The United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) is hosting a golf fundraiser with two different ways to participate and support the grassroots development of U.S. snowboard and freeski athletes.

USASA is a 501(c)3 non-profit that acts as the first step in the Olympic pipeline, supporting the development of U.S. snowboard and freeski athletes through 500 regional events held annually. By supporting USASA you're fostering the development of the next generation of U.S. Ski & Snowboard icons and Olympians.

SUPPORT USASA VIRTUALLY:

From Sept. 1-25, USASA, along with 18Birdies App, will be hosting a virtual golf fundraising event. Golfers participate in individual stroke play at the golf club of their choice and compete against other virtual USASA tournament players. 18Birdies will weigh each courses’ difficulty using their customized algorithm creating a virtual leaderboard that lets you know where you stand throughout the event period (Sept. 2-25). Prizes will be awarded to the top golfers.

HOW TO JOIN AND PLAY!

Play your round of golf at over 35,000 courses listed in 18Birdies App anytime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 25

• Click here to buy tickets to attend the event virtually
• Once you purchase your ticket, you will get an event code in your email
• Download 18Birdies App on googleplay or the appstore to your smartphone
• Enter your event code
• Choose any course and play your round of Individual Stroke Play
• Check 18Birdies virtual leaderboard to see where you rank with your friends and other USASA virtual players

SUPPORT USASA IN PERSON: First Annual USASA Golf Classic: 

On Sept. 25, USASA will also be hosting the First Annual USASA Golf Classic fundraiser presented by Alpine Valley and Devil’s Head Resort with guest Olympians Justin Reiter and U.S. Snowboard Team Alumnus Jonathan Cheever at the McHenry Country Club in McHenry, Ill. The tournament will be Best Ball format with loads of fun prizes including a $20,000 hole-in-one and a four day golf package at French Lick Resort.

Click here to learn more about USASA and to enter the USASA Golf Classic. 
 

September 10 marks World Suicide Prevention Day, an opportunity to remember those affected by suicide, create awareness, remove stigma, and to focus efforts on directing treatment to those who need it most.

Mental health and suicide prevention are more than just topics to focus on for one day or one month a year. Findings from a national survey involving over 2,000 U.S. adults (conducted by The Harris Poll) released Sept. 1 found the overwhelming majority (81%) believe, as a result of COVID-19, suicide prevention needs to be a national priority.

As the Olympic National Governing Body of skiing and snowboarding in the United States, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s mission is to empower athletes to achieve excellence, including providing the resources and tools necessary to ensure mental well being. Through a partnership with The Speedy Foundation, U.S. Ski & Snowboard will provide mandatory QPR Institute training for all staff. QPR Training will also be free and highly encouraged for U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes, members, and board members. 

QPR Training is based on three steps anyone can learn to help prevent suicide: Question, Persuade, and Refer. The QPR Institute’s mission is to reduce suicidal behaviors and save lives by providing innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training. Those trained in QPR learn how to recognize suicide warning signs and are better equipped to question, persuade and refer someone in potential danger to help. QPR can be learned in as little as one hour. 

To register for complimentary (normally $29.95), online & on-demand QPR training via The Speedy Foundation, follow the steps below:

1. Click here: qprtraining.com/setup
2. Enter this code: SPEEDYFOUND
3. Select Create Account
4. Complete and submit your registration form
5. QPR will display (and email you) the newly created Username and Password
6. You can then log-in to begin training at qprtraining.com
7. Learn to save a life.

Mandatory staff QPR training is an important step in U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s recently revamped internal mental health committee’s plan and oversight of the organization’s mental health resources. This internal committee is led by USOPC Sr. Sport Psychologist Alexander Cohen and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Sports Medicine Director and Lead Physical Therapist Gillian Bower, with participation from key staff members and coach and athlete representation. U.S. Ski & Snowboard has also made an annual commitment to complete the NCAA Mental Health Best Practices Self Assessment. Results and recommendations are reported directly to the mental health committee for review and implementation.

More detail on the newly structured committee will be posted on the organization’s mental health and wellness section of usskiandsnowboard.org prior to the start of the 2020-21 competition season.

If you or someone you know is experiencing an urgent mental health issue, we encourage you to text HOME to 741741, or call (800) 273-8255 to speak to a mental health professional. In the process of helping yourself, you may be inspiring courage in others to seek help as well.

If you are a U.S. Ski & Snowboard athlete, member, or staff, and feel you need support or would like to talk, don’t hesitate to reach out to USOPC Sr. Sport Psychologist Alexander Cohen as a resource.

Alexander Cohen, Ph.D., CMPC
Sr. Sport Psychologist
United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee
alexander.cohen@usoc.org
(O) +1 719-866-3180 (M) +1 719-216-6376

QPR Institute
QPRInstitute.com
QPR For Sports
QPR Quiz

Mental Health Resources
USOPC/Team USA
The Speedy Foundation
Michael Phelps Foundation
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Crisis Text Line
Mental Health First Aid
 

The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee has approved a plan to restructure the cross country national racing calendar into a number of regional events for the 2020-21 season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This decision has no bearing on NCAA competitions, which are governed separately by the NCAA. Decisions for all other U.S. Ski & Snowboard domestic event calendars will be made independently and based on an assessment of each sport’s unique set of circumstances and variables. 

The events impacted include the SuperTour, U.S. National Championships, and the Junior National Championships. These events will be replaced with high-level regional and divisional competitions, at the discretion of local organizing committees and regional governing bodies. 

“We recognize that cross country skiing has unique challenges in hosting national-level events that are dissimilar to other disciplines,” said Davis U.S. Cross Country Team Program Director Chris Grover. “Together with the input of clubs and regional leaders, we have created solutions that work for our national cross country skiing community pertaining to competition for the 2020-21 season.

This restructuring allows athletes to remain in their respective regions to race while allowing organizers to offer high-level competitions. Additionally, this will help organizers reduce the financial demands that are tied to hosting a national-level event, which in most cases includes attracting a significant number of participants required to balance their event budgets.

National cross country events have unique challenges related to conducting competition in a COVID-19 environment that does not exist in other ski and snowboard sports such as race format (physical distancing), lead time (early season events), host venue regulations, as well as the financial model mentioned above. These event organizers will no longer be obligated to pay prize money equal to national levels of competition, nor will they be sanctioned as National Championship-level or Continental Cup (COC) level events.

“By restructuring our national cross country events calendar now, before the race season, local organizing committees, divisions, and regions are better positioned to start planning an effective and motivational race calendar for their area, potentially sanctioning races via U.S. Ski & Snowboard and/or the FIS to attract quality competition,” Grover added. “We will also assist our SuperTour, U.S. Nationals, and Junior Nationals organizing committee partners by allowing them to suspend portions of their planning and potentially avoiding the commitment of further financial and time investments.”

Selection criteria for all international events have been modified to consider regional racing, rather than national-level racing. In addition, athletes may be considered for international trips via discretion by assessing performances from regional events. Discretionary Selection Review Committees have been established for all of these selections, as well as mechanisms to solicit community feedback from the divisions prior to many selections. This system will allow for stand-out regional and divisional competition results to be recognized and considered for international team selection. The move to utilize discretion in these selection criteria is intended as a fix during the current pandemic only, and selection will return eventually to criteria that focus principally on objective selection. 

The 2020-21 FIS Alpine World Cup men’s and women’s calendars will adopt a different structure due to impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

After extended discussions among FIS, the national ski associations and the local organizing committees in Canada and the USA, together with their stakeholders, all parties have come to the joint decision that the Alpine Skiing World Cup tour will remain in Europe in late November. Traditionally, the tour comes to North America during this time of year.

For the women, this schedule shift impacts the HomeLight Killington Cup in Killington, Vt. (USA) giant slalom and slalom events on Nov. 28-29 and the speed week in Lake Louise, Alberta (CAN) on Dec. 1-6. For the men, this impacts the speed weekend in Lake Louise, Nov. 25-29 and both speed and tech events at the Xfinity Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek, Colo. (USA)  Dec. 1-6. The FIS Alpine World Cup will return to these sites for the 2021-22 season.

The objective of FIS is to carry out a full World Cup competition program, protecting the health and welfare of all participants to the best extent possible. The temporary realignment of the FIS Alpine World Cup Calendar in 2020-21 caters to this goal by focusing on athlete safety, reducing travel, and providing competitors with a detailed competition calendar. All parties jointly agreed to make this decision early to aid in developing the adjusted calendars during the next month before the FIS Technical Committee Meetings in late September.

Decisions for all other FIS World Cup events will be made independently and based on an assessment of each unique set of circumstances, including the risks and travel requirements related to each event and host country, as well as time needed between competitions to accommodate for COVID-19 protocols. 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Canadian Snowsports Association, and the Killington, Lake Louise and Vail Valley Foundation local organizing committees would like to express their gratitude to everyone for their dedication, planning, and collaboration in recent months. Attention to detail and thoughtfulness provided a pathway to hold their events this season, but all agreed to make this very difficult, but necessary decision, in order to prioritize the best interest of the alpine world cup athletes, coaches, technicians, volunteers, media, staff, all of the world cup fans and the Alpine World Cup tour, as a whole. The extensive preparation work provides a roadmap to move forward with planning other potential North American domestic events. Although the North American alpine venues and fans will be missed this season, all parties look forward to the Alpine World Cup’s return to the USA and Canada for the 2021-22 season.

The adapted calendars, to be approved in late September, involve the rescheduling of the alpine North American competitions at European sites. 

These will include events in December, with Val d’Isere (FRA) adding two events for the men. The planned giant slalom races will be moved up one weekend to Dec. 5-6, making room for an added downhill and super-G on Dec. 12-13. 

The women’s tour will add a downhill to its traditional weekend in St. Moritz (SUI) on Dec. 5-7. Additionally, Courchevel (FRA) will host a two-race technical weekend in December. 

“The North American races are always a very special two weeks for the entire FIS World Cup tour and we are very disappointed that we could not find a way to have them on this year’s Alpine calendar,” said FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis. “But if there is a silver lining, it is seeing how all of our stakeholders involved with the FIS World Cup are working together. The willingness of several National Ski Associations, Organizers and resorts to step up, alter their schedules and plans, shows that we truly are a united ski family that is working toward the common goal of carrying out a full and successful season. The engagement and commitment shown by the North American organizers and National Associations throughout the past months continues with both USA and Canada already turning to preparations for their central roles with FIS Freestyle, Freeski and Snowboard events that take place later in the season.”

The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup season will kick off in Soelden (AUT) on Oct. 17-18 for the traditional giant slaloms on the Rettenbach Glacier. The next stop on the tour will be the debut of host resort Lech/Zürs (AUT) on Nov. 14-15, which will feature a men’s and a women’s parallel race.

The revised calendars with the latest adaptations will be approved following the FIS Technical Meetings from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 for ratification by the FIS Council on Oct. 3, and will be published on the FIS website at that time.

###
 

About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders in 2020, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org.
 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s mission is to lead, encourage, and support athletes in achieving excellence by empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers, and fans. Excellence is not limited to what we leave on the snow, but in every aspect of our organization. We strive to create an environment within our organization and the snowsports industry in which diversity is valued, equity is striven for and inclusion is embraced. 

On June 8 we published a letter from our President and CEO, Tiger Shaw, addressing U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s initial plans to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive snowsports community. 

“In early June we began to listen to underrepresented voices within our community so that we could begin to take steps to improve,” said Tiger. “This is only the beginning. We initiated necessary discussion and increased awareness among our stakeholders, member groups and sphere of influence. There is much more to do and we are committed to affecting change now and in the long term, but this has been a good start.”

Recognizing the issues we face when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion was an important first step. We reached out and learned from members within our community, opened ourselves up to difficult conversations and began to formulate a path forward. Part of this process was hosting “Discussing Racial Diversity In Snowsports,” a digital panel that took place on Wednesday, July 15, moderated by Henri Rivers, President, National Brotherhood of Skiers.

The panel brought industry leaders and participants together for a frank conversation about the current landscape of racial diversity in our industry and to begin to talk through ways we can create a more inclusive community. It served as a catalyst for U.S. Ski & Snowboard and our industry partners to take action within our own organizations and as individual members of the ski and ride community. As a result, the new and improved U.S. Ski & Snowboard Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is firing on all cylinders. 

The DEI committee has identified six areas of work for immediate action:

1. Conduct a comprehensive internal audit on U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s diversity, equity and inclusion in practice, which will largely inform our strategic plans moving forward.

2. Identify and implement education and training opportunities for staff and athletes.

3. Build out relevant content and resources on our website for our various stakeholder groups to create transparency and accountability.

4. Pursue meaningful, formal partnerships with grassroots, local and national programs

5. Continue gender equity coaching initiatives. 

6. Create Annual DEI Award, to recognize a person, group, or organization that has positively heightened the awareness of diversity and inclusion efforts through various modes and media resulting in the increase and successful participation of currently underrepresented groups in the sport of skiing and snowboarding. 

In addition to our internal efforts, we will continue to use our platform to elevate voices from within the ski and snowboard community through stories and social media. This will be followed by profiles on each of our panelists from the July 15 discussion, among others. We still have a lot to learn and look forward to sharing these voices with you. 

Events will remain critical in our efforts to create awareness. Moving forward, future panels will have a narrower focus with the goal of creating true calls to action and to promote engaging discussion. Panels will be conducted periodically on a three to four week basis allowing for proper public-facing promotion and post-event analysis and evaluation. Lastly, we will also open up and promote our events to the public, creating opportunities for involvement beyond our membership base. 

As Tiger said in his June 8 letter, “It is no secret that U.S. Ski & Snowboard and our sports are historically white and despite many great programs in place, we could use more widespread initiatives for marginalized communities to participate. We could attempt to justify this with excuses, but when you drill down, the core issue is that there has been a lack of broad responsibility to do so. We can start by improving our organization, and better engage with and support those around us. We will lead by action and use our influence to help others.”

Thank you to all those who have contacted U.S. Ski & Snowboard with your ideas and feedback as well as to those who participated in our diversity panel. We are in this together, so please, if you have thoughts, suggestions or ideas on how we can better ourselves and strengthen this organization by creating true inclusivity, please reach out.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard alumni Jeremy Bloom, Bode Miller, Shaun White, and the late Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, through his mother, Linda, will be featured in HBO’s The Weight of Gold, premiering Wednesday, at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The documentary film explores the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face in deeply personal detail. 

More than 3.6 billion people around the world tune in to watch the Olympic Games. What most of these viewers don’t know is that just like one in five Americans, many of these Olympic athletes similarly face serious mental health challenges and struggle to find the necessary support and resources, according to a press release announcing the documentary’s debut.

In The Weight of Gold, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all-time, shares his account of his struggle, along with the struggles of other high-profile Olympic athletes. This documentary is premiering at a critical moment for the millions who struggle with mental health – an issue greatly exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The film seeks to inspire the discussion of mental health, encourage help-seeking behavior, and highlight the need for readily available help and support.

Tune in to witness the powerful stories of Michael, Bode, Shaun, Jeremy, Speedy, and other Olympic champions that highlight the critical role that mental health plays in sport and everyday life.

THE WEIGHT OF GOLD will be available on HBO and to stream on HBO Max. 

Mental Health Resources
United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee: www.teamusa.org/mentalhealth 
The Speedy Foundation: https://www.thespeedyfoundation.org    
Michael Phelps Foundation: https://michaelphelpsfoundation.org 
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org  
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: https://afsp.org 
Crisis Text Line: https://www.crisistextline.org  
Mental Health First Aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org  

If you or someone you know is experiencing an urgent mental health issue, we encourage you to text HOME to 741741, or call (800) 273-8255 to speak to a mental health professional. In the process of helping yourself, you may be inspiring courage in others to seek help as well.

If you are a U.S. Ski & Snowboard athlete, member, or staff, and feel you need support or would like to talk, don’t hesitate to reach out to USOPC Sr. Sport Psychologist Alexander Cohen as a resource.

Alexander Cohen, Ph.D., CMPC
Sr. Sport Psychologist
United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee
alexander.cohen@usoc.org
(O) +1 719-866-3180 (M) +1 719-216-6376