Live Like Sam Day, created in partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Live Like Sam Foundation, is coming up Saturday, Oct. 10. For this year’s second-annual celebration, the organization is not only honoring the legacy of the late internationally-ranked freeskiing champion, Sam Jackenthal, but is celebrating the nonprofit’s renewed focus on providing educational programming and mental wellness initiatives for youth communities.

On Oct. 10, 2015, the Park City community came together for Sam Jackenthal’s Celebration of Life following his sudden passing during a tragic skiing accident in Australia. While his death left behind a huge hole in the hearts of his fellow Parkites, his father, Ron Jackenthal, was determined to honor his legacy of love, kindness, community, and self-compassion by giving back to youth in need. In 2019, the Live Like Sam Foundation officially launched, getting support from partners all over the nation, including U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USASA, Vail Resorts, Woodward Camp, and many more.

Since the organization’s founding, Live Like Sam has provided more than $100,000 in merit and needs-based scholarships to deserving youth who exemplify the Live Like Sam core values of character, athletics, responsibility, and education. U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s core values of integrity, passion, fun, team, excellence, and grit closely align with Live Like Sam’s mission, making the partnership between the two organizations a perfect fit.

“I am very excited to have such a great partnership with Live Like Sam and we are looking forward to what future collaboration will bring,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Director of Sport Education Gareth Trayner. “The mental health and wellbeing of our athletes, coaches and members is of critical importance to us and we are always looking for ways to better resource and support our communities. The incredible wealth of material that Live like Sam is producing will play a pivotal role as we move forward in building the next generation of lifelong lovers of sport."

As Live Like Sam looks to the future, the organization has big plans to help youth communities gain access to mental wellness resources so they can become emotionally, socially, and mentally fit for adulthood. Part of the foundation’s renewed focus includes a commitment to develop educational programming that aims to destigmatize mental wellness and help youth communities strengthen their coping mechanisms through practicing self-compassion.

“We’re not an organization focused on loss, we’re an organization focused on life,” explains Ron. “Sam is so full of life: Even after his passing, he is still making a positive impact on people’s lives. Our goal is to help others live a positive, compassionate life like Sam’s, and part of that means creating the tools and resources for them to do exactly that.”

On Oct. 10, Live Like Sam invites everyone to celebrate Live Like Sam Day either online or by attending the live event at Utah Olympic Park from 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m MDT. The day encourages people to put self-compassion and kindness first by performing acts of self-love and random acts of kindness. For those participating online, the organization has provided a list of self-compassion and random acts of kindness activities that people can use as a source of inspiration to celebrate the day. You can get involved by posting about your celebration online using #LiveLikeSamDay. Live Like Sam is also hosting a silent auction online for those unable to attend the live event in-person. The silent auction features more than 50 auction items valued at more than $50,000, and all proceeds collected will go towards furthering the Live Like Sam mission to champion mental wellness in youth communities. Learn more about the Live Like Sam Foundation by visiting www.livelikesam.org.
 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard's Sports Education Department has partnered with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to create a Club Excellence Fall Summit Webinar Series, which will take place every Wednesday evening in October beginning on October 7. 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard's development programs support the vision and mission to make the United States the "Best in the World" in Olympic skiing and snowboarding. But that wouldn't be possible without engaging and dedicated coaches at all levels who are out there working to support athletes striving to reach their full potential.

The Club Excellence 2020 Fall Summit will aim to spark insights into each topic's foundational principles by increasing awareness, providing practical examples from the ski and snowboard community, and engaging in reflective exercises. These sessions are designed to build upon one another, keeping participants focused on what is most important: coaching. This Fall Summit includes five sections of participant engagement for each webinar: Pre-Work, 60 Minute Presentation, Panel Discussion, Post-Work, and Survey.

 Register for all four Sessions: HERE

*Please note all four sessions will be recorded and available for viewing following the conclusion of each session. 

 Session Details: 

• Session 1 - Coaching Philosophy: Your Why, Values, & Mission - October 7
  In order for you to have an influence on others, you need to know yourself. Your philosophy is an intentional guide to align your thinking, your values and your behaviors as a coach...
• Session 2 - Planning: Intentions, Standards, Communication - October 14
  Success for our athletes tomorrow depends on how we prepare for it today. In these incredibly complex and uncertain times, identifying target themes, establishing standards of performance, and clearly communicating to staff and athletes is indispensable...
• Session 3 - Coaching: Attention, Cueing, & Questioning - October 21
  Have you ever considered how YOUR performance in training influences your athlete’s learning? Enhancing how you start training, using intentional language to coach during training, and capturing the learning at the end of training will ignite your athlete’s skill development...
• Session 4 - Review: Debrief, Feedback, & Next Steps - October 28
  One of the greatest losses in potential doesn’t happen before or during training, but at the very end.  Deliberately debriefing captures new information and insights to close the learning loop for the day, and carry progress into tomorrow...

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.

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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.