Minutes

October 28th, 2003

Minutes of the USSA Northern Division held in Helena, Montana October 11, 2003

Meeting called to order at 9:00 am in the conference room of Northern Energy Corp.

Present : JC Knaub, Marjorie Knaub, Jeff Pickering, Fritz Wood, Alrick Hale, Erica Wernsman, Lance Kidder, Tom Breen, Erik Hamilton, Caryn Jones, Craig Krueger, Jen Steilo, Jim Landers, Karyn Jones, Cole Greer, Joseph Maxwell, Art Maxwell, Rick Duncan, Richard Smith, Carole Kolarich, Rick Jacobs, Susan Krueger

Attendees reviewed the minutes of the Northern Division (ND) spring meeting and made the following correction: -only the top 6 winners (3 males, 3 females) of the J3 shootout are automatically selected to Junior Olympics.

Rick J. made a motion to accept the minutes with the above correction, Jeff P. seconded.
The spring meeting notes were passed.

Treasurers Report
JC will report in lieu of Don Lewis
Carole Kolrich has been paid, the ND will incur approx. $3,500 in expenses for her position for the past year.
Jeff Pickering will coordinate the group division purchase order for race wax.
ND and Junior Olympic (JO) coats totaled $3,690. This does not include charges for embroidery. ND pays for the Development Team (DT) coats, athletes pay for JO coats.
Approximately $3700
Each club needs to send their dues to Don Lewis. Carole will send out a reminder by email. This is an annual $100 per club.
Don Lewis, Treasurer, requests that a new treasurer for the ND step up and take a turn.
JC Knaub offered to share with the ND $11,000 worth B netting that was granted to the Big Sky team in June, 2003.

Western Region Report: Caryn Jones
Caryn reports that Western Region is still waiting for $8,000 in payments from last seasonon athletes who owe for past travel. If these athletes don't pay, they may be prevented from traveling with the WR team, but they are still allowed to compete on their own. This problem should be alleviated this coming season as athletes will have to pay ahead of time before a race.
Intent-to-compete forms for FIS, NorAm and out-or-division races go to Lester Kellerat US Skiing 1 month prior to the event.

This year the Doug Smith race at Big Mountain is a NorAm race. Western Region will send a minimum of 4 athletes, there will be some additional spots available. Therefore, there will be no Regional Downhill race, the DH will be the FIS J1-J2 race will be at Big Sky.

Equipment specifications. FIS requirements are different than USSA. Caryn suggests that for J1-J2 that these athletes meet specifications as well as FIS for Regional races. It will be near impossible to check and enforce these criteria for J3-J4 athletes.

Intent-to-compete forms for FIS out of region races are granted based on the latest USSA and FIS List produced, any Northern Division issues should be directed to Carole.
Jeff Kai is the Regional Manager. Caryn Jones is the ND liaison. ACC is Cole Greer.

ACC Report: Cole Greer, Lance Kidder

The 2003-04 Development Team for races will be named by November 6th. DT money will be used this year to defray Junior Olympic costs. The 2004-05 team will be named in the spring of 2004. Next year's DT money will be used for a June camp.

J4 Junior Olympic selection board.
Cole reviewed the ITS procedure for selection of J4 Junior Olympic ahtletes.
Caryn and Carole pointed out that although there are much fewer J4's selected, these boards should follow the same procedure as the J1-J3 boards. Historically this method has resulted in the selection of the best athletes.

The new ND Athletic Competition Committee (ACC) is: Cole Greer, Jeff Pickering, Fritz Wood, Jeremy Henrichon and Lance Kidder.
The Western Region ACC is: Cole Greer with Carole Kolarich as back-up

Here JC refers to the January meeting and spring meeting, Western region ACC alternates. Carole & Pick? JC could not hold the conference call that he had intended with Western Region USSA conference call. Notes forwarded to Carole.

ND Administrator Report: Carole Kolarich
ND Website updates:

Carole suggested that it would be easier for parents to manage their expenses and calendars if Western Region FIS races were posted on the website with cost estimates. There would have to be a disclaimer stating final costs are not known until after the race is over. Since the quota is known ahead of time, many of the fixed costs are already known.
Carole pointed out that all team contact information needs to be updated by each club.
The race schedule will be updated with today's changes.

Carole reminds all member clubs it is common courtesy to respond to all of her emails.
Parents are reminded payments for all Western Region races need to be sent to Don Lewis, not their home clubs. Local races have a 7 day deadline, Regional races 30 days with a percentage taken off for final changes in decision to attend. Decisions not to attend 7 day prior to race after initial committal will result in no refund. Medical issues and family medical will call for a full refund.

All athletes which still owe money for last season will be billed and called again by Carole.
The $200 deposit which accompanies the Intent to Compete form is not refundable.
There was general agreement that the administrator's position is still being defined, and appears to be expanding.

Northern Division (ND) is still $2,000 short from last season's fees, but payments are being made to these accounts. The previous problems of communication between athlete families, ND and Carole should be minimized this year as Caryn Jones will be giving all athlete contact information to Carole Kolarich. Caryn pointed out that she will give out all information by email, and it is up to each coach to inform athletes of this same information.
Please refer to the cancellation policyin the Western region and Northern Division Hanboks. Both are available on-line. Athletes must inform Carole in they are canceling. 
Payments for regional races are due30 days prior to the event.
If cancel 14 days prior, refunded at 50%.
If cancel 1-7 days prior, refunded at 0%.

Co-Vice President's Confirmation
Thank-you to Tom Breen and Wayne Cook. Tom feels that they could assimilate their duties more effectively if the VP' responsibilities were listed, as well as other board positions. JC pointed out that historically, the individual board member's talents and resources defined what responsibilities they were best qualified to assume.
One task from last season that remains incomplete is the naming of the Little Hollow Cup. Team Awards need to be calculated through the cooperative efforts of the VP's, the administrator, and the secretary. These parties will conference by phone on a weekly basis until it's done.

ND Handbook: Dan Elliot
Dan Elliot could not assemble a panel to review the changes. Lance Kidder will present the handbook for review at the end of the meeting.

Letter from the Hamilton's concerning the Bill Kinney award. Discussion followed concerning the different criteria for the Gold Cup award and the Bill Kinney cup. The only element which could be agreed upon was historically the criteria have been inconsistent. Discussion was tabled for a new criteria for next season. These criteria were reviewed with the new ND handbook (A committee was formed to establish new criteria for the Bill Kinney cup. The committee consists of: Erica Warnsman, Richard Smith, Jeff Pickering, Carole Kolarich and Jeremy Henrichon. JC would formulate a letter to send to the Hamilton family based on the ACC decision to hold to their discussion and judgement on the Bill Kenney Award choice.

Coaches Education; Craig Krueger
There are clinics at Mt Bachelor at the end of November and at Mt. Hood from the 3-5th of December. The local coaches education clinic has been moved from Big Sky to Silver Run Dec 13-14th. There will also be a clinic held at Snow King during the camp there from Dec. 4th-7th ND scholarship money is available for Level 1 certification (around $600 pe year). ASEP clinics and educational projects also can be used for this. Caryn reported there is no more money available from USSA for coaches education.
Club coaches may apply for scholarships.

TD Report; Jim Landers
Joe Maxwell will assign TD's as soon as the schedule is finalized.
Joe Maxwell explained the selection procedure for TD's. This takes into account how close TD's are to hills with races as long as they are not considered biased.

Club Reports
Big Sky, Silver Run, Big Mountain, Great Divide and Snowbowl are in good shape. Everyone else is in ‘transition'.

Jeff Pickering reminds us that the ND spring meeting will be at Big Mountain in conjunction with a ND banquet/fundraisers. Date TBA.

Leftover JO coats were distributed. Many were given out of volunteers, staff and local MT Administrators as P.R.

Calendar changes were discussed

Several people observed we should have a racing athlete present at the ND meetings.
Any athlete or currently competing coach/athlete would be welcome fill this position. Due to time constraints, we doubt if athletes could fit these meetings into their schedule. As an alternative, we could open a comment forum on the ND website to make sure we are aware of any athlete concerns. Eric Hamilton (Missoula) and Erica Weinsmann (Casper) were voluterered and accepted as coach/athlete liasons for 2003-2004.

The winter meeting will be in Missoula on January 31.

The regular meeting was adjourned. The Northern Division Handbook was reviewed and updated. Alhrick Hale noted all corrections and gave these notes to Carole for revision and to send on to Dan Elliott for assimilation for print and the web.

Carole Kolarich Ed.D.
Mountain Programs Manager
Moonlight Basin Ski Area
406.539.3743 (C)
406.993.6000 (O)