judge at Start; Referee; Chief Judge; Marshal. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

MOTION: (Fuller/Craig) The Assistant should work at a minimum of 4 regattas per year. MOTION PASSES (7Y, 2N)

MOTION: (Craig/Fuller) The Assistant must work a minimum of 14 regattas before becoming eligible to sit for the Judge-Referee examination. MOTION PASSES. (8Y, 1N)

MOTION: (Chen/) The Assistant must work 3 regattas on the IOP regatta list and 6 regattas out of their region. MOTION DIES FOR LACK OF A SECOND

MOTION: (Fuller/Grudt) The Assistant must work 2 regattas on the IOP list of regattas, and 2 regattas that are held at least 100 miles from the Assistants local area. Minimally 12 of the regattas worked will be sprint races and 2 will be head races. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

The purpose of the "out of the local area" regattas is to provide the candidate with exposure to multiple venues and Judge-Referee's in an attempt to broaden the knowledge base.

MOTION: (Fuller/Chen) An Assistant Referee must move to the Rank of Judge-Referee within 2 to 4 calendar years from the time of their initial licensure as an Assistant. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

MOTION: (Fuller/Wiener) In order to become a Candidate, a person must present evidence of swimming competence from a recognized organization. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

The mentor should work with the Assistant Judge-Referee to ensure that the Assistant has basic boat handling skills. Level 1 coaching skills will be incorporated into the training manual.

MOTION: (Fuller/Sholl) Incorporate boating and water skills into the training manuals being developed. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

How should the Assistant be evaluated? One idea is that an observing official fill out a form at every regatta the Assistant works. These forms could then be sent by the observing official to the Assistant's mentor Judge-Referee. When the Assistant is deemed ready to take the examination the forms would be sent to the Committee which would approve the Assistant's sitting for the examination. Concerns were expressed over the complexity of this process and the reliance on Judge-Referees to fill out the forms and send them to the correct mentor. Peter Kay will work on creating a draft procedure which Appleyard will circulate among the Committee. Anyone who has ideas or suggestions on the evaluation/feedback process is asked to contact Peter Kay.

MOTION: (Chen/Sholl) Each regional representative review the roster of Associate Judge-Referees in their region and identify those individuals who will remain as Associate Judge-Referees. All other Associate Judge-Referees will become Assistant Judge-Referees and be required to advance to the Judge-Referee rank. MEASURE FAILS. (1Y, 5N)

MOTION: (Appleyard/Johnson) All current Associate Judge-Referees will be reviewed and a decision will be made by the Committee as to whether they will be promoted to Judge-Referee or become Assistant Judge-Referees in the migration to the new Rank and Structure. MEASURE PASSES. ( Y - Appleyard, Grudt, Johnson, Langford: N - Chen, Sholl, Wiener)

MOTION: (Appleyard/Johnson) To be determined qualified to become a Judge-Referee, current Associates must have been an Associate for a minimum of 2 calendar years, and have demonstrated a basic level of competency in each of the 5 positions defined under the new rank and structure. They do not have to have necessarily meet the number of regatta per year criteria. MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

37. Farewell: Carol Johnson announced that she would not be running for re-election. This was her last meeting as a member of the Committee. She thanked the Committee for their support. The Chair, on behalf of the Committee, thanked Carol for her contributions.

38. Conflict of Interest: Larry Tolle presented concerns that with many Judge-Referees there is the perception that the Committee is self serving and "lining its own nest". The Committee's role should be to develop policy and then let others implement the policy. As such he recommends that the Committee adopt a policy of 1) not allowing any Committee member sit for a FISA exam, 2) Committee members not accept any paid trips to regattas, 3) Committee members not accept any positions, such as Chief Referee where their expenses may be paid. The Chair thanked Larry for raising these issues and stated his hopes that if others have similar concerns that they bring them before the Committee. The policy that the Committee will try to award positions such as Larry mentioned to non-Committee members was reiterated.

The need for Committee members to be as visible as possible to all Judge-referees was addressed. Regional representative should hold meetings within their regions to disseminate information and to provide a conduit for bringing issues to the Committee.

39. Meeting Schedule: The Committee has tentatively scheduled the next meeting for March 16, 1996 in Austin Texas.

40. Motion to Adjourn: Motion to adjourn (2:20 P.M. 12/2/95).

Respectfully submitted,

Kristopher A. Grudt

Secretary