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Ontario Goes Into Lockdown

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Ontario goes into lockdown.  Read the official Gov’t of ON Lockdown Slide deck.

The good news is that cross country ski facilities are able to remain open during the province wide lockdown announced yesterday by the Government of Ontario.  Unfortunately, team training, club programming, coaching courses etc are not allowed under the lockdown regulations.

Lockdown is in place until January 9th in Northern ON, and January 23 in Southern ON.  Of course, these regulations may be extended.  A list of Health Units considered to be in Southern ON is available in Appendix A.

Let’s take this time to get ready for our COVID Challenges (live links to each challenge embedded in the document).  The Challenges are lockdown friendly and allow athletes to continue to log their KMs for the KM Challenge and do strava segments.  The COVID Cups, which begin on January 16 & 17, are also possible with creative coach planning.

Please follow the public health guidelines which include not travelling outside your region.  Athletes in the National Capital District are reminded of our QC-ON Border Training Guidelines.

Nordiq Canada/FIS Racing License Renewal

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FIS and Nordiq Canada race licenses must be active for athletes to retain their points on both the FIS points and Canada Point lists this season even if athletes are unable to attend an FIS or Nordiq Canada sanctioned competitions. The points systems will recognize active (paid for 2020/2021) race licenses only.  If the license is not renewed, an athlete’s points from 2019-2020 will be dropped and will not be included in the monthly list updates going forward.

Not renewing your NC license will have implications next season for race seeding, so we encourage athletes and coaches to discuss what is best for them.   For XCSO purposes, an active Nordiq Canada race license will not be an eligibility requirement for XCSO programming for the 2021-2022 season (next dryland season)

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XCSO COVID Challenges – WHAT WE CAN DO!

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XCSO is excited to announce our 2020-2021 COVID Challenges!  COVID cannot beat down the spirit of our clubs and their members.  Please JOIN US in working towards challenges and races which WE CAN DO.  More information is here

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XCSO announces Financial Support for Youth, High Performance & Competition

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On May 8, 2020, the Canadian Government announced $500 million providing temporary relief to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations.  Cross Country Ski Ontario recently received our allocation of the funding through the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism & Culture Industries.  XCSO will be investing the funds in 3 key areas of our sport: Youth, Competition and High Performance.

Youth have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19 pandemic. Our clubs offering skill development programming provide an essential role in developing youth in our community.  To assist clubs in the delivery of programming under new restrictions and challenges, XCSO will be subsidizing $10 of the $15.50 bunnyrabbit, jackrabbit, and track attack enrolment fee.  Clubs will see the subsidy when ordering their SDP materials in our online store.

Competition has been curtailed due to travel restrictions.  Along with supporting a return to competition in the 2021-2022 season, XCSO will be investing in ‘Stay at Home’ racing options for this season.  More details next week.

Athletes representing Canada on the international stage will have additional costs associated with travel.  XCSO will provide additional funding to assist athletes with those additional costs.  This funding will be provided through our International Travel Support Guidelines.

Please direct any question to Liz Inkila.

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2021 Ontario Cups & Youth Championships CANCELLED

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Cross Country Ski Ontario has made the difficult decision to cancel our 2021 Ontario Cup Series and Youth Championships due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty regarding travel restrictions.  We know our community will be both disappointed and understanding given the gravity of our current situation with respect to the pandemic.  We are working towards ‘stay at home’ racing and skiing challenges for our clubs & teams to engage with fun and enthusiasm.  Our sport is well positioned given it’s outdoor nature and our strong protocols in place to guide competition and participation.

Here is a snapshot of our plans.  XCSO will be reaching out through staff, our Board and Committees to engage clubs and teams in making the 2020/2021 season a memorable one based on what WE CAN DO.

COVID CUPS

Goal: Get all clubs/teams engaged in competition weekends throughout the winter in lieu of OCUPs and Youth Champs. A place for clubs to focus on the PROCESS of racing and a race weekend.

Kilometre Challenge

Goal: Engage everyone in the club to record their km and ski as much as possible over the course of the season

Strava Challenge

Goal: Engage the ski community in a challenge to work on speed in both sprint (or short) and distance. Clubs will provide a sprint course and a distance course and people will challenge themselves over the winter.

Stay tuned for more details.

 

 

Nordiq Canada Community Coaching Grant

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In response to the tremendous growth of membership within cross-country ski clubs across the country, Nordiq Canada is committing $100,000 in grant funding to support community coaching.
The funding is aimed at helping Canadian cross-country ski clubs meet the increased demand for the safe delivery of ski programming during the pandemic and beyond by increasing the number of qualified coaches throughout the country.The support seeks first and foremost to provide a response to our current challenges in the aim of reducing ratios when delivering the Skill Development Programs and promoting safe practices;

  • To assist a community that may experience fiscal challenges this season by reducing some of the costs of training coaches;
  • To provided added capacity to a potential increase in demand for initiation into our sport;
  • To offer a complementary pathway to athletes who may not be able to race as much as they might wish and to keep them engaged in the propagation of a healthy ski culture;
  • To reach out to the community that is not directly served by the youth programming.

Summary of how it works:

– New coaches still have to take the multi-sport Coach Initiation Module ($15 e-learning in the Locker)

– Online ICC registration fees will be waived in the Locker between November 20 – January 15

– Community Coaching Fees will be reimbursed to XCSO and then forwarded to clubs or individuals

Nordiq Canada Women’s Committee Team Club Culture Grant

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Nordiq Canada Women’s Committee invites application to the Team Club Culture Grant. Through this grant(s) the committee is looking to provide teams with the resources they need to improve team culture and create a space where female athletes want to be and want to ski.  Deadline for applications is November 30th. Read more

Candy Cane Cup Sanctioning Status Update

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The Candy Cane Cup will no longer be a FIS/Nordiq Canada/XCSO/SFQ sanctioned event. The organizing committee is looking at options for offering a local event.  Decision to be communicated on or before November 25th.  Keep up to date here.

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Skill Development Program Update!

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A change and update for our Skill Development Program:

  1. Welcome Karen Cheek.  Karen will be your main contact for Skill Development Program materials.  Materials will continue to be operated out of Highlands Nordic. Please update your contact information to [email protected].
  2. We have added a SDP Coordinator’s Discussion Board  to our Project COY – Connecting Ontario Youth.  We are hopeful that this can provide an online forum for club SDP Coordinators to learn from each other and share ideas.