Step-by-Step Guide for Running an Eastern Freestyle Meet for Meet Organizers
This guide has been created to help organizers – NOT officials.
1. Make sure your club is a member of USSA.
2. Be sure to have a certified technical delegate and a certified scorer in your mountain’s volunteer pool.
3. Send a representative to the Eastern Freestyle Spring Meeting and have a representative participate in the Eastern Fall Conference Call.
4. Be sure your mountain’s contact information is correct on easternfreestyle.org.
5. Send your meet preliminary agreement form back to Joan Dolan, Eastern Scheduling Chair by June 15th.
6. Send completed USSA sanction form back to Joan Dolan by November 15th. This form will be mailed to you in October. You MUST put your meet prices on the form.
7. USSA Membership: All competitors must be USSA freestyle members to compete in any sanctioned USSA/Eastern Meet. It is strongly advised that all meet officials be USSA members with Officials' Licenses. All jury members -Technical Delegate, Chief of Competition and Head Judge/Judges MUST be USSA members. Any competitor may purchase a membership at a meet and it's the obligation of the Hosting Mountain to send that application along with fees due to USSA immediately.
8. For “B” EQS events that intend to charge more than $37, you must send a copy of your budget to the Eastern Chair for approval.
9. Check the draft Eastern Competition schedule online in the fall to be sure dates, prices and events are correct for your competition.
10. Create a parent volunteer base with an e-mail group list to help run your event.
11. Read the USSA Competition Guide (available online) in respect to Eastern competitions.
12. Read the USSA Event Packet information that you will receive from USSA as soon as your sanction form is filed by Eastern Freestyle at USSA.
13. The organizing committee must supply housing for Eastern Officials that will be officiating at their competition. Lodging should be as close as possible to the mountain to avoid problems with transportation and morning delays. Judges can not be housed with athletes and their families, however the Technical Delegate of your event can. Please be advised that judging panels are comprised of both sexes and it's not advisable to room them together. If you would like to know the possible make up of your judging panel please see the TD and judges schedule online at on the Officials page. The Head Judge and the TD will contact you at least two weeks prior to the event to discuss your event and to receive lodging information.
14. As a hosting Mountain you must provide meals for the Judges and Technical Delegate. Lunch should be provided on the mountain for officials to help expedite the event. Breakfast and Dinner can be as follows: If you're planning on housing the officials with families, you can have them enjoy the morning meal with the family. As for dinner it is recommended that a per diem be given to all officials. If you will be hosting a banquet, banquet tickets for the officials are compensation for a meal. Per diems should be ready for the Head Judge and Technical Delegate on arrival or you may include them in your head tax payment to Eastern Freestyle by filling out the per diem portion of the form.
Per diem is as follows: (If given by the organizing committee it MUST be cash, whereas Eastern Freestyle will send a check if the organizing committee submits theirs with their head taxes.)
• $10 per day for Breakfast only
• $20 per day for Dinner only
• $30 per day for Breakfast and Dinner
15. Lunches should also be supplied to all event workers to enable your meet to run on a timely basis. There is rarely time for a full lunch break and everyone USUALLY eats lunch on the hill. The number of prepared lunches should be determined before the event and gone over so not to exclude any official, worker or volunteer. As for what types of lunches should be prepared. Remember you are working under cold conditions and food products tend to freeze. Also, your taste and others differ. Sandwiches made of Ham, Turkey, or Tuna with condiments on the side are the choice of officials. Avoid lettuce and tomato because they will freeze. Cookies, bite-size candy, and apples are excellent compliments. A very nice touch on those extremely cold days is thermoses of hot chocolate, broth or coffee. This will add a nice touch and warm up your officials, workers and volunteers for the cold afternoon ahead.
16. The Eastern Freestyle office will compensate all officials. Remember the Officials assigned to your Mountain are the backbone to seeing a successful event take place. Please treat them in a professional manner and your event will be a great success.
17. The officials (Judges and TD’s) are paid by Eastern Freestyle. The Eastern Head Tax is what funds their fees and travel expenses. Please print out the appropriate Eastern Head Tax form on the Meet Organizer’s page – “A” or “B”. Be careful when you are filling out the form as there are different options in respect to how officials are reimbursed for their services. In addition, per diems for the officials may be paid right through your head tax form eliminating the need to get cash for them on sight.
18. At least two weeks prior to the event please send in the Standard Event Information Form to the Eastern Chair for review. Once approved it will be posted on the web site. This eliminates MANY questions and concerns that your participants may have prior to an event.
19. Eastern Freestyle Awards Policy:
Eastern Qualifier Series/EQS/B’s Regular Season and Regional Finals:
For each competition at an event, organizers should award ribbons to the:
Top 3 places in each age group: J3-J6, boys and girls.
Organizers should be more creative with the overall awards (medals or trophies) for:
Top 3 places overall, boys and girls.
For each two day competition – meaning combined results for all events for the weekend, organizers should award ribbons to:
Top 3 places in each age group: J3-J6, boys and girls.
Organizers should be more creative with the overall awards for all events for the weekend (medals or trophies) for:
Top 3 places overall, boys and girls based on all runs “best of two” policy for all events
If an event runs a performance cut*, then award recipients should be determined based on the following guidelines:
Top 3 places in each age group: J3-J6, boys and girls based on the “best of two” runs policy
Top 3 places overall, boys and girls based on the “best of two” runs policy
Additionally:
• A host club may choose to award to fifth place.
• J1 and J2 entries are welcome and are eligible for overall awards only (not age group).
Team Awards:
Not required until Winfree software can figure it out – not capable at time of publication. Host Clubs may elect to manually determine a team award though there is no written policy as how this should be determined.
Eastern Qualifier Series/EQS/B’s Championships:
For each competition at the event, organizers should award trophies to the:
Top 10 places overall, boys and girls.
For the two day competition – meaning combined results for all events, excepting exhibition events, for the championships, organizers should award trophies to:
Top 3 places overall, boys and girls.
Additionally:
• Eastern Freestyle shall provide the Phil Holmes Sportsmanship Award trophy for the Top J3, J4 or J5 skier. The recipient should be selected by a committee formed at the event by an EFCC member.
• Ribbons should be presented to all J5 athletes participating in the EQS Championship event.
• Team Award - Not required until Winfree software can figure it out – not capable at time of publication. Host Clubs may elect to manually determine a team award though there is no written policy as how this should be determined.
Eastern Championship Series/ECS/A’s Regular Season:
For each aerial, mogul, slopestyle, half pipe competition at an event:
Top 10 overall, boys and girls
For each dual mogul competition at an event:
Top 8 overall, boys and girls
For each competition – meaning combined for the weekend:
Top 3 overall, boys and girls
Eastern Championship Series/ECS/A’s Championships:
For each aerial, mogul, slopestyle, half pipe competition at an event:
Top 10 overall, boys and girls
For each dual mogul competition at an event:
Top 8 overall, boys and girls
For each competition – meaning combined for the weekend:
Top 3 overall, boys and girls - ****For this season as all events are on separate weekends for championships – combined awards will not be required of organizers unless they choose to do so for the events they host. The combined eastern divisional champions of aerials, moguls and half pipe will be recognized at the Eastern Banquet and will also be awarded a spot to US Junior Olympics for all three disciplines – see reminder below.
Additionally:
• Eastern Freestyle will provide “End of the Season” awards for the following, as determined from the national points list, List #3A:
Rookie of the Year, male and female – moguls only
Most Improved, male and female – moguls only
MVP, male and female – moguls, half pipe, big air and aerials
**List #3A is the list that the Chair manually figures in order to include Eastern Championships. When slopestyle, aerial and half pipe championships are run earlier in the season, the “End of the Season” awards for those disciplines will not be determined until the close of List #3 and will be awarded as an announcement at the mogul and dual mogul eastern banquet and in an online announcement. Recipients will receive their trophies or prizes either at this banquet or directly from the Chair either at Juniors or Nationals.
Reminder: The junior combined divisional champions for aerials, moguls and half pipe for both male and female will be invited to all of the combined disciplines at Junior Olympics – their spot will be considered above and beyond the quota.
20. Radios are supplied by the Eastern Freestyle. The radios need to be picked up by your coach at the event previous to yours. You are responsible for all equipment received and sent by you. Please when receiving the radios and bibs do a check count of all equipment. There will be a list and a sign-off sheet for you to sign; only after you have inspected and accounted for all items. On a daily basis during the meet please distribute and have officials, volunteers and other radio users check and sign out equipment. Remember the Host Mountain is responsible for this equipment. One important word of advise-make sure the radios are on charge at the end of the day. Dead radios in the morning will hold up the meet.
21. Bibs: ECS "A" bibs are issued to athletes at the beginning of the season so they are responsible to have their bib for that day. Extra bibs will be included with the equipment you receive. Athletes that lose their bib may purchase another by paying a $25 fee. EQS "B" bibs must be provided by the host mountains. You may ask to hold the competitors USSA card in exchange for the bib.
22. Mountain Supplies for Meet: We suggest that you use a large carrying Tupperware box for transporting the following supplies and equipment needed for the daily operation of running your Freestyle meet. Before sending the Box up the hill to the finish area please double check to make sure all supplies are on board. Not having supplies on the hill can delay your event that day. Check to be sure that all the pencils are sharpened and the stopwatches are ready to go. Another nice touch for your Officials, Workers and Volunteers is to put a large supply of hand warmer and hard candy in the box for those cold event days. You may want to put someone in charge of making sure that this box arrives on time and for distributing supplies to those workers needing such supplies. The person or persons best suited for this position would be the Judge's Assistant and/or the Chief of Course. Make sure this box of equipment arrives in plenty of time and before the Officials get to the course to ensure a timely start to the day’s event.
• Pencils
• Pencil sharpener
• Pens
• Stapler
• Staples
• Staple remover
• Large Plastic Zip-Lock bags-1 full box
• Clip boards
• 1 for each judge
• 3 for scoring
• 1 for the starter
• 3 stop watches and extra batteries if needed buy the watches
• Roll of duct tape
• Plastic wire ties
• Colored powder chalk-1 gallon bottle-red for marking the finish line/Jump Site for knoll
23. Your scorer should download your meet registrations after registration closes. A file will be sent to you by the Eastern Office and is also available online. The scorer should also update their USSA people file (add link) as it will make registration easier for them.
24. Registration:
Manpower on the Day of the Event:
• 5 people to work the tables
• 1 Troubleshooter to help with Coaches, Official and Volunteers tickets.
• 1 Person in charge of Tickets to avoid misuse.
• All Volunteers should sign a waiver form before issuing them a ticket for the day.
• Officials and Coaches should sign in before receiving a complimentary ticket. You must request that they show proof of a current USSA Coaches/Officials Membership card.
• During the early season meets you may want to have one person in charge of USSA registrations and renews. Forms are available online and may have been sent to you in the USSA meet information packet prior to your event.
Materials for Registration:
• 2 Long tables with 5 chairs
• Tables or rope to block off registration area from competitors
• Pens, pens and post-it notes
• Meet registration forms, information sheets and unofficial start list
• Bib and competition packages
• Cash to make change ($100 in $5, $100 in $10 and $100 in $20)
• Cash box
• Instruction sheets for people in charge of registration and pre-registration list showing the amount competitors owe and events they are scheduled for.
• Extra trail maps
• Wickets for ticket
• 1 table for USSA applications and waiver forms, need a current memberships list here as well. This may be a good area to set up scoring in the AM.
• Waiver forms for volunteers
Procedure for Registration
• Use two or three tables depending on what event you are registering for that day - One for A-K and the other for L-Z. For large mogul days adding a third table will help expedite the registration procedure. Example: A-G, H-P, Q-Z. You will need to have two people at each table; one to collect money and keep track of how much the competitor owes, and the second person to hand out the bib, ticket and any other information the competitor needs.
*Competition packets are very helpful in expediting registration. Everything is pre-packed and when the competitor registers all you have to do is finalize his balance and hand over the packet. Packets would include: the lift ticket, trail map, bibs (EQS only) and any other items of interest to the event. This is also a good place to add sponsorship items and information for distribution to the Competitors.
25. Description of Meet Officials and Workers
Judges
The EFCC Judges Sub-Committee Chairperson assigns the Judges for your event. There may be up to 5 Judges for ECS (A) meets and 2 or 3 Judges for EQS (B) meets. The Head Judge will be your contact for all the Judges. The Head Judge is responsible to you and the Judges on the panel.
Technical Delegate
The EFCC Rules and Technical Sub-Committee Chairperson will assign a Technical Delegate (TD) for all Eastern ECS “A” Competitions. For EQS “B” events the meet organizer should work with the EFCC Rules and Technical Sub-Committee Chairperson to determine appropriate assignments.
Event Chairperson or Meet Organizer
This person is in charge of the coordination of the event prior to and during the competition. This includes the delegation of jobs, assigning or recruiting volunteers, organizing the events and paying the bills. Also, oversees the Reports that must be transmitted and mailed to the EFCC and the USSA.
Chief of Competition
This person spends the day on the hill, helping to move the meet along in respect to coaches meetings in the morning, determining performance cut numbers, making sure run orders and results are processed and available, etc etc. This person is a member of the jury along with the Head Judge and Technical Delegate. This person should have a strong background in the rules and procedures of the sport of Freestyle and should be a neutral to the event to avoid possible conflict in the jury process.
Chief of Course
This person is responsible for the preparation of the course and must be familiar with the snow conditions and the terrain in concern. This person should recruit a course crew to help with course preparation and maintenance work during the event.
Competition Secretary
This person is responsible for all secretarial work related to the competition.
Registration Chief
This person receives monies owed to the event from competitors, prepares and hands out competition materials and keeps track of records and all accounting. This person works closely with the Chief of Calculations/Head Scorer.
Chief of Calculations/Head Scorer
This person is responsible for the ongoing verification of scoring and calculations during the event. This position must be held by one familiar and certified with the current Freestyle Program used by the Eastern Division. Clinics will be held every fall by Dick and Nancy Stone to certify and update any one involved in Scoring Eastern Freestyle Events. Materials needed to perform the duties are as follows:
• PC computer
• Printer
• Paper
• Post-it Notes
• Pens
• Pencils
• Paper clips
• Scotch tape or tack for hanging scores
• A current rulebook
• Stapler and staples
• Plastic bags for holding scores
Scorers-Assistants to the Chief of Calculating
This person assists the Chief of Calculating in the verification of scoring calculations during the competition. It is helpful to have two shifts for this job, as it may be tedious.
Award Writers
After the Judges have verified the results of the event, the ribbons/plaques need to be written out as to the names of the competitors receiving awards. A timesavings hint… Awards can be prewritten out. The Scorer can provide/run a list of age groups so the Awards personnel can start writing out ribbons for age groups. Names can be added later after results are finalized by the Judges.
Judges Assistants
This person assists the Head Judge by stapling the scores and on-hill verification of scores. This person is responsible for keeping in order and bagging the scores that will be delivered to the Chief of Calculating. They also help the judges by getting supplies during the event like sharpened pencils, scoring pads and making the workplace on the hill more pleasant.
Chief of Sound-Announcer
This can be one or more individuals depending if you use your own sound equipment or hire a sound company. The sport of Freestyle has always been associated with music from its beginning, and it is highly recommended that there be music at all events. The announcer should have a clear voice and be familiar with the sport of Freestyle as well as knowledge of the Competitors names and mountains.
Timing
Timing in mogul events comprises 5 people. Two people to handle the electric timing recording and 3 people for hand (backup) timing. These individuals should be well rehearsed in using this equipment prior to the day's event. A majority of late starts at Mogul event's surrounds the Timing.
Starter and Assistant Starter
You will need two individuals to work together to organize and start the competitors at all three Freestyle events. These individuals should be friendly, compassionate, understanding but most of all direct and organized. The Starter and his/her Assistant are the key to keeping the meet moving along. They should be both introduced to the Head Judge before the event so a good interchange is established.
Score Runners
This is a very critical position that has the responsible to transport the Judges scores from the Judges stand to the Official Scorer. These individuals must be familiar with the ski area and trustworthy to transport these important documents. It is advised that you have at less 4 score runners in place to move a meet at a satisfactory pace.
26. If there is an injury or accident at your competition, you must fill out an USSA Accident Report.
27. If an athlete wishes to make a protest, then they should file the appropriate protest form included in the USSA event organizer packet, pay the appropriate fee and submit to the TD. The TD will meet with the rest of the members of the jury and a decision will be made. Minutes from the Jury decision (form included) should be taken and submitted to USSA along with the original protest form.
28. Results: Results should be posted after each run if possible with the understanding that they are unofficial. At a minimum results should be posted after every 15 athletes in a readily accessible spot either on the course (best option) or in the base lodge. Scores are not meant to be secretive. Athletes and coaches should have the opportunity to review their scores as soon as available. It is ESPECIALLY helpful to post final results before awards. If there are any errors, then they can be noted prior to awards presentation.
29. Immediately following the event, when the results have been verified by the head judge, the scorer should transmit the results using the link found on Winfree.
30. USSA will send you transmittal forms (Transmittal forms can also be printed right from the USSA freestyle page by going to events and clicking on the U code.) that need to be filled out and sent into USSA in addition to the following items:
• TD report- get from TD before he/she leaves.
• Hard copy of results from scorer, the scorer must also submit results electronically in order to be scored to the points list.
• Head tax accounting sheet and check made out to USSA. There is fee of $2/competitor for “A” ECS events only, include DSQ and DNF and do not include USFST members.
• New USSA Membership Applications- IF ANY.
• Accident reports- IF ANY.
• Volunteer race worker forms- IF ANY.
• Protest form, jury decision- IF ANY.
