Administrative Vice-Chair
Candidate Statement: Clint Benton
I became involved with swimming over 35 years ago at the Summer Recreational League level. I became
active as an official and eventually the President of a local club and formed and incorporated another
local club.
My first involvement with Pacific Swimming started as a parent with a swimmer in the fall season swim
program about 30 years ago. That turned into a year-round participation for both my swimmer and
myself. I became an official and a member of the Local Club Board of Directors and eventually served as
the President.
20 years ago I was recruited to serve on the Pacific Swimming Board as the Camps Coordinator and to
assist with the Age Group Program. I then served 4 years as the Age Group Vice-Chair. Besides these
positions I have also served as the Time Standards Chair at both the Pacific Swimming and USA
Swimming level. I was Pacific Swimming General Chair for four years and served as Past General Chair,
Chair of the Board of Review, and am currently the Chair of Zone 2.
In addition to participating in the sport of swimming I have been involved in the volunteer organizations
of youth baseball and soccer, and have been involved in a number of professional volunteer
organizations.
My philosophy of volunteer participation is that openness and transparency are critical to the operation
of any volunteer organization. This is best achieved by having and following a set of rules, listening to
and applying the ideas and knowledge of everyone involved, and then allowing the decisions to be
made with the participation of everyone who has a stake in the final outcome.
The position of Administrative Vice-Chair is the one position that helps Pacific Swimming follow the
policies and procedures and rules of the organization. This position does not create change, but instead
helps to implement the changes that members of the appropriate bodies have approved. In other
words the Administrative Vice-Chair has the role of insuring that proper procedures and policies are
implemented and enforced (much like the policeman’s role in society), so that all members are treated
fairly and equitably within the democratically determined bounds of the organization. I believe that my
experience in not only the sport of swimming, but other volunteer organizations, as well as my
professional experience as a Probation Officer, allows me to be a good candidate for this position.
Lehla Irwin
Candidate for Administrative Vice Chair Program Development
Past experience:
Member-at-large, 2009, 2010, 2011
USA-S Convention Delegate 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Zone 3 Age Group Rep 2006-2011
Lehla Irwin has been involved in competitive swimming since 1985 and began coaching for USA
Swimming in 1994. As an athlete, she competed 1996-2000 Colorado State University. Lehla
has been both an athlete and coach at Zone All Start Development Meet and Western Zone
Championships. She has also coached at Pacific Swimming Camps including 11-12 AA+ and
Olympic Training Center Distance Camp. Lehla is also involved in learn-to-swim outreach
programs: Sonoma County's Vamos a Nadar, for ELL families as well as Rotary Learn-to-Swim
Program as program supervisor and lesson volunteer serving over 250 second-graders in
Sebastopol annually.
Age group vice chairman
Jon Pallesen has asked that his name be withdrawn from nomination for the age group
vice chairman position. He wishes to endorse Victoria Hernandez for the position.
Verónica Hernández
Candidate for Age Group Vice-Chair
Below is a list of all of the positions I have held or currently hold within the swimming world. You can
easily see that I have enough experience in coaching, administration, and working with Pacific swimming to do this
job, but experience does not mean that a person will do his/her job well. I am volunteering for this position because
I believe I can help to better our Age Group Program. Pacific Swimming made a significant difference in my life,
and I want to continue that for the kids that are swimming now. Since I’ve been involved in most all of the Age
Group Program’s events, in multiple capacities, I have a great understanding of what areas need work and what
coaches in our LSC are concerned with. My motivation for running is to help improve our programs for our
athletes, and to continue to make Pacific Swimming a leader in USA Swimming. I must state that I have no
personal agenda, and I am not looking for political power, or an ego boost. If I am not elected I will not take it
personally.
Verónica Hernández- vernhernwest@gmail, 408-540-8569
Zone All-Star Developmental Meet:
- 6 years assistant coach
- 1 year head coach
- 4 years on the meet planning committee
Pacific Coast All-Star Meet:
- One year as assistant coach
Western Zone All-Star Age Group Championships:
- 3 years assistant coach
- 1 year as meet director
North American Challenge Cup:
- Attending for the first time this summer as a
chaperone
- Unofficial liaison with Mexican Swimming
Federation to add in planning this year’s trip
Member of PC Diversity Committee
Head Administrator for the first PC Diversity Camp
Assistant Coach for the National Diversity Select Camp 2010
Currently in second year of Vice-Chair on the Zone 1 South Board
On the Ad-hoc committee for planning the 2011 Awards Banquet
West Coast Aquatics:
- Team Administrative Manager
- Meet Director
- Age Group Coach of multiple levels since 2004
- Site Director for 5 years
- Soon to be Head Age Group Coach in charge of program development
- 6 years as Masters Head Coach
Coaching for the East Side Union High School District:
- 8 years at James Lick High School
- 2 years at W.C. Overfelt High School
- Currently in 2nd year at Evergreen Valley High School
- Chairman of the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League 2006-2009, and have just
been selected to Chair for 2012. The position includes being meet director of the high school
championship meet.
c/s
Don and Ron Heidary
Candidates for Senior Vice-Chair
Don and Ron have been coaching competitive swimming for over thirty years and founded
Orinda Aquatics nearly twenty years ago. In the past, their teams have won Sectionals, Far
Westerns, and JO’s. They currently have over thirty sectional qualifiers and eight Junior
National Qualifiers (two of those with national or OT times). Orinda Aquatics has been one of
the top “smaller teams” in the VCC Rankings and recently finished 9 th at Short Course Junior
Nationals in Atlanta. Ron and Don are both ASCA Level 5 coaches. Ron has served as the
Administrative Vice-Chair of Zone 2.
With a team size of just 100 members and a Senior group of sixty swimmers, there is a strong
emphasis to this group and they have extensive exposure of all levels of competition and
development. They travel regularly with over fifty senior swimmers and attend virtually all
meets from CBA to Nationals. Their objective would be to continue the great work done by
Warren and others before him, to collect the opinions of coaches of senior swimmers at all
levels, and to help create the most positive and productive platform for senior swimmers in
Pacific Swimming at all levels to develop and flourish.
Marie Lin
Candidate’s Statement for the Pacific Swimming Board of Director’s Secretary Position
I am honored to be considered a candidate for the Secretary position on the
Pacific Board of Directors. I believe I bring skills and experience that will make me
highly qualified to fulfill the duties of the position.
I have been associated with the swimming world for over 15 years in various
capacities. I have been an active official for USA Swimming since 2002, and have
served on the Zone 2 Board as Sanction Chair since 2008. I have also been on the
Walnut Creek Aquabears Board of Directors since 2004, and have been the Secretary to
that Board since 2006. Prior to that I was on the Rudgear Estates Swim Team (a local
recreational summer league team) Board of Directors for 4 + years, serving as their chair
of time improvements, records and standards. I have also been responsible for
maintaining the hytek records, standards, meet results and entries for the Las Lomas High
School Swim Team since 2006. With this experience with swimming and various Swim
Boards I feel I have skills and knowledge to contribute to the Pacific Swimming’s Board
of Directors.
Outside of the swimming world I also have vast experience in record keeping and
creating and maintaining minutes for various diverse committees. As a Psychologist in
the Kaiser Permanente Martinez Psychiatry Department I was the Quality Assurance
Director for the department for 15+ years until my retirement. I led the monthly Quality
Assurance Committee meetings, and wrote the minutes for those meetings. As a leader in
that department I was involved in multiple committees created to address issues in the
department, and the joint committees when the Psychiatry Departments for Walnut
Creek, Martinez, Pleasanton and Antioch merged. I was the secretary on many of those
committees, writing and maintaining the minutes for those committee meetings.
I have always enjoyed the job of keeping records and taking minutes for the
committees I have been a part of , both because it is a skill I have and because I value
accurate reports and records of decisions these bodies make. I feel that the decisions
which have taken careful thought and consideration should be recorded correctly and be
available so that they may be of use to the organizations they are designed to serve.
Thank you. I hope you will give my candidacy your full consideration.
Registration Chair
Candidate Statement: Judy Siegrist
Judy’s participation in the role of Registration goes back even before the existence of USA Swimming.
Back in the AAU Swimming days Judy started doing the registration for swimmers in the area that was to
become Pacific Swimming.
When USA Swimming became the National Governing Body for Swimming Judy became the swimmer
registration chair. In the past 30 years that position has meant that she also had to, not only be the
Chair, but actually do all of the registrations herself. Over the years, as Pacific Swimming grew to
become an LSC with over 18,000 swimmers registered each year, the job became more than a full time
job. None-the-less, Judy has eagerly and competently handled it. Judy has represented Pacific
Swimming regarding swimmer registration issues at the USA Swimming level for almost 30 years,
including attending conference calls, and meetings at USA Swimming. She has attended the USA
Aquatic Sports Convention every year and has been a superb representative of registration and
registration processes for the LSC.
Over the years, Judy has learned and implemented each of the new processes for registering swimmers
as they have been put forward by USA Swimming, and she was a tester of SWIMS during the creation
and implementation process and became a trainer for other Registration Chairs when the program
became live. She continues to spend many hours per week in the registration process for our LSC.
Pacific Swimming is fortunate to have someone who is so dedicated and willing to devote so much of
her time and talent in assisting the swimmers in Pacific Swimming. Her knowledge, dedication,
experience and commitment have been a valuable asset to Pacific Swimming for over 30 years. Judy has
and will continue to serve us well as Pacific Swimming’s registrar.
Karyn Kikuta
Candidate for - At-Large-Member
I have been an active swim parent since my sons began competitive swimming 16 years
ago. My interest has been in the area of age group swimming supporting those swimmers
who have attended club trips, by being in a managerial role for the past 14 years.
In the 2010-2011 year I have been an At – Large –Member. I have invested my time in
three areas.
1. Seeking support and to pursue the continuation of all the All-Star Meets, from the
Zone level to the Pacific All-Star level meets.
2. Being an active participant on the diversity Committee which provides clinics, and
grant opportunities to swimmers and clubs from diverse backgrounds providing an
interest and increased participation in swim programs, allowing swimmers to pursue
and develop a love for the sport.
3. A member of the disability committee which is pursing to find swimmers with
physical disabilities, provide a clinic and a local meet run by the International
Paralympic Committee Swimming. I am interested in pursing to be a IPC
swimming official, as well as move towards supporting all swimmers with a
disability and find appropriate programs available to meet all their needs.
Warren Lager
Candidate for Member-at-Large
Past experience:
4 years Senior Vice-chair Pacific Swimming
4 years as Pacific Swimming representative to Sectional Gold Committee
2 years Chairman Zone 3
8 years Senior Chair Zone 3
4 years Rules and Bylaws Chair Zone 3
I have been coaching in Pacific Swimming for 31 years (following a swimming career spent
competing in Pacific Swimming)
I feel that I would be an asset to the Pacific Board by having a coach’s perspective at the
meetings. I would like to go on contributing to the Board of Directors on the volunteer level
especially with regards to the continued revitalization of the Senior Program
Leo Lin
Candidate’s Statement for the Pacific Swimming Board of Director’s Member-at-Large
As a relatively new member of the Pacific Swimming Board of Director’s I am
seeking re-election for a second term as Member-at-Large. During my 1 ½ years on the
BOD, where I was actively involved in all the BOD meetings, I have learned all about the
process of how decisions are made on the Pacific Swimming Board. I feel that
knowledge and my other experiences in the swimming world enables me to be an
extremely effective member of the BOD, advocating fair and positive changes in the
operation of Pacific Swimming where needed, while retaining those rules and procedures
that are efficacious in supporting the athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and parents
involved in Pacific Swimming. In my role as Member-at-Large, I also have served on the
Audit Committee, fostering and developing more uniform processes in managing and
budgeting finances on the committee and Zone levels, and throughout Pacific Swimming.
I am a parent of a high school swimmer, and a college swimmer. I have been
involved in officiating USA swimming meets since 2002, and am actively involved in
officiating at College, Community College, High School, Masters, and Recreational
Championship Meets. I have been the Meet Director for the Walnut Creek Aquabears for
the past 5 years, and am presently the President of that team. In 2010 I became the
Official’s Chair for Zone 2 and am actively involved in increasing the number of officials
in Zone 2, focusing on recruitment, retention, mentorship, and development of the
officials in the Zone.
Because of the various roles I have had on multiple swim boards, at diverse levels
of swimming, I feel I bring a broad, open and multi-viewed perspective to issues and
situations concerning Pacific Swimming. I believe that my hands-on and grounded
approach, and my relatively new and fresh outlook will be an important asset I will bring
to the Pacific Swimming BOD.
Darwin Takaki
Candidate for Member-at-large
Past experience: Member-at-large, 2010-11
Age Group Vice-Chairman 2007-09
Zone 1 South Chairman 2005-07
Zone 1 South Officials Chair 2001-05
San Jose Aquatics Facility Chair 1995-1999
Have attended USAS Convention 5 of the last 6 years. Have a good understanding of how USAS, LSC,
and club politics work. Strong background in Age Group Swimming and would like to keep Pacific
Swimming strong by continuing to offer Age Group programs such as camps, All-Star Teams, and as
many age group meets as the LSC and Zones can handle. This would mean increase in the number of
officials, meet personnel, facilities, and equipment. Will resist increase in fees and dues to Pacific
and would rely on reserves already acquired. If possible, would roll back some fees to clubs which
will need financial support to keep providing for our swimmers.
Pacific Swimming
May 30, 2011
Fred Vogelgesang – BIO
Swimming has been part of the Vogelgesang Family for two and a half decades with three
alumni swimming sons – Bruce, Keith and Scott. My rookie year as an on-deck official 25
years ago followed a naive question to a fellow parent about the various strokes of the
sport.
I have served as a local club parent board member, including a stint as president where we
dealt with the usual issues of coaching, membership, meet sponsorship, pool contracts,
budgets, and cash flow along with managing fellow parent expectations. I have participated
in three LSC’s (Georgia, Ozark, and Pacific) where I have experienced how others conduct
the business of the local swimming communities.
My three terms as the Treasurer for Pacific Swimming are ending as announced so that
others can experience and contribute in that office.
Statement of Candidacy for At-Large
The desire to serve the athletes, coaches and volunteers of the sport is a result of a
learned appreciation of the hard work, dedication and enthusiasm of all the participants,
current and past.
The sport of competitive swimming is unique in that it thrives on the backs of its dedicated
athletes (morning practices, inclement weather), professional coaches (long, early and
weekend hours) and as importantly its volunteers (administrators, officials, parent boards
and volunteer run meets).
The Pacific Swimming LSC is at a crossroads where the era of parents and long time
volunteer members with the available time and resources to maintain the historical levels of
support and energy is ending.
The Pacific Swimming Board needs to transition to an efficient, professionally managed
organization where the volunteers time can be focused on the well being and future
direction of the sport in our local jurisdiction. The daily administrative tasks of the
organization need to be completed in the background in a sustainable manner.
Fundamentally, the Pacific Swimming BOD has been extremely effective in performing its
historical and well tuned responsibilities of conducting age group programs (camps, trips and
time standard management), enhancing a senior program (travel assistance and upgrading
senior meet formats), recruiting and training volunteers (officials and administrative
support – sanctions, times, scheduling, others) and delegating the meet planning and
administrating workload with effective local zone management.
However, the BOD is trapped in the here and now and often in the past entitlement
mentality. Current local volunteers are reticent to step forward to the LSC level due to real
or perceived obstacles and/or opposition to change demonstrated by the current members.
The next and future boards need to revisit its roles, responsibilities, members and
functionality. The programs and strategies in place and what is needed for the next 2, 4, 10
or 20 years need to be visited. There are critical issues including but not limited to sourcing
volunteers, providing opportunities for a changed athlete demographic population, obtaining
ample space for training and competition and upgraded competitive venues, and funding the
strategies long term and more.
I am seeking a term on the BOD as an At-Large Member for the following goals:
1. Provide support to one of the three organizational pillars of the organization as
per the chart of activity passed by the BOD last October.
2. Assist in the upgrading of the Bylaws, policies and procedures and rules and
regulations so they support a modern and efficient volunteer organization.
3. Identify, recruit and include a broadened base of volunteers to serve at the
zone and LSC levels of the organization.
4. Provide continuity advisement to the financial management of the LSC and
participate in the establishment of the Pacific Swimming Foundation to operate
in conjunction with the purpose of the LSC organization.
Goals numbered 2, 3 and 4 require the sourcing of outside resources and consultants. One
could expect that the HOD and BOD authorize spending upwards of $50,000 in order to
obtain competency in the areas of bylaws management and the recruiting, training and
retention of a modern volunteer base as well as in the establishment of a legal foundation.
If the BOD and HOD membership is satisfied with the current mode of operation, please
select another candidate for the At-Large Member.
Actually, I would recommend you vote first for any new to the At-Large Nominee List then
consider the previously or currently serving names on the list. I prefer your support to
elect an outreaching board that will take the time to examine itself and prepare for another
30 and more years.
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Vogelgesang