WTF is up with the NE-LMSC?
**disclaimer…Any team, coach or swimmer, in my LMSC or other LMSC, that needs help, always has my full support. Whether it be finding a form or getting their meet posted or getting their information changed on a website or finding a workout or place to swim…I am always happy to help. I am especially happy to support the Middlebury Muffintops as they are a small grassroots team that plays a critical role in New England swimming as the official hosts of the annual LCM Championship meet at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Since I joined USMS as a member in the NE-LMSC 11 years ago, I have volunteered. The volunteering has been in various forms though the majority of the time it has been as the webmaster for the swimnem.org site. I like volunteering and giving back, especially when I feel as though I am helping. I get the chance to meet a lot of club coaches and swimmers and help them in various ways. I understand the role of volunteerism in an organization such as swimming and the fact that without volunteers, many things would not get done. Everything from someone to account for all of the registration fees that come in, to making sure that every member has a working registration number to offering to manage top ten times. All of these roles require a volunteer and for them I am grateful as it enables me to participate in what I consider the greatest sport in the world.
When I think of a volunteer, I think of an individual who is willing to give their full time and effort to accomplish a goal of their own free will. I think of a person who is willing to give of themselves to a cause for a belief, even if that belief is simply because no one else would step up to do the job. I think of an individual who sees that by helping and doing their best, a greater good is achieved. I see an individual who wants nothing more than to help. That is a volunteer.
When I think of volunteers, I do not think of people who are doing something which appears to be for the greater good but actually carries with it an ulterior motive. I do not think of people who want to embellish their life resume so they can say they volunteered. I do not think of people who put their own ego and wishes above the cause simply because they can. I do not think of people who simply want more and more power and find it easy to come by in a volunteer organization. No, these are not volunteers. These are opportunists. These are the exploiters and they have a reason for what they do and it is not to help.
So I have to ask the question…What the fuck is up with the New England LMSC? 2,000 swimmers blissfully ignorant that their “leader” has an agenda of his own? Why did our chair, a so-called volunteer, feel it necessary to yank the sanction number away without cause from the Middlebury Muffintops after it had ALREADY been approved?…After the Muffintops (who by the way are not a large team in any form of the word) invested a significant amount of time in preparing this meet, as they have for the last few years. Even despite taking a financial LOSS the last few years, they still manage to persevere to hold this meet because of the swimmer demand. They even went out of their way, and out of their own pocket, to finance Rowdy Gaines as a guest speaker at their Saturday night dinner and to bring back coach extraordinaire, Bill Boomer to provide on deck consultation for any swimmer. They even secured special room rates at area hotels. They acted in the best interest of the LMSC by providing an LCM Championship meet. They resurrected it after it had been dead for so many years and now it is in danger of becoming extinct again because one volunteer, for reasons known only to him, decided it won’t go on.
Our chair refuses to answer the questions asked by the Muffintops to justify why the sanction number was pulled. Despite several desperate requests via email for an explanation or even a single word…you have refused to respond. You, who volunteered and were summarily elected to serve in the best interests of the LMSC!…you who have a responsibility to the LMSC to communicate your decisions…how is it that you are acting in the best interests of over 2000 swimmers? Is silence the answer? Are we supposed to interpret your silence as some grand prophetic message that unless we go your way, we can hit the fucking highway?
How about an answer for your LMSC? For all of my readers? How about a REASON as to why you pulled the sanction number? Go ahead and send it to me…I will gladly publish it right here without a single edit. Your LMSC deserves to know why you, a volunteer, feel as though you have the right to singlehandedly, and without consulting your volunteer LMSC board members, yank a sanction number away from an established team in YOUR LMSC that runs an established championship meet in YOUR LMSC.
I am a volunteer. I have no ulterior motives for helping USMS and any club or swimmer that needs help. I want nothing more than to spread the gospel of swimming to every possible corner of the globe. Your refusal to rectify this situation creates a bad taste in my mouth. It makes me continue to realize that despite all of the good that goes on, there are still people in this sport who aim to ruin it. I am in your LMSC because of geography, not my own free will. When you have an answer as to why you feel you can make a decision that so affects a championship meet and the 2000 or so swimmers that have no idea that you did this, I am all ears.
West Side Swim Club is waiting for an answer.
- 
The emails are coming in fast and furious now…none from the one we want one from but several others…here are a few snippets, verbatim.
“YOUR readers? get off your high horse asshole.”
-ok but what I am supposed to call them? (btw my favorite email so far…im almost tempted to print your name)
“Remind me not to piss you off Nate. I can’t believe that he could do that. Is that true? Why can’t the board have a vote?
-I wouldn’t write it if it wasn’t and we can’t have a vote because he won’t call one
“I get your point but why the swearing? Is it necessary to convey your point which comes across clear enoug[h] without it?”
-Yes. I believe swearing, when used in a proper literary context, is great for conveying a message of total fucking frustration. Oops.
“Holy crap remind me not to piss you off Nate. Did you contact USMS to let them know what’s happening?
-General reminder to everyone since it keeps coming up…also, yes, I did reach out to USMS but have not heard back.
Keep the emails coming folks…negative or positive I don’t care. So long as you read the story and understand what is happening.
ok here is another one…and by the way…it is interesting to note that some of the emails are coming from out of state…people talking about how they love their LMSC’s…damn you!
“Wow, if this weren’t so sad it would be funny. I think I can actually see him gathering all his toys and going home… Oh well, like they say, if you can’t beet ‘em, prevent them from competing altogether.”
-Sad yes. Sad mostly because a bunch of people worked their asses off to get this meet together and just like that…plug pulled.
The folly continues…we finally got a reply this morning…you can follow the email thread here. The chair decides not to answer the question as to how he, based on his own words, is authorized to make the decision, instead now deflecting the decision back on the LMSC. One minute he is making decisions and the next minute he is not. That’s kind of strange.
On 2/10/10/3:46 PM, “Nate McBride” wrote:
NO. Not until you actually present something resembling a fact. The proper parties are all here. We are waiting for a reason. In the meantime, you still hold the sanction number like a carrot.
On 2/10/10 3:29 PM, “Big Al Prescott” wrote:
Thank you for the kind words. I am, of course, aware of the by laws and all the previously passed LMSC resolutions for the last many years, since I have attended all the LMSC meetings without exception, both as Chair and Vice Chair, for more years than I can remember. I am following the resolutions to the letter. These emails are both useless and circumnavigate them and that is why they are a waste of time, so please knock it off.
Let me clarify one point above all else: I AM NOT MAKING A DECISION AGAINST THIS PROPOSAL. What I am saying, it must follow a certain process that was voted on by the LMSC so that ALL THE PROPER PARTIES ARE INVOLVED. That will occur at the LMSC meeting this summer.
AL PRESCOTT
NE-LMSC Chair
n8 wrote:
According to the NE-LMSC Bylaws, which presumably you had some hand in
either authoring or approving, the following exists:
The Chair shall be responsible for the day-to-day management of the business affairs of the LMSC; shall call meetings as deemed necessary; shall preside at all meetings; shall appoint such standing and special committees as necessary; shall appoint USMS Convention Delegates, all with the advice and consent of the Directors.
Notice the last statement there…”all with the advice and consent of the Directors.”
Which part of that grants you sole authority to make bad decisions?
On 2/10/10 10:25 AM, “Al Prescott” wrote:
Jessica,
I apologize for not emailing yesterday. I’m trying to get some work
wrapped up before the snow.
You need not bother Yvonne with this, I put the sanction on hold. The
LMSC chair has that authority. I will email you later today to discuss this further.
AL PRESCOTT
NE-LMSC Chair
—–Original Message—–
From: msguts [mailto:msguts@myfairpoint.net]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 12:15 PM
To: Holmes, Jessica
Cc: bigalprescott@comcast.net; laszloeger@hotmail.com; Skwim3@aol.com;
karenwc97@yahoo.com; ‘Tracy Grilli’; n8@pbrstreetgang.com;
lmorse@comcast.net; ‘Carol Yunker’; nemnews@gmail.com; plcanova@yahoo.com;
Zachary.a.gray@gmail.com; ‘Mike Delaney’; Fernandez, Miguel; ‘Bill Townsend’;
Solomon, Peter
Subject: RE: Sanction Number is being put on Hold
Al:
Could you please respond??
Thanks
yvonne
—–Original Message—–
From: Holmes, Jessica
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 9:39 AM
To: ‘msguts@myfairpoint.net’
Cc: ‘bigalprescott@comcast.net’; ‘laszloeger@hotmail.com’;
‘Skwim3@aol.com’; ‘karenwc97@yahoo.com’; Tracy Grilli;
‘n8@pbrstreetgang.com’; ‘lmorse@comcast.net’; ‘Carol Yunker’;
‘nemnews@gmail.com’; ‘plcanova@yahoo.com’; ‘Zachary.a.gray@gmail.com’;
‘Mike Delaney’; Fernandez, Miguel; Bill Townsend; Solomon, Peter
Subject: FW: Sanction Number is being put on Hold
Dear Yvonne,
It has recently come to our attention that as Sanction Chair, you
distributed the email below last Friday.
1) The Muffintops would like official notification from you that our
sanction number has been withheld.
and
2) The Muffintops would like to know the basis upon which you have
chosen to withhold our sanction, with specific reference to the exact
“USMS Standards” in violation, as referred to in your email.
Thank you kindly,
Middlebury Muffintop Meet Committee
Duck, dodge, parry.
On 2/10/10 3:57 PM, “Al Prescott” wrote:
Thank you. The parties are NOT all here. You don’t even seem to know who they are. That is why these emails are pointless.
AL PRESCOTT
NE-LMSC Chair
n8 wrote:
Re: Sanction Number is being put on Hold NO. Not until you actually present something resembling a fact. The proper parties are all here. We are waiting for a reason. In the meantime, you still hold the sanction number like a carrot.
The humor continues but I will spare you all. The chair has decided that an ad-hoc meeting to debate this issue is not possible (no explanation as to why) and that we all must wait until the annual LMSC meeting this summer to debate it, which, at that time, will be too late obviously. All hail the mighty chair.
My recommendation…show up at the LMSC meeting this summer ( I will post the date here )…make your voice heard. Let it be known that one individual who is willing to avoid accountability should not be leading the LMSC. I know that’s where my vote will stand.
Well now…seems that once higher powers intervene, things like this always seems to sort themselves out. One of the most awesome people in USMS (in my opinion) has weighed in and our chair has gone 180. So we will be having a vote after all in the coming weeks. Stand by and I will let you all know how the vote turned out and who voted which way.
[...] Here’s a link to West Side Swim’s web site which is run by their coach, Nate Mcbride. It’s amazing what Nate’s done for NEM, and all of us. I have a link to his site from the ANA home page, I subscribe to his RSS feed, I read all he has to say about swimming and I even took his picture for this post. Sorry. It disturbs me greatly to read what he writes concerning OUR LCM Championships at Middlebury, VT. [...]
And just like that…as of 11:25 AM this morning, the Sanction number has been reinstated. Of course, there still needs to be a vote (in the coming weeks) because the idea of doing something as completely insanely crazy (e.g. progressive) as changing the scoring for a championship meet would mean that we would actually have to meet more than once a year as an LMSC board….sigh.
After all of that magnanimous bullshit…jeez…Folks, bottom line is that you DON’T know what goes on at the leadership level of your LMSC. Yes, the same one you pay to be a part of. I specifically changed my club over to a USMS club just so I could have a vote to ensure that integrity was maintained for the NE LMSC. Even having that vote, apparently, does not guarantee better leadership. We need more NEMSC swimmers to say “hey…those people at the top…what DO they do for me?”.
Yes, volunteers have responsibilities…that’s why they call it a “volunteer” and not a “lazy fat ass”. I wish we had more volunteers…I really do. But I dig the fact that people are just busy. That’s life. If you are busy, don’t be a volunteer. Be something else. Let the volunteers do the work and do it for the betterment of the swimming world. We will appreciate them, and you, that much more.
Im going to go burn my soapbox now and get back to coaching and loving swimming. When the vote comes, I will let you all know how it goes. I expect it to be pretty bi-partisan.