News

New Zealand Ski Team Criteria

2/06/10

Below is information on the NZ Ski Team Criteria. If an athlete meets the criteria for A, B, C or D status please talk to your coach and program manager about putting an application forward.

New Zealand Ski Team Criteria

 

New Zealand has established selection policies for The New Zealand Ski Team; know as NZ Ski Team and “Team”. 

 

The purpose of the selection policy is to identify New Zealand athletes who qualify for teams/events based on the established performance criteria for the specific team/event. 

 

A Selection Committee will be selected to evaluate/rank athletes in the following areas: 

 

• Results/Rankings 

• Physical Conditioning 

• Commitment to the Sport 

• General Mental Attitude 

• Athletic Potential

 

The Selection Committee will comprise the following:

 

• SSNZ personnel including Alpine Committee members, Coaching Staff

• Club/Training Provider Head Coaches or Programme Director’s

• Winter Performance Programme Manager

• Regional Representatives

• SSNZ may invite additional members to join this panel as required depending on the situation and at its discretion

 

The performance criteria as stated are considered to be the minimum standard. Meeting the performance criteria does not guarantee selection, but does provide an opportunity to be evaluated through the selection process.

 

The selection committee will render a recommendation to the Alpine Sports Committee based on the above evaluation.  In exceptional cases an outstanding athlete who has not qualified because of injury, illness, or other force majeure may be selected for the team/event.  The athlete's club/training provider is responsible for identifying any athlete to be considered for force majeure and must provide supporting written documentation.

 

Responsibilities in the Selection Process

 

• Assemble Selection Committee - follow established selection protocol/criteria. 

• Communicate limited quota races and nomination deadlines to the clubs/training providers.

• Identify a list of alternates to replace any athletes unable to attend the event.

• Review any force majeure athletes on a case-by-case basis. 

• Publish the final selections and contact the clubs/training providers involved. 

• Submit entries to the Race Organizing Committee if necessary.

• Understand the selection process and explain it to athletes, parents, and other club members. 

• Complete and deliver the appropriate entry or forms by the any pre-set deadlines. 

• Represent the athletes fairly and objectively at selection meetings.

 

Criteria Rules (Applicable to all Athlete Selection Criteria)

 

• Eligibility for Consideration: Selectors will consider for selection only those SSNZ Alpine members in good standing and who have a valid FIS license.

• Primary “Team” selections will use the World Rank based on the FIS Points List published on or about May 1 (Points List 1) for the coming Season.

• Secondary “Team” selections will use the World Rank based on the 4th FIS Points List published around the 12th of November.

• “Team/Event” members may have the requirement to attend group camps (in either the Southern or Northern Hemisphere), if these are mandatory camps for the “Team” and an athlete does not attend, this is in violation to the “Team” rules and they may be deselected.

 

Athlete Injury Clause

 

An athlete injured prior to May1 of the competition calendar season will be named to the respective team at the time of injury for only the following season. The athlete must qualify through normal nomination criteria in any successive years (including those athletes who are repeatedly injured in the following year). In order to qualify for maintaining team status at the time of injury for the following year, an athlete must follow a prescribed rehabilitation or medical program as approved by SSNZ and the Alpine Committee. 

 

Medical Clearance

 

New athletes named to the team will require a medical clearance for participation. This will be completed by a sports physical exam by a SSNZ approved physician. Medical clearance must be obtained prior to athlete participation in team activity.

 

Drug Free Sport NZ (formerly the NZ Sports Drug Agency)

 

It is each athlete and their coach’s responsibility to be familiar with this Act. Under the Act, Drug Free Sport NZ has the power to conduct tests in and out of competition.  It is the duty of all athletes on the Drug Free Sport NZ register competing overseas, to inform the Drug Free Sport NZ of their whereabouts. This can be done by completing a short form and emailing the information direct from the agency web site. www.drugfreesport.org.nz 

 

Acceptance to “Team” or Event

 

Athletes nominated to the team must accept or decline their nomination within ten (10) days after notification to SSNZ - Alpine. All athletes accepting their nominations will be required to sign an athlete agreement in order to be eligible to be named to the “Team”.  Team naming will occur after the nominated athletes have signed the SSNZ - Alpine athlete agreement.  

 

Selected athletes will retain “Team” status for the term the 1st of June thru the 31st of May of the following year unless terms of the athlete agreement have not been met.

 

New Zealand Ski “Team”

 

The “Team” is nominated each year based on objective criteria, generally through FIS ranking and results in international competitions.  The “Team” is a high performance programme, designed to select New Zealand’s best performing racers and provide them with enhanced training and competitive programmes that will assist them in meeting their goals as high performance athletes.   The major athletic goal of the “Team” programme is to field an internationally successful team at the highest levels of ski racing.  Factors such as the financial and human resources available to SSNZ - Alpine for the operation of the team may limit the size of the “Team”. 

It is the intent of SSNZ - Alpine to develop an increasingly competitive team over the next Olympic quadrennial. Selection guidelines will be reviewed in two years time, with the goal of progressively moving toward international standards.  All “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” status athletes will be considered to be a member of the New Zealand Ski “Team”.  These categories are for internal purposes, relating to our athlete pathway and will be used if there are benefits to be distributed to the “Team” members. 

 

 “A” Status

 

Men’s Criteria

• A FIS World ranking of 80 or better in SL, GS or SG; or

• A FIS World Ranking of 75 or better in DH or SC

Women’s Criteria

• A FIS World ranking of 70 or better in SL, GS or SG; or

• A FIS World Ranking of 65 or better in DH or SC

or results as follows:

 

• World Cup - Any athlete who has scored World Cup points on one or more occasions in a discipline, from the previous WC season.

• Europa Cup - Any athlete with 3 or more top 15 Europa Cup results in a discipline.

• Nor Am Cup - Any athlete with 3 or more top 5 Nor Am Cup results in a discipline.

• Combined Europa Cup/Nor Am Cup - Any athlete with a combination of 3 - top 15 Europa Cup results or top 5 Nor Am Cup results in a discipline.

 

“B” Status

 

Men’s Criteria

• A FIS World ranking of 250 or better in SL, GS or SG

• A FIS World Ranking of 200 or better in DH or SC

Women’s Criteria

• A FIS World ranking of 200 or better in SL, GS or SG

• A FIS World Ranking of 175 or better in DH or SC

or results as follows:

 

• Europa Cup - Any athlete with 3 or more top 20 Europa Cup results in a discipline.

• Nor Am Cup - Any athlete with 3 or more top 15 Nor Am Cup results in a discipline.

• Combined Europa Cup/Nor Am Cup - Any athlete with a combination of 3 - top 20 Europa Cup results or top 15 Nor Am Cup results in a discipline.

 

Male athletes who are 28 and older and female athletes who are 26 and older must meet “B” Team criteria.

 

“C” Status

 

Men’s Criteria 

• A FIS World ranking of 375 or better in SL, GS or SG; or

• A FIS World Ranking of 325 or better in DH and less than 45 FIS points in SL, GS or SG.

Women’s Criteria

• A FIS World ranking of 325 or better in SL, GS or SG; or

• A FIS World Ranking of 250 or better in DH and less than 50 FIS points in SL, GS or SG; or

or results as follows:

 

• ANC Cup – with 3 or more top 5 ANC Cup finishes, top 10 ANC results from AUS.

• Europa Cup - Any athlete with 3 or more top 30 Europa Cup results in a discipline.

• Nor Am Cup - Any athlete with 3 or more top 30 Nor Am Cup results in a discipline.

• Combined Europa Cup/Nor Am Cup - Any athlete with a combination of 3 - top 30 Europa Cup results or top 30 Nor Am Cup results in a discipline.

• A New Zealand National Champion in two disciplines.

 

Male athletes who are 24 to 27 or earlier and female athletes who are 22 to 26 must meet “C” Team criteria.

 

 “D” Status

 

All Athletes (male and female) 

• To be considered for selection an athlete must be a competing athlete and have under 75 FIS points in SL, GS or SG

• One or more top 25 finishes at the previous World Junior Championships in SL, GS, SG, DH

 

Normally, the maximum number of years an athlete may remain at the “D” status is three (3) years.  In order to be considered for four (4) or more years the athlete must demonstrate improvement toward “C”, “B” or “A” status and be recommended by SSNZ or the Alpine Committee. In subsequent years senior athletes will also have to have demonstrated an improvement in World Ranking with each year that they are selected of at least 10% to be eligible for selection, e.g. An athlete may be selected with a SL world ranking of 295 in 2009/10, in 2010/11 this will have to have improved by 30 places to continue to be eligible. This will be noted in each athlete agreement.