2009 Ski Cross Feedback
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This is the feed back from Freestyle/ Ski Cross athletes that came up during the season and in the last weeks: matters to consider, to discuss and guidelines to accomplish in the future. The ranking of this pointers are set down according how many times they have been mentioned. Therefore the pointers of most importance to the athletes are on top of the list.
1. Clothing- The clothing issue needs to be resolved. NO RACE SUITES! We believe that the material will be hard to control. There are too many ways around it. We should increase the measurement from 60mm to 100/120mm. We saw what the federations are ready to do if the rules are not 100% clear. We also know that the the coaches working group has addressed this topic but here are the most mentioned details from the athletes: - no plastic materials (or other speed materials, etc...) - no body fiting - at least minimum 6cm wide (same places as now ) measuring with the protection -two pieces -normal ski pant style (covered buckles- measuring point there?) 2. The measuring process needs to be clarified. It seemed like the testing procedure changed from race to race. We know the coaches working group has addressed this in their proposed rule change. Proper policing of equipment issues: Clothing and equipment protests should be allowed and dealt with before the race starts (qualifying and heats)
3. Adequate gate official education: One solution for not having to educate every single starter could be to have the same Starter for the whole season. It is more fair for all the athletes and someone who knows the prosedure and can avoid chaos on the start.
4. Protests-The coaches working group has addressed this topic. But we have some additional suggestions (all differtent but they are all worth a discussion):
•
neutral Video Judge who is controlling the whole race infront of the screen. He is judging from what he sees and has the last word. Scenario N°1: He is judging every heat. Scenario N°2 He is only reacting in case of a protest.
•
any reasonable evidence should be able to be presented to the Jury to support a protest; not just the evidence of the Gate Judge of Jury Member witnessing an infraction. For example if a party provides a video of the mishap to support a protest the Jury should be obliged to review the video to make judgment.
•
Once a protest is lodged there should be a time frame to deal, provide the evidence and make the decision ( say 5min). The jury is often to rushed to get the heats underway and the protest is all too often dismissed. EVEN if we are live on Tv there should be time for a protest! We could share that with the people who are spectating and explain why and how the decisions are made.
•
Protests should not have to be written – there is not sufficient time for anyone to submit a written protest in between heats. – I think this was relaxed.
5. Course building: The jumps and landing of the jumps are very important. One or two course builders who have the experience could build the courses the whole season. Difficulty of the courses should increase on the
World Cup. Some World cups this year were easier than some Europa Cup races. There should be a high standard of the World Cup races.
6. Qualification & Women: we should race 32 ONLY when we are more than for ex. 40 girls doing the qualification. Otherwise it's ridiculous and no interest at all. It is not good for the Sport and bad for TV if there are only 3 girls in each heat of the 1st round.
If there are only 32 girls doing the qualification and peple start hiking in the qualification after doing a mistake it is taking too long to get back in the course. The athlete should have to stop and DNF. If not there is a great risk of injury when the next racer appear if there is no flag right there and someone is hiking the course. As you know it happened at the World championship and we would probably all have done the same since there are no rule about this. How about a rule of maximum time after the best one??
7. Start Gate Drop- many of us think that we need to go back to “random” gate drops. There were too many times this year when the start cadence was exactly the same through out the race. People were able to anticipate when the gate was going to open. This goes against what ski cross is about. Reaction time and technique should count more than anticipating the gate drop.
8. Course setting-We feel that we need to get away from multiple gate turns. There only needs to be one turning gate. That will add multiple line options for each turn rather than just one line. Also, we should try to eliminate blind gates after jumps/features so there are no questionable disqualifications.
9. To raise a Marketing value of the sport, events should be held in major resorts to attract bigger audience and recognition. A dream scenario would be if races could be held in resorts with a possible finish in the
village’s center. If we keep the evens in small places, the event will stay small. Easy access for the audience is the key.
10.The FIS should set standards for the quality of the events. New Organizers should get some guidelines and see some good examples from past races (ex. SX in Branäs was very good on TV and for athletes).
11. Panel’s-The size and shape of the SX panels. Having one detachable contact point on the base of the stubbie would prevent the stick-in gate from bending over and hitting the next racer. By securing the panel to the base of the inside stubbie and not having a sleeve over top, the stubbie should simply flex without pulling the stick-in into the next racers path.
12. We should mix the nations on the groups of training more during the season (the 2 groups with 2 different period of training is a really good idea since the number of athletes has increased that much!)
13. Better scheduling of events to avoid fatigue/injury/lost baggage issues.
14. Having a male and a female connection athlete (from Top 16 men and Top 8 women) for every race (like the connection coaches) to represent the interests of the athletes.
15. Make a checklist for organizers: Could be a good idea to help the organizers to be aware and solve the problems in time (before or after the 1st trainings). One male and one female connection athlete and one connection coach could meet for ex. after inspection or 1st training and discuss if there is some concerns (shape a jump, put salt in some turns,...)
16. Acting with respect towards athletes. We are not any “crash test dummies” who do whatever we are told to do. Sometimes it is better to accept for ex. bad weather conditions and cancel a race or a qualifying than to take the risk to destoy careers (injury).
17. PRICE MONEY: The price money in Ski Cross is very low compared to many other sports (FIS). As we take a lot of risk doing our sport a rise of price money would be very interesting for all athletes.
1. Clothing- The clothing issue needs to be resolved. NO RACE SUITES! We believe that the material will be hard to control. There are too many ways around it. We should increase the measurement from 60mm to 100/120mm. We saw what the federations are ready to do if the rules are not 100% clear. We also know that the the coaches working group has addressed this topic but here are the most mentioned details from the athletes: - no plastic materials (or other speed materials, etc...) - no body fiting - at least minimum 6cm wide (same places as now ) measuring with the protection -two pieces -normal ski pant style (covered buckles- measuring point there?) 2. The measuring process needs to be clarified. It seemed like the testing procedure changed from race to race. We know the coaches working group has addressed this in their proposed rule change. Proper policing of equipment issues: Clothing and equipment protests should be allowed and dealt with before the race starts (qualifying and heats)
3. Adequate gate official education: One solution for not having to educate every single starter could be to have the same Starter for the whole season. It is more fair for all the athletes and someone who knows the prosedure and can avoid chaos on the start.
4. Protests-The coaches working group has addressed this topic. But we have some additional suggestions (all differtent but they are all worth a discussion):
•
neutral Video Judge who is controlling the whole race infront of the screen. He is judging from what he sees and has the last word. Scenario N°1: He is judging every heat. Scenario N°2 He is only reacting in case of a protest.
•
any reasonable evidence should be able to be presented to the Jury to support a protest; not just the evidence of the Gate Judge of Jury Member witnessing an infraction. For example if a party provides a video of the mishap to support a protest the Jury should be obliged to review the video to make judgment.
•
Once a protest is lodged there should be a time frame to deal, provide the evidence and make the decision ( say 5min). The jury is often to rushed to get the heats underway and the protest is all too often dismissed. EVEN if we are live on Tv there should be time for a protest! We could share that with the people who are spectating and explain why and how the decisions are made.
•
Protests should not have to be written – there is not sufficient time for anyone to submit a written protest in between heats. – I think this was relaxed.
5. Course building: The jumps and landing of the jumps are very important. One or two course builders who have the experience could build the courses the whole season. Difficulty of the courses should increase on the
World Cup. Some World cups this year were easier than some Europa Cup races. There should be a high standard of the World Cup races.
6. Qualification & Women: we should race 32 ONLY when we are more than for ex. 40 girls doing the qualification. Otherwise it's ridiculous and no interest at all. It is not good for the Sport and bad for TV if there are only 3 girls in each heat of the 1st round.
If there are only 32 girls doing the qualification and peple start hiking in the qualification after doing a mistake it is taking too long to get back in the course. The athlete should have to stop and DNF. If not there is a great risk of injury when the next racer appear if there is no flag right there and someone is hiking the course. As you know it happened at the World championship and we would probably all have done the same since there are no rule about this. How about a rule of maximum time after the best one??
7. Start Gate Drop- many of us think that we need to go back to “random” gate drops. There were too many times this year when the start cadence was exactly the same through out the race. People were able to anticipate when the gate was going to open. This goes against what ski cross is about. Reaction time and technique should count more than anticipating the gate drop.
8. Course setting-We feel that we need to get away from multiple gate turns. There only needs to be one turning gate. That will add multiple line options for each turn rather than just one line. Also, we should try to eliminate blind gates after jumps/features so there are no questionable disqualifications.
9. To raise a Marketing value of the sport, events should be held in major resorts to attract bigger audience and recognition. A dream scenario would be if races could be held in resorts with a possible finish in the
village’s center. If we keep the evens in small places, the event will stay small. Easy access for the audience is the key.
10.The FIS should set standards for the quality of the events. New Organizers should get some guidelines and see some good examples from past races (ex. SX in Branäs was very good on TV and for athletes).
11. Panel’s-The size and shape of the SX panels. Having one detachable contact point on the base of the stubbie would prevent the stick-in gate from bending over and hitting the next racer. By securing the panel to the base of the inside stubbie and not having a sleeve over top, the stubbie should simply flex without pulling the stick-in into the next racers path.
12. We should mix the nations on the groups of training more during the season (the 2 groups with 2 different period of training is a really good idea since the number of athletes has increased that much!)
13. Better scheduling of events to avoid fatigue/injury/lost baggage issues.
14. Having a male and a female connection athlete (from Top 16 men and Top 8 women) for every race (like the connection coaches) to represent the interests of the athletes.
15. Make a checklist for organizers: Could be a good idea to help the organizers to be aware and solve the problems in time (before or after the 1st trainings). One male and one female connection athlete and one connection coach could meet for ex. after inspection or 1st training and discuss if there is some concerns (shape a jump, put salt in some turns,...)
16. Acting with respect towards athletes. We are not any “crash test dummies” who do whatever we are told to do. Sometimes it is better to accept for ex. bad weather conditions and cancel a race or a qualifying than to take the risk to destoy careers (injury).
17. PRICE MONEY: The price money in Ski Cross is very low compared to many other sports (FIS). As we take a lot of risk doing our sport a rise of price money would be very interesting for all athletes.
