Executive Board meeting - day 2

Good morning! The board had an early wake up call and the board meeting started at 7:30am. The focus of this meeting is sharing information between board members and several members presented reports - Lorna Strong (District Secretary) and Doin Dahlke (Arkansas Representative). Mike Pace deferred the Texas report until Saturday after the TSATA meeting.

The board will be taking a break to attend the golf tournament around 10:30 this morning.

Executive board meeting - day 1

The SWATA Executive Board started the SWATA meeting today and went to lunch over at the NATA office. Each district provides lunch for the NATA office staff once a year and SWATA traditionally buys lunch in July. Board members already in the area for SWATA are invited to attend this lunch and socialize with the NATA staff. NATA Executive Director, Eve Becker-Doyle started the lunch off with introductions and a brief overview of each staff members duties. SWATA President, Mike Carroll spoke for the SWATA board and thanked the NATA staff for all thier hard work throughout the year for NATA and SWATA. The staff is invaluable to our mission and are the face of the NATA. THANKS to everyone at the NATA office from the SWATA executive board.

The Finance Committee had the first official SWATA meeting starting at 2pm and lasting until 5pm. There was lively discussion regarding the finances in these difficult times, but a balanced budget was presented at the end of the meeting. The committee members work diligently to protect our money for the organization and are working for the best interests of the SWATA and it's members. Committee members include: Jeff Bass, David Traylor, Chris Hall, Dan O'Connor, Lorna Strong, TC Shelton, and Sam Coward. This committee works closely with Joan Hodges of the accounting firm, McIntyre, Zeigler & Hodges. This firm has worked with SWATA for many years and a SWATA scholarship is named after J. Brooks McIntyre, a founding partner of the firm.

The first full executive board meeting was called to order at 7pm by Mike Carroll. The entire board was in attendance and Ken Cole also attended to listen to the discussion before joining the board on Saturday as Arkansas Representative. Welcome Ken! The first order of businees was to approve the minutes of the Mid-Winter board meeting from February in El Paso. The remainder of the meeting focused on the finance committee report with Joan Hodges presenting the finances for the first 9 months of the current budget year and the projected budget for next year.

Tomorrow the board meetings starts bright and early at 7am in the Wimbledon room. The board will take a break to attend the golf tournament in the late morning and return to the meeting at 12:30. The golf tournament is being held at the Chester W. Ditto golf course in Arlington. Check in begins at 9am with Al Wilson and his family members taking care of the organization of the tournament. Al and Andy Wilson always have a great tournament and everyone has a good time.

Attention Committee Chairs - the chairs meeting is tomorrow at 4pm at the Arlington Convention Center, Room M1.

Pre-registration packet pickup reception in the Exhibit Hall, Arlington Convention Center from 5-7pm.

Mitzi Laughlin
SWATA Incoming Vice President

Summer 2010 Executive Board meeting

Welcome to the SWATA Executive Board blog for the summer 2010 meeting. This blog will be updated a couple times a day throughout the SWATA meeting to give some details about the workings of the board. If you are interested in a leadership position, this is a good place to start learning about your organization and to get involved.

First off, the SWATA Executive Board consists of 7 voting members and 4 non-voting members.

Voting positions:

• President – Mike Carroll
• Vice President – David Traylor
• Second Vice President – Chris Hall
• Past President – Dan O'Connor
• National Director – Brian Conway
• Arkansas Representative – Doin Dahlke
• Texas Representative – Mike Pace

Non-voting positions:

• District Secretary – Lorna Strong (position will transfer to a voting position in 2011)
• District Treasurer – Jeff Bass
• Recording Secretary – Loree McCary
• Parliamentarian – Natalie Steadman

Each board member has specific duties, but as a whole the board is responsible to the membership to:

• Promote and safeguard the Purpose of the SWATA.
• Provide proper financial oversight. Approve the annual budget. Ensure that proper financial controls are in place. The board is ultimately responsible to the membership for the finances of the SWATA.
• Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability to the SWATA membership.
• Ensure effective organizational planning to effectively operate the SWATA.
• Determine, monitor and strengthen the organization's programs and member services.

SWATA President, Mike Carroll sent out the board notebook last week and everyone has been reviewing the board and committee reports. On first glance the notebook is huge, but it reflects the tremendous amount of work our committees accomplish. Due to time limitations, not every committee chair presents at the board meeting. Rather committee chairs submit a written report that details the work that has been accomplished by the committee for the year. This report is mainly informational for the board members but there is an "Action Items" section for any requests for board action, such as additional members from the volunteer list, budget requests, etc.

If you want to see an executive board meeting in person, come on by because all meetings are open to the public. The meeting times for the board are Tuesday evening 7 pm - 8:30 pm, Wednesday all day beginning at 7:30 am, and Saturday afternoon at 1 pm. This is in addition to the SWATA board meeting that will conclude this year's symposium which will be held Saturday morning. All EB meetings (except Saturday morning's meeting in the lecture hall) will be held in the Wimbledon room at the Arlington Sheraton.

See you in Arlington!

Mitzi Laughlin

SWATA incoming Vice President

It is SWATA Week!

Ladies and gentlemen I have happy to say that it is finally SWATA week! The 56th Annual SWATA Meeting and Clinical Symposium is upon us and all roads lead to Arlington, Texas.

Program chair Tina Bonci has put together a remarkable program and if you haven't already registered make plans to attend because you won't want to miss it. She has secured nationally renowned speakers who are experts on a variety of subjects. For a look at the program and speaker list you can visit the SWATA Program here.

Your executive board will also be meeting during the week as well. All executive board meetings are open to the public. The meeting times for the EB are Tuesday evening 7 pm - 8:30 pm, Wednesday all day beginning at 7:30 am, and Saturday afternoon at 1 pm. This is in addition to the SWATA EB meeting that will conclude this year's symposium which will be held Saturday morning. All EB meetings (except Saturday morning's meeting in the lecture hall) will be held in the Wimbledon room at the Arlington Sheraton.

The SWATA golf tournament will tee off at 11 am on Wednesday at the Ditto Golf Club in Arlington. Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm will be the committee chairs meeting. At 5 pm all pre registered attendees are invited to a special packet pick up reception in the exhibit hall. All exhibitors will be there. We will pay our respects to longtime SWATA friend Frank Freeman as Cramer has sponsored this special night. Finally on Wednesday all SWATA committees will meet.

The educational portion of the annual meeting begins Thursday morning at 8 am. If you haven't registered yet don't worry we have streamlined the registration process and you should be able to register in no time at all. Please make time to attend the SWATA Town Hall meeting on Thursday afternoon so that you the member can ask questions to your SWATA leadership about all things SWATA. Thursday night our welcome reception is at the Ballpark as the first place Rangers take on the Angels.

Friday is a special day for the association. We have changed the honors and awards banquet to a luncheon. Please come and honor your fellow athletic trainers who are being recognized for their sacrifices to the profession. Melinda Terry and Dr. Frank Walters will be inducted as the newest hall of fame members. After the luncheon all members are in for a special treat as NATA Hall of Fame member Dr. David Perrin is the keynote address. Dr. Perrin has given much to the profession. He is currently the provost of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Friday night is set aside for alumni gatherings and fellowship time with your friends that you may only get to see once a year.

Finally on Saturday in addition to the educational sessions there is also the NATA forum, a special video put together by the SWATA EDAC commemerating the 10th anniversary of the John Harvey Award and the SWATA Business meeting.

I look forward to seeing each of you in Arlington!

Mike Carroll
SWATA President

SWATA 2010

Well, we are one week away from the 56th Annual SWATA Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposium. We will be in Arlington once again, and judging from our pre-registration numbers, it may turn out to be one of our biggest meetings ever. What are those numbers? We had 810 people pre-register, including an amazing 111 students. We had 400 people say they were going to join us for our Honors and Awards Luncheon on Friday and it looks like we will have close to 675 rowdy athletic trainers as the 1st place Texas Rangers take on the Halos on Thursday evening. I am excited about the registration numbers, but I am even more excited about the opportunities for learning and socializing in Arlington next week.

Some highlights:

• Wednesday night will once again allow our members to attend a reception and have their first opportunity to see our exhibits. Those who have pre-registered will have the opportunity to pick up their packets and everyone will have an opportunity to kick off the weekend with a fun evening.

• Programming begins first thing Thursday morning and program chair Tina Bonci and her committee have put together a terrific program. Take a look at the program at http://www.swata.org/images/2010%20SWATA%20Ed%20Program.pdf and come prepared to learn something new.

• One of the sessions on Thursday afternoon is our annual Town Hall Meeting. This is a session where you will be able to get to know your Executive Board and ask any question that you may have about our organization. If you have a question that you would like answered but don’t want to ask it in public, please feel free to email those to me and we will make sure it gets covered: david.traylor@kellerisd.net.

• Thursday evening, the Young Professionals Committee is hosting a tailgate party for all members in the Convention Center parking lot. Stop by with your family on your way to the ballpark and grab some hot dogs and some cold drinks.

• Don’t forget to make plans to attend our Honors and Awards Luncheon on Friday afternoon – this is the first time we have held the banquet in the middle of the day, so it is a perfect opportunity to stop by if you never have before. Come help us honor all of our deserving award winners as well as this year Hall of Fame class of Melinda Terry and Frank Walters.

• The Honors and Awards Luncheon will be followed by this year’s Keynote Address from NATA Hall of Famer Dr. David Perrin.

• Friday evening has been left open for any alumni events that are being hosted. Enjoy the evening with your friends and re-connect with your old friends.

• Finally, Saturday will wrap up with the NATA Forum and Business meeting, adjourning around 12:30 pm allowing you to head back home or spend the rest of the afternoon with your family enjoying some of Arlington’s attractions.

As the summer winds down, many folks have a tradition of attending the SWATA Symposium. Backed by a terrific program and multiple opportunities to have some fun along the way, we hope that you make Arlington your destination of choice next week. Have a terrific weekend, travel safe and we look forward to seeing you next week!

DT
SWATA Vice President

2010 SWATA Student Senate!!!!

When I started attending SWATA as a high school student, the Student Association was an absolute beast (and when I say beast, it is in a good way!) Students were everywhere – they were engaged, attending meetings and utilizing that time to learn something new and develop skills that would assist them in their future careers. That impression will always stick with me and will always be a terrific memory when I think about attending the SWATA Annual Meeting. It also created a desire within me to get involved and serve this wonderful Association in any way I could. The recent vision of the Executive Board to return SWATA to that standing with our students has led to, in my opinion, the beginning of a wonderful tradition and component of our organization.

On Wednesday July 21st, from 7:00 – 9:00 pm, the inaugural SWATA Student Senate will call to order their first meeting. The Student Senate was created to involve the students of District 6 in the development, planning and execution of the student programming at SWATA as well as attending to student business throughout the year. Kelley Henderson, the SWATA Student Leadership and Development Chair, was charged with creating this Senate, from the drafting of the by-laws, the application and selection process and the implementation of the program. Along with a task force of college students from all around District 6, Kelley took that vision and made it a reality. The Student Senate will meet at SWATA with their own policies and procedures, by-laws and officers. They will make decisions and plan events that will hopefully allow our athletic training students to creating their memories of SWATA and encourage them to develop an attitude of service within our profession. They have also put together a program for both college and high school students, which looks terrific.

I, along with the rest of the Executive Board, am very proud of all that this group has accomplished. I know that the precedents and traditions that they set in two weeks will be part of this organization for years to come and I cannot wait to see what comes next. Along with Kelley, our Senate is comprised of:

Brad Endres, UT (Chair)
Beth Boyington, UT (Vice Chair)
Aaren Gignac, UTA (Secretary)
Zankhana Patel, ASU (Treasurer)
Kristin Saunders, TCU
Dominic Maneen, UT
Jeanenne Williams, UTA
Cassie Wheeler, OBU (Arkansas Rep)
Louis Duran, TCU (NATSC Rep)

If you see these representatives of the Senate, please take a moment to congratulate them on their selection and thank them for being trailblazers to this wonderful program.

I hope that everyone is having a terrific summer and I look forward to seeing you in Arlington in a few weeks!

DT