James Lister, Andrew Lockerbie, Roy Henderson, Pete Allison and Dave Renouf have just returned from Pamporovo, Bulgaria where they joined delegates from 36 other countries to discuss plans for the 2019 Interski Congress.
Dave was there as he is a Vice President on the Interski presidium. The Presidium held separate meetings as their agenda was slightly different.
Pete Allison is BASI’s representative on the IVSS (International Federation of Schools and Collages) and as well as attending the IVSS meetings general assembly, Pete also gave a presentation on the importance of relationship building. This was based on a case study of school children on a ski trip to Andorra.
Roy Henderson was there to look at the venue and the logistics for Interski 2019.
Chairman, James Lister, attended all key meetings on our behalf to ensure we continue to build on our relationships with individual countries within the worldwide snowsports organisations.
Andrew was there to build relations between national organisations like the PSIA, to ensure that BASI qualifications are recognised around the world and look for further work opportunities for BASI members.
Loads of topics were covered over the weekend with an aim to ensure that 2019 Congress is the best one yet. A new discussion format was used at the recent meeting called the “World Café”. It brought groups together from the representative nations and brainstormed various topics surrounding the format for Interski 2019. It generated loads of ideas and it will be up to the Interski organising committee to decide on the final format, but here is a summary of some highlights:
Theme
The theme will be based around the promotion of snowsports worldwide. This could mean introducing people to snowsports or encouraging people to continue to participate. The overall title is still to be decided.
Demonstrations
The suggestion is that each team will perform 2 types of demonstrations.
Technical demonstrations – these would focus on a particular performance strand (e.g long turns)
Show demonstrations – It was suggested that these would take places in the afternoon or evenings and wouldn’t have a particular technical focus. Teams would be encouraged to use all disciplines where possible. These demonstrations could be made competitive by introducing judging (TBC).
The idea of an International Demonstration was also discussed, where individuals from each team are selected at the beginning of the event with an aim to perform a demonstration featuring team members from all countries at the closing ceremony.
Lectures
All lectures will be submitted prior to the Congress for selection. Selected lectures are delivered live at the Congress and any not selected are made available online to all attendeesAll lectures will be delivered prior to the resort opening in the morning or in the evening to maximise on snow time.
A summary (text and video) for each lecture will be made available for congress attendees to help them decide which lectures they’d like to attend during the event.
Special events
The World Café – a breakout area where tables are made up of 1 team member from each country discussing a specified topic.
Interski ski school – Team members from each country will deliver lessons during a specified time slot to members of the public.
The idea of a race was discussed and if anything is to happen it would be a Dual Slalom – A team slalom event where teams are made up of representatives from different countries
Want some more reading? Here are some of the handouts from the weekend…
Agenda to the Regular General Assembly
Rules of Procedure for the Presidium
Draft changes of statues of Interski International 10th of June 2017
I am keen to learn more. I am a recently-qualified BASI Level 1 Alpine but will push on to Level 2 asap. I am keen to promote BASI and the BASI ethos wherever possible and, due to my career background, this encompasses China and also the Balkans. In China, for anyone who is not aware, ski-ing is being increasingly pushed in the latest five year plan so there is a window of opportunity. I would welcome the chance to be involved.