Masters Swimming Ontario Editorial April 1997

The AGM was held December 8 following the North York Gators Pentathlon. The swim meet was a great success and the numbers attending were up this year both for the swim meet and the AGM meeting but we continue to have difficulty in getting members to come forward to sit on the Board. At the moment we are two members short. We warmly welcome our newest member Don Hambley from UWO.

Swimmer registration has reached 1734 swimmers, 73 clubs and 25 unattached. These numbers will increase with future registrations and the fact that Nationals are closer to home this year.

The Rules Committee completed the summary of the differences between SNC and MSO rules. This information plus meet management info, safety rules and meet report forms are now being sent out to each club when their meet is sanctioned. Since the focus of the Board this year is to continue to improve communications we urge you to return the meet reports to the meet co-ordinator as it is one of the ways we identify areas where we can help. Now that the 1996 Handbook has been distributed it is time to start working on the 1998 edition. We would appreciate any feed back on what you would like to see included in the next edition. We also hope to have an updated Meet Manager's Guide ready for the fall.

The results of the Swimmer and Club questionnaires have been compiled and are included. 28 of a possible 81 Clubs and 216 of a possible 2306 swimmers responded. There were many great comments and suggestions offered that will provide the Board with some ways to fill the needs of our swimmers better. We feel a particular concern for the smaller or isolated Clubs, particularly the ones in the North, and our non competitive swimmers. We are investigating the possibility of dividing the Province into regions to improve communications within the regions and provide a contact for the Board. A survey on club scoring is included with this editorial. It is very important that we receive your response quickly so a decision can be made for the upcoming Provincials.

NEWS RELEASE MSO hopes to have a web site in operation this year. There are several clubs that have web sites already but ours will be the "master" giving information from A to Z on masters swimming in Ontario plus links world wide. This web page is intended for all aspects of masters swimming not just competition so, as it grows, it will address a broad range of topics.

MSO will be continuing our programme of contributing $1.00 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation for every medal returned to MSO (send to Chris Smith, Awards, 152 Duncairn Road, Don Mills, Ontario, M3B 1E2). This program helps keep medal costs down.

As you can see your Board of Directors has a busy year lined up. Please feel to write, fax or e-mail any comments, suggestions and we even smile and accept criticism.

Patricia Niblett, President