Outrage: USSA Drops Alpine Events from Lake Placid World Cup

[Sinecure]

Perhaps this belongs in the Racing section, but I think it is important to our whole community:

The alpine snowboard community needs to rally some letters to Annette Royle (aroyle@ussa.org) the VP of events at USSA.

USSA has made the decision to not have PGS at the World Cup in Lake Placid.

What exactly does this mean? Well for starters it makes the "Race to the Cup" name of our national tour not mean anything because there isn't a cup to race for. Second of all, the US World Cup is the premier alpine event for most riders. It is an essential part of developing young riders and giving them an opportunity to start in a World Cup because of the extra starting spots we would have as a host country (each country gets a limited number of start spots in each WC event – the host country gets extra spots, plus provides the forerunners). Most importantly though, it's part of a message that the USSA has been sending us as a community that we aren't a viable, valued part of the organization.

Let me remind you all that alpine has been eliminated from the Grand Prix and most likely won't be added back in.

So shy should you care? This official snub of our sport just adds one more challenge to the world of Alpine Snowboarding. If we don’t do something, we are complicit in the marginalization of the sport we love. I urge you to write a letter to the organization. Tell them who you are and explain to them your frustration, the importance of the World Cup to you, your riders/kids etc. I encourage you to be professional and cc the following people: Eric Webster ewebster@ussa.org, Jeremy Forster jforster@ussa.org, Bill Marolt bmarolt@ussa.org, Peter Foley pfoley@ussa.org

I'm afraid to say that my belief is that if we don't start to speak up now, in a productive and constructive manner, it may be too late. I know many of you are training, busy, retired, etc but all of our voices need to be heard.

I hope you write...

In the interest of full disclosure, the above info was lifted wholesale from a letter I received from Lisa Kosglow. If you aren’t aware, Lisa is a long time US World Cup athlete and two-time Olympian. I made only minor changes to her note. Now for my own original content:

Perhaps a sample letter:

Dear USSA,

As a longtime supporter of both the US Ski and Snowboard teams, I was outraged to hear that USSA has decided to drop PGS from the upcoming World Cup at Lake Placid. Alpine riders have become accustomed to being second-class citizens in USSA’s eyes, but this goes beyond just poor treatment. Perhaps we should have expected this. Leading up to the Olympics you clearly demonstrated that snowboarders in general, and Alpine riders in particular – will not receive the attention, funding or support that even the lower tier Alpine Skiers receive. Even when snowboarders brought home the majority of the US medals, Mr. Marolt made it clear in his interview on your site that it was the skiing medals that mattered.

This decision handicaps every Alpine rider with aspirations to compete on the world stage. With limited opportunity to compete with world-class athletes, our riders have little chance to develop and improve. Since they are shortchanged in funding for travel and expenses to overseas events, a domestic WC event would have afforded many racers the opportunity to show off their skills and hopefully gain some valuable outside sponsorship. Apparently you would rather forfeit the extra start spots and exposure we’d get domestically in the name of…what? Where is the logic in this?

We all recognize that Alpine riders constitute a small minority of the snowboarding world. But does that mean you should endeavor to kill the sport completely? I know that’s not your stated objective, but that’s the impression we get from your actions. You have already abdicated any responsibility for any real development program to the USASA. What’s next?

Please let me know when I should reconsider supporting the USSA. For the time being, I’ll just send my support directly to the athletes.

Sincerely,

_________________

I’m not suggesting you all use my letter. Write your own and convey your feelings. I tried to be polite and not too sarcastic, but it is hard to contain my disgust. Who knows if we’ll prevail, but if we do nothing, our athletes are screwed.

Again, here are the contacts:

Annette Royle aroyle@ussa.org USSA VP Events

Eric Webster ewebster@ussa.org Grand Prix Tour Director

Jeremy Forster jforster@ussa.org USSA Snowboard Program Director

Bill Marolt bmarolt@ussa.org President/CEO USSA

Peter Foley pfoley@ussa.org Head Coach - US Snowboarding

[carverchick]

Well I just completed my letter and sent it out to USSA. It behooves us not to stand up and say something about the sport we love. I hope that they take the time to read each and every letter they receive and take into consideration how much this means to us.

I would rather see us as a group receive recognition for the alpine community rather than fade into existence. It's bad enough when you talk to some freestyle riders, and express your love for alpine riding they look at you and go WHY?

[Guest Tim Tuthill]

After the olympics, I thought the board was going to be replaced because of all the problems they had?

[carverchick]

apparently they haven't as of yet, because now we are facing this issue. :|

[Guest Tim Tuthill]

As I remember, there were some very sharp words about Marolt and how he ran the team. He and his brother were outstanding skiers. Oh well, politics! Too Bad.

[LeeW]

Done. I hope you other alpine racers will do the same.

Also, I'd suggest a copy of this post in Racing forum, too.

[sfleck]

Between this, and all the talk within USASA that BX is a "freestyle" event. What's wrong with people these days?

[ncermak]

Nice Beaver...

make 'em into stickers...Enlist Fin as sales outlet and financial backer...

[Guest Tim Tuthill]

Your Bad!!!

[fin]

Yea, love that sticker idea! :D

[Kent]

Nice sticker!

Folks...this is a long time coming. It shouldn't be a suprise to the few dozen folks who race WC.

I will take issue with Lisa's note....WC is not a means to develop riders. That is why there's an age minimum.

The general problem with FIS/USSA is that USSA has not adopted any type of feeder programs. There is plenty of evidence on the skiing side...but only crickets chirping on the snowboard side.

FIS/USSA is simply waiting for snowboarding to go away. Bless the folks at USSA who work on the snowboard programs b/c they are working with a skeleton crew and a handful of money.

Kent

[Rob Stevens]

Unlike mountain biking, there's no rule that says a venue has to host all disciplines during one stop on the tour.

I've been to events where 2 pgs's were run on back-to-back days because one had been cancelled at the prior event. I've seen the same with sbx and hp, with no other events held.

Was Lake Placid asked to hold an alpine event? If they were and they said no, then your governing body is lame. If the schedule didn't call for another race, then they were probably never asked.

It seems to me that the FIS would be smart to hold the racing where they're going to get a crown and a good vibe (Europe, Quebec). The same goes for hp and sbx (anywhere). As for sbx being a fs event, they could really screw the RACERS by throwing a bit of judging at it (Yeah, she was fast, but I didn't like her style off that last step-down, so I'm putting her back to 2nd).

Meanwhile, back in the instructing world, CASI is thinking about creating two streams for it's level 4 course. One where you can qualify as a freeride / freestyle rider and the other would get you into the program via freeride / freecarve. The plan is to continue supporting and recognizing hardboot alpine as a valid part of the sport. The core of the course would still be freeriding skills, but you'd get there by choosing either higher end carving or stunting.

[skatha]

I gotta agree with Kent on this one....

The USSA doesn't have to worry about putting a contest together for the freestyle events, the manufacturers do that for them....The Olympics were just another Burton US Open, as far as I could see, with the exception of the

alpine events

Plus, despite the growing popularity of riding, it's still the "impure" sport. We shouldn't have to depend on skiiers to throw us a bone or two

To me, it'll have to be like junior level competition ice-skating...parent driven...

Once amateur clubs and parents organize enough meets on their own, then snowboarding MAY get their own governing body. But I think it's going to have to be a "ground level and up" construction.

I know some of this already may be in place....what's the likelihood of an independent snowboarding organization coming into being?

I've had enough conversations with a sports agent who's worked with freestyle pros to know USSA and FIS is not loved on the other side, either

[LeeW]

I've had enough conversations with a sports agent who's worked with freestyle pros to know USSA and FIS is not loved on the other side, either

Oh my. Its giving me flashback of FIS versus IFS during the pre-Nagano frenzy of snowboard being on the Olympics.

[scottishboardracer]

Much as I would love to see more alpine events there are an equal number of alpine and pipe events on next years calendar so this may have nothing to do with USSA but may just be the schedule from FIS???

[Gecko]

.what's the likelihood of an independent snowboarding organization coming into being?

Terje has done this with the freestyle scene I think his "tour" has 8 events one of which is "The Arctic Challenge" but I doubt that enough of the alpine riders will back out of the FIS run series to make something of this nature work

[bobdea]

terje to have gates at the challenge

[philfell]

Nice sticker!

I will take issue with Lisa's note....WC is not a means to develop riders. That is why there's an age minimum.

Kent

Kent I have to disagree with you entirely on this point. The Domestic World Cup is HUGE for our athlete developement. Athlete developement isn't just developing kids from age 12 and getting them ready to race low level FIS events. It's also developing Nor-Am riders and turning them into Olympians.

This is why having a World Cup in the US is so important in Developement. Becasue the host country get an extra SIX quota spots per gender, per disipline. This means SIX extra guys and SIX extra girls get to race at the highest level in the world in thier home country. This is huge. Take for example Zac Kay. Zac won the Nor-Am this year. This means that next year he has a World Cup spot. It's his spot, no one else can use it and he can't loose it. It will be Zac's first year on the World Cup. Because we have hosted a World Cup the last few year Zac has some World Cup startes under his belt, this will give him a head start in experience compared to if we didn't have the Lake Placid World Cup for him to gain some experience the last few years. Also it gives a good stepping stone and an intermediate goal for riders at a high level, but still one step behind the U.S. Team. They can go, well I don't have a full World Cup spot, but lets see if I can qualify for a start in Placid. This is huge for motivation for continuing with their athletic career. Do you think that it is any surprise that Tyler had his best finish at Lake Placid last season? No. It was finally a chance to race in an arena where he had a home feild advantage. He didn't have to adjust to a time change, deal with weird Euro food, langauge differances, ect. All these things make it hard to perform. For that one race of the season the Euros had to deal with what we have to deal with all year (except they all learn English in school, and we could care less about teaching foreign langauge, but that's a different argument). That race was the first time Tyler advanced into the second round. This will help him develope the confidence in himself to make that level of riding normal and hopefully take him to the podium.

This is all rider development, and it is very important, especially looking forward to the next Olympics. By taking away the World Cup you are putting our riders who will be in their prime going into Whistler at a disavantage in their World Cup development.

[philfell]

It was USSA's decision to take PGS out of the Lake Placid World Cup. FIS does NOT ask resorts to host events. To hold a World Cup a resort AND the National Governing Body has to turn in a bid to FIS and then the FIS can either accept or deny the offer. What is strange about the Lake Placid deal is that originally they were scheduled to have a PGS, and it was up on the World Cup calendar as such, then it was later dropped and replaced with a different venue. This was a decision that USSA made.

As far as riders forming their own organization. Well it would be nice, but it isn't as simple as it sounds. The big thing keeping athetes going at the upper levels of our sport is the Olympics and FIS has the control over the snowboard side of the Olympics. So if there was another tour there would be no elite riders interested without the ability to go to the Olympics. Unless the new tour had enough money that riders could make a career off of it.

[Rob Stevens]

Alpine may not be the most popular branch of snowboarding there is, but doesn't the governing body have a responsibilty to encourage participation and development of athletes in events at all levels?

You would think that this would be their mission and mandate.

The ISF folded all those years ago because they were no longer the pinnacle of competition in the snowboard world due to the fact that the FIS had a lock on the Olympics.

Given that and what Phil additionally said about the event being dropped from the Lake placid schedule, it would seem to me that jr. development or Nor-Am, coaches and athletes need to STAND UP!

You're not going to get your own tour back (unless you want to race the "Y" in the Jeep KOM), there's no Olympics or real $ at the end of that road. You can have a great feeder system of junior clubs and events and a killer Nor-Am series, but without the "prize", you're going to see alot of people drop out.

I guess everyone should refer back to the letter off the top of this thread and complain LOUDLY to the USSA. They should, as the governing body for your sport be almost legally bound by their mission statement (if they have one) to hold that event.

They really shouldn't have a choice.

[philfell]

Well the Jeep is no longer a viable option for Alpine either. No hardboots allowed next season. Which is a whole different story. It is essentially a TV commercial for Jeep, so they can do what they want which is fine.

Rob it's funny that you talk about USSA's mission. Well here it is:

USSA Vision:

The vision of the USSA is to make the United States of America the best in the world in Olympic skiing and snowboarding.

USSA Mission:

The mission of the USSA is to provide strong leadership that establishes and supports athletic excellence.

USSA Corporate Goals:

Athletic Excellence

Financial Success

Organizational Growth

Clear Corporate Image

USSA Corporate Goals

USSA Core Values:

Team

Loyalty

Integrity

Respect

Perseverance

Accountability

[Rob Stevens]

Those pesky mission statements sure do get in the way when you're trying to bury what you were supposed to be caring for.

But I probably have them figured all wrong...

[Kent]

the host country get an extra SIX quota spots per gender, per disipline.

Ah yes...I'm sure that is what she was referring to. Very good point.

Although, I don't consider 6 people much of a development program. My USSA funded JR Team several years back had a whopping ONE alpiner (Nik Batko). He didn't exactly take things very seriously.....

I shouldn't complain as I'm more a part of the problem then the solution at this point in my life. If it wasn't for you (Phil) and a handful of others, the sport would LITERALLY die.

So...I'll agree with anything you (Phil) say at this point to keep things going. But, if I were in any position of creating agendas, I'd move closer towards the ski model for junior development.....

[Guest dragon fly jones]

Kent and Phil,

I do agree with your points. I know that there have been several proposals floated over the years from the viable to the profane.

The NDS model used by the skiers works and there is a clear pipeline for the most part. What your dealing with is ski programs that have been around for 20/30/40 years and have the community backing to throw some weight around and fund these kids. On my side we run fundraisers year round, everything from trash pickups to rides to one day race against the pro's programs. They help, but it is an uphill battle to get kids where they need and want to be.

I believe that the coaches and riders see the value of Alpine, however making a clear and concise statement to USSA will be nessecary to open their eyes, we need to write it, edit it and then publish it to the community at large via news releases, letters to the editor and a certified letter to Marolt, Jeremy and the staff at USSA. Let them know the value we have the opportunities for success we bring to USSA to the public and to the stakeholders in US Alpine snowboarding. Time to take the fight to them if we don't fight for ourselves no one will fight for us and our riders.

[fin]

Well put Dragon Fly

I will offer this website as a channel to "voice" this message to USSA. What that would involve is someone who understands ALL the issues to write a VERY professional and informed article on the situation with some possible ways we can make this situation better.

What Bomber will do is put this on the front page and make it an article in the Files section. We could also include an e-mail link to the USSA for readers to click and send an e-mail voicing their support for alpine.

Any takers on such an article?