Eastern Region Ski Assoc.

AGM

SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2003

BRENTWOOD PARK SKI CENTRE

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Minutes

The AGM was held at lunch time during the ERSA Summer League Race at Brentwood Park Ski Centre,

Between the Open Age group Slalom and the Team Events.

Present:         

Apologies received:

The Chairman welcomed all present.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes of last year’s AGM, which had been posted for several months on ERSA’s website, were signed by the Chairman.

Chairman’s Report

The Chairman congratulated all ERSA Athletes and Race Officials who took part in the recent All England Championships at Sunderland.

The Chairman further reported:

• That racing within our Region has had record attendance with one more Summer League Race as well at the ERSA Championships 2003 still to be held in the next few weeks.
• That the committee managed the ERSA business, now for the 3^rd year, within budget and that the Summer League race entry fee will not be increased in 2004
• That at the ESC AGM Mr. Sandy Telling became the new Chairman of the ESC and it was decided that the name ‘English Ski Council’ will now be changed to Snow Sport England. Steven Lambert serves now on ARC and Piet van Kempen on ROTP – in addition to Ros Humphrey on the BARSC Committee.
• That from now on, to ensure the return of all the perpetual ERSA trophies handed out at the ERSA Championships and for the ERSA Summer League Races, the trophies will only be handed over to the winner (signature, address and telephone number will be required). A penalty of £ 50.00 will be enforced in the case a trophy has not been returned. If the athlete is not available, his/her Club will have to pay the penalty. There is a Trophy Amnesty at the moment in force and parents/athletes and club officials are asked to help to locate all missing trophies as those awards hold the long history of the Eastern Region. We owe it to future racers. A big Thank You to Daphne van Kempen who has been trying, since Easter, to locate all ERSA trophies.
• The Chairman thanked all committee members as well as the opted on members for their work input during the year and asked for their support in the coming year.

Chair of Race Panel/ERSA-RTP Report

In the absence of Piet van Kempen, JA read the prepared report of ERSA’s Race Committee.

I would like to open by thanking the other members of the race panel for their support and commitment, and for all the time that they spend much of which is done without the racers realising how much time it takes up.

I am pleased to say that the summer race season has been very successful.  We have had an increase in the number of races attending each event this year, but due to the efficient running of events we have still managed end the day’s races at reasonable times.   

I would like to thank each slope for allowing the races to take place and for all their help on the race day.  Without their support we would not be able to run the events.

We are going to run squad training sessions throughout the winter in order to ensure that more sessions will be organised between now and the start of next season.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions for the future, please discuss with your race manager or a member of the race panel so that they can be presented to all the clubs at the race managers meeting in February.

Again I would like to thank all those who have helped make the season a success.

Race Trainers Report 2003

In the absence of Paul Fraylich, JA read the prepared report of ERSA’s Race Trainers (Paul Fraylich and Kirk Durham)

Due to the heavy race calendar I held two Squad training sessions early in the season so that I could look and discuss with many of the members what they had done over the winter season. Due to a number of the squad having been away training on snow, it was at these sessions that we worked to adapt skills learnt on snow to dry slope racing.

As stated previously this year’s race calendar has been rather busy and I must applaud he large number of ERSA racers and parents who trekked all around the country to attend the races. Comparing the seed points from last season with this season all this traveling has paid off, especially in the female category, where racers such as Shanna Prince were matching the times of the top males. I have tried to attend and watch our athletes succeed at as many of these events as possible. It has been at these races that I have attempted to discuss with those ERSA racers who wanted what elements of their performance I believed they needed to work on and what I thought they should notice in the courses that were set. Hopefully next year I can extend this facility.

I would like to conclude with a few general comments taken from my observations at these races about what I believe ERSA members should work on in the coming months:

The female racers really need to work on their starts; this year there were only two individuals that stood out in this element of racing and they were Sega Fairweather and Harriet Steggles. A good start can gain you anything up to half a second per run. I believe next year this factor will be critical in maintaining and improving your seed points.

For the males, I really think they should work on linking what they learn in course inspection to how they ski the courses. Of course there are some notable exceptions but I have too often seen racers from this and other regions having to hack down courses because they haven’t set themselves up for changes in combinations. In the main the courses set this year have been relatively straightforward and easy; I wouldn’t rely on next years courses being the same.

I would finally like to thank everyone present for their time and support without which much of the work carried out by me and all the other coaches in ERSA would be worthless. It is very few of us who have to get up at the crack of dawn to get all our athletes to these races on time.

Treasurers Report

Copies of the accounts were circulated. The accounts had been posted for several months now on ERSA’s website (ERSA’s financial year runs from April – March).

Income_Expenditure Year Ended 31st March 2003

Financial Review Balance Sheet 31st March 2003

John Curtis, ERSA’s independent “Overseer” of the accounts, has ok-ed the accounts.

The Treasurer pointed out that ERSA’s finances are very healthy with some £ 4000.00 in the bank and she would support the proposed purchase of a Timing Board, as well as the purchase of some more radios to be used at all the Races.

Coaching Panel Report

There were no courses organised in 2003 (decided at the 2002 AGM).

For 2004 if the membership requests, a Course Setters Course, Race Training Workshops etc. could be arranged. Anybody interested is asked to contact Ros Humphrey – Ros.Humphrey@ntlworld.com. Those workshops can be organised with very little notice as long as we have some 6 – 8 participants. In the meantime, ERSA promised to pay the £ 5.00 registration fee to all participants of the Race Officials Course organized at Hemel in January 2004 (To book your place, please contact Dermot Flahive on Dermot.Flahive@ukgateway.net ) However, all recipients will be asked to ‘work’ at 2 race meetings in our Region in 2004.

ERSA Summer Snow Race Training Camp 2003

It was a really good camp. 70 participants from 6 different Clubs took part in this year’s Summer Race Camp. RH thanked all the Trainers and Club Managers and for their help and support. The athletes spent the morning on the glacier and in the afternoon, they went swimming, played football (we had the use of the all weather surface sports ground) or fitness training etc. Some parents skied as well while others enjoyed the many walks in the area. To help with future planning, the 2004 Summer Race Training Camp is suggested to be held from 31 July - 07 August 2004. Detailed written information will be handed to the various Race Managers at the pre-season meeting in February 2004 and/or at the first Summer League Race 2004.

Election of Officers

All officers were reselected and JC was elected to serve also as ERSA Vice Chairman.

AOB

The AGM closed and the Team Races continued.