Our season has officially kicked off!

Many thanks to all of our members who attended our first ever Kick-off Meeting last Saturday. It was fantastic to see so many of our members, athletes and coaches in one room, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback I’ve received from new and old members alike.

Getting everyone together was a great way to start the season, and is a model that we will build on in future years, using the knowledge gained to enable us to keep advancing how best to support our athletes.

And a big thank you to Anders Hestdalen for sharing the vision of BC Alpine with us. It was reassuring to see that we are all working on the same page. We will be posting the slides from the presentations to the website, and for those who could not make it I encourage you to go to the website and review the slides.

I’m aware the volume of information may seem overwhelming, but we have posted everything you need to know on the Club’s website. Please refer to the Member Guidelines* as a starting point.

Again, a huge thanks to you all for your ongoing patience and support throughout the launch of the new website and mobile App. We feel that once all of the pieces are in place it will be a more user-friendly interface and a great resource for us all I encourage you all to try it, familiarise yourself with it and please pass on any thoughts of how to develop it.
As a reminder, the Whistler Mountain Ski Club has signed onto the Responsible Coaching Movement pledge. Among other steps, this means that we have committed to have all our staff and parents complete the Respect in Sport program**. The feedback from parents who have taken the Parent Module has been tremendously positive.

If you have not yet completed the Respect in Sport Parent Module please do so by January 1st. We have had great uptake so far but need to see 100% participation to save us having to follow up with individual parents.
The other big change for 2018-2019 is that we are using the natural split of gender to group athletes with coaches, save for 1st year U12 athletes, who will be a separate group.

Parents, the Head Coach for your athletes group will be your first point of contact, to discuss your athlete’s progress through the year. Please contact your age group Lead Coach for questions regarding the scheduling and programming.

We will be building up technical skills assessments for each athlete through the season, in order to have some clear process goals. This will also serve as a measure of your athlete’s advancement, and that, combined with the fitness assessments align, with our long term athletic development model.

As we move into mid-December, we are still struggling with limited snow here at home. However, most of our U16 team is away at Panorama or Sun Peaks this week, and Henry is investigating taking a group of U14s to Sun Peaks next weekend for additional on-snow training as we do not expect to have sufficient snow coverage on the training centre.

However, there is precipitation and cold temperatures in the forecast, and our partner Whistler Blackcomb has been working hard blowing snow, so we are hoping to have terrain for training in the near future and to be able to run our first club race, scheduled for next weekend.

*Members Guidelines http://www.wmsc.info/organizations/3850/documents/200352

• Respect in Sport Parent Module https://alpine-canada-parent.respectgroupinc.com/

As you are aware, we still have limited snow coverage and therefore hill space. Added to this, that many of our athletes have had limited skiing so far this year and a majority have not even skied a training course yet, we will cancel the Club race scheduled for this weekend.

Coaches and Executive Direction will look for an alternate date later in the year and we will communicate that to you.

NOTICE OF 2018 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club will be held on Saturday December 1st, 2018 at 11:00 am at the Whistler Secondary School, 8000 Alpine Way, Whistler, British Columbia V0N 1B8 for the following purposes:
1. To approve the Minutes of the 2017 AGM;
2. To receive the Report of the Executive Director;
3. To receive the Financial Statements for the year ended April 30, 2018;
4. To appoint Auditors for the current fiscal year;
5. To set the number of directors for 2018/2019 at 9;
6. To elect directors for 2018-2020; and
7. Other business.
We look forward to seeing you at the WMSC 2018 Annual General Meeting.
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Pursuant to By-Law 9.5 the following information is provided:

New nominee directors recommended by the Club’s Nominating Committee:
· David Brownlie (Finance Director)
· Steven Fleckenstein*
· Nicole Stefenelli

Incumbent directors standing for re-election
· Sarah Renzoni*
· Graham Ross
· Jason Shorter

Directors continuing their terms:
· John Legg (Chair)
· Robert Toole (Secretary)*
· Rand Neeves

• Independent by reason of not having children in Club programs.

Directors retiring from the board:
· Hans Lundin
· Patrick Maloney
· Corrie Paulsen
· Marty Aidelbaum

If at the AGM the number of nominees equals or is less than the number of vacancies, then the nominees for Director will be acclaimed. If at the AGM the number of nominees exceeds the number of vacancies, there will be an election and the nominees will be ranked in order of votes received; the nominees receiving the most votes will be elected fill the vacancies and to serve for a term of two years.

Pursuant to By-Law 9.8, members may vote by proxy. Members wishing to vote by proxy must complete the Proxy Form and return it to the Club office at least 48 hours prior to the AGM. Members are urged to either attend the meeting or return their completed proxies to ensure a quorum (10% of eligible members) is present at the meeting. Non-receipt by any member of any notice through error or omission will not invalidate the proceedings of any general meeting.

Calling on all WMSC Athletes and Parents!

The Whistler Mountain Ski Club will be holding its first Annual Season Kick-off Meeting & fitness assessments on December 1st, 2018 at Whistler Secondary School.

As critical information for the season will be communicated in the meeting attendance is mandatory for all 2018-2019 Season Parents and Athletes.

Parents: 9am – 12:30
Athletes: 9am – 1:30 Athletes should bring food & drinks for fitness assessments

The day will include:

• 2018-2019 Season-Opening Remarks & Presentation of 2018 – 2019 Coaching Team
• “Developing the Athletic Pathway for Ski Racing in Canada”, Anders Hestdalen, General Manager of BC Alpine
• “Culture & Teamship”, Mark Tilston, Executive Director
• 2018 – 2019 Age group category meetings
• Annual pre-season athlete Fitness Assessments
• “WMSC Operating and Governance Structure”, John Legg, Chair
• Annual General Meeting

In advance of the Kick-off Meeting we are requesting that all parents complete the Respect in Sport – Parent Module. In recognition of the current movement towards improving the ski racing environment for all athletes and parents in Canada, going forward completion of Respect-in Sport Parent Module will become mandatory for all club parents.
You can complete the module through the BC Alpine website at https://alpine-canada-parent.respectgroupinc.com There is a $12 fee to complete this module payable online.

We also ask that in advance of the Season Kick-off Meeting all parents and athletes review the Athlete Code of Conduct and Teamship Values Statement. All parents and athletes will be required to sign the Athlete Code of Conduct and Teamship Values Statement prior to any post December 1, 2018 on snow activity.

This is going to be an exciting start to WMSC’s 2018 – 2019 Season! I look forwards to see you all see you there!

All WMSC parents should attend this course, whether you have previous ski racing experience or don’t know the difference between DH and SL.

Level 1 Officials course Introduction to Ski Racing is prepared for race volunteers with little or no experience. It is your introduction to getting involved with all WMSC race events.

Date December 15th, 2018
Time: 11:00 to 2:00 pm
Location: WMSC
Cost $15.00 Bring CASH to the course
Register at blanca@wmsc.info

Level 2 Officials Course Race Organization Fundamentals The prerequisites are Level 1 certification and practical race experience either on-hill or in race administration. See http://www.wmsc.info/organizations/3850/pages/136797 for more information about the course. The cost is $35 and includes an ICR and course manual.

Date: December 8 and 9, 2018
Time 9:00 to 2:00 pm
Location: WMSC
Cost $35.00 Bring CASH to the course includes an ICR and course manual. There is a one-hour exam open book exam at the end of the course.
Bring lunch

For more information please visit our website: http://www.wmsc.info/organizations/3850/pages/136797