Discipline Committee Autumn Meetings - Key Outcomes

The newly appointed Snow Australia National Discipline Committees (NDC’s) convened over the past few weeks to hold their traditional Autumn meetings. 

The NDC’s would normally come together in person for the Discipline Conference which is usually held in conjunction with the Snow Australia Awards however given the cancellation of the awards this year these meetings were held via videoconference. Following are the key discussion topics and outcomes from each meeting:

Alpine Committee

A note from the Chairman, Matt Lyons:

It was great to finally get all of the new NAC together for our first meeting. There’s a really functional mix of Olympic/Paralympic experience, national and International sport, resort and club administration, athletic development and commercial, government and small business knowledge. All of the members were keen to engage with the work of supporting the organisation as the refreshed Alpine Plan takes shape. 

Despite the challenges facing everyone given COVID-related constraints, rather than view these as barriers, we see the time as an opportunity to support Snow Australia staff and our clubs as they progress aspects of the strategy where there hasn’t been capacity for in the initial flurry of implementation from the Alpine Review and Roadmap. We’re also keen to start engaging with the community in various ways as we all figure our way forward in these unprecedented times.

Following are some key outcomes from our recent Autumn meetings:

• Lara Falk nominated as Athlete Representative. Lara competed in the PyeongChang 2019 Paralympic Winter Games as a sighted guide for vision impaired para-alpine skier Patrick Jensen.
• Discussion and finalisation of the National Alpine Plan to be released shortly. The National Alpine Plan is aligned with the Snow Australia Strategy which encompasses the four pillars being; communication, capability, community, capacity.
• Discussion around the introduction of National and Regional working groups that aligns with the National Alpine Plan and the four pillars of the Snow Australia Strategy. These groups will allow the NAC to better engage and collaborate with Clubs and Stakeholders and to assist with rolling out key initiatives.
• Decided that the NAC will meet more regularly in 2020 to accomplish strategic goals.

Cross Country Committee

Key discussion points:

• Review of 2019-2020 international program
• Update on current 2020 AUS winter resort opening plans
• COVID-19 planning for program activities and events
• Preliminary review of selection policies for 2020-2021 and 2022 Olympic Winter Games
• Review of current pathway programs and remote training direction from national/state coaches
• Initial discussion around development of mental skills and well-being education and servicing framework
• Announcement of 2020 AUSXC Award winners
• Identification of new fundraising activities

Outcomes:

• Program and event COVID-19 planning is the main priority before July
• Selection policies for 2020-2021 and Beijing 2022 to be ratified by the end of June
• Preliminary scenario planning for 2020-2021 international program in place by the end of June
• XC leaders forum to be held via video conferencing in June

Freestyle Committee

• FIS progress towards inclusion of Dual Moguls in Winter Olympic Games
• Further progress and pathway club involvement on skill, acrobatic and S&C assessments in F3, T1, T2 of the pathway
• Overseas selection requests for FIS, Nor Am, US Selections, Europa Cup and Junior Worlds to be submitted by club head coaches prior to October committee meeting
• Imminent opening of Brisbane water ramp facility
• Snow Australia to commence negotiations with USSA on membership requirement equivalency 

Park & Pipe Committee

The newly formed National Park & Pipe Committee met in May of 2020.  This was the first time that a Park & Pipe Committee has stood external to the National Snowboard Committee.  It was therefore a priority for the new Chair, Scott Kneller, to create a robust discussion about the strategic objectives of the Committee moving forward.  Various working groups will be formed within the Committee to address the implementation of these objectives over the coming weeks.  

Some of these key strategic objectives were to: 

• Create a Park & Pipe presence in every resort
• Establish clear communication channels to keep our community involved
• Develop fundraising initiatives to build training infrastructure and support initiatives in targeted areas of the Athlete Pathway 
• Increase the quality of events at all levels of the Athlete Pathway
• An upskilling of coaches and support staff within Clubs and the broader community through Snow Australia Coach Academy initiative
• Identify opportunities to retain elite athlete knowledge in the sport after retirement.  The appointment of Freeski Slopestyle Olympian Russ Henshaw to the Committee is one such example of this.
• Facilitate the construction of key infrastructure such as Air Bag Facilities and Terrain Parks to support athlete development

Snowboard Committee

• The proposed NSWIS selections were endorsed.
• The updated selection policies for SBX and Alpine Snowboard were endorsed.
• A sub committee of committee members is to be set up to investigate ways to improve athlete participation in Alpine Snowboard.
• Upcoming events for the southern season are yet to be determined due to Covid 19 considerations.
• ETP selections were presented to the Committee.
• Snow Australia’s Coaching Development initiatives include Fundamentals 1 in each discipline to be rolled out online in June.  This is for entry level coaches/instructors.  There is potential to host an on-snow component in September 20. Coach Academy is developing a modular course for next level of identified coaches.