WMRT President's Letter

Date:     1/24/20

I hope you had a chance to get on snow this weekend. The conditions from Thursday through today were some of the best of the season so far. Unfortunately, this means crowded lift lines, and long waits, the payoff are trails that are not nearly as crowded as they normally are.

This brings me to the main point of this email. Last night I was sent an email from mountain mgmt. asking me to address a post on the ski areas Facebook page. The post referenced race team members cutting the line, pushing and shoving to do so, skiing over other people’s skis, stepping over the rope to cut the line, all to get with friends to ride the lift. I’ve spoken with the individual and apologized on behalf of the team. I also let him know that we do expect more from our athletes and will not tolerate such behavior. The post mentioned the Monadnock lift, but I was told that was an error and it was the Minuteman lift line.

Parents: I need you to speak with your athlete(s) about proper lift line etiquette. Remind them of what’s expected of them daily – it’s included in this email. Let them know behavior like this will not be tolerated and will result in their removal from the team and could result in an early end to the season for the entire team. Keep an eye on the athletes while in line, if you see something, say something, if you’re uncomfortable come to me or a coach or a parent rep.

Athletes: If you wear a team jacket you are not anonymous. You have a big label on your back and can be easily identified. I need you to remember and practice lift line etiquette, such as but not limited to:

1 – no bad language.

2 – no cutting, pushing, or shoving.

3 – Be courteous to others, you should act as an ambassador of the mountain.

4 – If your friend or teammate is not acting appropriately say something to them or your coach.

Behavior like this will not be tolerated and will result in your removal from the team and could result in an early end to the season for the entire age group or team.

We are guests of the mountain, we need to show respect for their operations and other guests, otherwise, we can and will be asked to leave.

Reminders:

Night Training continues this week - Tuesday 7 to 9pm, and Thursday 7 to 9pm. If you unsure of the location, there should be a whiteboard on the gate shed with the location indicated. In most cases, we will either be on Smith or Piece of Cake.

Breaks: are to be limited if at all and no congregating around a large table.

Parents Accessibility: Please remember if you drive your athlete you are required to stay at the mountain in case something happens, or they develop symptoms and need to be removed.

Practice Times: Unless otherwise noted, practice will start at 7:30 and end at 11:30 and the athletes will return to the meeting area between the Granite Room and Ski Patrol.

1. Pre-Screen up to 8 hours before practice using the MyMedBot app.

2. Arrive ready to ski – go to the meeting area outside Granite Room/Ski Patrol.

3. Always wear your mask - everywhere

4. Six feet apart from everyone all times

5. Follow Mountain Rules in the lift line and on lift – 2 WMRT Athletes on chair.

Regards,

Scot Haigh

WMRT President

WMRT President's Letter

Date:     1/11/20

After a couple weekends of limited crowds, they returned this weekend. While the lines may appear to be one big mass from the deck, standing in-line Sunday I felt the separation was adequate. Below you’ll find some items and a couple reminders.

As a reminder:

Athletes need to continue to ride the lift 2 at time and within their weekend cohorts.

Breaks are to be limited if at all and no congregating around a large table.

If these requirements are not followed and a quarantine is required, it may result in the whole age group being quarantined, not just the cohort.

MyMedBot – Health Prescreening:  I hope you find the use of the MyMedBot app convenient.

If you get a RED screen - DO NOT come to practice, if the Red screen is the result of a mistake when completing the questionnaire please reach out to a Board member so that it can be revised, alternatively complete the paper form and hand it to a Board Member. You’ll notice several of the questions have been updated to include further explanation about travel, quarantine and testing.

If you’re not attending please don’t complete the MyMedBot app, we will view the incompletes as not attending training that day. If you don’t complete the app do not come to training, doing so may result in removal from the program.

If you (parent or athlete) do test positive for COVID 19 please let us know by sending an email to . This will allow us to make a determination if notification to a cohort is required and allow us to track the resumption of participation. Not doing so puts our season and the health of others in jeopardy.

U12 Home Race on January 23^rd – The board met last week and made the difficult decision to cancel the GS on Lower Smith due to a couple reasons, 1) COVID 19 – see below, 2) Smith Walton Homologation.

We are considering options for a home race later in the year, assuming the situation with COVID 19 improves.

Smith Walton Homologation – Over a year ago we started the re-homologation process. In November 2020 our current homologation expired, and in the last week of December we finally received the re-homologation report from USSS. Due to the narrowness of the trail, where upper smith meets lower smith (the Condo), USSS will not renew our top to bottom homologation for GS. This means we cannot run a race from the top to the bottom. We can however run a Slalom on Upper Smith and a Slalom and Giant Slalom on Lower Smith.

We are exploring what options we have

Night Training continues this week - Tuesday 7 to 9pm, and Thursday 7 to 9pm. If you unsure of the location, there should be a whiteboard on the gate shed with the location indicated. In most cases, we will either be on Smith or Piece of Cake.

NASTAR - The Race dept has agreed to let MWRT athletes run the NASTAR course, on the weekends when accompanied by their coaches. Prior to running the course there is a waiver that must be signed. Please login to you athletes account and sign the waiver, otherwise your athlete will be turned away.

By the Numbers - COVID 19:

Cases continue to rise not only in Massachusetts but across the country.

7 Day Average Positivity – 7.26%* down from 8.42%**

Average Daily Incidence Rate Per 100,000 (last 14 days) – 61.1%* up from 58.3**

Estimated Active Cases in MA – 92,405

*reported 1/11/2021

**reported 12/31/2020

The expectation is that we will see the peak (positive cases) from the holidays in mid-January, and it is expected we will see the peak (hospitalizations) from the holidays two weeks after that - the middle/end of January. It’s also been noted that there is more virulent mutation going around.

Please continue to be vigilant in your social distancing, mask wearing, and hand washing. Now is not the time to let our guard down.

A few Reminders:

Parents Accessibility: Please remember if you drive your athlete you are required to stay at the mountain in case something happens, or they develop symptoms and need to be removed.

Practice Times: Unless otherwise noted, practice will start at 7:30 and end at 11:30 and the athletes will return to the meeting area between the Granite Room and Ski Patrol.

1. Pre-Screen up to 8 hours before practice.

2. Arrive ready to ski – go to the meeting area outside Granite Room/Ski Patrol.

3. Always wear your mask - everywhere

4. Six feet apart from everyone all times

5. Follow Mountain Rules in the lift line and on lift – 2 WMRT Athletes on chair.

Regards,

Scot Haigh

WMRT President

WMRT President's Letter

Date:     1/3/20

Happy New Year! 

I hope you had a chance to get out there this weekend. The snow this morning was fantastic!

Night Training starts this week - Tuesday 7 to 9pm, and Thursday 7 to 9pm and will continue until mountain goes to its end of season hours, normally in early to mid-march.

NASTAR - The Race dept has agreed to let MWRT athletes run the NASTAR course, on the weekends when accompanied by their coaches. Prior to running the course, there is a waiver that must be signed. Please login and sign the waiver, otherwise, your athlete will be turned away. If the waivers are not signed this program may end.

The NASTAR (National Standard Race) program uses handicaps and you can see how you rank against other NASTAR racers all over the country.  If you haven't gone into NASTAR and looked at your Athlete's race record or set up their profile, we’re asking you to do that!  As a first step, please go to https://skiracing.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=searchracer and search for your name.  If you have multiple records, choose the one that has your most recent or most comprehensive results.  Create a login for that NASTAR ID and go to that account.  The first time you log into that account for the season, you will sign the waiver to race NASTAR for the year.  At this point, if you had other (multiple) IDs you SHOULD go ahead and delete or merge them, having multiple accounts may result in an account being viewed at the start which DOES NOT indicate that the waiver has been signed..

COVID 19:

Cases continue to rise not only in Massachusetts but across the country. 

7 Day Average Positivity - 8.42%*

Average DailyIncidence Rate Per 100,000 (last 14 days) - 58.3*

*reported 12/31/2020

The expectation is that we will see the peak (positive cases) from the holidays in two weeks, and it is expected we will see the peak (hospitalizations) from the holidays two weeks after that - the middle of January. It’s also been noted that there is more virulent mutation going around.

Please continue to be vigilant in your social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand washing. Now is not the time to let our guard down.

Prescreening:  I hope you find the use of the MyMedBot app convenient.

A few things to note:

1. If you get a RED screen  - DO NOT  come to practice, if the Red screen is the result of a mistake when completing the questionnaire please reach out to a Board member so that it can be revised.

2. If you’ve traveled out of state the board can not approve your participation based on your description of where and what you did while out of state. We are deemed an Activity Provider by the Commonwealth of Mass and must follow the guidelines they have established for Youth and Audult Amateur Sports as well as the  Travel Guidelines.

3. If you have traveled out of state and are not required to quarantine because you’ve met the guidelines established by the Commonwealth of Mass, then your athlete is permitted to participate in training.

A few Reminders:

Parents Accessibility: Please remember if you drive your athlete you are required to stay at the mountain in case something happens or they develop symptoms and need to be removed.

Practice Times: Unless otherwise noted, practice will start at 7:30 and end at 11:30 and the athletes will return to the meeting area between the Granite Room and Ski Patrol.

1. Pre-Screen up to 8 hours before practice.

2. Arrive ready to ski – go to the meeting area outside Granite Room/Ski Patrol.

3. Always wear your mask - everywhere

4. Six feet apart from everyone all times

5. Follow Mountain Rules in the lift line and on lift – 2 WMRT Athletes on chair.

Regards,

Scot Haigh

WMRT President

WMRT President's Letter

Date:     12/12/20

It was great to see everyone today! Feedback from the athletes was positive and heard more than one parent say “it's great to be out here”. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate with us tomorrow as well with the rain ending sometime tonight before midnight.

As promised changes will happen. It was noted today that arriving via deck by the pond can be slippery in ski boots when the wood and wet. 

Going forward our recommendation is to arrive by entering the base area to the right of the Ticket Window and proceeding around to the meeting area near the Monadnock lift.

The presentation from the Parent Meeting on Wednesday has been posted to the team website under the Horizontal tab “Race Signup, WMRT Info, Results” and in the “WMRT Participation Guide” folder. It can also be accessed with the link: Parent Meeting Presentation Updated 12/12/2020

If you missed the Parent Meeting, it was recorded and can be listened to at the following links. Due to the late start, the recording does begin a couple of slides into the presentation.

Audio and Presentation

 Reminder for U12 and U14 Parents:

Please complete and bring the following to training this weekend - these are required to participate:

20/21 WMRT Participation Waiver - Only Required once

WMRT COVID-19 Health PreScreening - Required for every training session until further notice 

Athlete and Coach Safety Protocols - Be familiar with all season

Regards,

Scot Haigh

WMRT President

This letter will be posted to the News section of the team website

WMRT President's Letter

Date:             12/6/20

All,

I'm writing to provide an update as we approach the start of on-snow training.

Virtual Parent Meeting - Wednesday, December 9th, at 7 pm - Information to be provided separately.

Start of the Season - We’re on track to kick off our season this Saturday the 12th with a Soft Start - ½ the Athletes will train on Saturday and the other half will train on Sunday. This is only for this first weekend so we can get a sense of what works and what revisions may be needed. Below are group breakouts.

1. Saturday  - U10/U16/U19
2. Sunday - U12 & U14

USSS Numbers - Several Athletes do not have USSS numbers in the SkiWMRT system. USSS Numbers are required to participate in WMRT. Please login and add your Athletes USSS number. If your Athlete doesn’t have a USSS number please obtain one. In order to use the prescreen app you will need a USSS number. If you do not prescreen, you do not train.

Pre Screening - Athletes are required to complete a health check pre-screen. We will be using the AdminSki Touchless Checkin for this. A USSS number is required for this process.

2020/21 Season Guiding Principles:

1. Arrive, Train, Leave
2. Expect changes weekly if not daily - whatever plan(s) we have will be subject to change.

Please and be familiar with the WMRT COVID - Athlete and Coach Safety Protocols

Refund Policy - 2020/21 Season:

1. During the 20/21 any family/athlete in good standing will be entitled to the following refund options based on medical/injury leave, cancelation of the season due to state requirements or other pandemic related reason, or loss of parent employment.
2. full refund with notification prior to 12/31/2020. 
3. prorated refund (calculated as - cost/number of training days in season x training days remaining) with notification prior to 2/28/2021. 
4. athlete dismissal due to guideline infractions, no refund.

A few things you can expect this year when we hit snow - restated/updated from last 11/22 letter:

1. Pre Screening prior to arrival will be required. We will be using the AdminSki Touchless Registration process - each athlete will be assigned a QR code and upon arrival, the QR will be scanned to confirm that the prescreen has been completed.
2. The athletes and coaches will be placed in cohorts. These cohorts will ski together for the entire weekend.
3. We are creating cohorts because our membership comes from many communities across Massachusetts. 
4. We expect to have a positive case at some point during the season. Cohorts will allow us to isolate those impacted and work with local authorities on contact tracing.
5. Our meeting place will be outside, between the Granite Room and Ski Patrol. 
6. This will allow us to gather with appropriate spacing, away from the forming lift lines at Polar and Minuteman. It also provides us the opportunity to arrive via the deck and avoid other skiers between Ski School and the Ski Shop.
7. Athletes will be required to wear masks at all times during training.
8. Parents will be required to stay on the property and be accessible if needed.
9. We have ordered team masks. Each athlete will get two.
10. I’ll be scheduling a virtual parent meeting the week after Thanksgiving - Wednesday, December 9, at 7pm.
11. Customer Service (not Group Sales) has the list of names needing passes.

Please Remember:

1. Pre-Screen up to 8 hours before practice.

2. Arrive ready to ski – go to the meeting area outside the Granite Room/Ski Patrol.

3. Always wear your mask - everywhere

4. Six feet apart from everyone at all times

5. Follow Mountain Rules in the lift line and on a lift – 2 WMRT Athletes on the chair.

That's it for now. Think cold!!

Scot Haigh

WMRT President

WMRT President's Letter - 20/21/ Season

Date:             9/20/20

I hope this note finds you all well and that you’ve been able to safely get out and enjoy the great weather we’ve had this summer.

I am just going to touch on a couple of items in this note as the situation is relatively fluid and concrete answers to some of the questions that you may have are not yet available and await direction from various governing bodies.

First of all, WMRT will be providing all of the programs that we did last season. We will again be providing the highest available level of coaching and training possible while adhering to Federal, State and US Ski and Snowboard guidelines.

If you’ve seen the plan provided by Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, you’ll be glad to know that we’ve been guaranteed access to the first time block (7:30 AM to 11:30 AM) on both Saturday and Sunday. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, please refer to the email that was sent on 9/8/20 or reach out to the Mountain.

Over the next couple of weeks, we‘ll be updating the website and registration system for this season. You’ll be able to sign up for the programs by the end of September beginning of October. Once the system is set-up and live, an email will be sent out.

How the season is going to look is certainly not set in stone at this point.  We don't want to speculate on anything but will provide you information as it becomes available.  US Ski and Snowboard sent out their "COVID-19 Domestic Competitions Guidelines today and can be viewed at, 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard COVID-19 Domestic Competitions Guidance

 One thing that sticks out in their guidance is that it should be considered a "living document".  The possibility of change and adjustment is likely, but their guidance is based upon the present information available.  Tri-State Ski Racing will also be reviewing this and establishing their own guidelines.  We at WMRT are also looking at ways that we can establish the safest possible environment for our athletes while maintaining the fun and productivity that we have always provided.

I know that this note will not answer all of your questions, but it hopefully provides some direction as we begin to prepare for the ski season.  As mentioned above, we will distribute information as it becomes available to us, but feel free to contact your parent rep or any Board member at any point.  

Gear: A lot of people typically gear up at the mountain's annual Columbus Day Swap. While the Swap is still listed on the mountains events calendar we can assume it will not be like in years past. With this in mind, Dave Robinson reached out with a simple idea that the Okemo race team does. Use this DIY Google sheet to add/edit/remove items you want to sell and let everyone interact directly with one another to sell/buy gear.

Stay active and healthy in order to gear up for another great ski season!  We will be on the slopes soon, so let's all get fit, flexible, and strong so that we can make the most of it.  Get outside and enjoy the closing days of summer and the beautiful New England fall that is right around the corner!

Regards,

Scot Haigh

WMRT President