Salt Lake City, Utah-September 16, 2010: The National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation (NCCSEF) will invest $43,000 in six cross-country ski racing projects for its first round of 2010/2011 season funding. These strategic investments are made to assist American athletes in their long-term pursuit of international racing success.
The following projects will be supported as outlined.
$5,000 – National Elite Group (NEG) Camp, Lake Placid NY (October 7-17, 2010)
The National Elite Group Camp brings the top Juniors in the country together with the US Ski Team athletes and staff for a national team training camp. NCCSEF will invest $5000 in this camp.
Top regional junior skiers participate each year in one of four USSA Regional Elite Group (REG) summer camps. The camps include general and ski-specific assessments, ski technique support as well as athlete and coaches education. Each camp includes U.S. Ski Team coaching staff which observe, interact and coach. With the help of regional coaches attending the camps, the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff selects the top athletes from all four REG camps (East,Central, West and Alaska) and names these athletes to the National Elite Group (NEG). These athletes are offered the opportunity to train alongside the U.S. Ski Team athletes at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center October 9-17, 2010. Attributes such as motivation, dedication, general physical fitness and ski-specific performance are taken into consideration to select these athletes.
The National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation will support the USSA 2010 National Elite Group Camp with a $5000 grant to offset certain athlete and coaching expenses.
$5,000 – Finland FIS Openers (November 3-22, 2010)
For the first time, NCCSEF will support a season opener trip to Northern Finland to help our top athletes experience top level racing at the start of the racing season. NCCSEF will invest $5000. Five races over two weekends will provide a great start to the season, with all races being scored to the USSA NRL for those athletes hoping to improve their USSA points profile. These races in Muonio and Rovaniemi tend to be well attend by top Scandinavian and Russian racers providing historically low race penalties and excellent experiences for our USA athletes.
$5,000 – Junior Scandinavian Championships (January 2011)
Support our up-and-coming junior athletes competing in their first major international competition. This trip both lays the ground-work for future trips to Junior Worlds, U-23 and the elite level racing. NCCSEF will invest $5000 in Scando Cup. This is an important first exposure to racing and travel in Europe as well as an incredibly fun and educational experience.
Our goals with this event are also to introduce more American coaches to high-level competition, European snow conditions and waxing and international travel. This makes up an important part of raising the level of skiing in the USA.
$5000 will go towards funding Club coaches and some basic infrastructure to reduce the costs for the invited athletes.
$10,000 – Junior & Under 23 World Championships (January 20-31, 2011)
The Under-23 World Championships provides a steppingstone from the junior level to the senior elite level of racing. NCCSEF wil invest $10,000 in the U23/Junior World Championship Team project to fund the 4 extended staff who are invited to participate, flights, lodging and ground costs.
The US has won at this event, taken silver and a bronze as well as regularly put skiers in the top 10 and top 5 in this event. Our goal is to increase our number of top 5 and podium performances at this level of competition.
Our goals with this event like Junior Worlds and the J-1 trip are to introduce more American coaches to high-level competition, European snow conditions and waxing and international travel. This event is held in conjunction with the Junior World Championships. Therefore the staff and ground costs are shared leaving only athlete support as our financial goal.
$8,000 – Nordic World Championships (February 20-March 7, 2011)
The Nordic World Championships are the highest level of international racing available on par with the Olympic Games. The U.S. Ski Team has budgeted to take a core group of 10 athletes, while any additional athletes will be self-pay. NCCSEF will invest $8000 to support the otherwise unfunded athletes. The World Championshiups are held every two years, and participation is not fully funded like the Olympics Games, which are funded by the USOC. The 2011 World Championships will be held at the famous and newly renovated Holmenkol venue in Olso, Norway. The NCCSEF has agreed to fund the costs incurred by any additional team members who qualify to race in Oslo. This is another great example of how NCCSEF partners with USST to make sure we are supporting our best U.S. skiers who are competing at the highest level of the sport. NCCSEF will invest up to $8000 to fund 2-4 additional World Championship Team members up to $2000 each.
$10,000 – Europe Continental Cup (OPA) Finals (March 7-21, 2011)
OPA Cup or Continental Cup racing is the steppingstone from U-23 racing to the WorldCup. NCCSEF will invest $10,000 in - OPA Cup Finals. We have won and been on the podium in these events in the past and our goal is build participation at this event with non-US Ski Team athletes so as to raise the level of competition for our U-23 and U-25 athletes as well as lower the overall point profile of our top non-USST athletes. This is an important step to competing with our international counterparts.
This is also is an important trip for coaches to raise the level of their own coaching and learn the ropes to leading international trips and coaching at an elite international level. Because this is the case our only financial goals here are running the trip and so focus on coaching. NCCSEF will invest $10,000 in the OPA Cup Finals to fund 3 staff, ground transportation costs, and reduce the cost for each athlete if possible.
Visit www.NCCSEF.org for details.
The NCCSEF promotes the development of U. S. cross-country ski racing through its support of activities that challenge and enable athletes to achieve higher competitive goals and of efforts that will lead to success in international competitions. The non-profit NCCSEF is funded through charitable contributions made by cross county skiing enthusiasts.
