Northern
Division USSA Spring Meeting
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Wingate Inn, Helena, MT
Call to
Order:
9:00 a.m.
Welcome/Identification
of Members present: Roger
Bay, Ted McNamara, Betsy French, Bruce & Susan Krueger, John Hines, Jeremy
Ueland, Craig Krueger, Rick Duncan, Ulrich & Sherri Hale, Mike Kelly,Chris
Smith, Jerry Wolf, Rick Jacobs, Richard Kramer, Steve Erickson, Dave Hedstrom,
Jarod Roberts, Ted McNamara, Gina Gassman (athlete representative)
Minutes
from the Winter meeting are approved. Old Business:
- President’
s Season Report: Craig Krueger’s 2007-2008 season
summary is posted on the ND website.
- Program Status:
- Casper:
Good
growth, proactive board
- Bridger:
Older athletes
graduated, lots of talent coming up, good staff, active board, kudos to all
volunteers at the NCAA championships
- Showdown: Good growth at
the younger ages
- Great
Divide: New club
president, mostly younger ages, strong board
- Big
Sky: Athletes in all age
groups, staffing stable, talking of combining some aspects of the
training programs with Bridger.
- Missoula: Good numbers in the
younger ages, expanding staff, mountain supportive
- Silver Run:
In some transition,Ted
McNamara moving to Schweitzer.
- Discovery:
More
athletes moving up than in past years.
- Whitefish Mtn: 07-08 saw a new
head coach, new mountain management. Good season, FVSEF
planning the layout for a new middle
school/high school academy program
- Rocky Mountain College: Good point profiles, Jerry worked hard to
get our J1-J3’s in their USCSA race.
- ACC
overview –Roger Bay
- Policy
and rules updates –USSA
Congress
- WEST Team and camp reports up to date at regional
and NDS levels
- West moved more athletes
onto
the WR team. WR won the Regions cup
at U.S. Nationals and at J2
nationals. 54% of athletes nominated to the US ski
team were from the West.
- WR athlete tracking program -- Physical
Assessments. Emphasis
on J3 level and older. WR wants to see improvement. Stan
dard procedures according to USSA coaches
training CD. Jenn Stielow has the historical data, and all new data needs to be
turned in to her.
- An idea was proposed for a new event at our YSL
Championship: SL, GS, then Super Kombi (Kinder Combi)
which is SG,
GS, SL all in one run.
- Divisional
Wax will remain with Pete Collins. Order placed in the
fall.
- Calendar Draft/Issues/Discussion. Preliminary calendar posted on
website.
- J4s Still sent to
Whistler? This was an issue that was discussed at length at
the USSA congress. The WR representatives wanted to preserve
this venue for them.
- The ACC recommends that all
YSL SL qualifiers use Hero gates. Cross-blocking throws the younger
kids off balance. This will be form
ally proposed and voted on at the fall meeting.
Clubs should discuss this in the meantime. Advant
ages are: No hinge,shorter
(48-60”), more flexible shaft.
- ND vehicle
reimbursement meets IRS standard of reimbursement;
$.48-.52/mile.
- Officials’
Chair Report – Mike Kelly
- From
the USSA Congress: Members
can now register online. This
will speed up some of the late registrations. Fees
same as last year. FIS late fees dropped from $180 to $150. New
ICR rule
book this fall. Team Capt
ains meetings still required, minutes must be documented and
signed by the TD. Any race-day rule changes must be documented during
the Team Captains meeting.
- Officials Clinic at Big
Sky!. Proposed
dates of December 11-14th.
Discounted lodging at Huntley lodge, hopefully. Level
100 & 200 coaches clinics. Coaches
level 100/$160, level
200/$180, both for $200. 4
days, in class and on-snow. Reminder that next
season the Course setters must
be licensed officials. Athlete clinic also
-- 2 day. Saturday
indoor, Sunday a mock race with officials, coaches and athletes and
timing. ***By 7/15; all
clubs please send an estimate of #’s to attend this
J2-3-4 clinic, and a coaches clinic. Also
at this time, there will be a
- USSA/FIS
course homologations can be scheduled
through Mike Kelly. They
will be available to visit most of our membership areas. $150/event
USSA, $250/event/run FIS. $500 for both, this lasts
10 years for Technical events,
5 years for speed events.
- Northern
Division Manager – Sherri Hale - Fina
ncial Overview
- Started
year with a $6300 liability for the previous
manager’s salary, we have caught up to only a 3K deficit. Nort
hern Division Youth
membership has increased from $15 to
$20 for 08-09.
- Membership Renewal is available on-line
- JO Coats will be ordered for the J3
& J4 athletes and coaches. Athletes at the WR Championship
will also get coats; but coaches may not.
- ND Awards
- Travel
Issues:
- Season
report to date –(invoicing & reconciliation)
- Race attendance confirmation process/cancellation and travel
policies – need to be concrete and spelled out in the ND Handbook
- FVSEF/WMR
FVSEF is developing
an alternative snow training/educational opportunity
for athletes. 4-day program for 7-8th
graders. High school program would include Early
Release, 12:00,
then 1-6 pm training 2 weekdays plus
weekends. Attempting a High
School program; 5-day Wed-Sun. 2nd
and 3rd quarters
out of school. Alternatively,
stay in school and train in the afternoon. Maintain B average to qualify. Contact Richard Kramer ,406-862-8916, for more
information.
- Tentative Schedule for ND Fall Meeting, currently
the 20th of September.
New
Business:
- Northern
Division Re-Alignment Mike Kelly proposed
for discussion.
- YSL one run racing proposal
- Sponsor for Qualifying Series/Divisional Races
- ND board members: Ulrich Hale
is stepping aside as ND Vice president.
Rick Duncan is nominated by Craig Krueger, Susan
Krueger 2nds.
Approved.
Nomination for treasurer: Clubs encouraged to
recruit any interested parents.
- Thank you to Betty
Anne Shores for her expertise
and many hours of work on our website
- The families, athletes and membership of the Northern
Division extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Scott Foster for
donating his expertise, equipment and wax
to the Northern Division participants at the
J3/J4 Junior Olympics for each of
the last two years.
Meeting
adjourned at 12:10 pm Minutes
taken by Susan Krueger |
