9/25/04 PNSA Nordic Competitive Committee Meeting
Recap of old business
The race schedule is
different than the one discussed at the May meeting
Discussion over what is to
be done with surplus JO money (surplus = $3669)
Options discussed were to
split money and refund each skier a certain amount or to use the money to help
faltering ski programs get off the ground
Mentioned that the refund
will go to each ski club and they will decide whether to give it to skiers or
use it for other expenses
Someone noted that
challenge could be passed on to PNSA in terms of helping the other ski programs,
such as Snoqualmie Pass and Spokane
Committee decided to
unanimously accept May’s decision to pass on the money as refunds to clubs and
skiers (thus no motion was needed)
Race calendar revision
1/8-9
Bend JOQ
1/22-23
Soldier Hollow JOQ (different region)
1/29-30
Leavenworth JOQ
2/12-13
Methow JOQ
2/19-20
Sun Valley JOQ (different region)
Bend JOQ – it will also
be an Oregon high school meet and so has to meet the distance qualifications for
that
Saturday – 5k skate mass
start in waves (based upon age group and gender)
Sunday – classic race
with individual starts; 10k for everyone except J2’s, which do a 5k
HS competitors could also
get PNSA points in case they may be interested in trying for JO
Leavenworth JOQ – will
also be the J3 Championship
Saturday – skate 15k (3
laps of 5k) for OJ and J1 boys; 5k (1 lap) for everyone else
Sunday – classic 10k (2
laps) for OJ and J1 boys; 5k (1 lap) for everyone else
Methow JOQ
Saturday – sprint race
– classic (unless the JO’s sprint is skate, then it will be skate)
Sunday – skate race
(unless the sprint day is switched to skate, then this will be classic); 15k for
OJ and J1 boys; 10k for OJ and J1 girls; 5k for all J2’s
Other race information
Need to make sure that all
JOQ’s are listed on the PNSA website – TJ has the information to pass on to
Ingrid
Discussion about tabulating
USSA points from races
Recommended that one submit
the times of the top 5 racers for each event, no matter whether those top 5 are
USSA members or not; all other non-USSA
members can be deleted when tabulating points for USSA to save the cost per head
Reminder that skiers still
need to qualify in 5-6 JOQ’s to guarantee a spot for JO
Budget
Last year’s training
budget of $3500 was spent at the two summer training camps
This years budget is $4000
$300 will be spent for the
3 clubs ($100 per club) to become USSA members in order to host the JOQ’s
$1000 will be spent on
fluorinated waxes
Discussion of whether money
from the budget will cover PNSA ski suits, bought in advance and later paid back
by skiers
Motion was made to have
money for suits to come out of the JO surplus fund rather than the budget
$500 for coaches’ travel
$2200 for the summer
training camps
Summer training camps
This year there were 2
camps but it would be good to have one more (perhaps in Leavenworth next summer)
– the focus is on development, particularly of younger skiers
At Trout Lake there were 31
skiers, primarily roller skiing
At Mount Hood there were 11
skiers, on-snow training
JO lodging 2005
There will be 3 houses in
Truckee, CA for the skiers and coaches – they’re about a 15 minute drive
from the Auburn Ski Club, where the races are held
The PNSA contingent will
drive down together, caravan style
JO account budget for 2005
is $3500
The idea of hiring 1-2
cooks was discussed; assuming a pay
rate of $100-150 per day (for one cook or split among two) plus lodging and
transportation – no final decision was made
Coach selection for JO
2005
We’ll probably have 6
coaches go to JO this year, including Flash, Ben, Brenna, Scott and TJ, with the
sixth coach undetermined at this point
We want a ratio of 2
coaches per house or 1 coach per 5 skiers
Other JO information
Flash volunteered to be in
charge of tabulating PNSA points for all of the JOQ’s
Flash wrote a draft letter
that was passed around the committee
The letter was addressed to
parents of qualified skiers, inviting them to the JO, with some general
guidelines stated therein in reference to schedules and free time
This letter will go in the
packet given to skiers that qualify
There will also be a 2nd
letter addressed to the skiers discussing their rules of conduct
With minor changes to
Flash’s letter, it was approved by the committee
Discussion about the issue
of one parent taking multiple skiers out and how PNSA’s insurance does not
cover the liability for that – no resolution, needs further discussion
Qualification for JO is at
the 3 JOQ’s but if a skier doesn’t qualify at those races, he/she can
petition using another outside race such as Sun Valley or Soldier Hollow
Nobody on the committee
could think of a skier last year that was held back from JO’s because he/she
only had 4/6 qualifying races due to the structure of only 3 JOQ’s
Some discussion of problems
at last year’s JO but this year the skiers will be in houses rather than a
hotel so easier to chaperone and the skiers will remember the fall-out from last
year’s alcohol issue and hopefully won’t have a problem
Coaches should also be
reasonable with alcohol consumption by not drinking in front of the skiers
Other ski clubs in the
region
Unanimous belief that the
active clubs should contact and assist the clubs that need help, while we also
ask PNSA to help too, possibly with grants
In Spokane, potential
contacts include Jim Bauer, who works with Selkirk Nordic and Jared (last name?)
who is a Nordic skier contact with SARS, an alpine racing program and also Cari
Moore, who is a Nordic racer with children who may race also
In Snoqualmie Pass, the
main contact is Marla Husnik, who teaches several skiers of about J2 age and
brought some of them to the Leavenworth JOQ last year; other contacts include
several of the Kongsberger members who have young children, including Jeff
Hashimoto, Marci Ostrom, Peter Spiegel and David Lindhahl
Need to have parents of
potential J3’s involved and invite them to be guest coaches at JO or a similar
event
The committee discussed a
checklist for the ski clubs to try to accomplish:
Focus attention of making
contact with skiers in 6th-8th grades
Have a set number of
training days with a set calendar – approximately 6-8 sessions that have one
fee which covers rentals and instruction
Figure out what families
and children could be involved
For example, in Snoqualmie
Pass, pool from the Nordic lesson program, Kongsberger Ski Club, Seattle Nordic
listserv, etc.
Try to get cooperative
effort from the ski area (donation of rentals) and coordinate carpools through
parents or existing groups (such as Kongsberger)
Attendance to the
Leavenworth JOQ and J3 Championship is recommended
Grant request to PNSA
and PNSEF for other area ski clubs
We discussed asking PNSEF
for $1500, $500 for each of 3 clubs, Snoqualmie Pass, Spokane and La Grande
We also want PNSA verbal or
written support for when we contact the clubs
The committee came up with
a list of recommendations, shown to PNSA, in order to rekindle the racing
programs at each of these areas
7 sessions of coaching and
instruction, including some over the December holiday break
Continuity of leadership at
those sessions and through the season
Focus on skiers of age
11-13 recommended (though any age is great) – if they are mostly the same age,
they can achieve some social cohesion
Club should have local
ownership and preferably be associated with already existing legitimate club
A progress report would be
expected by the end of the season
Participation in one PNSA
event is recommended
The Nordic Competitive
Committee would be available for mentorship
The grant money would
supplement the coaching program to be spent at the coaches’ discretion and the
coaches could solicit a separate fee from the parents
The motion was made and
passed to petition PNSA and PNSEF for the above grant money for the development
of Nordic racing programs at areas with small clubs because this committee is
concerned about the future growth of Nordic ski racing
Post-script
TJ went to the PNSA board
meeting and the PNSEF meeting and presented our above request
TJ was told that the clubs
need to apply for the grants themselves, following the already in-place
application process