Welcome, 

Australian athletes have all but wrapped up a record breaking international season with the World Cup finals being held in the 2006 Olympic region in Italy last weekend.

Snowboard Half Pipe rider Torah Bright created history by becoming the first ever female snowboard World Cup winner for Australia, and in doing so elevated herself to Number 2 in the World. The Australian half pipe team produced 4 top 15 results at the World Cup finals including 2 men in the top 10 for the first time.

Alisa Camplin has claimed her second successive World Cup title, dominating competition throughout the season and capturing a record equaling number of victories along the way. Flying Kangaroos team mate Lydia Ierodiaconou won 3 events this season and finished the season ranked number 2 in the world. Liz Gardner improved from 10th to 8th on the end of season rankings, and in doing so claimed her first ever podium result along the way.

Athletes in the Cross Country and Alpine disciplines have also shown significant improvement at the World Cup level this winter, and with the official Olympic qualifying period beginning next season, our athletes are in good shape to field one of the largest Australian Winter Olympic Teams in history.

Ski & Snowboard Australia also acknowledges the superb efforts of athletes at all levels, who participated in competition overseas during the Northern Winter. The web site has kept track of results and news from all levels of the sport, and has received an unprecedented number of visits during the summer months.

We are now looking forward to a big 2004 Australian winter, with plans already underway for an exciting range of new programs and events.

 

2004 AUSTRALIAN SKI AND SNOWBOARD AWARDS – THURSDAY MAY 20th
2004 AUSTRALIAN SKI AND SNOWBOARD AWARDS – THURSDAY MAY 20th
The 2004 Australian Ski and Snowboard Awards will bring together athletes and stakeholders of the snow sports industry to recognized outstanding achievements and contributions to our sport over the past 12 months.

The formal awards dinner will be held at the Atlantic South Wharf, in South Bank, Melbourne, on Thursday May 20th, 2004.

The event brings together many hundreds of prominent members of the snow sports industry including Australia’s best winter athletes and coaches, resorts, media and the snow sports retail sector.

This is a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with Australia current and former world class athletes. All 2004 National team members will be formally recognized on stage during the evening.

Tickets will be on a first come first serve basis, and are strictly limited. Tickets will go on sale soon.

Nominations forms for the various award categories will be available on the Ski & Snowboard Australia website shortly. Please go to www.skiingaustralia.org.au to find out more about the award categories, nomination forms and deadlines and be sure to mark the date of the Awards in your diary.

Corporate members and stakeholders can support Ski & Snowboard Australia athletes and programs by becoming a category sponsor of the 2004 Ski and Snowboard Awards. A limited number of categories remain available and category sponsors receive a complimentary table of 10 to the awards dinner along with formal recognition as a sponsor of the 2004 Ski and Snowboard awards and supporter of the Australian Ski and Snowboard Team.

For further information on category sponsorship please contact:
Michael Kennedy at the SAL office on (03) 9696 2344
 

INSURANCE
The response to Skiing Australia’s 2004/2005 Club Public Liability policy has been extremely positive, with many previously insured clubs renewing in recent weeks along with a great deal of interest from new clubs seeking to take advantage of the competitively priced SAL umbrella policy.

The policy is suitable for clubs of all sizes, purpose, and location within Australia. SAL would like to encourage as many ski clubs from all states and territories to subscribe to the policy, with the obvious benefits of a larger premium pool providing a stronger case for a reduction in future premiums.

Ski & Snowboard Australia understands that this time of the year can be difficult for clubs from a cash flow point of view, which is a major reason for pushing out next year’s policy renewal to May 2005.

The 2004/2005 policy came into effect on March 1st, with all previously insured clubs retaining cover up until this point. This period of grace has now come to an end.

Clubs who have not renewed due to cash flow issues are urged to contact Ski & Snowboard Australia so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Clubs that have not registered interest to renew and are simply holding out on payment will be required to assist Skiing Australia meet the costs of funding the premium on their behalf. This will naturally be an additional cost to the advertised premiums.

Again it is vital that clubs intending to renew policies for 2004/2005 contact Ski & Snowboard Australia immediately in order to ensure ongoing insurance cover and to lock in the published premium.

OLYMPIC SELECTION MEETING
A contingent representing all SAL disciplines will attend a two day workshop with the Australian Olympic Committee in order to finalize Olympic Team Nomination Criteria.

The workshop is being held on April 3rd & 4th, with the aim of each discipline putting the finishing touches to the criteria that will enable athletes to be nominated to the 2006 Shadow Team and ultimately nominated for selection by the AOC to the Olympic Winter Team.

The completed policies will then be approved by the AOC executive before being published by 31st May 2004. The AOC selection policy (minimum standards athletes need to achieve in order to be selected to the team) has been available for some time at the AOC website. Follow this link to view the selection criteria for each discipline click here ...»
(You will need to scroll to the bottom of the linked page for the ski and snowboard criteria)

Ski & Snowboard Australia is responsible for nominating athletes to the AOC for selection. The AOC will then look at whether the nominated athlete has reached the AOC selection standards. Assuming the standards have been met, the athlete will then be named to the Olympic Team. In the lead up to the announcement of the actual Olympic team, Ski & Snowboard Australia will nominate athletes to a shadow team. The shadow team generally represents those athletes that have a reasonable chance of achieving selection to the Olympic Team. Nomination to the shadow team usually mirrors the Ski & Snowboard Australia selection criteria to the World Cup and World Championships teams for each of the four SAL disciplines.