US Ski & Snowboard cancels remainder of season (effective Monday, 16 March)

[sparty]

Due to the recently enacted European travel restrictions, and ongoing concerns in the United States and Canada regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), U.S. Ski & Snowboard is cancelling all remaining U.S. domestic events, and working to return all U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes back to the United States. In addition, Alpine Canada, and Nordiq Canada have cancelled events to coincide with U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is also cancelling all sanctioned and scheduled events beginning Monday, March 16. This includes all club-level events for all disciplines and any unnecessary gatherings, including banquets, awards and end of season presentations, etc. Expect further updates on future events, including U.S. Ski & Snowboard Congress.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information

Latest organizational updates regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

usskiandsnowboard.org

 

[martyg]

Was going to work the Aspen event. Booked through AirBnB. Working on a refund now....

 

[Chris Walker]

I’ve gotten unofficial word that this includes Masters events. So much for my big comeback.

 

[QueueCT]

U14 Eastern Champs canceled for this weekend as well.

 

[hbear]

Yup, all Canadian events cancelled as well.
To say my daughter is less than pleased would be a massive understatement.

103 cases and 1 death so far in Canada......we have 2000 automotive deaths annually.

 

[Karl B]

I wonder if this will impact my USSA L200 clinic at the end of the month... I'm sure they'll contact me if it is.

 

[Zrxman01]

Good afternoon
In case anyone does not receive the NYSSRA emails please see below

Dear Athletes and Parents,

As you may have seen in the last few hours the world is changing, for better or worse we do not know, however with the recent announcement as of 12:30pm to cancel all US Ski & Snowboard sponsored events as of Monday March 16th I have consulted with your executive committee, Board members and athlete representatives.

Regretfully, at this time NYSSRA will be cancelling Kandahar Champs this weekend.

U14 Easterns which only a few hours ago was a go is now also cancelled along with all future races this season both in the US and Canada.

Thank you very much for understanding the volatility of the situation in which we find ourselves.

Best of luck to all our athletes in the off season and fingers crossed we are though this outbreak in short order.


J. Bradley Rauch
President – NYSSRA – Board of Directors

Stephen Mergenthaler
NYSSRA Youth Development
34 Beech Hill Circle
Lake Placid, NY 12946
518-524-3328
[email protected]

 

[Lifer]

I wonder if this will impact my USSA L200 clinic at the end of the month... I'm sure they'll contact me if it is.

This month? It is a sanctioned USS event. So my guess is coach clinics are kaput.

"U.S. Ski & Snowboard is also cancelling all sanctioned and scheduled events beginning Monday, March 16. This includes all club-level events for all disciplines and any unnecessary gatherings, including banquets, awards and end of season presentations, etc. Expect further updates on future events, including U.S. Ski & Snowboard Congress."

 

[RobSo]

I have 2 really sad racers at home. My son was really looking forward to U16 Eastern Championships at Burke Mountain. No U19 Finals at Gore for my daughter.

 

[Pdub]

I have 2 really sad racers at home. My son was really looking forward to U16 Eastern Championships at Burke Mountain. No U19 Finals at Gore for my daughter.

Same here, with one slated for U16 Eastern Champs and the other U16 Finals. Very sad day. We are not ready for the season to end. They were on such a roll.

 

[hbear]

Told my daughter we can’t worry about things out of our control. While it’s too bad, be proud of the season you had already and use this opportunity to prepare for the next season.

All the hard work isn’t wasted, getting a little better every day still applies.

 

[Muleski]

Yes, unfortunate but necessary. Season over. We were looking forward to seeing one of our adult children, and the other’s GF, at Nationals in Aspen, and hosting our son who was bringing a pretty big group “home” to U16 Nationals. All are coaches. Hopefully it will eventually be a very minor speed bump for the kids. Our son is always reinforcing that U16 results, no matter how lofty, don’t mean much of anything. His group races very little. Still nice to have a chance, and too bad to miss this one.

NCAA’s were cancelled today after two of the four events. Everybody is headed home. That was a quick and sudden call.

This will likely impact the usual late spring and summer skiing venues as well. Perhaps fall, too.

 

[sparty]

While I feel for all the athletes who just lost the chance to compete in post-season events, I have to admit that I'm relieved that USSA made that call. I was scheduled to be at Eastern U16 Finals in a couple of weeks, and I was starting to get nervous about the possibility of an athlete (particularly one of the ones I'd have been sharing a VRBO with) coming back from out of state with some extra microbes. The odds are that I'd be fine, albeit inconvenienced, but given that my wife is pregnant, I really, really don't want to be bringing something like Covid-19 home.

I realize that's a one-off situation, but if you figure that a non-trivial percentage of coaches and athlete families have either first- or second-order connections to people in elevated-risk groups, it seems to support the mass cancellation.

I do think that cancelling NCAAs (or other events in progress) part of the way through seems silly. If someone connected to that event was carrying Covid-19, they already brought it to town and probably shared it.

 

[Pdub]

Our son is always reinforcing that U16 results, no matter how lofty, don’t mean much of anything.

Agree, and my friends with U19/FIS kids always remind me that U16 "doesn't matter."

However, it matters a hell of a lot to the U16s. And for the non-D1/USST bound kids, U16 Easterns really does seem like a last chance for glory. They will be getting their asses kicked the next few years, then they will retire or maybe join a club team in college. So this does feel like the last chance to be a special, elevated athlete for some kids, mine especially.

 

[sparty]

Agree, and my friends with U19/FIS kids always remind me that U16 "doesn't matter."

However, it matters a hell of a lot to the U16s. And for the non-D1/USST bound kids, U16 Easterns really does seem like a last chance for glory. They will be getting their asses kicked the next few years, then they will retire or maybe join a club team in college. So this does feel like the last chance to be a special, elevated athlete for some kids, mine especially.

It really, really sucks for athletes at every level for whom this may have been "their year." Compared to world events right now, no ski race really matters, but they could have mattered a lot to the athletes racing in them. For those U16s who were headed to Burke, or U16s or U19s headed to Finals for whom that event may have been a chance to stand out, it's a tremendous bummer. I'm convinced that it's the right choice to cancel events that bring together geographically diverse competitors, but that doesn't make it easier.

 

[martyg]

Yes, unfortunate but necessary. Season over. We were looking forward to seeing one of our adult children, and the other’s GF, at Nationals in Aspen, and hosting our son who was bringing a pretty big group “home” to U16 Nationals. All are coaches. Hopefully it will eventually be a very minor speed bump for the kids. Our son is always reinforcing that U16 results, no matter how lofty, don’t mean much of anything. His group races very little. Still nice to have a chance, and too bad to miss this one.

NCAA’s were cancelled today after two of the four events. Everybody is headed home. That was a quick and sudden call.

This will likely impact the usual late spring and summer skiing venues as well. Perhaps fall, too.

Aspen is a COVID-19 hotbed. 10 known cases this week - same as Denver. Of course, with testing so limited, and with test results taking 5 - 8 days, the numbers will likely increase exponentially before they decrease. Even if other events were a go.... probably good to pull the plug on that one.

No “known” cases in out little corner of CO. However the ER is jammed with people who have flu-like symptoms. Access to testing happened a few days ago. Metrics will likely be different 10 days from now.

And.... Pearl Jam cancelled their tour. Surely a sign from above.