Where's Nate Silver When We Need Him?

Last week, the election for Alpine athlete representative to the USSA Board of Directors got underway. Since declaring on this site that I was running for the position, the election for the seat has gotten a few nods from the ski blogs and the ski community at large. Hard Snow Life was the first blog to add its two cents into the discussion, followed by an Op-Ed on Alpine Press by former NCAA Champion, Dartmouth grad, and ex-World Cup skier Roger "Primetime" Brown. I also started a Facebook fan page to help communicate why I am running and provide an arena to demonstrate support for these ideas. The response has exceeded my wildest expectations. It's great to see that fellow athletes and friends are equally passionate about solving these issues, and humbling that they think I might be useful in this cause.

Not to be left out, the incumbent, Scott Macartney, also responded with his own stump speech about his decision to run for re-election. All in all, it's been a crazy two weeks.

I've been getting text or FB messages from some voters who said that they were endorsing my candidacy, but other than that I haven't seen any actual election results. The voting period runs until December 14th. This seems a bit long when you consider that only 145 athletes or so are eligible to vote (eligible voters include finishers in the top half of any US Nationals event in the last two years, those nominated to the USST in the last two years, and those nominated to a World Championships or OWG in the last ten years). Add in the fact that the voting is done via email, and it should be a relatively quick process. With the next board meeting in May, it's not mission critical that the votes get tallied immediately, but it's frustrating to have to wait over 4 weeks to find out the results of an election. (I hate waiting.)

I feel comfortable saying the decision to run has generated some more critical thinking about what needs to be done to better align the USSA/USST with the talent pool and resources that exists in United States alpine skiing. Like other sports,  alpine skiing requires a lifetime commitment in order to excel at the highest levels. But unlike other sports, alpine skiing requires a massive financial commitment,  forcing those involved with the sport on all levels to believe in the governing body's development structure, or at the very least accept it. The decisions from the USSA and USST have a direct effect on the livelihood and careers of these athletes, whether it's to raise the head tax on a USSA race or to lower the maximum age of B Team athletes. With a seat on the Board, the athlete representative has the unique opportunity to communicate to the powers that be exactly what is going on at the ground level, to explain the effects of decisions made in the past, and to provide context to ideas for success going forward. People in the ski community recognize this importance, and I believe this is the reason why the election has generated the response that it has.

I'll let you know what shakes out on the other side. I hope people are enjoying a great beginning to the ski season!

A Very Important Election

Obama and Romney got nothing on this. Earlier this month I got a blast email from the USSA informing me that the alpine athlete representative for their Board of Directors, and by extension the USSA's Athlete's Council, is up for election. After speaking with the current athlete rep, Scott Macartney, about the role in detail, I decided that this was an opportunity to directly communicate with my sport's national governing body I could not pass up.

I want to work with the USSA/USST to develop a more viable pathway for U.S. skiers who choose to ski at the collegiate level, not as an exit from our sport, but as a breeding ground towards a professional, World Cup-level ski racing career.

After submitting my application this afternoon I learned who would be voting for this nomination. It's a select voting pool – athletes/alumni as defined by the USOC having participated in an Olympic or World Championship competition within the last 10 years and they broadened the athlete definition to include the top 50% of the athletes who competed in the national championships within the last 24 months – making it fewer than 200 people in the sport of alpine.

As someone who spent a fair amount of time working in DC during summers to help fund my skiing, I learned a few things about elections. Chief among them, figure out who can vote for you before crafting a stance on an issue, not after. My DC employer would have flogged me for this. However, I am far less concerned about locking up the the undecided-single-female-Ohio vote than making sure I communicate why I believe this issue is so important to our sport. It felt good to write.

I have full confidence that there are plenty of capable candidates for this position, and each person will bring a different view of what changes would best benefit ski racers today (Scott indicated that he is actually running for re-election, and he couldn't have been more of a gentleman encouraging me to run). Competing full-time after college is something that I feel uniquely qualified to speak on, and is a growing trend in our sport; at least 14 athletes, men and women, competed in a World Cup in the last calendar year AND went to college before they got their first start. Many of these starts went to athletes from other countries. The USSA/USST needs to capitalize on this critical mass of skiers who are developing outside of the traditional European-based model of ski racer development, and use the multitude of college budgets and available training grounds of the 26 or so D-I programs to our advantage. Below is my nomination form which basically says the same in thing in a little greater detail. Elections are on November 12th, we'll see what happens!