Patience and flexibility required for racing this season

Sun, Dec  6, 2020 - By Joe Haggenmiller

Statement on the need for patience and flexibility in approaching Ski Racing and the CXC Cup this winter:

With the recent pause orders from the governors of Michigan and Minnesota and various local community health organizations also issuing recommendations and regulations, each of us needs to recognize the need to be both patient and flexible. We have to recognize we are not in control of the Corona Virus and need to be able to adjust to new risks and needs to take more precautions. At CXC, we applaud our community health professionals for their care and caution in looking out for the safety of our communities. A couple of notes along these lines:

• We have numerous times suggested that lodging arrangements should only be made with properties that allow cancelation up to 48 hours prior to arrival without a fee. With the pandemic, this is the wise route. Yet, this past week we were fielding questions from folks regarding the impact of MN's pause on races and their cancelation because lodging accommodations needed to be canceled quickly. We understand the allure of renting a vacation home, but recognize you do so at your own risk and it is unfair to our staff to be pressured to respond individually to your request for an update so you can cancel your reservation. Our CXC staff is better served talking with race organizers, our medical consultants, and our leadership council to make informed decisions to adjust to the moving target we are all presented with, and we will continue to have this as a priority.
• When we are presented with a situation where an event as scheduled is no longer viable, we look at many reasonable alternative options. We follow up with medical partners to get their advice, we contact other venues to find out if they are potentially able to host as scheduled, we are reaching out to our timing partners to figure out if they are available, etc. Once we gather input, then we follow up with our community leaders to inform them and get their feedback. At each step we are looking for the best opportunities available. Unfortunately, there are no perfect answers and there is no way to know what the future will bring.

For our athletes' sake, as club leaders and coaches (and parents), it is important that each of us take measured approaches. We are not serving our athletes well by hitting the panic button and rapidly changing our overall course. This will result in taking haphazardly planned and scattered approaches as we adjust to changing conditions and make dealing with the changes and challenges much more difficult. We are far better served by remaining calm and then looking at the overall process towards improvement. Those athletes and programs that are going to have the most success are going to be the ones who are able to remain calm and find the new opportunities for improvement that each pandemic change may bring. Becoming a better skier is a process and finding the right path is often a challenge. We recognize it will be more of a challenge than usual this year. However, being calm, flexible, and patient will make tackling the challenges more productive.

We wish each of you luck as you work to adjust to the pandemic. First and foremost, stay safe.

Joe Haggenmiller| CXC Director of Sport Development