It seems a truce has been called between the nation’s elite knuckle draggers and two-plankers, at least at an organizational level.
On Jan. 25, Alpine Canada Alpin and the Canadian Snowboard Federation announced that they had formed strategic partnership that will help both groups cut costs and increase their effectiveness.
"With only 14 days to go until the start of the Winter Olympic Games we are pleased to report that the partnership is working very well," said ACA president Kerry Moynihan. "The CSF has two full-time staff working with us in Calgary as part of a mentoring relationship. Our goal is to reduce administration costs and work co-operatively in terms of high performance sport, hosting of events, financial management, marketing and communications, and finally, domestic development."
The Olympics will be the partnership’s first test, as both alpine and snowboard teams share information and resources, and work together on the logistics of the Games. The ACA is sending 11 athletes to Salt Lake City, while the CSF is sending nine.
The idea to form a strategic partnership came from the new national sport plan, which encourages sports to work together co-operatively, sharing experience and resources, and ensuring that organizations are effective and efficient. That will result in lower administrative costs and a better distribution of funds for the development of athletes and coaches.
The CSF is looking at the partnership as a golden opportunity to learn the ropes from their alpine cousins.
"ACA is a well-developed organization with many years of experience and we want to learn as much as we can as fast as we can to move our sport forward in a professional manner," said CSF president Adam Faithfull.
"The CSF is very pleased with the opportunities for growth that are a direct result of the partnership with ACA."
The ACA is the national governing body responsible for the advancement of ski racing in and for Canada. It manages the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, and is heavily involved in the Pontiac GMC Cup series, the Nor-Am Cup series, FIS races in Canada, and Alpine Ski World Cup.
According to the ACA, this country produces 12,000 registered ski racers each year at all ski levels, from the Nancy Greene Leagues to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team.
The Canadian Snowboard Federation was established in 1991 as the governing body for the sport of snowboarding in Canada. With the club system still in its infancy, the FIS and International Snowboard Federation in a conflict over the ownership of the sport, and no hierarchy of competition at the national level, the CSF has had to go back to square one to bring some kind of order to the sport.
Now the CSF monitors and assists all competitive snowboarding programs in Canada, and is recognized as the official governing body for snowboarding in Canada by the Canadian Ski and Snowboard Association, the FIS and the Canadian Olympic Association.
The CSF fosters and facilitates the ongoing development of Canadian Snowboarding athletes, coaches and officials, from the grass roots level to the national team.
