This letter was passed on from one of our TDs. He thought it would be beneficial to pass this on to the MARA community.
Dear FIS TD’s and Ski Friends,
Trust you and your families are well.
As we move into January, we are hoping to host some good competitions. We had a very successful Western Region FIS Slalom series at Snow King in Jackson Hole, WY on December 17-20; they hosted four slaloms per gender in four days. The organizers did a great job with the event, and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Covid-19 polices along with local and state health regulations were successfully followed. The reports from those involved have been positive, and the general feeling is that the process has provided an excellent road map for running events where the participants, coaches, officials and volunteers felt safe, distanced and appropriate considering our current health environment.
We have had only a few events thus far this season in the USA: National Championships at Copper, a SG series at Copper and the Snow King races. All of the other events on the calendar were canceled due to Covid-19 local or state policy. Post holidays we are hoping to run many more successful events. This will require all of us to participate as never before. We must approach each event with great cooperation, extra effort and superior flexibility to manage within the local health policies. It’s a big job and your involvement, if you are comfortable to go out in the field, will be a big part of the success.
Considering all this, the FIS calendar for the USA is rapidly changing, and I am working with the regional coordinators to manage the many edits. You should expect to hear from your coordinators before the New Year with requests to consider officiating at these venues. Please do what you can to assist in providing our athletes with events. A FIS Alpine TD is required for an alpine event; without this official, the event must be canceled.
Regarding Covid-19 policies, it is very important to understand your place as a TD and as a member of the Jury. The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Alpine Sport Committee has organized excellent directives for the Covid-19 pandemic which can be viewed at these links Domestic Competition Guidance and Alpine Competition Guidance. As previously communicated, as the TD for an event you should be familiar with the policies and communicate with those on the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) to be sure they have an understanding of the scope of their responsibility. You must cooperate with them in communicating applicable local and state health directives.
From our recent event experiences, some situations have arisen that we believe will be common to all events, and we wish to provide guidance to avoid situational and officious behavior. The Jury is responsible for enforcing all the rules in the ICR and other FIS procedural documents. When it comes to enforcement of Covid-19 local health directives, it is the responsibility of the LOC to make sure that the participants, coaches, officials and volunteers abide by those directives. If they do not, the LOC and local authorities have every right, with or without the involvement of the Jury, to enforce those directives. Examples may include individuals refusing to wear a mask as required by local directives or failing to provide daily health checks. This type of behavior may result in expulsion from the arena and event venue by the LOC. If the Jury witnesses any behavior inconsistent with the local health directives, they too may act. However, the Jury members should not involve themselves in an action based on hearsay in which they are told but have not witnessed infractions. If you, as a Jury member, witness a failure to abide by the local directives – you and your Jury may take action to sanction the non-compliant person or persons as provided by Art. *223.1.1 & Art. *224.2
Taking everything into perspective – we, as an alpine community, wish to make the best of the 2021 season and provide a safe environment to host successful events. It is going to take an immense amount of cooperation by all those involved. It is going to take flexibility, understanding and effort. It is going to require commitment by all stakeholders to work as a team in order to keep the season intact. Athletes, Coaches, Officials, Volunteers – we all need to cooperate as never before.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or comments.
And, please distribute widely to regions and divisional AO’s and Coaches.
Sincerely,
Paul
Paul Van Slyke
FIS TD Commissioner