Board Meeting - May 18, 2023

Eileen Brown

Surfside Board Meeting Minutes

May 18, 2023

7:15 pm

Present: Elisa Nye, Kayo Libiano, Margo Trone, Eileen Brown, John York

Absent: Rich Fernandez

Sunday morning workouts will not occur during summer. We are awaiting coach feedback regarding the potential 2-5pm practice on Saturdays.
All coaches are “in good standing” with their training requirements except for John, Lelei and Melissa. John will follow up.
John will purchase starting equipment for future meets.
John updated the Board on searching for additional coaching staff. He has been in contact with potential replacements for the two coaches who will be leaving this summer. Mary is still out on medical leave. Robert will be filling in for her as the C coach for another four weeks.
Summer beach workouts will begin as soon as the ocean warms up, which will hopefully be in June. On the weekly swim schedule that will go out in the summer, there will be a disclaimer that any parents who participate in the ocean swims with the team will do so at their own risk. The coaches are there to ensure the kids’ safety and cannot be responsible for any extra adults. The ocean is public, so anyone is allowed to swim on their own.
John will check with the City of Manhattan Beach to see about the possibility of bringing masters swimming back to Surfside.

We had a swim meet at the Manhattan Beach Country Club on May 13. Everyone thought it went well.
John will let the Board know the swim meet schedule for summer next week.

We are continuing to work on the issues with the Team Unify website connection to the USA Swimming website.
We held two tryouts on April 21 and May 5. We had about 20 kids tryout. We have seven new swimmers. Kayo will follow-up with those who made the team but have not yet signed up on the team website.
Kayo and Rich will discuss if there is a need to increase membership for budget reasons. If so, we may consider a marketing campaign.
The Surfside summer beach party will be held on Monday, July 10. We will be presenting the awards from the first annual Cindy Tournat Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Kids love recognition. So, the Board discussed the idea of adding award recognition for swimmers at the annual holiday party. This idea will be discussed at the next meeting.
We are still researching language to be used when collecting special needs/support information about our swimmers. Rich is hoping to get feedback from RUHS Ed services and will follow up soon.

Margo has created the team’s new Facebook page (Surfside SwimTeam – one word) which will be used for marketing purposes.
Margo will create another Facebook group site to be used as a social tool for members only. This will be where members can post photos, get team updates, and do a “buy-nothing” type exchange for team suits, parkas, fins, etc.

Margo will talk with Mary about getting/posting updated photos on the team’s website. The Board has been asked to post any photos we have of our kids at recent meets and workouts.
Margo is looking into the recent Team Unify alert issue.
Margo and Kayo will get a demo from an alternative software company to see if we should perhaps switch from Team Unify. However, most teams use Team Unify, so if we switch companies it would have to use the same format for swim meet information, membership/billing, etc.

In Rich’s absence, Elisa provided the Board with a general overview of how Surfside did for the month of April. One noticeable difference is that quarterly dues were less than expected. Kayo informed the Board that many people have left the team because of other activities, loss of interest, etc. Rich will walk us through the budget at the next Board meeting.