NSSA SELECTION PROTOCOL 2010 CSF CANADIAN NATIONAL SNOWBOARD CHAMPIONSHIPS INTRODUCTION 1. Nova Scotia Snowboard Association (NSSA), through its membership in the Canadian Snowboard Federation (CSF), is granted the right to enter eligible athletes in Canadian National Championships. The Canadian National Championships are a Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) sanctioned event and all participants must have the mandatory FIS license and CAIP Insurance. Athletes who are not eligible, as established by the FIS and its member national associations, may not participate in FIS sanctioned events. 2. This document sets out the process for identifying those athletes who will be invited by the NSSA to participate in the 2010 Canadian National Championships. The National Championships are a major competitive opportunity for members of the NSSA High Performance Program. The 2010 National Championships take place from to, 2010, in. OBJECTIVES 3. The NSSA's first objective at the 2010 National Championships is to place NS athletes who are NOT members of National Team or National Development Group in the top two thirds of the field in each event entered. (The field at the National Championships consists of National Teams (US and Canada) National Development Teams, International athletes and top provincial Canadian athletes. 4. The NSSA s second objective at the 2010 National Championships is to develop athletes with the potential to medal in the 2011 Canada Winter Games (CWG). The National Championships are seen as an opportunity to expose these athletes to a higher level of elite competition prior to the CWG and to prepare them for this opportunity with an expectation of performance.
ELIGIBILITY 5. To be eligible to participate in the 2010 National Championships, an athlete must: a) Be a member of the NSSA b) Be in good standing with the CSF and with the NSSA c) Sign an NSSA Athletes Code of Conduct prior to competing and abide by it while competing at the event, while staying at the event location and while traveling to and from the event. QUOTAS 6. Each provincial association recognized by the CSF may enter a certain number of athletes in the National Championships as determined by a 'quota' given to the province by the CSF. In the 2010 National Championships, the CSF has given NS the following quotas. All numbers are inclusive of age and sex (ie the maximum total number of athletes allowed) a) In Halfpipe: b) In PGS: c) In SBX: 7.In addition to the provincial association quota, the NSSA may apply for additional quota spots if it has additional athletes who meet its own internal selection criteria and who, in the opinion of the provincial coaches, can be competitive enough to meet the National Championships Objectives of the NSSA. SELECTION PROCESS GENERAL 8. The Selection Period for the 2010 NSSA National Championship Team is September 1, 2009 through March 7, 2010. 9. The Selection Date for the 2010 NSSA National Championship Team is March 9, 2010. 10. Athletes shall be ranked and selected separately for each discipline: Alpine (PGS and PSL); Halfpipe; Snowboard Cross. 11. The NSSA may confirm the selection of some athletes for the 2010 National Championships prior to the Selection Date. 12. An athlete who achieved one podium result in any NorAm level competition during the 2008/09/10 competition season may, on the decision of the Selection
Committee, be pre-selected to participate in the 2010 National Championships. 13. Selection rankings notwithstanding, the NSSA shall have the power to select athletes to participate in an order other than that indicated by the rankings. The NSSA shall also have the power to select fewer male or female athletes than the maximum quota provided by CSF. The grounds for any such decisions must be set out in detail in the minutes of the meeting of the Selection Committee, and must reflect the objectives of the NSSA as presented in the general High Performance Program policies and in Vision 2020: The Long Term Athlete Development Plan for Snowboarding in Canada. 14. Grounds which may be considered in decisions such as those indicated in Sections 8-13 shall include, but may not be limited to: a) The athlete s commitment to a long term training program, as demonstrated by training logs, evaluations, and other documentation maintained by the athlete and her or his coach. b) The athlete s level of physical conditioning, evaluated in terms of the physical conditioning benchmarks established for the High Performance Program. c) The athlete s maintenance of a daily log book. d) Anomalies in competitions, arising from factors such as weather or abnormal field sizes, which are determined to be a factor in the attainment of or failure to attain results. e) Gaps in the points used to rank athletes, which may be taken to represent a significant gap in performance ability. For instance, if three athletes have100, 97, and 96 points respectively, and the next ranked athlete has 85 points, a gap may be said to exist which indicates an athlete s potential ability or inability to compete at the same level as other NSSA athletes in the same discipline. SELECTION PROCESS HALFPIPE 15. (a) Halfpipe selections shall be based on the following events in order of priority: 1. NorAm: NorAm events in the COST 2010 series or equivalents in the US (Current FIS Points) 2. NSSA: NSSA Freestyle (HP) events on the 2010 NSSA Snowboard Competition Calendar: The athlete has placed top 6 in HP final NSSA standings in the current competition year, based on the best 2 events; and, the athlete has achieved at least one top three finish at an NSSA event 15. (b) The athlete meets provincial Halfpipe technical riding standards.
16. An athlete who podiums at one of the NorAm events may, at the decision of the Selection Committee, be pre-selected to participate in the 2010 National Championships. 17. In the event of a tie, the athlete with the highest number of podiums at the event levels outlined in section 15 and 16 shall be selected. In the event of a continued tie, the higher quality of podiums shall count. Should a tie still need to be broken the NSSA discipline and Head Coach shall make selections based on section 14. 18. If one or more of these events are cancelled or postponed, the Selection Committee shall have the authority to establish a selection process which uses results from some or all different events but which, to the extent possible, is based on the same principles. SELECTION PROCESS SNOWBOARDCROSS 19. Snowboardcross selections shall be based on the following events in order of priority: 1. NorAm: NorAm events in the COST 2010 series or equivalents in the US (FIS Points) 2. NSSA: NSSA SBX events on the 2010 NSSA Snowboard Competition Calendar: The athlete has placed top 8 in SBX final NSSA standings in the 'Open' category in the current competition year, based on best 3 events; and the athlete has achieved at least one top four finish at an NSSA event in the 'Open' category 20. An athlete who podiums at one of the NorAm events may, at the decision of the Selection Committee, be pre-selected to participate in the 2010 National Championships. 21. In the event of a tie, the athlete with the highest number of podiums at the event levels outlined in section 19 and 20 shall be selected. In the event of a continued tie, the higher quality of podiums shall count. Should a tie still need to be broken the NSSA discipline and Head Coach shall make selections based on section 14. 22. If one or more of these events are cancelled or postponed, the Selection Committee shall have the authority to establish a selection process which uses results from some or all different events but which, to the extent possible, is based on the same principles. SELECTION PROCESS ALPINE 23. PGS/PSL selections shall be based on the following events in order of priority: 1. NorAm: NorAm events in the COST 2010 series or equivalents in the US FIS Points
2. NSSA: NSSA PGS/PSL events on the 2010 NSSA Snowboard Competition Calendar: The athlete has placed top 4 in PGS final NSSA standings in the 'Open' category in the current competition year, based on best 3 events; and the athlete has achieved at least one top three finish at an NSSA event in the 'Open' category 24. An athlete who podiums at one of the NorAm events may, at the decision of the Selection Committee, be pre-selected to participate in the 2010 National Championships. 25. In the event of a tie, the athlete with the highest number of podiums at the event levels outlined in section 23 and 24 shall be selected. In the event of a continued tie, the higher quality of podiums shall count. Should a tie still need to be broken the NSSA discipline and Head Coach shall make selections based on section 14. 26. If one or more of these events are canceled or postponed, the Selection Committee shall have the authority to establish a selection process which uses results from some or all different events but which, to the extent possible, is based on the same principles. EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES 27. It may be that an athlete is unable, by reason of a health related curtailment of activities, to compete in at least two consecutive eligible competitions during the Selection Period. In such circumstance, the Selection Period for that athlete shall be extended backwards to include the same number of competitions, at the same level, as the number missed. In no event, however, shall the Selection Period be extended back beyond January 1, 2009. To be considered unable, by reason of a health related curtailment of activities, to compete, an athlete must have prior approval from the NSSA and provide doctors documentation where requested. 28. It may be that an athlete who is otherwise selected to participate in the National Championships is or becomes, by reason of a health related curtailment of activities, unable to compete. In such circumstances the NSSA shall have the right to replace this athlete with another athlete, or choose not to. 29. The NSSA may, at any time, require an athlete who appears, by reason of a health curtailment of activities, to be unable to participate in training or competition activities to obtain a medical assessment by a recognized doctor. The purpose of the medical assessment is to confirm the degree of the athlete's inability to compete and the anticipated time of the athlete's recovery. 30. All athletes who accept their selection to represent NSSA at the Canadian National Championships will share equally the NSSA coaching costs at the Championships.
31. The NSSA reserves the right to charge an additional fee to non-nssa program athletes who accept Nationals selection to cover coaching representation at the event. 32. When a selected athlete opts out of NSSA arrangements for transportation and/or accommodation for the National Championships they do so fully and are not ordinarily entitled to any NSSA transportation/accommodation assistance at the event. SELECTION COMMITTEES 33. The Selection Committees for the Alpine, Snowboard Cross, and Halfpipe events shall consist of the NSSA Head Coach, the Discipline Coaches of the NSSAHPP program, and the president of the NSSA. 34. The final selection of athletes for the 2010 National Championships shall be made by the NSSA president based on the basis of the recommendations of the Selection Committee. APPEALS 35. Any decision of the professional staff relating to the operation and conduct of the HPP may be appealed by any member of the NSSA who who is a member in good standing. Appeals must be submitted in writing to the President of the NSSA. Appeals will then be heard by a tribunal of unaffected members of the NSSA board. GENERAL 36. Issues not otherwise covered by this Selection Protocol shall be resolved by the President of the NSSA, in consultation with the Head Coach. In the case of a conflict of interest arising for either the President or the Head Coach, resolution shall defer to a tribunal of unaffected members of the NSSA board with the input of the person(s) deemed to be in conflict.