Back Notes from the Chairman

2005-04-07 (Killington Spring Klassic, Eastern Clinics, EFCC Spring Meeting.)

Hello Eastern Freestyle!

Congratulations to everyone on all your successes and improvements this past season!

This is a note to let everyone know how the Killington Spring Klassic meet works:

Points list Information:

This event will be posted on the Eastern Points List (EQS points list, B points list) as the first event for the 2005-2006 season. This list will not be posted until after the EQS Opener event in December. PLEASE read that again so you are clear.

This event will be posted on the FSP (national points list for ECS athletes, A athletes) when List #1 comes out – NOT the fall list – so after the ECS Opener event in December. PLEASE read that again so you are clear. You may see the results on athlete histories prior to that – but the points WILL NOT be affected until List #1 in December.)

B skiers that will be competing in the A event (their first A event):

If you are a B skier right now with a youth license or a competitor’s license but will be 13 by December 31, 2005 and wish to compete in the A event – go ahead and sign up – renew your membership in June as a competitor’s license and you will be all set. You do not need to be officially "moved up" in order to compete as an A at this event if you are going to be 13 by December 31st, 2005.

B skiers that require Appeal to compete in the A event:

If you are a B skier that will not be 13 years old by December 31st, 2005 and wish to be an A skier next season – your coach must file an appeal to the selections committee on your behalf stating your reasons and providing their recommendation to Dick Holmes at: rbhse@hotmail.com no later than April 10th.

Course Update:

Due to inclement weather and mountain plans – it looks like we will not be on Bear for the event. I will keep you posted as to where we will be.

Clinic Update:

Read this next section carefully - as a parent – this is the best job – you would actually get paid to show up at your kid’s event – with a FEW strings attached. Lodging, per diem and a paycheck – it seems like a no brainer to me.

The Eastern Judges committee will again host EQS – B judging clinics at this event. There is a $15 fee to sign up – please bring the fee with you on the morning of the clinic. Please report to the clinic table which will be adjacent to the registration table at 8:30am and see John Spottiswoode, aka "Spot." These are one day clinics and provide you with the ability to judge at B events next season. PLEASE get involved – get friends involved! We need judges! If you want to judge at A events – this would be a good place to start and then you would need to judge the B’s for a while and attend the fall clinic.

The Eastern Rules and Technical Committee – the TD’s – will also host an introductory clinic. There is a $15 fee to sign up – please bring the fee with you on the morning of the clinic. These one day clinics will provide you with a taste of what being a TD entails – then you will need to attend the clinic in the fall to become certified. Please report to the clinic table which will be adjacent to the registration table at 8:30am and see Jay Lauder. PLEASE get involved – get friends involved! We need TD’s!

The Eastern Scoring Committee – though a scoring clinic will most likely NOT be held at this event – I am sure that our scorer would not mind answering any questions that you might have in respect to what that position entails – let me know and I will set that up.

REMEMBER – all mountains must have a TD and a scorer from their mountain in the Eastern pool and they must send a representative to the spring meeting or the scheduling of their event could be jeopardized. This is what your program directors are dealing with – please support them!

Spring Meeting May 21 at Killington:

The EFCC Spring Meeting that is open to all will be held on May 21st with a pre-meeting on Friday night the 20th in Killington at the Killington Mountain School. It would be great if you could RSVP me to let me know you are coming. Any agenda items should be forwarded to me prior to April 15th.

Deb Newson, mglbndt@adelphia.net

2005-04-02 (JOs Eastern Jacket Problem)

Though the order was promised to me by Monday, March 14th – it did not arrive until Tuesday, March 22nd – SO I sent it back. Having said that, I am awaiting the company’s response to be sure that they do not intend to charge us – once I am clear of that threat – I intend to reorder a new jacket. If you do not wish to be included in the potential new order, then let me know. (Why didn’t I just keep the old ones? Ohmigosh – they were SO ugly!!!! We were LUCKY they were late in the end.)

Anyhow – this is my story and I am sticking to it. If all works according to my plan this time (and it stops raining) we will have them at the spring klassic at Killington and if you are not there then I will ship them to you.

Happy Spring!

Deb Newson reply to: mglbndt@adelphia.net

2005-02-25 (JOs Eastern Jacket)

http://www.levelwear.com/

Go to “men’s” – “windwear” – “tailwind” – we are getting the blue/gray one. The cost will not exceed the $40 – may be a few dollars less. It is a really cool piece!!! I am going to get USSA swish on the sleeve and on the left chest:

2005 Eastern Freestyle Junior Olympics Team

I need orders by Monday – absolute deadline – I am not ordering extras – get the word out to everyone!!!

They are men’s sizes M, L, XL, XXL – smallest would be a men’s medium – but they cinch at the waist so they will be fine for our little people.

I need this information –

Name:
Team:
Size:

If you haven’t sent me a check yet – then I need it by this Wednesday, Mar 2!!

Deb Newson 42 Meadowlake Drive Mendon, VT 05701
Deb Newson reply to: mglbndt@adelphia.net

PS If you already sent me a check and placed your order – please resend your order noting that and then telling me AGAIN what size! Thanks!!!

2005-01-11 (Dual Mogul Registration Cutoff)

Please note there will be NO more dual mogul registrations accepted after 5pm the night before any ECS dual mogul event so that the run orders can be processed that are accurate. This is a new policy set forth by the Chair of the EFCC. This is necessary so that registration lists can be examined during team leaders the night before. This past weekend at Sunday River several athletes either did not show up or were mistakenly put on the run order and it led to an inefficient event at no fault of the organizer. Additionally it takes too long the morning of the event for the event organizer to process these run orders and it is not fair to the athletes not to know what course they should be training in the morning – especially for the ones who registered on time. Any questions or concerns –please feel free to contact me.

Thanks! Deb Newson (reply to: mglbndt@adelphia.net)

2004-12-07 (Mogul Qualification Lists)

For all parties interested in checking out the official list of athletes qualified to do inverted and off axis maneuvers so far this year, go to: www.ussa.org under Freestyle, coaches, resources.

2004-12-07 (Refund for overpayment of USSA/Eastfree dues)

At the fall meeting the Eastern Freestyle Competition Committee decided to do away with the Eastern Divisional License fee for our ECS skiers. Meet costs have been adjusted this year to keep Eastern Freestyle’s budget neutral. We realize there was little or no communication about this, but do not fear as you will be refunded if you paid the fee. We are currently in the process of moving the eastern office to a new home. As soon as we get our accounts up and running – refunds will be processed. I do not suspect it should be any later than the first of the year. Thank you for your patience with this matter.

The Eastern Newsletter should be posted online by Wednesday night. PLEASE be sure to read it before heading up to Sugarloaf this weekend for the mogul opener for our ECS “A” skiers or Killington next weekend for our mogul opener for our EQS “B” skiers.

As many of you are aware some of our Eastern athletes are out in Utah for US Selection events for aerials, moguls, and duals – join me in wishing them the best of luck!

Take care!

Think snow!

Deb Newson, Eastern Chair

2004-08-02 (EFCC Nominations)

According to the Eastern Freestyle Competition Committee (EFCC) by-laws, nominations are requested for the following EFCC positions that are due for re-election before the 2004 Fall EFCC meeting:

	Chairperson, EFCC Currently – Deb Newson
	Sub-committee chair, Judges, EFCC Currently – John Spottiswoode
	Sub-committee chair, Rules and Technical, EFCC Currently – Leon Bodzioch
	Sub-committee chair, Coaches, EFCC Currently – Glenn Eddy (Coaches Chair at the national level as well)

Please submit your nominations for these positions no later than August 15th. You may nominate by e-mailing: office@eastfree.org. A ballot will be sent out by USSA via the US Postal Service later this summer.

Thanks for you participation.

2004-02-10 (Junior Olympics)

FSP List #3 that Junior Olympic invitations are generated from closes on February 17th, so any meets held after that date are not included on this list. The Sugarbush events will be included on a manually generated list that will produce Eastern Championship invitations. FSP List #4 will include Sugarbush and Easterns and will produce invitations for Nationals. Remember you must compete in Easterns in order to be included on List #4. If you are not on the list you would not be invited to US Championships unless there was an approved appeal.

2004-01-29

Dear Eastern Freestyle,

I have received several e-mails from concerned parents this week in reference to off-axis tricks in the B's - so I thought I would respond to EVERYONE.

1. Any athlete that has been qualified at the water ramps or on snow to do an off-axis trick by their coach and is registered to do that trick with the EFCC Coaches, Sub-Committee Chair is able to perform an off-axis trick in competition.

2. The EQS division IS the entry-level division, but it is not the "beginner-level" division.

Furthermore, an athlete does not have to be an "academy - athlete" in order to do an off-axis trick as some of you implied, though it is the dedicated athlete that has the time to properly prepare for this type of manuever.

From my coaches' perspective:

Ultimately it is the coaches that are qualifying the athletes and your children to perform these tricks. If you have concerns as to whether your child should be attempting these tricks - you should discuss this matter with them.

From my Eastern Chair's perspective:

It is my job to ensure that our division is not only keeping up with what is going on around the country, but to ensure that we are at the forefront so that we can be the best. I cannot ask a skier to not perform to his or her potential so that other athletes can keep up.

From my parent persective:

I understand your concern, but this is why there are qualification procedures. Hopefully the coaches in your program are certified and up-to-date with the evolving sport that your children are involved in - so that you can trust them to help your children make good decisions.

Sincerely,

Deb Newson

mglbndt@adelphia.net

2002-12-17

Hello Eastern Freestyle!

I have had a couple of good questions and thought I would answer them to everyone, just in case.

The ECS "A" license fee is paid to USSA with an athlete's membership when they register as an ECS "A" competitor at the start of the season. USSA forwards a list to the Eastern Office of athletes that register as such.

They also transfer these fees paid into the Eastern Freestyle Account. These fees pay for the ECS bibs, in theory. When a competitor receives their membership card it should say on their card, "Eastern FS Dues 25".

If an athlete changes their status to an ECS "A" competitor mid-season then they must pay the $25 fee to the organizer of the first A event that they attend. The check should be made out to Eastern Freestyle and will be forwarded to the Eastern Office by the event organizer. This list is forwarded to the Eastern Office with fees paid the day after their event so that the office can update the new A-licensed athlete list.

At an ECS "A" competitor's first meet they are assigned a bib by the event organizer (the unassigned bibs travel from meet to meet with the ECS radios). The A athlete keeps this bib for the season and as a souvenir. The event organizer keeps a list of names, membership #'s and bib#'s assigned at their meet. This list must also be forwarded to Eastern Freestyle.

The list of updated A licensed skiers will be forwarded to all Event Organizers prior to their event by the Eastern Office, as it is each event organizer's responsibility to verify that the A license fee has been paid by examining each athletes' membership card.

An organizer retrieves all assigned bib #'s when they download the people.txt file into their WinFree Scoring Program. (Right?)

Going one step further, if a new athlete (not one that is currently registered as an EQS "B" competitor) signs up for their USSA membership at an event or at any time throughout the season then they would pay this $25 Eastern Fee to USSA. ONLY when they are changing the status of their membership from B to A should they pay at an event and pay Eastern Freestyle directly.

If anyone has any further questions, feel free to contact me!

Have a good week!

Respectfully, Deb Newson, Eastern Chair

2002-12-08

Despite a few technical errors...on line registration is off and running. The Eastern Freestyle Off-Line Registration paper form (which will go out with the newsletter) will be available online by mid-week.

On-line Registration closes for both the Killington B meet and the Sugarloaf A meet on Monday 12/9 at midnight. So, if you missed on-line registration:

To register for the Killington B meet this weekend you can e-mail your information to Lucy Blake at teamkillington@aol.com or fax it to 802.422.6229. She needs your USSA #, Name, Address, Phone number, birth date, which days you will compete in, and a CC# and exp date. I do recommend getting this in as the event is filling up. You may call Deb Newson with any questions at 802.236.1122.

To register for Sugarloaf I would recommend e-mailing their Competition Secretary, Laurel Lasher with the same information as above at:llashar@sugarloaf.com. You may also fax her at: 207.237.3026.

We have had a change in our Technical Delegate leadership at EFCC for the season 2002-2003.

Leon Bodzioch will be handling all scheduling and Technical Delegate issues for us this season.

Thanks Leon! Here is his contact information.

Leon Bodzioch

Bodzioch Design

30 Robbins Farm Road

Dunstable, MA 01827

Voice: 978-649-2949

Fax: 978-649-2969

TDs@eastfree.org or bodzioch@tiac.net

Good luck to all the B's at Killington, all the A's at Sugarloaf and all our top guns out at Winter Park for Selections!

2002-10-20

Jeff Yingling, Head Coach and Program Director at Sunday River/Gould Academy Freestyle, will now take over the Programs Committee, relieving Matt Gnoza of his duties. We should be very excited about this appointment as Jeff will bring his energy and years of experience to the Committee and Eastern Freestyle.

2002-10-06

Hello Eastern Freestyle!

This letter is really long, but please take the time to read it as it is important info!

We are working on the Fall Newsletter which should arrive in your mailboxes hopefully by Nov. 1st. We need articles, advertisements and some digital pictures of the podium from 2002 EQS/ECS Championships if anybody has them! The minutes for the fall meeting are now available on-line at eastfree.org.

Now that the Fall meetings for the Eastern and National Committees are over there are several items that you should be clear about prior to the newsletter!

From this point on I will refer to the B's as "EQS- Eastern Qualifier Series" and the A's as "ECS- Eastern Championship Series."

For both the EQS and the ECS series:

	Helmets are required for all athletes during official training and competitions. This rule has been adopted from USSA from FIS. So, EVERYONE will be wearing helmets this year from the US Freestyle Ski Team athletes to the EQS athletes.
	On-line registration has been improved considerably this year by our Vice-Chair, Larry Titus. This should be up and running well in advance of the season's start.
	Mogul air now has new tables, and the tables now differ for men and women.
	The turnaround time for accepting your invitations to the invitational events, i.e. Junior Olympics, EQS Regional Championships, ECS and EQS. Championships, and Qualifiers, will be considerably shorter and much more defined this year. Be aware that this information will be posted on eastfree.org as it becomes available. Out of respect for your fellow athletes and coaches, please notify the designated event organizer ASAP.
	ATTENTION PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, FRIENDS OF FREESTYLE AND ANYONE OUT THERE YOU CAN GET: We need judges, scoring, and officials. This is a great way to get involved in the sport. Please contact me if you are interested! mglbndt@adelphia.net

EQS NEWS:

	There will no longer be a mid-season move-up. Any athlete wishing to move up to ECS during the season should send an appeal to Dick Holmes at selection@eastfree.org.
	The age of an athlete eligible to ski in the ECS has now been changed to any athlete who is thirteen by January 1, 2003. In effect we voted to include J3's in the ECS. I hope that the decision to enter or not to enter the ECS as a J3 will be one made after you have consulted with your coach.
	All programs and independent athletes must notify the selection chair, Dick Holmes at selection@eastfree.org as to which region you are wishing to be associated by February 1, 2003 for the purposes of determining the regional championship invitations.
	The EQS Regional Championships are set for all the regions once again this year!
	The changes we have made to make this event even more fun are:

The EQS Championship Invitations will be processed after these events.

There are now 6 wild card spots to be earned at each regional event (4 male, 2 female).

The EQS Championship quotas have been increased: 90 mogul skiers will now qualify where 72 athletes will qualify from the points list and 18 athletes will qualify via their regional championships with wild cards (4 males and 2 females from each region) and 70 aerialists will now qualify where 52 athletes will qualify from the points list and 18 athletes will qualify via their regional championships with wild cards (4 males and 2 females from each region).

Please note that last year an athlete was eligible to compete at the aerial event at the regional finals regardless of how many events they had competed in prior to the event. This is no longer the case. The invitations will be processed by selecting the quota from those athletes having competed in two events. If this does not fill the event we will go to those athletes having competed in only one. From that point if the quota is not filled, it may be filled first come-first serve. Having said all of that, the regional finals will also be considered a "second" event for athletes when invitations are processed for the EQS Championships.

ECS NEWS:

	Long time freestyle competitor and coach Greg Francoeur passed away unexpectedly in late August. Heleaves behind his wife, Sue and 2 small children, ages 2 and 4. His family has established a memorial scholarship to be given to a weekend freestyle competitor who aspires to attend Carrabassett Valley Academy. Donations to the scholarship fund may be made to the Greg Francoeur Memorial Scholarship Fund, 179 Bruce Hill Rd. Cumberland, ME.
	Sugarloaf’s December mogul competition will now be called the Greg Francoeur Memorial.
	The committee approved that Bristol Mt may hold an A meet on the same weekend as their B meet. This is great news for Western NY. They hope that everyone will make the trek over on Jan 11-12.
	For ECS only we have adopted the USSA and FIS two twister rule. This applies to moguls only - only two twisters per mogul jump. You may do more than two twisters in aerial events.
	Please make sure you understand the difference between the two air disciplines:
	Big Air (Section 4600 in your comp guide) is the new school, don't have to call your trick and no degree of difficulty in scoring discipline.
	Aerials (Section 6000 in your comp guide) is the traditional upright/inverted aerialist discipline. However, new school maneuvers may be performed in this discipline but jumps must be called and will be scored with degree of difficulty. Also, a single jump can have both upright and inverted components -- such as a bL180Sw (Lay-180-switch).
	Junior Olympic quotas: Please note the increased quotas and additional disciplines added to the schedule in your competition guide. At the spring meeting the Aerials quota was increased to 60. In order for the East to field any Half Pipe athletes at this event we need to schedule and compete in at least two events.
	If you are unable to ski at the ECS Championships and are intending to utilize the national points list as your pipeline to the US Qualifier event you must file an appeal with the Eastern Chair which will in turn be decided upon by the EFCC Selection Committee. This process will need to occur prior to or during the event as the decision will be processed prior to March 3, 2003.
	Remember your ECS USSA membership dues are due by October 15th. Don't pay that $25 late fee.
	The Eastern Competition Schedule should be posted shortly.

All of this information will be in the newsletter, but just so you have it before then. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

Signing off,

Deb Newson, Eastern Chair, mglbndt@adelphia.net

2002-09-18

Hello Eastern Freestyle!

I am so happy to have been voted as the Chair of the Committee. This is a first of many newsletters that will be posted and published by me in hopes to keep everyone up to date. Please contact me with any information that you feel would be helpful to publish.

My first act as Chair was to ask Larry Titus to take on the responsibilities of Vice-Chairman of the EFCC and I am pleased to report that he has accepted the position. He will surely be an asset to the Committee.

The EFCC Fall meeting will be at Killington, Vermont in the Alpine Training Center on September 28th from 9am until 4pm. All members are invited to attend. An agenda for the meeting will be forwarded to all those on the Eastfree mailing list on September 23rd.

The USSA Fall meeting in Park City, Utah is this coming weekend and I will report on what happens out there at the EFCC Fall meeting.

Anyone wishing to advertise in the Eastern Fall Newsletter should contact Heather at the Eastern office: office@eastfree.org.

Have a great day, and I hope all of our athletes are training diligently so we can kick some butt at Selections at Winter Park in December!!!

Regards, Deb Newson mglbndt@adelphia.net