Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association (AASSA) 2017-2018 … · 2018-05-23 · Alberta Ama teur Speed Skating Association / AASSA Board of Directors’ AGM Report May 2018 Page

Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association (AASSA)

2017-2018 Board of Directors’ Reports

Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association / AASSA Board of Directors’ AGM Report May 2018 Page 2 of 26

Contents Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association (AASSA) ......................................................................................................... 1

2017-2018 Board of Directors’ Reports ................................................................................................................................ 1

President’s Report, Nicole Cooney ................................................................................................................................... 3

VP Club and Membership Development Report, Stephanie Dodyk ................................................................................ 4

Officials Development Committee (ODC), Henry Thriscutt, Vice President, Officials ..................................................... 5

Skater Development Committee Report 2017-2018, Jason Thomas, VP Skater Development ...................................... 6

Communications Report, Kristine Pederson, Vice President, Communications .............................................................. 8

Director At Large Report, Doug Spicer ........................................................................................................................... 10

Technical Director Report, Mike Marshall ...................................................................................................................... 11

AASSA Office / Administration Update .......................................................................................................................... 16

AASSA 2017-2018 AGM Financial Report, Michelle Chabot, Finance Committee ......................................................... 17

AASSA 2017-2018 Financial Reports in PDF ................................................................................................................... 26


President’s Report, Nicole Cooney Nicole’s Home Club: Lethbridge Speed Skating Association

Our Four Year Plan is based on the following pillars: 1. Growth in membership and new clubs 2. Improve technical development 3. Financial Stability

Objectives Going Forward:

1. Growth in membership and in new clubs. • Continue to Provide support for the new Calgary Grizzlies Club • Provide support to the steering committee in Fort McKay

o Administration support setting up the club with Speed Skating Canada o Mike Marshall meeting with club executive to review coaching needs

• Provide support and resource materials for clubs to promote themselves during the 2019 Canada Winter Games

2. Improve Technical development

• Provide ongoing support to the Alberta High Performance Group. Mike Ireland has been hired as an assistant coach with this group

• Advocate and support Alberta skaters in other high performance programs • Provide training camps for skaters throughout the province • Penticton Camp for High Performance Group • Canmore Camp for T2T aged skaters • Edmonton/Red Deer long track camps • Continue to provide coaching programs to club level coaches • Provide competition support and officials development opportunities to develop capacity.

3. Financial Stability We spent the last two years getting ourselves on a firmer financial footing, finishing the season with a reasonable profit. One objective has been to increase revenue from Club membership.

• We did this with a 5% increase in membership fees. • We were also aiming to:

1. Increase number of members of association 2. Increase revenue from High Performance training group by attracting more skaters to the program; the

program is now at almost full capacity, covering its direct costs and also overhead costs.

We are continuing to develop protocols and procedures to run our organization smoother. We are working closely with our member clubs and partners in sport to expand the exposure and status of speed skating in Alberta in addition to providing optimal programming for our athletes. This spirit of collaboration will serve us well into next season in anticipation of the wide variety of club level and high performance speed skating events that will be hosted in our province including the 2019 Canada Winter Games.


VP Club and Membership Development Report, Stephanie Dodyk Stephanie’s Home Club: Edmonton Speed Skating Association

Registration:

• This is the third and final year of implementation for the Membership Management System (MMS). SSC has recommended that clubs extract any MMS data for their records. SSC also asks all those with active Peloton banking accounts to communicate with Peloton at [email protected] to transfer any remaining funds and close their account. If you have forgotten your username and password, please contact Peloton directly at [email protected].

• SSC will be rolling out their new membership system called Membership and Affiliation System (MAS), designed by Spordle Inc., on June 1, 2018. After AASSA administrators are trained in the system, AASSA will be responsible to train respective Club Administrators.

• Membership accounts of those members who registered for the 2017-2018 season will be automatically transferred to MAS.

• Total membership, according to MMS, is 1 194, which is a decrease of approximately 9% from last year’s total of 1309.

• Historical membership data: • 2010 – 1008 members • 2011 – 1163 members • 2012 – 1230 members • 2013 – 1234 members • 2014 – 1274 members • 2015 – 1419 members • 2016 – 1110 members • 2017 – 1309 members • 2018 – 1194 members

Club Development: • AASSA was excited to welcome the Calgary Grizzlies Speed Skating Club to the family this season. • Speed skating was highlighted at the AB Winter Games this year in Fort McKay. This has generated interest in

organizing a club in the Fort McMurray area.

Strategic Plan: • AASSA continues to use the four imperatives outlined in the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan (Developing and

Delivering Capacity; Communication; Accountability; Community) to guide its decisions.

Respectfully submitted, Stephanie Dodyk VP Membership


Officials Development Committee (ODC), Henry Thriscutt, Vice President, Officials Henry’s home club: Ichiban Speed Skating Club

The ODC made two major purchases this season. The first was a LYNX electronic starting system including one speaker and a battery powered portable gun, which is compatible with our provincial timing system. The second was a new ASUS GL753VD laptop to run meet manager. Luc Côte in Edmonton is currently managing the provinces electronic timing system, which is available to any club in the province (with requests through the AASSA meet sanction process). Luc is currently the only one trained to set up and operate the system properly. This is a little bit of a concern; we would like to have at least one, if not two, more people in the province to be trained do set up and operate the system. If anybody is interested in learning the provincial system please let your club ODC rep know so next season we can arrange for some training.

We ran several clinics this season throughout the province. Level 1 clinics were held in Calgary, on a couple of occasions, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer. 29 new officials were added to the AASSA Red Book.

There was also a Level 3 Recorder/Meet coordinator clinic put on by SSC in Calgary, run by our own Nicole Cooney and Sharon Zorman along with Sandra Chenard, which was attended by Cherise Eaves, Michelle Chabot, Gayle Motycka, and Sue Steckle. Maggie Dekking also attended the same clinic in Ottawa this season.

We also sent four requests to SSC for level 3 upgrades. Michelle Chabot for Level 3 Recorder, Blair Toblan for Level 3B Starter, Marc Poulin for Level 3a Starter, and Louise MacKellar for Level 3 Timer.

For next season, the ODC is implementing a new officials upgrading form. A beta copy of this form is currently available and the completed form will be sent out to club ODC reps and made available once the competition schedule is released for the upcoming season. This change has been implemented to more efficiently move officials through the upgrading process as well as to be more compatible with the SSC style of assigning officials.

There are also plans in the works to host several Level 2 clinics over the summer and the beginnings of next season including Timer, Lap Counter, Place Judge, Meet Coordinator, and Recorder. If anyone is interested in participating in any of these clinics please contact your club ODC rep.


Skater Development Committee Report 2017-2018, Jason Thomas, VP Skater Development Jason’s home club: Edmonton Speed Skating Association

Thank you to all the committee members for their work and contributions this year:

o Bill Stephens o Tracy Ebel o Lorne Barnett o Janos Englert o Shawna Pearman o John MacLennan o Ian Mellors o Owen Cook o Staci Muller o Maggie Qi/Gord Farquharson

o Mike Marshall

The committee met 7 times via conference call. Activities of the committee included:

• Continued to foster ties with our Northern clubs including adding a new Peace River rep to the SDC committee (Owen Cook). Edmonton also organized a bus trip to Grande Prairie Peace Wapiti Meet (Nov. 25, 2017) and was well received. Extra seats were offered to other Alberta clubs to join in the trip. Also, we are happy to have added a SDC member from the new Calgary Grizzly club (Maggie and Gord). Every club was represented on the committee.

• 3rd annual Long Track camp offered by Mike Marshall and Mike Ireland in Edmonton in December coincided with the one day ESSA Winter Long Track classic being hosted at the Victoria Oval that weekend.

• Team Alberta suits – we will likely charge $100 to new members of the Alberta Provincial Team for 2017-2018 instead of providing them for free. The reason being suits have not been worn by some Provincial team members and we would prefer to put more funding towards the athletes instead of wasting funds on unused suits. Skaters can start wearing the Team Alberta suit in the same year they qualify, skater would have to pay for total cost of suit and then be reimbursed (less $100)

• Provincial Team members for Alberta continues to grow in numbers. Strong group of Alberta Short Track skaters have been qualifying for National Qualifier, Junior 1 and Junior 2 championships this year. Long Track members have also done exceptionally well and have been representing Canada at the National level.

• SSC Pin Program – Peace River, Grande Prairie and now Edmonton Clubs have all been running the SSC pin program

• Badge Program for Long Track and Short Track continues to be offered and encouraged for the Alberta Clubs to utilize the iron/bronze/silver/gold badge program for T2T and younger

• Alberta Winter Games held in Fort McKay, from all reports they were excellent hosts. AASSA arranged mats to be trucked up to Fort McKay and for coaching at the meet. The AWG Competition helped move along the goal of hopefully starting a club in Fort McMurray and there was also interest from a 2nd club in Fort McKay as well.

• Coaching organized for Alberta Skaters at competitions that don’t have a club coach and are not part of the Olympic Oval program. Some club skaters are at long track and short track events without coaches and would benefit from arrangements with other clubs’ coaches to receive coaching. These skaters can contact Mike Marshall and we can help make such arrangements with coaches there. If no other club coaches are present we will make other arrangements, either with Oval coaches or with other coaches. For long track events where AB High Performance coaches are present, AB club skaters can be coached by the AB High Performance coaches. Mike Marshall only needs to know ahead of time (1 week would be good).

• Continue to encourage RUFast and Edmonton Fall Classic to follow the same format and medals, especially regarding the Can West selection portion (T2T). The Calgary and Edmonton clubs will work to follow the same format (as outlined by SDC) including distances, division setting, awards and relays. Edmonton Fall Classic grew in numbers again, well attended by the Northern Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan and Yukon and NWT as well as Special Olympic division.


• Reached out to Special Olympics clubs for inclusion in meets and also Jason Thomas attended the Alberta Special Olympics AGM held in Edmonton. Neithan Thomas has also volunteered with coaching the Spruce Grove Special Olympics club practices.

• Impeding explanation video from ISU was sent out to all Skater Development members. Have continued to encourage a good relationship with referees and coaches. Referees are willing to explain the calls to coaches for development to learn what the skater is doing wrong or why the call was made.

• Canadian Age Class Long Track changes this year included that the number of skaters was changed from 5 per age category to 2 per age category. There was not an Open Class this year. The distances have changed to 300, 500, 1500 and 3000.

• Organized coaches for Canadian Age Class Long Track included: Coaches Sam Pollock (Calgary), AJ Dimas (Edmonton), Shawna Pearman (Red Deer)

• Coaching course hosted in Calgary on Feb 23, 24 & 25. This was a combination course including Fundamentals and Intro to Comp.

• RBC Training Ground (Find the next Olympian search) 2018. Mike Marshall attended the Calgary Provincial finals and Jason Thomas attended the Edmonton regional competition. Through this competition Mike has been in contact with many potential athletes that could transition to Speed Skating.

• Canada Winter Games selection committee for coaches and how the Alberta skaters will qualify is now in the process of being developed. The criteria will be presented to the SDC committee for ratification. Coaches need to be certified Level 3 or higher. Opposite genders for each team. (for example male coach/female manager LT , female coach/male manager ST). Committee includes: Mike Marshall, Shawna Pearman, Sean Ireland, Tim Cooney and Jason Thomas.

• SDC decided to have a year end face to face meeting at AASSA AGM to discuss a number of items and planning for next season. Previously, this type of meeting was held in the spring of 2016 in Red Deer.

• Discussion on encouraging and improving Alberta skater performance. Thoughts include copying what is working in Quebec for Short Track regarding competitions and quality racing. Discussion also included thoughts on CanWest and CanEast merging into one competition again instead of the separation that exists now.

• Extra Canada West coaches were added due to the larger Alberta contingent (44 AB skaters) that was sent to CanWest. Coaches selected were Maggie Qi, Aaron Clarke, Ryan Schoorlemmer, Trista Hewson and Ryan Hickman.

• Short Track personal bests continue to be recorded and displayed on the AASSA website

I appreciate all the hours our committee members put in, especially those of you that stepped up to record minutes. After 3 years on the SDC committee, I am stepping down. I am looking forward to helping the next VP of Skater Development transition into this rewarding position.

Jason Thomas VP – Skater Development AASSA Edmonton Speed Skating Association


Communications Report, Kristine Pederson, Vice President, Communications Kristine’s Home Club: Banff / Canmore Speed Skating Club

www.albertaspeedskating.ca

Twitter: @AB_SpeedSkating Facebook: Alberta Speed Skating Instagram: albertaspeedskating

Promotion of Speed Skating initiatives through our four main communication channels noted above, in addition to in-person promotions at events and meetings, has been a priority for AASSA. We aim to balance local, provincial, national and international topics. Multiple purposes of our Communications strategy include awareness, promotion, sharing of useful information as well as celebrating and encouraging the positive environment of speed skating. We utilize free opportunities and rely on Clubs and other Provincial, National and International partners for contact and networking connections. In addition to skater-focussed items, we also try to promote items of interest to Parents, Coaches, Officials and general fans.

I check Twitter, Instagram and Facebook most days (usually several times a day) and “participate” in those mediums as deemed appropriate. Other participants helping out with the AASSA social media and web site include Nicole Cooney and several provincial team members. We are always looking for ideas and feedback on how we can do this better!

• One of things I did at the end of the season was invite physical education classes from the National Sport School to view some of the short-track events at the year-end, relocated SSC National Junior Selections #2, which was held at Winsport where NSS classes take place; I prepared a general guide for the teachers and quite a few staff members and students came by to watch (and cheer on some of their schoolmates!).

• Social Media was very busy during the Olympics; the focus was on overall support, plus promotion of speed skating, and in particular, support SSC’s Speed Skating Week campaign – thank you for participating! We were also very active on social media for the Alberta Winter Games, the Arctic Winter Games, and we have been an active partner in promoting the 2019 Canada Winter Games, which will be a key event for us in 2018-2019.

• I was asked to do two CTV New Channel interviews during the Olympics – the first one regarding Ted-Jan Bloemen’s successes and the second one about short-trackers, Samuel Girard and Kim Boutin’s successes.

o Interview about Ted-Jan: https://www.facebook.com/CTVNewsChannel/videos/1695166663877991/

I continue to be challenged with obtaining or sharing good images of local events. Even Long Track and ST events in Calgary, which I often attend, have been challenging as I do not have a good camera for this type of photography and unless the Oval / Arno Hoogeveld or Bill Christ are taking photos and post them, I do not have anything to share for these events.

• Thankfully, ESSA is still engaging Stephen Maunder to take photos of events in Edmonton and we have some very good images to use (with credits) on his Flickr account. Thank you!

• Thank you also to the clubs who take photos and share them on Facebook or let AASSA use their Flickr accounts; these kinds of activities are really important for celebrating as well as promoting our sport; good social media posts always include attractive images.

• Red Deer has been particularly active on Social Media this past season and it was fun to see their very successful and comprehensive efforts. The Calgary Grizzlies are Instagram-pros and also sideline philosophers, I think!; the Border Blades do a lot on Twitter; Edmonton has a good balanced communications approach; and I always welcome John McLennan’s efforts from Grande Prairie – we appreciate borrowing his content! Keep at it, Everyone!

http://www.albertaspeedskating.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/CTVNewsChannel/videos/1695166663877991/


eNews: AASSA delivered 13 eNews editions during 2017-2018, with a variety of news items covering upcoming events, notices, achievements and items of interest to clubs, athletes, officials and others. The eNews is circulated to a subscription list, but we also post PDF versions on the web site and promote both access points. http://www.albertaspeedskating.ca/clubs/past-enews

Web Site: no major changes this year due to time challenges, but we were able to update the key content and add some new items as well. www.albertaspeedskating.ca

Twitter: mostly re-tweeting other content, including supporting our main sponsors and partners, Alberta Sport Connection, Alberta Clubs, Speed Skating Canada, the Olympic Oval and others, in addition to supporting Alberta-regional activities, events, athletes, health and coaching information. @AB_SpeedSkating

Facebook: is mostly used by parents and other mature speed skating supporters (grandparents, former athletes, fans); we use this platform to share some of the SSC news and other events happening like the Calgary Olympic Bid progress, as well as celebrate successes by clubs and athletes, officials and others. We also use Facebook to promote events, such as the Canmore Summer Camp, and information about the membership management system.

Instagram: is a tool primarily used by younger individuals; we are careful to not post too much on this site, but we do use Instagram to celebrate, encourage and stay “in the conversation” by “liking” posts, etc. albertaspeedskating

Finally, I was pleased to be able to participate in the Respect in Sport for Leaders course, and I was also able to attend a Canadian Olympic Committee workshop on Inclusion / Diversity with Nicole as a guest of Alberta Sport Connection. I appreciate these opportunities, and I have also enjoyed working with Mike and the whole Board.

Nicole has done a tremendous amount of work this past season, and I hope we can normalize our business so that she can step out of the operations and focus on being a President this coming season. Michelle Chabot also did a huge amount of work with our bookkeeping and took a load off all of us with her efforts!

Jason Thomas has been a saavy business voice for our Executive, and we will miss his contributions. Stephanie Dodyk has completed several terms on the Board and was particularly instrumental in maneuvering us through MMS. Henry Thriscutt and Doug Spicer have nicely rounded out our group with their positive attitudes, specialty and overall contributions. Hopefully we will have some good new recruits to fill the gaps in 2018-2019.

Thank you,

Kristine

http://www.albertaspeedskating.ca/clubs/past-enews

http://www.albertaspeedskating.ca/


Director At Large Report, Doug Spicer May 27, 2018

Doug’s home club: Red Deer Central Lions Speed Skating Association

This year my role has largely been to continue to update our Board regarding developments connected to the Canada Winter Games facilities as well as helping with the organization of the annual AGM weekend, to be held here in Red Deer. The new long track facility at Great Chief Park fell victim to weather issues along with problems related to getting the ice ready to go on top of the artificial turf. A number of test patches were eventually tried to see what the most effective method will be heading into the winter games year. Unfortunately, the entire long track skating season was lost for training purposes and many of our club’s athletes travelled to find training ice in other locations. Fingers are crossed that all kinks have been ironed out and we’ll have world class outdoor ice ready for next season, and of course for the Games. I am vacating my position for the upcoming season so would like to express my gratitude to Nicole, Kristine, and all the other Board members for all the help and guidance I’ve received during my tenure. I will be available as an unofficial liaison to the next director at large for any questions related to the CWG that I can help with. Good luck to all the incoming members of the Board along with those returning for the 2018-19 season. It promises to be an exciting one for Alberta speed skaters!


Technical Director Report, Mike Marshall Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association, April 1, 2018

I have continued my continued his role as the Technical Director of the Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association (AASSA) that began in Oct of 2009). To continue with our goal of better alignment with Alberta Sport Connection’s High Performance Coach Program, and to meet the current needs of Alberta speed skating’s high performance athletes, the Technical Director position has also continued in the added role of High Performance Long Track Coach in our own Alberta High Performance program. Within the scope of AASSA’s new 4 year plan, the area of Technical Development is the main focus of the Technical Director. Secondary are supporting the others areas within the plan, specifically Growth and Financial.

The 3 main objectives supported by the six operational functions for the 2017-18 season that the Technical Director contributed to are:

1) TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT Program Delivery

• Alberta High Performance Long Track Program Year 2 AASSA’s new 4 year plan aims to align with the ASC direction in becoming the number one province in speed skating. The Alberta Speed Skating High Performance Program focusses on strengthening the high performance part of the Development Pathway for Albert Skaters. Specifically, Alberta Speed Skating needed to provide an option for the development of our skaters leaving the club level and continuing on the high performance pathway. Part of Alberta Speed Skating’s mission is to ensure all of our speed skating members have the support and opportunity to reach their full potential. By running our own program, we can better ensure our Alberta skaters are getting what they need on an individual basis. The HP Coach Grant is an important part of this program, helping us to cover the costs of running such a program and allowing funding/capacity for the technical director role that includes supporting club coaches.

The HP program is largely funded through the coaching fees that are paid by the athletes in the program. This allows us to hire a second coach in a ¾ position. Last year’s assistant coach, Brock Miron has relocated to BC and former National Team Skater, Mike Ireland became assistant coach for the 2017-18 season and will continue in his role for 2018-19. Mike brings many years of experience skating at the highest level and is continuing in his coaching career after first coaching in the Calgary club and assisting at the Oval program. The goal for the coming season is to have Mike Ireland take on more responsibility with the HP program, allowing the Technical Director role to take on more club support.

There were 32 full time athletes split into 2 training groups in the program for 2017-18 and several drop-in athletes based out of other clubs in Alberta. Long term development is stressed for all athletes with key competitions outlined for some of the athletes. This season we had 3 of the program athletes qualify to represent Canada at the Junior World Long Track Championships. Kaleb Muller, Connor Howe and Brooklyn McDougall all achieved top 12 finishes with Kaleb finishing 8th in the All-round category, Connor 11th in all-round and Brooklyn skating to 9th place in the 500m.

We will continue to work with the Olympic Oval on ways to provide better support for the program and the athletes. With a shortage of locker room space at the Oval, we provided the Oval with a donation of lockers received from a company of one of the program skaters’ parents. This, along with booking a change room every morning, gave our athletes a place to keep their equipment and a place to change. We still face the challenge of high access fees to the ice and weight room. This is something that we will continue to try to find solutions for.


• Testing In partnership with ASDC Calgary, we provided testing for the AB HP program athletes where ASDC matched funds for bike threshold tests, nutrition education and classroom group sport psychology as well as one on one sessions with sport psychologist. We will look to add functional assessments for next season. With a new financial model for the coming season, the ASDC will no longer be matching funds but instead will look to provide affordable testing and sport science support.

• Skater Development Bulletin Continue to update and adjust the Skater Development Bulletin (approved by Skater Development Committee) that guides the selection of athletes to be supported by the Association and the manner in which they are supported. Adjustments made for 2017-18 were; return funding to the lower team levels that were eliminated last season due to budget cuts.

• Technical Guide An updated technical drill guide was created for 2018. This included more drills designed to aid club coaches in developing the correct fundamental skating movements. Still to be provided for 2018-19 is a skater report card/evaluation tool and a program building guide for club coaches.

• Summer Training Programs: Summer training programs were again available to any skaters that requested them. This was done to assist skaters who’s clubs were not organizing club summer training or because we recognize that some club coaches are volunteers and are not comfortable writing summer training programs or are not able to provide this support on a regular basis. With the new AB HP Program, another option was again made available to Alberta skaters which was to take part in training with the HP group on a drop-in basis, during any time of the year. Certain athletes were also invited to the AB HP drop box to access training programs to follow while at home.

• Provincial Training Camps: Open to T2T and ISU Junior skaters, run in the summer and Winter of 2017-18. The Alberta hosted camps were funded in part by Grants from Alberta Sport Connection for Canada Winter Games.

• Canmore – July 2-8, 2017. Canada Winter Games High Aerobic Volume Training Camp for T2T and older athletes. This was the sixth year of running this camp that was initiated through the support of ASC Canada Games funding. Once again awards were presented to the overall individual performers in male and female categories as well as team performance based on results from biking, in-line, and running endurance events as well as a team building scavenger hunt challenge.

• Peace River – Nov 1, 2017. A one day on-ice short track and coaching seminar for the local club and head coach that focussed on technical development. Funded by ASC and AASSA.

• Edmonton – Dec 17, 2017. A one day long track ice camp was held in conjunction with a one day competition held the day before. The camp was run by both AB HP coaches Mike Marshall and Mike Ireland. This one day camp was for all ages 10 and up and focussed on key fundamental skating techniques.

• Penticton B.C. – Aug 12-18, 2017. This was the first of what will hopefully become a regular camp for the AB HP Program and AB HP athletes. This high aerobic volume summer camp targeted older/high performance level AB CWG eligible skaters. The primary focus was cycling with skating dryland supplementing the training for the week. The camp was led by both AB HP coaches and was funded in part by ASC year 3 CWG funding. The athletes covered the remaining costs.

• For 2018-19 we will be running an AGM camp, the Canmore Camp (July 8-13) and a CWG High Performance summer camp in Penticton (details to come out in May).

• Various Program supporting activities


o Ongoing implementation and monitoring of Provincial Team Individual Funding based on criteria in the Skater Development Bulletin.

o Continue to implement the Badge Program (award badges for incremental performance levels) for developing club skaters.

o Provide support to Provincial Team Members in the following areas: o Support Letters for Grant Applications (Oval Bursaries, Boosters Club, Winsport Grant)

o Approval and support letters for National Sport School applications o Advocate for AB skaters for National Team Appointments and support o Continue to outfit Provincial Team skaters in Provincial Team Clothing o Tracking performance data on all Provincial Team members o Collect data on Alberta skater demographics and performance data

• Competitions Continue to work with the SDC and Alberta competition co-ordinators and Officials Committee on competition formats and events to ensure that LTAD principles are adhered to while still meeting the unique needs of competitions in Alberta and regions of Alberta. Alberta Winter Games – Working with a team of Alberta volunteers in the speed skating community, the AWG in Ft. McKay were a great success. The AWG always proves to be a challenge in locations where there is no established speed skating club to draw upon for volunteers and officials. With keen local volunteers, we are very hopeful that a new club will be established following the games. In October, the Technical Director picked up mats in Calgary and Linaria (outside of Edmonton) and drove them up to Ft McKay for use at the AWG and to help a new club get started post games. Bryce Horbachweski (local sport chair for AWG speed skating) and Simon Adams (Ft McKay arena manager) will be leading the new club development. We will support the new club with coaching development and resources. Canada Winter Games – We are gearing up for 2019 and the hosting of the CWG in short and long track speed skating. We have the goal to be number one Province in long track and number 2 in short track at the games. We have several initiatives planned for 2018-19 to help CWG skaters prepare for Red Deer including summer training camps, IT support for CWG eligible athletes and CWG teams. Announcements will come in May/June. CACLT and Can West Alberta continues to send competitive teams to both events where we also provide coaching development and opportunities for our club coaches. Coaching

• Club Visits Continue to work directly with club coaches through club visits and seminars to develop the technical component of the club coaches’ skill set.

o Peace River – Nov 1, 2017 – On ice skater and coach development, one on one coaching seminar o Grande Prairie, Feb/Mar 2018 - Classroom and On-ice: technical development with coaches

With Mike Ireland taking on more of the HP Program responsibility, the roll of TD can include more club visits for the 2018-19 season.

• Speed Skating Canada LTPAD working Group

The Technical Director will be part of a National group put together by SSC to review the implementation of long term athlete development in its programs and competitions across Canada.


• Speed Skating Canada Coaching Development Committee The Technical Director will be a member of the NSO’s Coaching Development Committee, tasked with evaluating the NCCP program in our sport and other areas of coaching development in Canada for Speed Skating. It was felt that by being involved in these groups/committees that the Technical Director can improve coaching support and athlete development for Alberta skaters and coaches and ensure that Alberta’s specific needs are addressed.

• Coach certification Continued to run NCCP courses and coach evaluations for Alberta coaches:

a. Fundamentals and Intro to Competition Workshop – Calgary, Feb 23-25, 2018 b. Intro to Comp Portfolio and on-ice Evaluations for 2 Alberta coaches in 2017-18 season

Both now Intro to Comp certified and entered into Comp Dev pathway c. Working with these 2 Alberta coaches going through the Competition Development pathway d. Continue to support NSO by helping to run National Comp Development workshops and

webinars as well as evaluating portfolios and running in training/in competition evaluations for coaches in Western Canada.

e. 2 new Alberta based coaches will be going through the Competition Development level of coaching certification for 2018.

f. Working with neighbouring Provinces to share NCCP course delivery in regions we share such as north-west AB/BC.

2) GROWTH

Marketing, Recruitment and Revenue Generation • For new and current clubs, the Technical Director ( HP Coach) will continue helping to work on developing a

guide for clubs to assist in skater development, membership growth and retention as well as club structure and rolls that will include best practices and coaching guides.

• Please feel free at any time to contact me at the AASSA office. I am always happy to talk with coaches and members, provide information and feedback, answer questions on many areas of speed skating and the workings of AASSA through e-mails, phone and in person conversations.

• With one of the 3 goals of the Association being to see financial growth, the I will help to find potential sponsors for our programs. Two small sponsors of $2000 each were realized for our AB HP program through relationships/agreements between some of the AB HP skaters and their associates.

3) Key Partners, Stake Holders and Funders

AASSA continues to work with SSC on implementing appropriate skater development at the club and provincial level. We will specifically look to SSC for support for our AB HP program, in recognizing its importance for speed skating development in Alberta and Canada.

AASSA members and the Alberta clubs continue to be the stakeholders. Our major funding source remains the Alberta Sport Connection through its HP Coach Grant, base grant as well as various individual and club grants. Members also provide funding for programs through their membership fees, camp fees and donations at our fund raising events. The funds generated at our Casinos also play a large role in supporting our financial needs.

AASSA will continue to work with the ASDC’s on providing support for club skaters in areas that the club cannot provide, such as strength training and will continue to partner with ASDC Calgary on providing sport science support for our AB HP Program in Calgary.


The University of Calgary continues to provide AASSA with office space and IT support. The Oval also provides free ice for competitions run by AASSA or the Calgary club. AASSA is now self -sufficient with its own timing system for competitions run outside of the Olympic Oval thanks to our highly qualified volunteers.

Program Challenges and Future Considerations

Funding and capacity will remain a challenge and an area of focus for Alberta Speed Skating for 2018 and onward. New partnerships will be sought out to increase capacity and funding. I will be looking at ways to provide greater support and resources for our club coaches. The goal is to have the technical manuals ready for the coming season.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Mike Marshall at the number(s) below.

Prepared by: Mike Marshall Technical Director/HP Coach Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association O 403-210-8914 C 403-512-8351 [email protected]


AASSA Office / Administration Update Kristine Pederson

We accomplished a lot this past season, but we are still updating processes and systems, and our improving but still less-than-ideal financial situation has limited our ability to implement new initiatives. The membership management system took a lot of administrative time to manage in 2017-2018, and we are hopeful that the new SSC MAS structure will be more user-friendly for our members and club administrators, and far less time-consuming from which to create consistent reports. We plan to spend more time on membership cultivation than system maintenance in 2018-2019!

Overall, and with a very good Board involved, the year was productive and satisfying in many ways. We look forward to greater efficiency, effectiveness and smoother operations in 2018-2019 – along with a lot of good fun and celebration with all the upcoming events, including several national meets in Alberta, including the 2019 Canada Winter Games, which AASSA is very pleased to support and host.

• The AASSA Office Administration work was completed collaboratively in 2017-2018 by Kristine Pederson, Nicole Cooney and Michelle Chabot (Thank You Nicole and Michelle!). Kristine has been managing the day-to-day operations – email, phone, mail, invoicing and paying bills, in-person banking, meet sanctions including equipment distribution, assisting with reports, committees, etc. Nicole and Michelle have been co-managing the bookkeeping and other specific duties related to the Finance Committee.

o One of the major accomplishments this past fiscal was implementing and fully utilizing Quickbooks Online (with the assistance of Liz Offin).

o Michelle set up payroll through this tool, and we have quick views of the main operating bank accounts, which has been a very useful online function.

o Invoicing and tracking activities through Quickbooks has enabled cleaner bookkeeping

• Kristine assisted the AASSA President and Technical Director in various tasks such as: o Alberta Sport Connection grants, reporting, meetings o Olympic Oval liaison, such as meets, equipment, and updates regarding the ice-out o Speed Skating Canada promotion, grants, reports, meetings, insurance, registrations, rankings

Kristine and Nicole have been closing off SSC’s MMS and will be trained on the new MAS membership reporting system in early June 2018

o Provincial Team administration – e.g. clothing, forms, online information; and assisting with administration of the High Performance Program

o Regional and national meet administration Alberta Winter Games Arctic Winter Games Canada Winter Games CanWest, CACLT Canadian Junior and Senior Championships, Selections and Canada Cups (ST and LT)

o Casino Planning and Administration o Camp and clinics administration – e.g. coaches, officials, LT winter camp, AGM camp, Canmore Camp o AASSA AGM

• The AASSA computer was replaced and files transferred; and the AASSA office was re-connected to the University of Calgary network to enable printing/scanning/copying services (fee-for-use)

• AASSA provided 32 meet sanctions this season (excluding cancelled events), from local mini-meets to a World Cup, and various types of meet support including updating the AASSA web with schedules, meet protocols and personal bests.

• AASSA set up an account with the online URstore to offer Provincial Team and T2T athletes representing Alberta at CACLT and CanWest meets an opportunity to purchase AASSA apparel.

o https://urstore.ca/alberta-speed-skating-association

https://urstore.ca/alberta-speed-skating-association


AASSA 2017-2018 AGM Financial Report, Michelle Chabot, Finance Committee

Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association For the period ended March 31, 2018

Prepared by

Michelle Chabot, Finance Committee, May 20, 2018

AASSA 2017-2018 Financial Reports in PDF

Click on the Icons

2018 YE Fiscal report.pdf

2018 AGM Fiscal Report - Budget v Ac

Documents

Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association (AASSA) 2017-2018 … · 2018-05-23 · Alberta Ama teur Speed Skating Association / AASSA Board of Directors’ AGM Report May 2018 Page