USASA Nationals cancelled for 2021

[TVR]

Another one cancelled....

Makes me wonder if USASA will survive after this.....  Wonder how many kids will stop making this their dream when they are thinking "What is the point" now two years in a row....

I wonder if this opens opportunities for other venues. I see more hills this year than ever before doing "Beer league" racing....

 

I am glad my kid will graduate to FIS next year......

[Atom Ant]

I have a sense their head is in the same place, and that is why they were forthright in simply cancelling this year.  Last year, as those involved in USASA know, they lost an unseemly amount of funds having to cancel Nationals which resulted in auctions and other moves in an attempt to recoup the losses.  Given the unknowns right now, they likely felt--reasonably-- that it would be rolling the dice on committing the funds for 2021, and perhaps having done so two years in a row, and having to cancel two years in a row and thusly experience the financial loss once again... they decided to be financially conservative for the good of the organization moving forward.  

I of course feel deep sympathy for the kids who's competitive seasons are being truncated or outright cancelled--especially those who perhaps may not get another chance to compete in USASA due to "moving on" to college, etc.  I will not try to rationalize anything for fear of veering into politics--it sucks, plain and simple and I think most will find it agreeable on at least that level.

 

 

 

 

 

[dhamann]

23 hours ago, TVR said:

I see more hills this year than ever before doing "Beer league" racing....

i'm seeing less. the two hills i've raced at in past years aren't doing any adult racing. i've moved onto a third option running a <20 second course. yes. times are tough. that tough.

 

kids getting stripped of a lot of things and this certainly isn't what they wanna hear, or their investors. by investors, i mean parents, family and those who support the athletes. agree, it sucks. good thing there's more to snowboarding than racing and competition. get out and shred.

[MountainSlope]

And oddly enough, the competitions are still happening here in Europe. From kids all the way up to World Cup.

Maybe some events are cancelled but even the ski/snowboard schools are open in our area. 

Also, Instagram shows that Russian snowboarding schools are very active, as well as Asian countries.

I wonder if sending mails to these places pointing out this fact will change anything. Just a thought 

[bigwavedave]

Last week I rode with a guy who races snowboards in college league with UMD (seasoned cancelled this year). He competed in collegiate national championships at Lake Placid (IceFace?) last year. I think he said he got 9th? Anyone ever hear of college teams racing snowboards? There was a regional college competition here at Spirit last winter, although they didn't look very competitive. I saw only one carving board and it was an old Rossi Throttle. The guy I rode with last week was on a brand new 163 Donek FC and killing it. Too bad his race season was cancelled.

The NorAm at Buck Hill, MN was cancelled in Dec. I think they're still hoping to reschedule for later in the season. I imagine it all depends on covid cases and deaths going down and hospital beds open. We're trending down in MN right now.

Of course there are age groups all the way up through my age at USASA. Plus there's open class if you want to mix it up with a few FIS level racers that might show up for the cash prize. NorAm is a whole 'nother level, and if you move up to WC it's another giant step up. 

btw Robbie Burns coaches alpine racers with the G-Team in MN.

[Atom Ant]

I think the issue lays in the interstate regulatory differences and the ensuing unpredictability.  It's a large financial output to reserve, coordinate, etc. the event and in a situation where usasa is not able to influence the regulations that will or will not allow them to have the event.   So my guess is this is out of financial prudence and a desire to not have 2019 occur again (where they had auctions and general donation begging to recuperate losses).  

 

The US is not Europe.

[Jack M]

On 1/12/2021 at 2:48 PM, Puhutes said:

And oddly enough, the competitions are still happening here in Europe. From kids all the way up to World Cup.

Maybe some events are cancelled but even the ski/snowboard schools are open in our area. 

Also, Instagram shows that Russian snowboarding schools are very active, as well as Asian countries.

I wonder if sending mails to these places pointing out this fact will change anything. Just a thought 

I actually asked Mike Mallon, in all honesty, why USSA nationals and junior nationals were able to be held while USASA was not.  I probably would have known if I had ever been to USASA nationals myself, but the answer is that USASA nationals is an event of over 1000 competitors and their parents descending upon one resort for 2 weeks.  So the risks and considerations are much different and more significant.