NYSSRA Champions Cup Weekend

Mark your calendars for the weekend of Feb 28, 2009.  The Annual NYSSRA Champions Cup race will take place on Saturday, Feb 28, 2009 at the Saratoga Biathlon Club in Day, NY.  This year’s race will be the feature event in a weekend filled with Nordic and Biathlon races.  Friday, Feb 27 will feature the annual club relay championship races.  Saturday morning the NYSSRA Biathlon Championships will take place.  On Saturday afternoon, the 21 km Classic 2009 NYSSRA Champions Cup race will be held.  This will be followed by an awards banquet on Saturday evening.  On Sunday, the biathlon sprint relay championships will take place.  This promises to be an awesome weekend celebrating both the Nordic and Biathlon disciplines.  Make it a part of your race schedule to attend.

Clubs… Clubs… Clubs…

As of this post, three member clubs have officially signed up for the 2008-09 season.  NYSSRA wants to help clubs foster the growth of ski racing in New York.  What we need clubs to do is to let us know ways NYSSRA can help.  For example, NYSSRA has helped to fund NYSEF’s December 13th coaches’ clinic.  In return, NYSEF is letting all NYSSRA members attend for free.  We want to encourage as many club leaders and members to attend and take advantage of your membership fees at work. 

In addition, we would like to offer our NYSSRA webpage as a central location for your club to post news.  If you currently have a blog for your club, we will link it to our site.  If you do not, we will set you up on our NYSSRA clubs blog page.  Check out the link and contact me (kobak1791w@yahoo.com) for more info.

We still currently have money in the Bill Thayer fund.  This fund provides money for clubs who are looking to host their first NYSSRA sanctioned race.  Money can be used to purchase bibs and course marking supplies.  The grant is up to $500, again, contact me for more info on this great opportunity.

We are always looking for ways to help our member clubs.  Please comment or contact me with ideas on how you would like NYSSRA to help your club develop ski racing and recruit ski racers.

Jim Kobak, President

NYSSRA Meeting Highlights…

Utica.

The NYSSRA Fall meeting is always fun.  Members are enthusiastic and everyone is ready to get on with the new season. 

First of all, the ESG age groups have changed.  The ESGs will now have a scholastic category only open to ages 12-17.  There will be no separation of this age category so 12 year olds will race head to head with 17 year olds.  I am not really in favor of this, but

September… Ski Time!

September is officially the unofficial start of Nordic Ski Season.  And NYSSRA Nordic springs to life each September.  For me, this September is when I move into the role of NYSSRA president, and I look forward to serving New York’s ski community.

On September 21, the annual NYSSRA Fall meeting will be held at SUNYIT in Utica.  All members are welcome to attend and help shape the future of NYSSRA.  I hope that our member clubs will all send their leaders to this meeting, so they can help me and the executive committee map out the upcoming ski season. 

Our organization has been quite progressive under the leadership of President Chris Rose.  The points series was revamped and expanded.  A commitment to be more “green” by eliminating the paper newsletter was established.  The NYSSRA Championships have risen to become the premier event on the Nordic calendar. And NYSSRA member clubs recieved elevated status and importance.  President Rose leaves behind a legacy of commitment to Nordic Skiing in New York.  I hope to continue in the progressive manner of President Rose to make NYSSRA Nordic the best organization it can be.  I have already continued conversation with NENSA, the New England Nordic Skiing Association, about reciprocating memberships and combining our efforts in some programs.  NYSSRA and NENSA have similar goals, but are also very different organizations with differences in clientele.  I will continue to work to partner with NENSA, but promise to keep autonomy for NYSSRA Nordic, inc.

As I prepare for the September meeting, I have drafted a breif outline of personal goals and strategies to direct the organization.  The following is a breif description of my vision for NYSSRA Nordic over the next two years. 

1. Continue the Development of a strong Club System.  I believe that member clubs provide the greatest growth potential for NYSSRA Nordic.  I also see member clubs as being the key to my subsequent goals and strategies.   I would like to encourage members to join or start their own Nordic ski clubs.  I would like to see NY colleges and university club programs join NYSSRA.  I would like to somehow bring High School ski racing under the auspices of NYSSRA Nordic.  I would like to see other athletic clubs develop Nordic programs.  Ultimately, NYSSRA will become a “league of ski clubs” unified to foster ski racing and the development of ski racers in New York State.

2.  Unify the Nordic disciplines.  Face it, XC, Biathlon and Ski-O draw members from a limited area and are often competing for the same skiers.  When you get right down to it, Biathletes and Ski-Oers are, first and foremost, XC skiers.  I would like to unify the three disciplines, that is, bring biathlon and ski-o into the NYSSRA points series.  I would like clubs in all disciplines compete against each other for club points and club championship.  I want to streamline the event scheduling process to become regionalized instead of disciplinized.   I want biathletes to do XC ski races, and I want XC skiers to try biathlon and ski-o races, at least for their clubs.  This season, the Saratoga Biathlon Club was awarded the right to host the NYSSRA XC Championships specifically because they were planning to combine it with the Biathlon Championships.  In the future, ski-o will be added to our “signature weekend” of championship skiing.

3. Recruit NY fitness skiers who are not currently members. This is where having strong clubs in each region of the state will help our membership grow.  There are skiers who love Nordic Skiing, and will even race on occasion, but for whatever reason, do not join NYSSRA Nordic.  I hope to come up with a plan that will entice fitness skiers to be members and to do more ski racing.  This is where creative club-based programs will help, and NYSSRA needs to support and encourage these programs.

4. Recruit endurance athletes and turn them into ski racers. This is my loftiest goal.  I would like every citizen athlete to embrace Nordic Skiing and join NYSSRA.  There are runners, cyclists, kayakers and triathletes who would benefit in their chosen sport by Nordic Ski racing.  There are thousands of New Yorkers who are willing to buy equipment, travel great distances and to train many hours to participate in various sports.  These people already have the qualities that Nordic Ski racers have, and many of them live in New York Snow country.  We need to convince as many as possible to take up Nordic Ski racing, and to join NYSSRA.  I will be looking for initiatives to bring cycling, running and triathlon clubs into the NYSSRA fold. 

These are my goals and ideas for NYSSRA Nordic.  I will need forward-thinking members of the organization to help me reach these goals. 

Jim Kobak …President, NYSSRA Nordic, Inc.

2008 – 2009 Ski Season Age Groups

USSA/FIS/NENSA/NYSSRA

Age Group: Age (as of 12/31/08) Birth Year

Bill Koch League/BKL

Lollipopper: 0-7                         2001-2009
Junior 5/J5: 8-9                         1999-2000
Junior 4/J4: 10-11                     1997-1998
Junior 3/J3: 12-13                     1995-1996

Juniors

Junior 2/J2: 14-15                     1993-1994
Junior 1/J1: 16-17                     1991-1992
Older Junior/OJ: 18-19             1989-1990

Seniors

Under age 23/U23: 20-22         1986-1988
Senior/SR: 20-29                      1979-19885

Masters

Master 1/M1: 30-34                 1974-1978
Master 2/M2: 35-39                 1969-1973
Master 3/M3, 40-44                 1964-1968
Master 4/M4, 45-49                 1959-1963
Master 5/M5, 50-54                 1954-1958
Master 6/M6, 55-59                 1949-1953
Master 7/M7, 60-64                 1944-1948
Master 8/M8, 65-69                 1939-1943
Master 9/M9, 70-74                 1934-1938
Master 10/M10,75-100+          1933 or earlier
(thanks to NENSA.net for this list)