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The entire weekend of events have been cancelled for sure. We have not rescheduled those events as of yet. snowboardseries.com always has the latest information on schedule changes etc.

I obviously understand the costs in getting memberships and certifications. And then justifying them with the possiblity of making any more $$ after you have gotten them. I would like to organize another judging clinic for this region and the cost is only $25 pp. That is for the instructor of the course. I know there are plenty of mountains that would host the event for us. So if this is still something many of you would like to get involved in, please let me know. FYI, the financial plan that I have set in place for the USASA since I have become the President of the Executive board will begin to reduce the membership fees and the cost of nationals. We are beginning an endowment fund to also generate more funds to also reduce education costs. As far as MASS is considered if we can retain the sponsorships we have this season, for next, our fees also can be reduced. All of these measures are in an effort to make everything we do more accessible to riders without the finacial constraints.

I did invite all the area mountains to have their staff attend the clinincs. Existing riders, park and pipe staff and even instructors are perfect andidates to begin their education in judging. I very easily could arrange for one of the trainers to come to this area and conduct another clinic. I would then also be more then happy to employ many of them at our various events. We are always looking for qualified judges. Education and training have become a part of the new focus of the USASA. We just had our most successful training seasons yet in coaching and judging and we will continue to push. Nationally we are traing more and more TS's (technical supervisors). At Nationals we will have an undrstudying TS at each one of the five venues. This is in an effort to continue the pipeline of not only educated coaches and judges but also event organizers. As always help is needed. Many people fell that some of the comps may not have been as organized as others that I may have ran. And I assure that I do my best effort to make them the best possible competitions they can be. But, employees are always a challenge. For instance, this past weekend in order to have enough staff to judge the event I had to pay myself the least amount of money. (next to nothing) It seems that at the MASS events we have a ton of parents now that are helping out and making that event run smoother then ever. But for the other events we organize, staffing is always an issue.

Is it also true that he is the one actually behind Camelbacks' Park improvements or lack of? I am not behind the improvements that Camelback is making. Or as you say lack there of. Let's be honest, the season really hasn't been far to our region weather wise to realy gage anyone's performance. I am excited to see all the mountains in our region step it up. Everyone continues to annouce improvements and most are centered around the park and pipes. My affiliation with Camelback is with the creation of the Camelback Mountain School. This is a program that trains riders for regional competitions. For years we have been losing riders to the north and west because we did not have any coaching programs in the region. In addition those riders that could take advantage of those academies had to be independantly waelthy. We are offering a cost effective coaching program in the region at a mountain that was willing to support us and our efforts. I do not make a penny off the program. I hope to see more programs grow at area mountains to continue to grow the sport and create rivalries amoung teams. (much like that exist up north and out west) Right now we do not offer actual classes, i.e. school. We are traying to gain the support of the school to simply honor our competition schedule and understand that athletes that qualify for nationals and such will need to miss school. In the same respect we will instill the same academic requires of our athletes as the school does on their athletes, i.e. baseball, basketball, field hockey, etc. Some day maybe it could become a an actual academy? We also, hope the program can grow in both directions. Entry level riders that really don't compete, but are trained in the varying diciplines. And elite athletes that have outgrown the region level comps and are willing to travel to various USSA, TTR and unsanctioned high exposure level events.

As for closing of the final feature on the boulder park. If you were at the competition, I was judging the Widow park all day and Matt Jennings was the head judge on the Boulder Park. 1st thing in the morning we made the call to have the jump modified as it was extremely dangerous. The landing was way to short for the takeoff. During the event Matt Jennings decided to exclude that last feature for safety reasons. When making tough decisions like this, you are always going to piss someone off who felt it was the opposite. I have to stand behind my head judge Matt and support the decision he made on the hill.

FYI, Matt Jennings was one of the judges at this past weekends event. He has been training USASA judges for years. In addition to U his USASA affiliation, he has been helping progress freeskiing and in particularly the judging of it for the past 4 years. Matt, has been the head judge of the Free Skiing Open since its inception. The judging and education of judging skiers is there. What I feel the problem is not in the judging, but in the event layout. The staff at Big Boulder created the criteria in which you could have a team of any combination including skiers, snowboarders, males and females. Trust me, it is a tough one to judge with those variables. As for the Oakley Rail or Bail Series, the categories are the same. Maybe we should change that?

The USASA Trainers division holds judging clinicns each year at all the regions prior to the season. Gordon Robbins, Pheobe Mills, Matt Jennings, Mike Chantry, and Bryce Maxwell are all members of the Freestyle commision. They with the help of Greg Johnson create the material, courses and content of the training and certification. I, Bill, only supply the venue on which the training has been conducted. I do not hold the reigns on judging and coaching level certifications. I am the only one in this region trying to promote and encourage more people to take the courses and become certified. USASA is the only organization offering these classes. I do beleive the IJC making a comeback in judging again. There focus for the past decade has been judges for national events like the Grand Prix, US Open, etc.

Check out active.com keyword Oakley for the cash prize breakdown. The groms are going to have a solid amount of prizes for that.