Alpine Officials

Hi VARA Clubs!

                 As some have you have heard, I’ve been tapped, prodded and nudged by VARA to become the new Alpine Officials Chairman for Vermont.  I’m psyched that some of you are already nudging me to set up officials' clinics for the fall.  That shows that we’re doing a good job of getting into the routine of updating ourselves.

                  I also want to thank Chuck Hughes for his many years involved with the VARA Alpine Officials and education. I have a few key people  that have volunteered to step-up and help out with running some of the updates.  Last year VARA held eleven clinics:  6 for General Officials, and then a VARA Coaches Seminar, a Race Admin seminar, a Timing and Calculations test, and the ever popular Timing/RA Never Ever Clinic.  This past season some alums of the Never Ever Clinic pressed me to do a first ever Timing/RA Intermediate Clinic that was well attended and drew a lot of praise.  My plan is to keep that list pretty much the same for this year.

                  There are things that I need to you do for me ASAP.  (Please contact me directly at skiracehelp@gmail.com, or any of the five other emails you might have for me)

1)  Let me know if your club wishes to host a General Officials Clinic this year.  Please suggest a three possible dates, in order of preference.

2)  Let me know if your club would like to host the Timing and Calculations Level 1 test.  I’ve been hanging out in the north for several of these, so, I’m willing to drive south this year.  Again, suggest three possible dates.

3)  Killington or Pico has traditionally hosted the RA seminar, and we’ll leave it there.  But I’d like RA’s to suggest dates.

Dates that are already set in stone:

A)  FIS Western TD Update, Denver, 10/23-25.

B)  FIS Eastern TD Update, Bromont, 10/30-11/1  (I’ll be attending)

C)  FIS Eastern RA/TC Update, Dartmouth 10/14-15  (I’ll be attending)

D) Oct 24 – VARA Gala- Quechee Club, Quechee, VT

E)  Nov 7- VARA Coaches Educational Forum – Pico Ski Club,(Andrea Meade Lawrence Building)

  *The Timing/RA Never Ever and Intermediate clinics will be held at BMA so that I can set up my classroom for a fully hands-on experience.

  I’m staying in the east for November, while BMA will be in Colorado.  So, I’ve got lots of time to devote to this during November.

                 Coming up quickly on the horizon will be signing up TD’s and Juries for this season’s races.  I’m going to be doing this on a google sheet, and this is one of my biggest initiatives for this year.  As you know, we’ve been pushing to make sure that referees and course-setters all have at least a RF-1 certification from USSA.  That’s for all levels, U10 and up.  I think it’s very important that we do the best job possible of getting a solid jury and course setters for every single race in Vermont.  That includes having a jury for camps and training projects that is ready to step in and make a decision if something is not going perfectly. 

                 To work towards that goal, I want to have a master Google sheet that has every non-scored and scored USSA/VARA race for the season with six names attached to each race:  TD, COR, Ref, Course 1, Course 2 or Asst. Ref, Race Contact.  My goal is to have those positions dialed-in and on the sheet for every race no later than 48 hours before the event.  That’s going to be a big change for some people, but you’ll like it when it becomes part of the routine.

                  Thanks so much for reading through all this.  There will be more, and my emails tend to be longer than 140 characters.  Thanks also for your support.  I’m relying heavily on you to keep everything moving in a positive direction.  A few things need a state-wide coordinator, that’s the job I’m taking on.  A whole ton of things requires an army of competent professionals with boots on the snow.  That’s what I need your help with.

  -DI

CONTACT INFO:

Dave Iverson
BMA
skiracehelp@gmail.com

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