USSA Congress Summary Videos

The 2013 USSA Congress was a successful event bringing hundreds of USSA club leaders, athletes, coaches, officials and experts together for education sessions, informational presentations and policy decisions at both the sport and the board level, as well as social activities and informal sharing of best-practices across programs. The six days of meetings were highlighted by extremely constructive work, with a clear goal of Best the World. Best in the World is a manifestation of focused, specific, performance-oriented work at every level of the pipeline. And it’s facilitated not only by USSA’s renowned elite coaching and high performance programs, but also coach and club education and certification, and programs like SkillsQuest, USSA’s National Training Systems, USSA’s SafeSport program,\ and a continued focus on the integration of athletics and academics at all levels.

The Congress was highly collaborative, with an open and solutions-oriented attitude carried throughout the committees. This allowed the organization as a whole to be creative and constructive, to harness the power of the immense effort and time put forward by all of the delegates, and to move the ball forward toward Best in the World now and in the future.

This team spirit has allowed USSA to move in a positive direction toward federating more formally with both its clubs and local governing bodies. The stronger affiliations that will be established over the coming summer and fall with USSA Clubs – through USSA’s Club Development Program, and with its local governing bodies will strengthen and ultimately expand the USSA’s organization, establishing a more effective system to achieve Best in the World Performance for a long time to come.  It will benefit USSA members in every area of the organization. And once the example is set in alpine skiing, it will provide a framework for stronger partnerships in each of USSA’s sports. The decision to become a federated organization is a major one for USSA and represents an important time in the USSA's history.

Luke Bodensteiner
Executive Vice President, Athletics
United States Ski and Snowboard Association

Twitter: LukeBode_ussa