US team sucks.

[Bordy]

I havent been paying attention to all the forums and maybe some one already mentioned theat the Alpine US team downsized.

It's just Adam, Tyler, Justin, and Michelle...

These are the only funded alpine racers in the US. And even then they still pay in.

Most of my Friends on the US ski team Make awsome salerys. There are 10 year old on the developmental team that get free crap!

Perhaps you should E-mail or call and ask WHY?

I am tempted to make stickers that say the US Ski Team hates Snowboard Racers!!! ask me why....

If any one wants to make any donations please do so directly to the riders!!! Call the US team and tell them so. But don't give the US team your money they will just spend it on the ski team and the halfpipe kids.

at least the boarder cross team survied!

[ncermak]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the olympic team chosen based on world cup results? If the Team is so small, doesn't that pretty mean that the Olympics team is effectively already chosen, rather than qualified for?

This is BS, and I for one will take 10 stickers...

[Bordy]

The selection of what riders represent the US in the Olympics is based on WC ranking, points etc. into the games yes. But if you have to fund your own way as a athlete your looking at around 40,000 to compete for a year.

The Idea of a Team going to the olympics from the US is a Joke. Last games Only one man, Tyler was sent and two girls, Rosey and Michelle.

What a great team that is huh... One dude and two ladies...

Tyler even placed 9th and Rosey won the bronze. But still no more funding.

This year. The candain team is killing it cuz they have been funded.

Klug medaled in the 02 games. The US has had a Alpine athlete on the podium the last 2 games but the have pulled their funding of all but 4 athletes nation wide. This is unbeleavable!!!!! It could be the end of our sport if people don't take action!

Right now there are a bunch of fast guys and girls scrambling to keep there Olympic dream alive. With out any support from their home country, The US! Mean while some 10 year old skier wil never have to worry about money since the SKI team will fund their development for their entire career. So bogus.

Tyler Funded himself and trained out sided the US team before the 06 games. Then when the team decided to use the alpine slots to bring more halfpipe and boardercross folk. He went as the only man and still did well.

This is the support the US gives... NONE!

Please write or call and let them know how weak this is!

[Loc]

With lack of support from the US, will our current and future racers end up going to other countries like Canada and race for them?

[Gecko]

Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico

[Jack M]

Perhaps you should E-mail or call and ask WHY?

Because racing doesn't sell snowboards? Or Mountain Dew? But then again, what does Bobsled sell?

Sounds like a grassroots effort is in order. How can we donate directly to the individual racers?

[bobdea]

someone wanna host a site??

start a website explaining the whole thing called USskiteamiskillingsnowboarding.org or something like that then on it pay pal links to the individual athletes

[philfell]

Bordy the US Snowboarding spring congress was in Park City last week. Why did you not show up and express your concerns directly to the people makeing the decisions?

It ALL comes down to budget. The USSA gets their spending budget from the fundraising they did last season, a big chunk of this is from their "ski balls" they host. These were hosted when the economic crisis was first hitting, and hitting hard. Their projected budget for next year (the Olympic year) is about half of what it was a few seasons ago.

Every coach involed with US Skiing and Snowboarding had to take a pay cut, yes even the ski coaches. Then they had to make more cuts. They looked at the programs that were the weakest in the ENTIRE organization. The skiers are killing it on the alpine side with athletes winning multiple overall titles. The nordic guys almost swept world champs (completely unheard of from those guys) the freestyle skiers are getting world cup podiums. Our freestyle snowboaders have a huge chance at bringing home Olympic medals, the SBXers....10 guys in the top 32 (2 of themin the top 3) and Lindsay winning the overall by a ton......Then we come to the alpiners, barely any results other than Michelle. This was the second year in a row that the girls couldn't earn another world cup spot other than Michelle. Injuries hindered the guys, which is the main reason why they kept those guys on the team, by the way Vic will still be listed as B Team due to his results before his injury.

If I had to make cuts, taking a look at the overall picture it would be easy for me.......

Now to a few other points here. Olympic criteria is posted on the USSA site, go to sport then snowboading then advancement and read it for your self. You do NOT have to be on the US Team to compete in a world cup event. The guys who did get cut will still be able to compete in the world cup if they qualify for a spot based on the posted criteria. The only thing that is different now is that they don't get a free coat.

Over the past few years MANY of the alpine athletes have complained about the US Snowboard coaches and the support they received.....Well now those athletes can set up their program how ever they want to.....Body style, but wait now that they have COMPLETE control over their own career they are still people complaining. You guys can't have it both ways....bitching at USSA for not having the staff they want, then when USSA says you can still have most of the benifits of being on the team (world cup spots, training facility, ect.) and now you can hire any coach and support you want you just don't get a coat they are still bitching.

Look at the big picture before passing judgment on USSA for doing this. There is much more to this than what is on the surface.

[BobD]

Sorry to digress, but if the whole Olympic thing seems crooked, then look at how the US Olympic Committee gets it's charter...

Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

:lol:

BobD

[philfell]

The Idea of a Team going to the olympics from the US is a Joke. Last games Only one man, Tyler was sent and two girls, Rosey and Michelle.

What a great team that is huh... One dude and two ladies...

Tyler even placed 9th and Rosey won the bronze. But still no more funding.

This year. The candain team is killing it cuz they have been funded.

Bordy this is NOT a USSA decision. They can only send so many athletes. For 06 I think it was 16 athletes TOTAL. Look at the entire US Snowboarding picture. You could only take a MAX of 4 atheltes per gender per disipline.

With the guys and girls Halfpipers killing it that take up 8 spots right there (of those 8 athletes all made the finals and ended up taking 4 medals)

Only one ladie SBXer went, no one on the SBX side is complaining about that, saying it was a joke to only take Lindsay and not the second girl in line. Why becasue the second girl in line did NOT podium at a World Cup leading into the Olympics.

There were FIVE guys who podimed world cups in SBX leading into the Olympics in 06. Luckily (unfortunatly though) Palmer got injured making choosing the 4 athletes to take easier.

Now 13 spots are now taken, only three spots remain for Alpine. Michelle and Rosey both got podiums in the World Cup leading into the Olympics, OK they show medal potential, send those two. Now only ONE spot left for guys alpine they sent Tyler, who going into the Olympic only had an 8th and a 22nd (I think these numbers are right I'm going off the top of my head here).

None of the guys or other alpiners showed legit medal potential, why would they pull a spot from another disipline when all the other disiplines are show MUCH stronger medal potential??? Yes Tyler did finish 9th, but that was the Only disipline where we did NOT medal. Yes there was only one guy there, but there was only one female SBXer that went also and she did medal. You think it would have been fair to give a spot to Klug who did not even make it in the top 16 in the World Cup leading into the Olympics? If they did they would have had to take a spot away from another athlete. That athlete would probably have been Jason Hayle, who got a 3rd in a world cup SBX 3 weeks before the Olympics and was 2nd in World Champs the year prior. You think this would have been fair??????

The Olympic Team size is NOT determined by USSA or US Snowboarding it is determined by the IOC. US Snowboarding has to do the best they can given the restrictions handed down by the IOC.

It comes down to the athletes have to start performing on the World Cup, right now they are NOT so cuts are made. USSA does not have the money to hand out right now! Tyler made the sacrifices he had to in order to make it happen for himself. He did not rely on others to do it for him. The other alpiners need to do this also. Right now they are not. This is why Tyler stands out above the others.......Sacrifice. No one is going to do it for the athletes.

Giving directly to the athletes would be great. Bitching about budget cuts is going to do nothing for the athletes. I will be coaching a few of the athletes that got cut from the team helping them to make it to the Olympics. If anyone wants to donate directly to them that would be awesome. Even if it is gear. I can give you all a list of what they need for training this summer and if people already have it laying around they can send it directly to them.

Or I have pretty much everyones contact info. If you would like to make a donation directly to that individual athlete contact me and I can get you in touch with that person.

Lets figure out solutions without shooting ourselves in the foot.

[Sinecure]

Please post a list of what athletes need in terms of Money and gear. In fact, invite them to come here and post themselves. I've tried before to make such donations since I got fed up giving my $$ to USSA.

Things we might all be able to donate:

Airline Miles (seriously, they could use them for all their travel)

Money

Food

Wax & Tuning equipment

Lodging (got a timeshare at Mt. Hood you're not using?) or hotel miles

Gasoline debit cards

Overseas (yurup) prepaid SIM cards

Does any of that make sense?

[philfell]

Off the top of my head I know Lindsay Lloyd needs a new heart rate monitor.

Anyone have access to a myotest? We are looking into getting one of these to help tailor dryland better for the athletes. http://www.myotest.us/Home.aspx

Hotel points

The stuff Sinecure mentioned would be great.

Like I said if you want to donate anything directly to any of the atheltes send me an email through this site and I can get you in touch with that individual athlete or athletes. Every little bit helps.

Our focus is quality early season training. Because the Olympics are in Feb. everything that matters is early. We will be spending about 3-4 weeks in Argentina training. Tickets are spendy to get there. Donate a ticket on miles to an athlete going. That would be huge. Or help pay for their training or coaching there.

Gift cards to restaurants would be cool too. Kind of like buying a potential Olympian dinner while they are on the road.

[Bordy]

Slow down Phil. The point of the thread was to point out what has been happening. And try to get some out side support to athletes.

Not to create a pissing match. My point was that US athletes in the sport this website is about are getting shafted. Not to arguee why or wether or not the USSA shoule be blamed. But if some on calls and ask why alpine snowboard is gettin pushed on the back burner then it lets the USSA know people are paying attention. Thats inportant!

Again point still remains lots of athletes need help with funding.

Why not post a thread to let people know that. Thats what I did.

[Donek]

Obviously Phil has a great deal more info on the selection process, but I'll try to shed a bit of my understanding on the problem.

If you've paid attention to the last two olympic teams, Burton has been the primary gear sponsor. All the athletes were wearing Burton clothing, but Burton doesn't have a stake in the race market. Phil probably knows who will be the major sponsor for the upcoming games and undoubtedly they will not be someone in the race market. What is their motivation for giving racing money?

The US manufacturers in the race market don't have enough money to scrape together for sponsorship to make a difference here. Unlike many other countries the US team is funded privately. Since the last games it has been my contention that the lack of funding for the US team resulted in a lack of respect for the coaching staff from the riders. I believe that private teams are the only way to allow the athlete to find a coach they will follow and respect.

The only real solution is here is for the athletes and their coaches to organize funding themselves. There are probably a number of people here who would like to see a strong US team with the gear and coaching they need. Follow the example of the highschool teams and have car washes. Find a way to generate pleges for athletes. You could creat a pool of funds that goes to the athletes that qualify for the team. It's not like there aren't the right minds in this community to pull it off. Someone simply has to get it started. Suggesting people donate to individuals will be much less effective. They need a way to donate to a fund that awards the money based on merrit. Doing so will give the athletes additional motivation to work hard.

[Fastskiguy]

You do NOT have to be on the US Team to compete in a world cup event. The guys who did get cut will still be able to compete in the world cup if they qualify for a spot based on the posted criteria. The only thing that is different now is that they don't get a free coat.

Thanks Phil for outlining this stuff for all of us who don't know what is going on. I think it's a shame for a talented athlete to not get to participate because of budgets....but then....it's that way for all of us and you've got to go with your best prospects if your job is to bring home the medals.

And now to go off topic a bit...it's super cool that you (yes..YOU!) can race in the world cup if you just qualify. Talk about fair, that's great! Except when we were young "and could do it" (LOL!) we didn't have the money. Now that we're geezers with plenty of money we just "don't have the speed anymore".

Maybe we need a geezer world cup that we can't qualify for LOL :)

[ncermak]

Sean (et.al)

USASA has a foundation now that could be used for this type of donation. donations could probably be made and earmarked for Olympic hopefuls, or aspiring alpine athletes.

while donations to USASA foundation at this point may be focused on USASA scholarship fund, this is ultimately helping those athletes at the beginnings of their careers. If there was enough of a demand for assistance to the world cup racers vying for the olympics, I'm sure they would figure out a mechanism to get it to them fairly. the only requirements would be that they be members of USASA and compete in the Nationals.

[Mtrappy]

Please post a list of what athletes need in terms of Money and gear. In fact, invite them to come here and post themselves. I've tried before to make such donations since I got fed up giving my $$ to USSA.

Things we might all be able to donate:

Airline Miles (seriously, they could use them for all their travel)

Money

Food

Wax & Tuning equipment

Lodging (got a timeshare at Mt. Hood you're not using?) or hotel miles

Gasoline debit cards

Overseas (yurup) prepaid SIM cards

Does any of that make sense?

We need alot of stuff:

4 Kesslers/SG a year

4 plates can get about 2-3 seasons out of one

4 pairs of bindings with extra parts to bring on the road

1 pair of boots a year for most racers

lots if wax and overlays unless you have a tech

Air plane tickets

over weight/extra bag fee

parking at the airport

Lodging

rental car

gas for rental car

lift tickets because no mountain can give free ones for the event

international phone or skype

Food

the list goes on for ever, but those are the essentials..................

[philfell]

Fastskiguy, budget cuts are not keeping anyone from participating. Anybody can participate as long as they meet the criteria.

Since Olympic spots are limited by the IOC going to the Olympics get a bit twisted. Sometimes the person on the bubble in alpine is actually up against the person on the bubble in SBX to show that they are a better medal contender. It gets super weird at times. In 06 if Lindsay J. did better at the final Grand Prix HP, there was a really good chance that Klug could then have gone for Alpine.......It can get that twisted. But it's the same for EVERY country not just ours. Mark Eislan was ranked 5th on the World Cup points list but could not go because the Swiss had such a strong team that year.

Billy the tone of which you started this thread and the title straight up attacks the USSA and US Snowboarding. When you look at the big picture what they have done makes sense and if you were in the job that they are in you would be making very similar calls.

Yeah a call to USSA letting you know their feelings is good, but you know what makes a better impression??? Being actually involved in the process and GOING to the meetings where these decisions are being hashed out. They are held in your hometown. When was the last time you have been to a meeting with USSA? Become involved. Go to the meetings, help out at camps run by US Snowboarding. Offer to help. You will learn a lot of the process.

[Bordy]

Phil,

Remember, I am only a first year coach. I had no idae there were meeting intill I got a e-mail from you summerizing them (Thanks).

This is a alpine snowboard forum so I voiced my opinons on what is going on. I'm sure people over at the Burton forum are stoked about halfpipe spots and such I am bummed about alpine spots so here is where I bitcch..

If I think the US team is a bunch of goo swallowing super ninnies then I am going to post so. It really doesn't matter other wise. This is a forum my friend not a court of law.

I am hip to most of the info you posted. Lots of it I learned from you while you were my coach But when it comes to letting BOL board members into the loop its not really required to "tell the whole story" only hit the points I wanted to make.

Give money to alpine athletes don't donate to the US team is what I am saying you don't have to do it...

I am sure some side funding would make all our friends happy!

[GeoffV]

It's really sad to see the support and funding dropping especially for the US team. Is sponsorship, funding, support, etc a problem for the non-US racers as well?

We need to set up a venue that will help support our racers.

[Jack M]

Geoff and I have decided that the 2010 ECES will be a fundraiser for at least one US World Cup/Olympic racer. All proceeds from the ECES will be donated. It might only cover one airplane ticket, but we feel it's a good purpose for the event.

Thanks Bordy for the heads up, and thanks Phil for offering to channel donations. We'll be in touch.

[Ray]

Jack and Geoff. Very nice, great, congrats

Hmm, maybe something “similar” can be arranged for the next SES as well…

[Fastskiguy]

Geoff and I have decided that the 2010 ECES will be a fundraiser for at least one US World Cup/Olympic racer. All proceeds from the ECES will be donated.

I'm thinking....auction off a "prominent" member of the forum for a day. So if you won the auction the person could carry your stuff, give tips, find a seat at lunch, get the lift tickets, maybe get the beer at the end of the day, etc. The person auctioned off wouldn't be responsible for paying anything....just doing the leg work or whatever the winner wanted.

If we only had a prominent member who really cared about raising the money. They'd have to be a highly skilled rider, ideally with some teaching or coaching background. They'd have to be fun to hang out with and be up for a beer or two after riding. Hmmm, any ideas?

[tex1230]

I'm thinking....auction off a "prominent" member of the forum for a day. So if you won the auction the person could carry your stuff, give tips, find a seat at lunch, get the lift tickets, maybe get the beer at the end of the day, etc. The person auctioned off wouldn't be responsible for paying anything....just doing the leg work or whatever the winner wanted.

If we only had a prominent member who really cared about raising the money. They'd have to be a highly skilled rider, ideally with some teaching or coaching background. They'd have to be fun to hang out with and be up for a beer or two after riding. Hmmm, any ideas?

I'll volunteer for the auction, but I don't think anyone would bid.

[Neil Gendzwill]

The candain team is killing it cuz they have been funded.

I think we're killing it because Canadians are awesome, but maybe that's just me... :)

Actually we have this program called "Own The Podium" which applies across the board to winter sports in Canada. The intent is to top the medal counts in Vancouver.