U.S. Ski & Snowboard is asking NENSA to help them pass on this information to your athletes, coaches, industry colleagues, and wax technicians here in New England:
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO ACQUIRE ON-COURSE CREDENTIALS:
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is requiring that our cross country community coaches, wax technicians, officials, and industry service personnel have a minimum of a U.S. Ski & Snowboard “Volunteer membership” to acquire credentials at any U.S. Ski & Snowboard sanctioned event. We have been lenient this fall since these requirements from US Congress and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to all Olympic sports are new policies. However, these requirements will be fully implemented at U.S. National Championships in Houghton, MI this January 2020, and any U.S. Ski & Snowboard event or USA FIS event thereafter.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard has taken a strong stand on athlete safety. They are requiring any adult athlete, coach, official, wax technician, or ski industry service personnel taking part in a U.S. Ski & Snowboard sanctioned event to maintain an active U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership. An active U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership for individuals over 18 years of age requires passing a background screen and successfully completing SafeSport training.
A credentialed bib at sanctioned events provides coaches, technicians, and industry support with access on course. Coaches, officials, industry personnel, and wax technicians must be ACTIVE members. PENDING memberships will not be accepted.
Pending Memberships:
Any coach, official, industry service personnel, or team technician MUST have an ACTIVE membership. Athletes with PENDING background screens but have completed SafeSport Training must have initiated their background screen 21 days prior to competition. Please note that TODAY is 21 days prior to the first U.S. National Championship race. US citizens are passing backgrounds screens in 2-3 days as a point of reference.
Foreign Athletes:
Please find attached U.S. Ski & Snowboard foreign athlete registration. A U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership is not required in a USA FIS event if an athlete has a foreign FIS license. A U.S. Ski & Snowboard license IS required if the event is a U.S. Ski & Snowboard sanctioned event but NOT a FIS race. Also, a U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership license is necessary for foreign athletes without a FIS license.
Foreign Coaches:
Any foreign coach that is coaching one (1) or more U.S. Ski and Snowboard member athlete at a U.S. Ski & Snowboard event must have an active U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership. Again, the minimum requirement to support your athletes at a U.S. Ski & Snowboard sanctioned event is a “VOLUNTEERS” license for 2019-20 season, however an active “COACHES” license will be necessary in the upcoming years. I would encourage coaches to select the “COACHES” license and fulfill those requirements. A coaches license requires you to go through Coaching Fundamentals, which every coach in ALL seven sport will have to do in the next 1-2 calendar years. There is no grandfathering of this course and EVERY coach will be going through it including U.S. Ski Team coaches – no exception. Coaching Fundamental is the first half of the new XC Level 100, so fulfillment of Coaching Fundamentals means you have completed half of the new L100 already.
Athletes and Coaches from other National Governing Bodies (USA Paralympic and US Biathlon):
Athletes and Coaches from other US NGB’s must acquire a U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership and go through the same steps listed in the email from membership below. US Biathlon and USA Paralympics NGB’s have been notified of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard policy. Nordic Combined athletes are a part of U.S. Ski & Snowboard and are cleared to compete in U.S. Ski & Snowboard events as long as they have active memberships.
Please help US Ski & Snowboard share this information to your athletes and XC colleagues. Their main method of communication for all important Cross Country updates is their Cross Country U.S. Ski & Snowboard member mass email that Adam St. Pierre (U.S. Ski & Snowboard XC Coordinator) has been routinely sending out information. The information in this email will be sent out in that mass email list this week.
Alan Serrano (U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Official’s Coordinator: allanjserrano@gmail.com) or Bryan Fish (Cross Country Sport Development Manager: bryan.fish@usskiandsnowboard.org) can answer questions pertaining to membership details. Or please reach out directly to Membership Services at:
Member Services
Email: membership@ussa.org
Phone: 435.647.2666
FYI – The Volunteer Membership can be found here:
https://usskiandsnowboard.org/membership/cross-country-club-volunteer-membership
Background screen takes 5 minutes to input personal information to NCSI (National Center for Safety Initiatives).
SafeSport Training include 3 modules (Mandatory Reporting, Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education & Emotional and Physical Misconduct). Completion takes an average 2.5 hrs. SafeSport training fulfillment is updated to all USA summer and winter NGB’s daily.
