To all prime club contacts and club coaches:

We have had two key positions become vacant over the last week - Officials Director and Program Director.

First off, Al McDonald will be leaving the Officials Director position. Al has informed me that he has accepted a work contract in Australia. He is expected to leave within the next two weeks and be away for three years.

Al has been involved with skiing in Saskatchewan for more years than he likely wants me to say. He has tonnes of stories about the events, people, and situations that he has been associated with during that time. As most of you know he has been the Technical Delegate in many of our Saskatchewan races (including Nancy Greene races) for many years - but you may not know that he has also had a hand in the snowboarding group volunteer as TD at their events as well. During the last year and a bit he stepped into the Sask Alpine Officials Director role and helped to organize bring up-to-date the past and current officials database records. Then he, along with Bev Dickinson, gave many level 1 and level 2 officials courses all over the province (as he has done in the past as well). Last year was a remarkable year in this regard with over seventy level 1 and twenty level 2 certifications through these courses.

Al's departure will leave a big hole in our organization, on the hill, and in our lives that will be challenging to fill. I'm sorry to see him go, but wish him the best in his new venture 'down under'.


Next, Dwight Bergstrom has vacated the Program Director position. He will be returning to his previous club coach duties in the Prince Albert club. His departure from the executive is definitely a loss.

Dwight has been instrumental in organizing the various Sask Alpine provincial programs along with the corresponding coordinator positions on the executive. He also leveraged his extensive contact network to enthuse cohorts to fill positions in various roles on the executive and in relations with Sask Alpine. In addition, Dwight led initiatives like the Sask All Club Camp, Canada Winter Games, affiliation with NATC in Alberta, and the provisioning of Sask Alpine coach training sessions.

However, this means that the key Program Director position is now open for nominations or volunteer requests. There are enthusiastic and cooperative individuals in the various program coordinator executive positions (i.e. Nancy Greene, K1, K2, J1/J2/FIS) that are a great group to work with directly, and other engaged executive members to collaborate with. I encourage people to notify me of their interest in filling this position and help work together to move forward in a break-out year for this organization.


Terry Hooper
President
Alpine Saskatchewan=