Every May, after storage wax has cooled and spandex has been washed for the first time since November, coaches, officials, and athletes from around the country descend upon Park City for four days to discuss scheduling for the following year and implementing new race rules and formats. This is the USSA Congress. FasterSkier caught up with John Farra, USSA Nordic Director, to get a run down of the most import developments to come out of...
United States Ski Association (USSA) Chief Executive Officer Bill Marolt took a five percent cut in base compensation and benefits in the 2010 fiscal year, according to federal tax forms recently released by the Internal Revenue Service. In both 2010 and 2009, Marolt received a $250,000 bonus from USSA and its affiliate organizations. In the last fiscal year, however–which ended April 30, 2010–his base pay decreased from $309,947 to $269,258, while his benefits and nontaxable...
As the ski season for Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC) wound down, juniors coach and former World Cup nordic combined skier Kerry Lynch answered questions via phone and e-mail with FasterSkier correspondent Peter Minde. A three-time nordic combined national champion, Lynch raced from 1979 until 1987, and his international success presaged the later successes of Ryan Heckman and the current crop of U.S. nordic combined skiers. A participant in the 1980 and 1984 Winter...
In a gesture of unprecedented generosity, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) chief Bill Marolt says that has taken a pay cut from his 2009 salary of nearly $652,000. With the effects of the economic having forced cuts to USSA staff and programs over the last few years, the organization released a statement Wednesday that as part of new austerity measures, Marolt agreed to have $4.52 sliced off his pay for the fiscal year 2010....
Just before the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) named its team traveling to the 2011 World Championships in Oslo, Brian Gregg got a voicemail from U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover. Gregg, a strong domestic skier on CXC’s Team Vertical Limit, was ranked eighth nationally, and had a shot—albeit a small one—at being selected to the group heading to Worlds. But the news from Grover was disappointing: Gregg’s results had been good, but...
A recent change in management should have minimal impact on the U.S. Adaptive Ski Team (USAST) in the upcoming season, with competition schedules remaining the same through the winter. Late last week, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) announced that it would take control of Paralympic alpine and cross-country skiing from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). One administrator lost her position as part of the change, but despite some initial uncertainty, coaches and athletes...
While the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria are still more than a year away, both the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and the U.S. Biathlon Association (USBA) have posted qualifying criteria for the event. Why so early? Entries for the Youth Olympics, which are scheduled for January 13th through 22nd, 2012, are due at the beginning of December, 2011. Since there won’t be much time for qualification events that winter, most of...
PARK CITY, UT (Dec. 16) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association has announced changes in its organization to create a more consolidated management team and tighter focus on raising money to support its athletic programs. The changes, announced by USSA President and CEO Bill Marolt, are the outgrowth of a USSA Strategic Plan adopted by the Olympic sports organization in May. “Our USSA Strategic Plan has given us a clear vision of where we...
The J1 Scandinavia Championship Trip is a fixed piece of the elite athlete and coach development pipeline in the U.S. having been in place as an organized trip for over ten years. Most U.S. Ski Team and many World Junior Team athletes participated in this trip in the past. The U.S. Ski Team is pleased to announce the 2011 staff: Matthew Johnson, Head Coach Burke Mountain Academy Peter Leonard, Head Serviceman FXC – Nordic Ski...
As per the 2011 Comp guide, USSA will score certain FIS & Continental Cup events in Europe to the National Ranking List (NRL), as well as them being scored to the FIS points list. This is a dramatic increase in the number of weekends (from 2 to 10) that will be scored to support the national development strategies being called out by the U.S. Ski Team and club coaches nationwide. USSA European NRL events 2011...
The U.S. Ski Team is offering four coaching positions for the 2011 World Junior and U23 World Championships. All four positions are fully funded by NCCSEF. Coaches looking to apply for these positions should have experience working with athletes aged 16-22, a strong background in waxing and testing skis, and be willing to work hard for two weeks and seven races. That said, we are looking to develop coaches and welcome all applications from coaches wishing to gain...
FasterSkier is planning an interview with recently-appointed U.S. Ski Team Sports Dietician Adam Korzun later this month. If you have any questions about nutrition for which Google is no help, shoot them our way, and we’ll do our best to get you an answer! You can send your queries to us at info[at]fasterskier.com, or just leave them in the comments below.
PARK CITY, UT (July 26) – Focusing on nutrition as one of the keys to athletic success, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) has named Adam Korzun as sports dietician, according to High Performance Director Troy Flanagan. Korzun has worked with the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding for the past two years through the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and joined the USSA full-time earlier this summer. “We are thrilled to have someone...
With the help of regional coaches attending the camps, the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff has selected the top athletes from all four Regional Elite Group (REG) camps (East, Central, West and Alaska) and names these athletes to the National Elite Group (NEG). These athletes are offered the opportunity to train alongside the U.S. Ski Team athletes at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center October 9-17th. Attributes such as motivation, dedication, general physical fitness and...
When James Southam lined up for the start of a 30 k pursuit race at the Olympics in Whistler in February, it was the first time he’d done so all year. At the 2009 World Championships in the Czech Republic, Southam faced a similar challenge: the pursuit race there was only his second of the season, following a World Cup in Whistler earlier that year. Of the 24 SuperTour races scheduled by the U.S. Ski...
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (July 19) – Summer is here, marking the “off season” for winter sports like skiing and snowboarding and the beginning of summer school sessions. Through the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association educational program’s partnership with Westminster College, many U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Ski Jumping athletes are hitting the books. “It was such a pleasure to meet in person so many of the U.S. ski and snowboarding athletes whom...
With the Sochi Winter Olympics more than three years off, the city still maintains an aura of mystery to most Americans. Not for Luke Bodensteiner, the vice president for athletics at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), who has already visited the 2014 venues twice. Bodensteiner’s first trip to Sochi was with the International Ski Federation (FIS) two years ago, when he helped with a training seminar for some of the initial Olympic volunteers....
What do a GPS, a retired airline pilot, and a Norwegian guru named Hermod Bjorkestol have in common? All are key components of a plan to bring many of the U.S.’s biggest venues in line with International Ski Federation (FIS) standards. At its annual meetings in Turkey in early June, FIS made it clear to American officials that a longstanding exception would be revoked: starting in the winter of 2011-2012, all races held in the...
The IOC hasn’t yet decided on a location for the 2018 Winter Olympics. But it’s safe to say that the road to those Games travels through Slovenia, at least for some of America’s cross country skiers. Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation (NCCSEF), and more funding from the U.S. Ski Team, a group of 15 athletes has set up shop in the resort town of Rogla. There, the...
