Region 7 USAG Board Meeting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Friday, June 13, 2008

Present:
Lynn Perrott, RACC
Myra Elfenbein, RTCC
Linda Johnson, RJOCC
Dena Walker, RECC
Jay Barrows, MD SACC
Donna Guenther, PA SACC
Craig Zappa for Dave Rettig, NJ SACC
Steve Garman, VA SACC
Billy Bob Taylor, W VA SACC

Absent, Kim Szafranski, DE SACC

The meeting was called to order by the Region 7 Administrative Committee Chairman, Lynn Perrott at 5:00 PM.

RACC report

Lynn Perrott presented our Region 7 financial report. Lynn was happy to report that the USAG Congress in Philadelphia was the biggest Congress ever held. Region 7 will be receiving some funds from USA proportionate to the number of Region 7 members who attended this event. All funds from the auction at Congress will also be going to Region 7. This helps the fact that there will be no Regional Congress for us this year.

Regional Congress 2009

We are looking at the 3^rd weekend in October for our Regional Congress for next year. As of right now we are considering the Virginia Beach location.

RTCC report

Myra Elfenbein complimented the hosts for our regional meets for 2008. Considering the fact that we only had one firm bid from Parkettes we are grateful that both Maverick Gymnastics with Billy Bob Taylor, and Tammy Harrison of World Class Gymnastics, “stepped up to the plate” and did an outstanding job running these meets. As always our thanks go to Julie Emerick and the Parkettes for agreeing to host Regionals, and for doing a great job each time.

Again we are trying to come up with a Regional Calendar for next year. Myra is looking for pictures of regional events, both training camps and regional meets for inclusion into the calendar, which will be sold through the regional office. Please let Myra know if you have any pictures that we might be able to use.

RJOCC report

This coming September, the JO/WTC Committees will be working on new rules for the coming quadrennium. As of right now, both committees are NOT looking to the FIG system for inclusion into our program. Any ideas or suggestions for possible rule changes should be sent to both Linda Johnson and Myra Elfenbein so that they may better be able to represent your views for this meeting.

Linda was encouraged to report that the NCAA college coaches are working with the JO committee to better coordinate the calendars for both programs.

East West Format Change

Linda discussed the format change for 2009 East/West, as reported in the recent minutes from the JO Committee:

Recommendation to change the format of the Level 9 Eastern/Western Championships as follows:

Increase the number of age groups from 8 to 16, with six (6) athletes per region per age division qualifying.

Each session will include two age divisions of twenty-four (24) gymnasts. The 4 top scores will count for team.

We will go Junior and Senior A through H, with 3 age groups competing each day during our Level 9 regional meet.

Individual Event Specialists

In general, although there was not overwhelming participation this past year, states felt that the concept of IES was positive. There was some concern over the high qualifying score to regionals. The following motion was passed.

Motion: Jay Barrows:

2^nd: Donna Guenther

The qualifying score to states for an Individual Event Specialist will be 8.8

The qualifying score to Regionals for an Individual Event Specialist will be 9.0

PASSED

National Qualifiers and Alternates

This year we had nine scratches from our qualifiers to our National Meets. Five scratches were due to injuries and 4 were elective.

We are asking the intentions concerning national participation for our athletes at the coaches meeting PRIOR to competition at Regionals. We will be asking our qualifiers who elect not to attend JO Nationals due to social activities, such as proms, to return the apparel given to them if they elect not to go to nationals.

Our scoring system must identify ties during our regional meets, and break the tie correctly. Our second alternate to nationals will NO LONGER receive apparel from GK if they do not actually participate in the national meet, although they will receive the apparel and gifts from Region 7. We would like to designate a delegation leader for the various age groups for Level 9 Easterns.

National Invitational Tournament

The National Invitational Tournament was discussed, with the change in JO Nationals schedule noted. JO Nationals will now have a training day on Thursday, with competition on Friday and Saturday.

Recommendation from the National Junior Olympic Committee:

The National Invitational Tournament will be conducted at JO Nationals in 2009. At this point the competition will be scheduled for the Sunday following nationals. The format and qualification procedures are not yet determined.

Training Camps

As always our training camps have been very successful but we are always looking for new clinicians and new formats. If you have any suggestions along these lines, please contact Linda Johnson.

Pink Invitational

AJS Pancott in Pennsylvania is running the Pink Invitational as a fund raiser for breast cancer research.

The dates are February 27, 28, March 1, 2009, to be held in the West Chester area of Pennsylvania. Region 7 will be donating 7 times the winning team score as a way of sponsoring and promoting this meet. We encourage regional participation in this important event.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Myra Elfenbein, RTCC

Region 7 USAG Board Meeting
National Congress, San Jose, CA

Friday, August 17, 2007

Present:
Lynn Perrott, RACC
Myra Elfenbein, RTCC
Linda Johnson, RJOCC
Dena Walker, RECC
Jay Barrows, MD SACC
Donna Guenther, PA SACC
Dave Rettig, NJ SACC
Steve Garman, VA SACC
Billy Bob Taylor, W VA SACC
Mary Allison Bradley, DE SACC Absent

Guest: Bonnie Synol, Regional Judging Director

The meeting was called to order by the Region 7 Administrative Committee Chairman, Lynn Perrott at 5:20 PM.

The financial report was distributed.

Dena Walker was introduced as our new Regional Elite Committee Chairman replacing Jen Bundy.

RTCC Report

Our regional meet hosts for 2007 did an excellent job. All meets ran very smoothly.

The petition process also was made far easier when clubs used our Region 7 Injury Petition Form. The form can be found online here.

A reminder that skill evaluation forms for new skills must be sent to both Myra Elfenbein, RTCC and Linda Johnson RJOCC. That form can be found here: http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/forms/2001/valuepart.pdf

In order to further consistency in judging, the Women’s Technical Committee will be working on judging tract that will be shown at Regional Congresses throughout the country.

JOCC Report

Surveys

We rely on the responses to the surveys put out by the JOCC to represent your views at the WTC/JO committee meetings. If questions or concerns come up during the year, please send them to both Linda Johnson and Myra Elfenbein so they can be put on the agenda for our meeting. Please bear in mind, however, that many items are added last minute to the agenda and some items come up under new business.

JO Camps

Linda provided an overview of the 2007 training camps. All ran very well and received excellent feedback. She is working on the 2008 calendar and is looking for ideas for clinicians, especially in specialty areas (conditioning, nutrition, flexibility, goal-setting, teambuilding, artistry, etc.) We are still looking for clinicians for our camps. If you know of any great clinicians in your state who can help, please let us know.

The 2007 High Performance Clinic will be at Lehigh Valley Gymnastics Academy on October 20 – 21st.

High Performance: Oct. 20-21, 2007

Who: All Level 9 and 10 gymnasts who qualified to Nationals/Easterns, plus alternates, are invited to attend
Where: Lehigh Valley Sports Academy, PA
Summary: Focus is on high level skill technique, regional team building

Our All Star Team from JO Nationals will again be going to the Cancun Invitational in January.

We are encouraging mini clinics that feature optional skills during your state compulsory clinics.

We received positive feedback from the Team format for Easterns. We are looking into ways to develop more team spirit for our Eastern competition.

We are also looking into hotels for JO Nationals in Florida. We would like to keep our Regional Team together as we have done in the past.

RECC Report

The Elite Calendar has come out and we will have an early season since 2008 will be an Olympic year.

New Business

Individual Event Specialists

Motion: Dave Rettig

2nd: Donna Guenther

We will allow Individual Event Specialists at Level 9 and 10 Regionals on a trial basis for the 2008 season. Qualification scores are to be determined in September. Individual Event Specialist must declare by November 1st for States and Regionals.

Passed: Unanimous

NOTE: Qualification scores have been determined via email vote: To qualify into the state meet, an athlete must have earned a score of 8.9 or higher on her declared event/s. To qualify into the regional meet at Level 9 or 10, an athlete must score a 9.1 or higher at her state meet.

The exact guidelines for IES will be published shortly.

Level 8 Regionals

If a state has no representatives on a regional squad, the squad will be another All Star Squad.

Motion: Billly Bob Taylor

2nd: Dena Walker

For Delaware and West Virginia: To allow Level 8 gymnasts to petition to regionals (with approval from the National Office) with a minimum of a 34.00 AA score if they are injured at the state meet.

Passed: Unanimous

NOTE: This motion has been approved by the national office, within the very strict guidelines noted above.

Regional Awards

We will be looking into ways to improve our Regional Awards System.

Judge’s Evaluation

Motion: Dena Walker

2nd: Dave Rettig

A judges’ evaluation form will be included in each club’s packet for all our regional meets. One form per club may be submitted.

Individual Event Specialist (IES)

1) Will be allowed to compete at State and Regional Competitions.

2) Must declare IES by January 1st.

3) May change declaration to All Around Gymnast (AA). Must change declaration prior to the individual’s State qualifying date. If moving back to All Around status, a gymnast must qualify by regular All Around procedures. If a coach first declares a gymnast an IES, then changes her to an AA, the gymnast can't go back to IES unless the go-back date is still before Jan 1.

4) May NOT compete more than 3 events at States or Regionals.

5) Gymnasts must declare IES status each year.

6) Qualifying scores: 8.9 to States, 9.1 to Regionals at State Championships.

7) Scores may be used for Team Scores at States (as per R & P).

8) Entry Fees: All entry fees are the same regardless of IES or AA status.

9) IES gymnasts will receive duplicate awards. (If the IES scores a 9.2, which is equal to the 3rd place score from an AA gymnast on that event, she receives a duplicate 3rd place medal.)

10) Mobility: IES athletes may use their scores for mobility, only if they are continuing their IES status. If an IES competes 2 events, her total score must be equal to ½ the required score for AA mobility, etc. She may NOT be an AA gymnast at the new level, unless she has qualified as an AA through correct procedure at the lower level. She may only be one level at a time, for example, she cannot be a Level 10 on beam, but a Level 9 on bars.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM

Respectively submitted,

Myra Elfenbein