2023 Congress Notes – Day 2

DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING #2

There was a proposal to open the D-Team selection window later so that it can include the FIS Spring Series in Western Region and Rocky/Central. Currently the selection period ends on April 5, the proposal is to extend it to April 15. This was moved unanimously to the Alpine Sport Committee as a recommendation to the US Ski Team since the Development Committee can’t actually dictate policy to the USST.

A proposal to eliminate USSS points had previously been tabled, there was a motion to remove it from the table. The motion was unanimously approved and the proposal will not be considered further.

A proposal to use TRS seeding at U16 Nationals was passed and will be considered by the Alpine Sport Committee. There was some discussion about how to seed the speed events, as well as minimum start intervals for speed events as a safety consideration in a randomized field. (This was a topic of lengthy discussion later in the Technical Subcommittee)

A proposal to amend the 30 tech starts for U18’s. The new proposal would be 30 starts for first-year U18s, and 35 starts for second-year U18s, with the same exceptions for championship/elite races already in place (NC, NJC, YOG, WJC, WC). This proposal was passed unanimously and will be considered by the Alpine Sport Committee.

A proposal to modify/clarify the language around U14 SG training runs – that making a training run into a freeski run must be a jury decision, and due to force majeure, with the decision to be made at or after the TCM and documented in the jury minutes. Previously there were too many ROC’s deciding this unilaterally multiple days before the event so the “mandatory” training run was slowly becoming “optional.” This proposal was approved unanimously and will be considered by the ASC.

A proposal to amend the language around U14 and under athletes racing out of division or out of region. The proposal is that U14s and under wishing to race out of Region must have their home club coach obtain permission from both their home and “away” regional directors. For U14 and under wishing to race out of Division, their home club coach must obtain permission from both the “home” and “away” Divisional managers. Divisions may designate certain races as “Open” which would mean any athlete from the home region could race the event without specific permission. This is a clarification and streamlining of existing policy, and will require a little more collaboration up front between Regional Directors and Divisional Managers. This proposal was approved unanimously and will be brought to the ASC.

A proposal to recommend that the Eastern Region revise U14 Regional Champs and U16 Regional Champs to consider gender population as part of the quota calculation. Essentially we’ll now determine quotas on a gender-by-gender basis instead of combined. So for example, instead of VARA having a quota of 60 total athletes to the Ronnie Berlack GP, it will now be calculated out as 31 women and 29 men (those are made-up numbers, just for example). This was unanimously approved and will be acted on the Eastern Region.

 FIS ALPINE SUBCOMMITTEE

There are some changes and updates to the homologation process but nothing earthshattering. Note that the official homologation is found online, not necessarily the paper copy that an ROC or ski area might have on file.

FIS is contemplating eliminating hiking in SL. We may see this go into effect for the 23-24 season. USSS will consider it as well if it passes the FIS, but it would not be adopted until 24-25 season at the earliest.

We are always looking for new FIS inspectors to keep homologations up to date and accurate. If you’re interested in becoming an inspector – if you like hiking and paperwork – reach out to Doug Hall.

ALPINE TECHNICAL SUBCOMMITTEE

There are some changes coming at some point in the future with online officials certification. The current setup with Moodle is not working for the administrators so there’s a working group in pursuit of a better solution. (unclear if the online test will still be available in the meantime)

The process of flagging exceptional races will be automated in the future. The system will be tested in parallel to the official results system in the 23-24 season, with the hope to implement the real-time flagging as part of the official results system in 24-25 season.

The classifications working group does not support the use of TRS seeding in speed due to concerns about overtakes. But the proposal they considered had to do with scoring events that used TRS seeding, as opposed to seeding. The classifications WG did not approve TRS seeding for scored races because of their concerns about using that seeding method in speed. Ultimately the Technical Subcommittee took up a revised proposal that would approve TRS seeding for scored and un-scored, single-day or multi-day, tech or speed events with a minimum start interval of 40-seconds in GS and 45-seconds in speed. This proposal was passed unanimously and will be brought to the Alpine Sport Committee.

There was a proposal that ROCs would not be responsible for checking coaches Level 100 status as this is somewhat outside the scope of their work. This was approved.

COACHES EDUCATION SUBCOMMITTEE

The requirement for coaches who work competition events to complete the Level 100 has been pushed back to the 2024-25 season (this was approved at the 2022 congress). Coaches needing the certification can start the Level 100 process at any time – they can login and do the online work over the summer, so they’re ready for an on-snow opportunity as soon as it comes in the winter.

Discussion about the possibility of divisions taking on the work of making sure their coaches are getting certified. There was discussion of the notion that many coaches don’t feel the content of the online course is relevant, and that the course can be complicated to navigate. There was further discussion on how best to facilitate coaches getting through the Level 100.

There was lengthy discussion about the content and direction of the Alpine education and its relevancy to different levels of coaching.