XC Expansion

[Guest dragon fly jones]

USSA announced today that they are expanding support for the XC program with World Cup support and added benefits of bringing on an expanded training program. No word on Snowboarding.....getting any more funding....We brought home the gold silver bronze on a team on a shoestring.

Granted the arguement will be the big club(s) will take care of the riders so why pay for a dedicated FULL TIME JR Coach and a dedicated FULL TIME NorAM /Devo coach. Not that they system does not work it does, but how do you take those funds and distribute them to the private teams, while still supporting the riders on the cusp of word cup careers and the kids on the way up.

Any takers in a brainstorming session?

[Sinecure]

Would the carving community be able to generate enough support to directly help an Alpine team? Would USSA allow that? Are in-kind donations of equipment or travel expenses OK?

Other ideas?

[Kent]

Well C, you know I'll brainstorm anytime providing there is beer involved......

I'm not optimistic....and I'm a little pessimistic about the idea.

Things cleared up a little for Torino, but SLC showed you don't even need to be on the US Snowboarding Team to ultimately win an Olympic Gold. So, I think the 1st disconnect lies within the foundation/role/goal of US Snowboarding. After that, we must consider alpine and halfpipe differently. They are different sports, different athletes, different training...etc.

It's fairly evident that each org is simply protecting their "turf". I think someone needs to step to the plate to simply act at the traffic cop between all the organizations/programs available. It's a very small, select group....

It's still about dollars and sense.....