The GNOCCSL held a league-wide meeting to discuss the upcoming summer on Monday, May 6th. The meeting was called to order at 6:02pm by the League President, Rob Dowie. The Secretary, Daniel Wendt, called the roll. Representatives from the following clubs were present: Mimosa Swim and Racquet Club, Chateau Country Club, the Jewish Community Center, Cypress Lakes Country Club, Grand Ridge Country Club, Metairie Country Club, Southern Yacht Club, and Park Timbers. Clubs absent were New Orleans Country Club & New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club. 

Summer Schedule

As previously announced, dual meets will start the week of Memorial Day and will conclude the week of June 19th. The default day and time of swim meets is Wednesday at 4:00pm, but clubs can change that if both agree on an alternative in advance. City Meet will be hosted at UNO on Monday, June 24th. The official invitation for that meet will be sent to clubs in early June. 

Budget & Dues

Treasurer Corrine Hebert gave a financial update. The league has roughly $8,000 in the bank. Last year the League collected just over $10,000 in dues and fees. The league spent about $150 more than it collected. Almost all league expenses last year were related to City Meet, including trophies, awards, pool rental, and officials fees. For the upcoming season, the League has increased the swimmer surcharge by $3 to cover the cost of implementing Swimtopia league-wide. The swimmer surcharge ($8 multiplied by the roster number) is due to Corrine by Memorial Day. Any "late additions" will be due at City Meet. 

Swimtopia Implementation

As announced two years ago, the league is mandating clubs use Swimtopia by member clubs starting this summer. This allows the league to see club rosters in real-time. Swimtopia also has a number of front-facing website, team communication, member registration, and meet management features available for clubs to use. Clubs are encouraged to register for upcoming webinars and trainings hosted by Swimtopia. For technical assistance with getting their sites up and running, clubs are encouraged to reach out to Swimtopia support via phone, chat, email, and their help center. Swimtopia also has pre-recorded webinars available for viewing that outline different capabilities of the sites.

• Click here to register your team site: https://signup.swimtopia.com/premium?code=GNOCCSL
• Click here to see a list of upcoming and previous webinars: https://www.swimtopia.com/workshop-webinars/
• Click here to visit the Swimtopia Help Center: https://help.swimtopia.com/

Election of Members at Large 

Every year, the Board has three members at large positions up for election/reelection. The 2023 MALs (Jessica Schule, Sharon Kleefisch, and Bridget Himel) were re-nominated; however, Sharon Kleefisch was not present to accept her renomination. Bret Hanemann was nominated and accepted the nomination. With no objection from the members present, Jessica Schule, Bridget Himel, and Bret Hanemann were elected to the positions. 

New Business 

It was brought to the Board's attention that the 2022 Competition Guidelines need to be revised to account for the Swimtopia implementation. The Board is working to finalize those changes in time for the start of dual meets.