Pacific Northwest Ski Association A Division of USSA 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Fall Meeting Snoqualmie Summit, WA October 2, 2015 Director of Alpine Dan Henry called the meeting to order at approximately 5:00 pm. He welcomed everyone to the meeting and briefly reviewed the agenda. Roll Call: The following members of the ACC were present at roll call: Ron Bonneau, Bill Brooks, Mike Graves, Dan Henry, Chuck Holcomb, Jeff Kray, Jamie Landwehr, Alan Lauba, Dave Lyon, Paul Mahre, Pat Robson and Jim Stevens. Gillian Esson joined the meeting in progress. The chair asked for motions to approve the agenda and the minutes of the previous meeting. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #1: To approve the agenda as presented. Maker: Ryan Shorter, second by Jeff Kray. Motion passed. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #2: To approve the minutes from the 2015 spring meeting of the PNSA Alpine Competition Committee as presented. Maker: Ryan Shorter, second by Dave Lyon. Motion passed. PNSA President s Report: PNSA President Bill Brooks reported on activities since the Spring Convention.
Western Region Report: Gwynn Watkins gave the committee a short report on changes and activities at Western Region and USSA. Bill Gunesch has taken the WR Managers position Troy Price is the WR Treasurer. Ryan Shorter was elected WR Vice President Jeff Pickering is the new WR coach. Brian Krill now directs both the Sport Education Department and Club Development. Bill Gunesch also gave the committee a short report on projects and initiatives USSA and WR is developing. Director of Alpine Report: Dan Henry announced that he has appointed Matt Morrell to fill the at-large position Rick Reid held. He noted that Rick is retiring. Dan reviewed the sub-committee structure and chairpersons. He asked subcommittee chairperson to ensure that they have zonal representation. U19/U21 Jamie Landwehr (chair, Z3), Ryan Shorter (Z1), Pat Robson (Z2). U16 Chuck Holcomb (chair, Z3), Alan Lauba (Z1), Nils Eriksson (Z2). U14/YSL Matt Graves (chair, Z1) Bill Farwig (Z2), Ted McNamara (Z3). Coaches Jim Stevens (chair, Z2), Dave Lyon (Z1) Pat Robson (Z2) Ability Class Final Draft: Dan asked Bill Gunesch to review the final draft of the Ability Class proposal that was adopted in principal at the Spring Convention. Bill Gunesch reviewed some of the specifics of the final draft. Category names or numbers. DH not included 5 th list will be the basis for establishing the initial categories.
After some discussion the committee decided to adopt the final draft with the categories being designated by numbers rather than names. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #3: To adopt, the attached final draft, of the PNSA Ability Class Racing Proposal. Maker: Ryan Shorter, second by Chuck Holcomb. Motion passed. The ability class proposal adopted by the ACC requires the ACC to annually set the initial point cutoffs for the categories. A motion was introduced by Bill Brooks to set the cutoffs for the 2015-2016 season. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #4: To confirm the initial USSA point range of each category in the PNSA Ability Class Racing rules as follows: Category 1 = 10% Category 2 = 30% Category 3 = 60% Category 4 = all competitors with USSA points over 60% and less than 999.99 Maker: Bill Brooks, second by Dave Lyon. Motion passed. In response to a question from Dan Henry, Bill Gunesch explained how out of division racers would be seeded in Ability Class events. Executive Director s Report: Paul Mahre gave the committee a short report on activities during the summer and preparations for the upcoming season. He announced that the job description for the PNSA support staff position is posted on the PNSA website and applications should be submitted to the PNSA office. He also reported on Elite Pass applications. U19-U21 Sub Committee Report: Jamie Landwehr reviewed the calendar and noted that the WR Speed Event will be a qualifier for both the US Nationals and the U19 Nationals. Gwynn noted the quota for XXX is 17women and 19 men.
U16 Sub-Committee Report: Chuck Holcomb briefly reviewed the schedule. His sub-committee did not present any motions. U14/YSL Sub-Committee Report: Mike Graves began his report by reviewing the WR U14 Championship qualification system PNSA adopted at the spring meeting. He told the ACC that his committee recommends modifying the points system contained in 2014-2015 ACC Motion #17. Mike introduced a motion to modify the system. After some discussion of the pros and cons of the current vs. the proposed system the motion passed. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #5: To amend the PNSA U14 WR Championship selection process by adopting the following scoring method: Modified World Cup points (30 for first, 29 for 2nd, etc.) to each finisher for the race runs identified as qualifiers. For DNS, DNF, DSQ the racer will receive no points 0 (zero). Modified World Cup points increment by 1 point for each place. Maker: Mike Graves, second by Dave Lyon. Motion passed. Mike introduced two more motions dealing with travel and staffing for the WR U14 Championships. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #6: To address tabled ACC 2014-15 motion #19 (2014-2015 PNSA ACC Motion #19: To treat the WR U14 Championships as a PNSA travel event with staffing and housing. Maker: Kate Morrell, second by Jamie Landwehr. Motion tabled.) And adopt the following travel policy for the PNSA U14 WR Championship traveling team: The athletes will lodge with parents. PNSA will not make lodging arrangements for athletes and/or parents. Maker: Mike Graves, second by Bill Brooks. Motion Passed. (Secretary s note: 2014-2015 ACC Motion #19 was the only ACC motion tabled from a previous 2014-2015 meeting) 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #7: To establish the PNSA WR U14 Championship coaching staff at a minimum of 3 with one coach from each zone, up to a maximum of six. PNSA will arrange coaches lodging and
travel, plus organize team meeting and tuning facilities. Maker: Mike Graves, second by Ryan Shorter. Motion Passed. The next question Mike addressed was how to handle out of zone athletes. The ACC adopted a motion requiring out of zone athletes to be purged prior to awarding points. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #8: To amend the PNSA WR U14 Championship zonal selection process by purging all non-zonal athletes from each zone s results prior to assigning place points. Maker: Mike Graves, second by Chuck Holcomb. Motion passed. There was a short discussion of how the PNSA U14 Team would be seeded at the WR U14 Championships. Ryan Shorter noted that the Eastern Region is working on a seeding procedure. He suggested deferring the question to the PNSA ACC Executive Committee. There was general agreement and no motion on seeding was introduced. College Racing Sub-Committee Report: Ron Bonneau reported preparations for the upcoming season and reviewed the calendar. He noted that USCSA is talking to USSA and those talks could result in the NWCSC returning to hosting scored USSA events in PNSA. Coaches Education Sub-Committee Report: Jim Stevens reviewed plans and projects. Fall Camp at Jackson Hole November 7-11. This is a cooperative camp with MBSEF. Coaches Symposium Saturday October 3, 2015. Bill Gunesch, Lester Keller and Jeff Pickering will be the presenters. Possible spring speed camp with coaches education component. Jim noted that PNSA is asking PNSEF for a grant to cover some of the costs for tomorrow s symposium. Jim asked the ACC members for help in revising the PNSA Course Setters List. He told the committee that he would like to have the list updated annually by October 31. Jim reviewed the process for adding coaches to the list.
Zonal Review and nomination. Zone 1-forward nominations to Alan Lauba. Zone 2-forward nominations to Nils Eriksson Zone 3-forward nominations to Chuck Holcomb Dan asked Paul to put the course setter list on the PNSA website. Director of Officials Sub-Committee Report: Roger Root reviewed the dates for Alpine Officials Clinics and some of the rule changes for the coming season. AO clinics: o Redmond, WA October 4, 2015 o Spokane, WA October 11, 2015 o Portland, OR October 18, 2015 o FIS TD Update Denver, CO October 23-25, 2015 Helmet Rules: o FIS approved helmets are required for both scored and nonscored USSA events for U14 and older. Competitors without an approved helmet will not be allowed to start. o Only helmets bearing the proper FIS sticker are approved. (See the USSA ACR and/or the FIS ICR for pictures of the FIS sticker.) There is no alternate method of verification. o Masters exempt in Masters races through 2016 season. o NWCSC is requiring FIS approved helmets. o A USSA competitor (not a Masters competitor) forerunning a Masters race must have an approved helmet. o A Masters racer forerunning a non-masters race must have an approved helmet. The current course-setting matrix was projected and there was a short discussion on the changes. Roger noted that the USSA Review and Update states that only tech events (SL and GS) with multiple age groups may utilize the option to set for one age group up from the youngest group. However, the chart still includes SG in the list of events that may use this option. He recommended that organizers and juries abide by the stricter interpretation found in the Review and Update document. New Business:
Jamie Landwehr reviewed the WR FIS calendar. He noted that the calendar has expanded and now includes 11 events. Jamie named the 5 events that PNSA is staffing. He asked the ACC if there were races that should be added to the list PNSA is staffing. No requests were made. Dan asked Ryan Shorter to present his proposal to regarding the off hill athlete management at PNSA projects. Ryan introduced his proposal (motion #8, seconded by Dave Lyon). He told the committee that it is similar to how he conducts camps. The committee along with members of the audience discussed the proposal. Dave Lyon told the committee that PNSA traveling teams currently follow some of the procedures outlined in the motion. Dan Henry asked if Ryan s proposal could be implemented informally. Bill Brooks noted the much of the feedback PNSA gets from athletes about their travel experiences is positive. Dan Henry called the question and the motion was defeated on a divided vote. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #9: To amend the PNSA Travel Team policy by incorporating the following: Proposal for PNSA Traveling Teams 1. The PNSA Traveling Team would be broken into sub teams prior to the trip. Each Sub Team would have a named head coach responsible for each sub team. Example if Club A has 5 athletes on a trip and is sending a coach and Club B has 1 athlete attending without a coach, and Club C has 1 athlete without a coach a new sub team is created comprising of the 5 Club A athletes, the 1 Club B athlete, and the 1 Club C athlete. 2. Room athletes by club and by sub team. This facilitates more communication with the Sub Team Head Coach. 3. Each sub team head coach would be responsible for video review, helping with tuning, nutrition, rest, and recovery. 4. The Sub Team Head coach would be the main point of contact for the home program coach.
Maker: Ryan Shorter, second by Dave Lyon. Motion failed. No further business came before the committee and the meeting was adjourned. 2015-2016 PNSA ACC Motion #10: To adjourn. Maker: Dave Lyon, second by Chuck Holcomb. Motion passed.