Open Letter on Diversity in Our Sport

[KingGrump]

The bolded is what I read too much into.

I had similar interpretation of that passage.

 

[Jerez]

Dunno if anyone else posted this, but thought it was a hopeful thing.

Matchstick Productions is showcasing a young black man from Austria (I believe) as their "Breakout Skier of the Year." TRAILER

I don't think it is impolitic to say that whoever tries to un-stir a melting pot is unlikely to succeed. (At least I hope so!)

 

[Jim Kenney]

Not skiing, but real fine piece on race relations.
Author has done some other good stuff too. He talks about contact theory, skiing can work in that way.

 

[wolcoma]

I have always been a strong advocate to improve diversity in alpine ski racing. Sadly in NCAA alpine and USST there is virtually no diversity. The good news every time someone of color has an impact on sport it's usually a good thing. For example, I am a high handicap golfer and never played golf as a kid as I thought it was a sport for old fat guys, who rode in golf carts, smoked cigars, drank beer, and told bad jokes. Seriously that was my impression of golf when I was growing up. Then Tiger Woods wins the Masters and I started becoming more of a golf fan, then I started playing golf, and while I will probably never be a good golfer there is no doubt Tiger Woods had a huge impact on many golf wannabees like me. If we had a Tiger Woods or a Simone Biles in alpine ski racing, I guarantee you that would improve our sport's popularity in the United States.

 

[crgildart]

Anyone see this? Apologies if it's already here. Plan is to build 20 fridges.. Remote location of destination resorts and even most mom and pops is not convenient for these groups.. Building viable ski hills closer to urban areas is a step in the right direction..

Indoor Ski Areas in the U.S. Will Focus on Bringing the Sport to Underrepresented Groups​

 

[fatbob]

I'd be a bit wary of the ability of snowdomes to move the needle that far. For starters the industry is littered with planned developments that never reached fruition and bankruptcies. In Glasgow right now is a defunct indoor slope, victim of hubris and poor location i.e. it would have been better in a central belt location accessible to a greater population of skiers. And obviously local interest even in an area near mountains and outdoor skiing (weather cooperating) was not enough.

At the margins of course they work, even by providing jobs to local kids who might use the benefits of slope access like the Ghanaian ski team https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah-Acheampong

People who develop an interest still need mentors and access to infrastructure to take it further.

 

[crgildart]

I'd be a bit wary of the ability of snowdomes to move the needle that far. For starters the industry is littered with planned developments that never reached fruition and bankruptcies. In Glasgow right now is a defunct indoor slope, victim of hubris and poor location i.e. it would have been better in a central belt location accessible to a greater population of skiers. And obviously local interest even in an area near mountains and outdoor skiing (weather cooperating) was not enough.

At the margins of course they work, even by providing jobs to local kids who might use the benefits of slope access like the Ghanaian ski team https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah-Acheampong

People who develop an interest still need mentors and access to infrastructure to take it further.

The notion that it's just a marketing angle for venture capitalists to find more investors as the motivation more than actually acting on the noble objective promised definitely crossed my mind. It's the same with practically every "affordable housing" development in urban and suburban areas.. They start out promising that... but by the time they open the rent is higher there than anywhere else comparable.. It also helps them get city zoning approvals they'd have to jump through more hoops for without the philanthropical angle.

 

[Tricia]

Chuck Harris, the guy who wrote the original letter on diversity in the OP of this thread, quit his job race coaching a year ago and moved from Reno to Jersey to become a race coach at Winter 4Kids, with Shone Malliet

I ran into Chuck at the golf course yesterday. I said, "Hey Chuck, I see a bunch of kids out her with golf clubs and I wondered where you were. I figured if kids were out here, you'd be close by."
Sure enough....he's doing the same thing for golf that he is doing for skiing.

 

[Tricia]

The notion that it's just a marketing angle for venture capitalists to find more investors as the motivation more than actually acting on the noble objective promised definitely crossed my mind. It's the same with practically every "affordable housing" development in urban and suburban areas.. They start out promising that... but by the time they open the rent is higher there than anywhere else comparable.. It also helps them get city zoning approvals they'd have to jump through more hoops for without the philanthropical angle.

FWIW, I don't care if it starts out as a marketing thing as long as it really gets these kids out there doing it!

Most of the time when someone uses something like this as a marketing tactic, they have to show proof that they're actually doing something.

 

[crgildart]

FWIW, I don't care if it starts out as a marketing thing as long as it really gets these kids out there doing it!

Most of the time when someone uses something like this as a marketing tactic, they have to show proof that they're actually doing something.

If it really does put some ski hill fridges near urban areas that makes the objective more doable... It could bring back middle school ski clubs and the package deals that made skiing more affordable to everyone across the spectrum.

 

[fatbob]

I actually went snowdome skiing yesterday and pleased to report that the majority of kids/young adults in lessons or skiing/boarding in family/friends groups seemed to be black/south asian/SE Asian over white So something is working at least in low season. Anecdotal of course.

My original observation is not really around virtue signalling but is that an indoor slope might have a lead time of 10 years until it is open from first proposal and thus a further 10 years until kids newly exposed to snowsports there might have spending power and automony to pursue snowsports/ relocate to resorts etc so it isn't going to be an equalizer for quite some time.

 

[dbostedo]

I actually went snowdome skiing yesterday and pleased to report that the majority of kids/young adults in lessons or skiing/boarding in family/friends groups seemed to be black/south asian/SE Asian over white So something is working at least in low season. Anecdotal of course.

Where did you go? (Country?)

 

[fatbob]

UK nearest indoor slope to London. To be fair majority were SE Asian (ancestry) families and there may be something about that demographic growing more generally in snowsports. Specific to this thread was pleased to see more black late teens/20somethings trying to get to grips with snowsports though.

 

[wolcoma]

Sadly alpine ski racing in the United States looks like a sport out of the 50's with nearly zero diversity. For example, when I was in college we raced NCAA Division II and when the varsity program was cut back in the 90's, the AD at the time said the lack of diversity on the ski team was one of the primary reasons they were cutting the sport. Regardless I think most of the former Division II programs like my school went to USCSA as they are basically racing in the same league as we were back in the 1980's. Either way we are still not meeting diversity goals.

One of my suggestions over the years, if you want to be a "Certified USSS club or academy" you must offer an "affordable option", otherwise your club or academy cannot host USSA or FIS races. While we live in a free country and the $75K ski academies can charge whatever they want, USSS is a not-for-profit organization where your donations are tax deductible. Which I believe means they have a responsibility to make ski racing accessible to all and not just the wealthy kids. I get it..............a losing battle but that is one of the primary reasons why the USST is not more competitive on the World Cup.

 

[wolcoma]

Just to add the Ivy League generally does a good job with diversity in sports, but check out the 23-24 Dartmouth Ski Team roster which is not exactly diverse. Maybe diverse to Dartmouth is a billionaire ski racer from Norway............LOL.

https://dartmouthsports.com/sports/alpine-skiing/roster

 

[Tricia]

Just to add the Ivy League generally does a good job with diversity in sports, but check out the 23-24 Dartmouth Ski Team roster which is not exactly diverse. Maybe diverse to Dartmouth is a billionaire ski racer from Norway............LOL.

https://dartmouthsports.com/sports/alpine-skiing/roster

IIRC @Yo Momma went to Dartmouth. As did Tiger Shaw.

 

[S.H.]

Just to add the Ivy League generally does a good job with diversity in sports, but check out the 23-24 Dartmouth Ski Team roster which is not exactly diverse. Maybe diverse to Dartmouth is a billionaire ski racer from Norway............LOL.

https://dartmouthsports.com/sports/alpine-skiing/roster

are other NCAA ski teams notably more diverse?

 

[wolcoma]

I think most of the NCAA ski teams have almost zero diversity. I picked Dartmouth primarily because I have a bunch of relatives who went there. It's not just diversity because nearly all the alpine racers on the Dartmouth roster with the exception of those from Norway attended ski academies. Again it's a free country and everyone has the right to spend what they want, but in reality these ski academies pretty much exclude everyone who is not in the top 5% income bracket. Sure a few offer financial aid, but trust me even with the aid these ski academies they are still super expensive.

 

[fatbob]

I think you're looking in the wrong place for diversity if you're looking at NCAA which probably only reflects the cream of the crop at Snowcountry High School/ski club/ Academy level. Even the greatest athlete who say comes across skiing post age 14 just isn't going to accumulate the time on snow to rank high, particularly if they aren't fast tracked into an academy etc. Physiological disciplines like XC possibly excepted.

 

[S.H.]

I think most of the NCAA ski teams have almost zero diversity. I picked Dartmouth primarily because I have a bunch of relatives who went there. It's not just diversity because nearly all the alpine racers on the Dartmouth roster with the exception of those from Norway attended ski academies. Again it's a free country and everyone has the right to spend what they want, but in reality these ski academies pretty much exclude everyone who is not in the top 5% income bracket. Sure a few offer financial aid, but trust me even with the aid these ski academies they are still super expensive.

As a Dartmouth alum (who isn't white) I took umbrage.

Ski racing is expensive, and it's only getting more so.