Masters Swimming Ontario Annual General Meeting - The Reports 1998

President's Report

Lesley Mason-Ward of Ottawa joined us at the beginning of the year and we welcome her contribution to the Board.

Two greats of our swimming world passed on to the great pool in the sky. Hud Steward, the first master swimmer from Ontario, died late last year and Jack McCormick who has made a great contribution to our sport, passed away this summer.

We spent considerable time dealing with rule changes. We implemented, in conjunction with Swim Ontario, the stroke changes implemented by FINA. We dealt with the Out-of-Province or "Ottawa River" rule we hope to everyones satisfaction and the Two-per-Lane rule to most peoples (especially meet managers) satisfaction.

Burlington held Ontario's (the world's?) first ever Personal Best Meet, great fun!

Beth Whittall, our Meaford editor of MSC News, has been appointed Secretary of MSC.

We presented our first SWIMS Award, the Order of the Soggy Goggle to Kay Easun, Ted Roach and Beth Whittall for their years of contribution to our cause.

We commenced using the new committee structure with some successes and some not so successful outcomes, obviously more work required here.

We had a number of excellent meets, as usual most were in the Golden Horseshoe and Ottawa areas, that's where most of our clubs and swimmers are! Etobicoke hosted the Provincials, an excellent meet and many Ontario masters went to Edmonton for the Nationals. Very few Canadians went to Casablanca in July for the Worlds. If you read US Masters SWIM magazine you will know that there were, as expected, some unfortunate situations there.

Next years Nationals will be hosted by Nepean in mid May. We are still working on the Provincials. Cheryl Blay is working with a number of clubs on next year's meet schedule.

There are all kinds of masters swimmers in Ontario: competitive, fitness types, social, triathletes. We all swim because we are committed to and enjoy the sport, the companionship or other aspects of our sport. We all owe a great deal of gratitude to the many people who make it possible. The folk who organize and operate the clubs, the meet managers and all their happy helpers who run the meets, the officials who generously give us days or weekends, the many who serve on committees, the Board and in many other ways. On behalf of all members of Masters Swimming Ontario, We thank you.

A special thanks to Geoff Camp, Geoff's contribution to MSO is well known. Not so well known perhaps is Geoff's contribution at the national level. As the longest serving member of the MSO Board, his guidance and wisdom is appreciated across the country.

On behalf of MSO, I would like to thank Michael Stroud for his many years of dedicated work on behalf of us all. Michael as decided to cut back on his involvement and take a well deserved rest. Michael over the years has played a major role in the evolution of our sport. Recently Michael worked on our restructuring and establishing our committee structure, he set up and operated our web site, served on the rules committee, compiled and edited the handbook, co-managed the 1997 Provincials, dealt with records and top ten, etc... Michael, on behalf of everyone, we thank you. See you in the pool.

Finally, Don Hambley and I will not be standing again for the Board. Don has been Secretary for the past two years and we greatly appreciate his contribution. I think, after my six years, that it is time for someone else. I have really appreciated the friendship, tolerance and assistance of everyone in MSO.

Yours in Swimming

Chris Smith
President MSO

Vice President's Report

1997-98 has been a year of transition: new faces have appeared on scene, old friends have moved on to new challenges, and even the way we do our work has changed with the times. We welcomed Lesley Mason-Ward of Ottawa as a new member to the board in February of 1998, replacing the departing Barrie Malloch of Etobicoke. Barrie has gone on to become the registrar of the EOMAC club, presiding over a rejuvenation of their membership and a new-found competitive vigour for that club. In addition, Don Hambley of London has decided to step down from the Board. He has been Secretary for two years, and oversaw a consolidation of MSO documents that has long been overdue.

It is not just Board members who have moved on, however. Mike Stroud has been a quiet force behind the board for over ten years, avoiding the spotlight, but providing endless volunteer hours as provincial recorder, record keeper, top 10 tabulator, web master for the MSO web page, and the driving force and conscience behind many of the MSO activities, including the new committee structure, the next issue of the MSO Handbook and the SWIMS Award. After all these disparate and time consuming responsibilities, Mike has decided to focus on swimming for a change (that is, his own swimming) and to pass on the baton to new people.

I fully expect to see Mike at all the meets, and to pick his brains for new ideas, but my biggest worry is that I move up to his age group in March of 1999, and I do not relish the thought of his competitive focus. Mike, thanks for all your contributions, past, present and future, and all the best in the pool.

Another of Mike's quiet crusades has been the reorganization of the MSO committee structure. Traditionally, each member of the Board has had specific responsibilities, from the president to the sanctions chair, but as the organization has grown, the need for other volunteers has increased. In addition, there is no process to introduce new volunteers to Board activities in a gradual way. Following discussions with Mike over several months, and many hours of thought and debate, MSO has created a new committee structure, which will hopefully spread responsibility among a larger base and allow new volunteers to 'learn the ropes' in a gradual manner.

The committees each have a board member on them, but the chair is not necessarily the Board member. Each committee reports to the Board at the regular MSO meetings, and the role of the Board member has evolved to a decision making status. This does not reduce the responsibility of each Board member, as they still sit on committees, and indeed may be chair, but it separates their committee work from their directorial role. It is hoped that this will also provide focus on specific tasks for each of the committees each year, and result in faster decisions by the Board. We will have to see how the new structure works.

Awards Report

Masters Swimming Ontario has struggled with recognition of notable swimmers. It can be difficult to single out contributors to a sport where the motto is fun, fitness and fellowship, because the process of recognition automatically excludes all of the other swimmers, many of whom have contributed in their own way. It is this very contradiction that has complicated the recognition of contributors at the MSC level. While MSO has had honourary members for some time there had been no recent formal acknowledgement of others.

The three early recipients, honourary members of MSO, were Bernie McGrath, Jack McCormick, and Hud Stewart. In the past two years we have lost two of the three, Hud Stewart in late 1997, and Jack McCormick in June of 1998.

In late 1997, Mike Stroud, provincial recorder and webmaster, decided it was time to update the awards and to provide long-overdue recognition to other long time contributors to the sport. He became the driving force behind the SWIMS (Swimmers Who Impacted Masters Swimming) award, which includes a lifetime membership in MSO, and the right to put OSG (the Order of the Soggy Goggle) after one's name. The awards were handed out during the provincial meet, amid much cheering and celebration. All three of the 1998 recipients are in a class of their own: Kay Easun, Ted Road, and Beth Whittall.

Kay has been involved with Masters swimming in Ontario through the North York club as a swimmer and administrator. She was the meet manager for the swimming portion of the 1985 World Masters Games in Toronto and the 1987 Canadian Championship, both hosted at the Etobicoke Olympium. She has contributed to a level of professionalism in meet management that makes Masters meets fun and efficient.

Ted has been involved with Masters swimming since the 1970's, initially as founder, coach, swimmer, and the driving force behind the Alderwood Teddy Bares, and more recently as the anchor of some of the most amazing senior relays to come out of Ontario. In 1978, he organized and ran the First World Masters Games in Toronto. While he and his wife Thelma have retired to the country, we can always rely on them to reappear for the big meets to anchor those ATB relays.

What can I say about Beth? Starting several swim clubs (St. Laurent in Montreal and Georgian Bay Masters in Meaford - 20 years apart), initiating the Georgian Bay open water swim, now in its 7th year, publishing Wavelengths magazine for 16 years as the first Masters magazine in Canada, actively involved in administration (president of both MSC and MSO at different times, and responsible for the incorporation of MSO and its first rule book), former editor of MSC News, current MSC executive secretary and confidant and friend to more masters swimmers than you can shake a stick at.

Most importantly, however, is that all of these swimmers (and they do find time to train and compete) have been key to the development and growth of Masters swimming since its earliest days, and remain involved today. Without their contributions Masters swimming would not be anywhere near where it is today. Congratulations to you all and many more years of swimming to come!

Meet Co-ordinator

February, again was the most popular month for meets, both long course and short course!

1000 Island and Milton Masters hosted meets in the fall, in addition to the already established meets for this time frame. 1000 Island attempted a spring meet as well (the previous year was their first ever meet) but due to lack of entries it was cancelled. Dalewood Masters again appeared on the meet schedule.

Traditional winter meets were evident, Kenora hosting their meet, Burlington trying a new meet format (thanks to Michael Stroud's input), London, Alderwood, North York, etc... to mention a few.

Provincials was a very successfully hosted by Etobicoke Masters in March 98. Congratulations to the host club, participants and supporters.

O.W.S. (open water swims) saw the return of Welland. Technosports series included open water swims. Georgian Bay and St. Mary's were sanctioned for Provincial Championships for their respective distances.

All in all a very busy but successful meet season both in the pools and out in the open water.

Comments and questions can be directed to the MSO Board of Directors

Swimmingly yours,

Cheryl Blay

Membership Committee Report

The province of Ontario has been separated into eight geographical regions with each area having a regional representative. These reps contact each club in their region in order that each club realizes that there is a regional liaison between the club and MSO. Each club will be encouraged to keep track of how many swimmers do not return each year and, if possible, the reason they did not return. We also wish to know how any new swimmers learned about the club.

In this way we can fulfil our mandate to

• provide a liaison between MSO and each club to encourage communication
• ensure that we are doing all we can to keep members in MSO

We look forward to accomplishing these goals over the next year and appreciate any feedback you can give us.

Sharon Cockerton

Chair, Membership Committee

MSC Committee Report

The worst of the pain is past: there has been an orderly succession from the last president of MSC, Brian Turnbull, who resigned at the Nationals in 1997, to the new president, Mary Lou Monteith of B.C. Some former competitive swimmers may recognize her as Mary Lou Whitwell (she swam for Canada at the 1959 Pan Am Games from her home base in Brantford.) I stepped in as the Vice-President, Glenn Anderson of Manitoba replaced George Lyle of PEI as secretary, and Paul Guerard of Quebec continued as Treasurer.

The new MSC Board moved quickly to deal with some of the immediate problems, including increasing costs, non-attendance by Board members at the National Championships, and some old communication problems that continue to plague our group.

At the MSC AGM held in Ottawa in September, several of the provincial directors shifted roles. George Lyle has returned as secretary following the departure of Glenn Anderson, and several of the committees have also changed chairs.

That is not to say that all is well, however. Substantial ill-feeling continues between some of the provinces which have different visions of the role of MSC. Most recently, in October, I attended the Alberta provincial masters AGM as the MSC Vice President, where their president, Aart Looye, was proposing secession from MSC. Thankfully, it did not come to that, but tensions continue and we must all work together to meld the different views into a cohesive whole. Aart has resigned from the Alberta presidency and been replaced by Cliodna Johnston. A list of the key areas of difference have been agreed and we will be working to resolve these to everyone's satisfaction.

As some of you may already know, the executive secretary of MSC (and the webmaster of the MSC Web page), Jackie Spry, has decided to pursue other challenges, and has been replaced by Beth Whittall (OSG) for the executive secretary role, and by David Ellis of Alberta as the webmaster. Jackie went from being a web neophyte to a relative expert in this arcane field. Many thanks for all your contributions over the past four years, Jackie and good luck with your swimming. At the same time, Beth has relinquished her responsibility for the MSC News to Christiane Fournier Kramer of Quebec. With this new allocation of responsibility, under the capable chairmanship of Bonnie Pronk of BC, we can expect a smooth and steady flow of information.

Finally, you all should know that the National championships are returning to Ontario for the first time since 1987, and being held at the Nepean Sportsplex, hosted by the Nepean Masters Swim Club. Web information is available, and the latest issue of MSC News (which you should already have received) contains a registration form and meet information. The meet is scheduled for May 14-17, 1999. Let's make this the most welcoming championship to date.

Report from the Officials Chairperson

1998 has been busy year in Ontario swimming with a full slate of events each month. No meet was cancelled due to lack of officials but that was only because of the generosity of the age group officials. These wonderful people have donated many hours of their busy schedule to masters swimming, we owe them a debt of gratitude and hop that they will continue to support us.

We have found ourselves, once again, with rule changes this past year.

• a) a 15 meter underwater limit in the Freestyle and Butterfly
• b) In the Breaststroke the shoulders are not required to be level during the swim, turns and the finish. Underwater kicking on the side is permitted after the start and turns
• c) In the Butterfly the shoulders are not required to be level at the turns or the finish
• d) Both the Butterfly and the Breaststroke do not allow a turn onto the back

Masters Swimming Canada (MSC) has published its new rule book effective September 1998. Masters Swimming Ontario (MSO) will have their new handbook, rules included, available in January 1999.

We in Ontario are fortunate that Nationals 1999 will be held in Nepean. This four day meet will require a large number of Officials. Please assist whenever you can. Now is the time to take an officials clinic and help out at this major event. Contact your local age group club to find out when they have clinics coming up or contact your regional rep or me for further information. Let us show the country that Ontario can put on a first class national championship.

Respectfully submitted

Pat Niblett
Officials chairperson

Clubs 05-Oct-1999

1998 Swimmer Registration by Age Group

Swimmers Registered by Year

Annual Report of the Statistician

A total of 996 swimmers competed this year, 437 women and 559 men. This is just 8 swimmers shy of the all time high set in 1996 and 5.5% ahead of the average throughout the decade.

Records :

A condensed set of records is published each September and distributed to all registered clubs and unattached swimmers. The records are separated by course. Current records are sent to each swim meet during the year. A copy is to be posted at the meet for all competitors to see.

Records Set and Pending :

                    LCM    SCM    SCY   Total

     Women           40     43     20     103
     Men             31     53     31     115

     Women Relays     2      3      0       5
     Men Relays       0      4      0       4
     Mixed Relays     0      4      3       7

     Total           73    107     54     234

Top Ten :

The Top Ten is published each September and distributed to all registered clubs and unattached swimmers. All swims throughout the swimming season are converted to short course metres using the conversion factors of 1.11 for SCY and .98 for LCM.

The gap between the percentage of women who swim Top Ten times (66.82%) and the number of men who accomplish the same feat (59.57%) has been widening over the past 5 years, while the percentage of swims represented in the Top Ten rebounded substantially from last year to an all-time high.

Swim Meets :

We swam in a total of 40 swim meets this year, more than ever before. Attendance at most meets was down from last year, although Burlington and Nepean both had increased participation approaching 50%. And while, Etobicoke invited all clubs in the province to the Ontario Championship in March, they invited only one club to their meet in May. No results were received from the Rideau Speedeau meet in February.

LCM meets accounted for 24.31% of all swims this year, the third highest percentage after 1994 (World Championship) and 1985 (Masters Games)

On an individual basis we swam in fewer meets this year and swam in fewer races in those meets.

          Number of Meets     Number of Swims     Number of Swims
            Per Swimmer         Per Swimmer         Per Swimmer
              Per Year            Per Meet            Per Year

1985            3.05                3.98               12.15
1986            2.15                3.87                8.30
1987            2.29                4.02                9.21

1990            2.26                4.19                9.46
1991            2.27                4.21                9.56
1992            2.25                4.19                9.41
1993            2.33                4.21                9.84
1994            2.29                3.90                8.95
1995            2.21                4.23                9.37
1996            2.11                4.14                8.74
1997            2.51                4.15               10.42
1998            2.23                4.09                9.12

And consequently the total number of swims (9069) was down 10.31% from last year, but still slightly ahead of the average number of annual swims during the decade.

The Legal Stuff :

After 3 attempts, MSO finally adopted an exemption to the residency rule that allows out-of-province residents to be eligible for an Ontario Record or inclusion in the Top Ten. So far, one Quebec resident has applied for and been granted this exemption.

As repeatedly re-affirmed by the swimmers in the province, Ontario Records and Top Ten are processed based on the swimmer’s age on the last day of the meet.

And in the immortal words of Jennifer Patterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright :

"Stick a fork in me - I’m done ! "

Respectfully submitted

Michael W Stroud

September 15, 1998

Annual Report of the Webmaster

Why is there no information on this site for the 1998 Ontario Provincials?
Will the results be posted on line after the meet??

---------------

My response later that same day

1. because no information was ever received from etobicoke

2. if etobicoke gives me the results

msoweb

p.s. - the results will be available on the web site after the statistician processes the data for top ten and records - just like all other meets in the province

---------------

As you might infer by the curtness of my response, I was initially angered at the author of the email.

But, after I thought about it, I realized that the author was the ONE swimmer in the province who was interested enough to use the Web Site to enquire about information for the Ontario Championship.

And then I wondered why the other 2100+ swimmers in the province hadn’t asked the same question.

And then I wondered why meet management hadn’t supplied any information.

And I concluded that if 2100+ swimmers in the province didn’t think the web site was important enough to request information and if Etobicoke Masters, the host of the Ontario Championship, didn’t think the Web Site was important enough to supply information then the Web Site was not important.

So I quit.

Michael Stroud

July 30, 1998

source : mso executive secretary; updated : 2001.12.31; file : agm199806