Athlete Summary

Ideology of USA Swimming  Build, promote, and achieve.  Providing a safe and positive environment for all members through SafeSport.  Comply with the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

“A Tradition of Growth”  400,000 members and growing  Providing opportunities throughout the nation to local pools and clubs with the help of swimtoday.org  Using social media and advertisements to promote “the funnest sport”

AEC  Athletes Executive Committee Exists because of the Amateur Sports Act requiring at least 20% athlete representation Provides athlete reps the opportunity to voice our opinion on issues and officially vote on them ○ Essentially the voice of all amateur athletes of USA Swimming ○ Presents our view to coaches, officials, and others that may not be able to see what we do at each meet or within our own zone

SafeSport  Protects athletes against parents that are on deck or harassing teams or other children  Protects athletes against coaches and that are considered to be Invasive of privacy (locker rooms) Favoring athletes in inappropriate ways Acting out aggressively, etc.

Largest Issue for Athletes  Deck changing.  Our 20% vote was not enough to change the mind of adults viewing the action as “highly inappropriate”  How is an official going to report an athlete for deck changing without violating SafeSport?  Most athletes viewed that “prohibiting” this action was a mere inconvenience to us Not all facilities are built with ample room for changing, or are close enough to the blocks, especially during long course season Girls straps cut off circulation and taking them down provides mobility

Controversy Over Legends  Legends-the meet between Sectionals and Junior Nationals to provide a “stepping stone” for athletes that aren’t quite at the national level  Legends and Junior Nats are to be the same weekend Prohibits athletes with Junior Nats times from swimming at Legends Forces coaches to decide which meet is more important ○ Most athletes felt as though their coach would choose to take their one athlete to Junior Nationals as opposed to taking five athletes to Legends

Athletes  Practice from 5-6:30 a.m. with Nationals Coach Dave Marsh  Taught Robert’s rules of legislature in order to vote appropriately  Went over all candidates to be informed voters  Went over and discussed all issues to be addressed during House of Delegates  Packing food for those in need Elizabeth Biesel, Chloe Sutton, Scott Weltz too

The Experience  Hands down, best of life.  Practicing with different people, and a different coach, further inspired me to swim in college and push myself to be able to do so  Gave me an insight to how vast and important USA Swimming is throughout the sport and how my role as an athlete is vital to its existence  Met collegiate swimmers that would answer any questions about college swimming or about their own experience as a rep for their state or on a community Served as excellent influences and inspiration

Observations  NM was the only state to send 1 athlete rep  Most states at House of Delegates had state jackets or chair covers  Other athlete reps were given an amount of cash to spend, as opposed to having to file an expense report later on

Personal Favorite Experiences  Dinner with Rowdy Gaines and the president of USA Swimming-Jim Sheehan  Meeting Katie Ledecky, Eilzabeth Biesel, Scott Weltz, Chloe Sutton  Playing Mario Kart with Garret Weber-Gale  Voting for the president of USA Swimming  Watching the announcement of the 2016 Olympic Time Trials live  Learning how the Western Zone is run We are definitely one of the most efficient and organized.

Pictures Bolles Swimming Pool, location of morning practices Above: Andrew Gormley and I Top Right: Selfie with Elizabeth Biesel Bottom Right: Mario Kart with Garret Weber-Gale

Conclusion Thank you for this opportunity, I look forward to going next year as the true Senior Representative and hopefully applying to a committee so I can continue to serve USA Swimming. I am sorry I was unable attend this meeting, I had previously committed and paid to take the SAT this weekend. Madison Lash