update 1/21
News update 1.21.20
This message contains important information about
1) Olympic team selection process
2-4) National Team selection (Jrs, Srs, U23)
5) Something new for collegiate athletes
6) 2020 Olympic Hopes Regatta and Olympic Development Program
Please read it in its entirety.
Hello Prospective Sprint National Team members -
I hope you are having an excellent start to 2020. I wanted to reach out to you and let you know more about the national team program and the things the national staff are trying to do to improve results on behalf of all our athletes and stakeholders.
2019 was a breakout year for the USA Sprint Canoe and Kayaking Team. We sent more athletes to international competitions than in recent memory. In addition to having more of a presence at events, our athletes had excellent performances. One of our core objectives from a performance standpoint is to get athletes into finals and we did that very well in 2019. These results speak to the hard work put in by all of our athletes but also by coaches and and in many cases parents who have shouldered the financial and logistical burden for many years. The groundbreaking accomplishment of Nevin Harrison is obviously on everyone's minds but even outside of that, our athletes had an outstanding year.
Our job as national staff is to keep that momentum going and identify places where we can improve further. My intention is to keep you informed of deadlines, and important news events and communication is at the top of our list of things to improve. To that end, we have started a national team website that will be used to not only post information, but athletes and other stakeholders will register there for free to receive email updates. This will put the content and communications directly in the hands of national coaches and give us the tools to get information out better. I plan to make the site live on January 23rd and further refine it so that national team members can get information in a timely fashion. I plan to also use newsletters(like this one) and also teleconference calls as means of improving communication.
Here are a few updates on the 2020 competition season -
1) Pan-Am Championships and World Cup 2 -Your national leadership have been working hard on the 2020 selection criteria for Pan Ams and World Cup 2, as they are the only way to qualify athletes into the Olympic Games. The United States already has earned one quota in Women’s Canoe, earned by Nevin Harrison last August at the World Championships in Szeged. Now we must look forward and carefully craft our strategy to maximize our chances of qualifying more quota spots. This is complicated by the fact that our criteria must be reviewed and approved by the USOPC. We are currently on our 15th version and we are very close to releasing it.
2) Jr Worlds - This year we will be offering an alternate way to qualify for Jr Worlds. We will require an application and deposit by a deadline(looking like that will be Feb 3rd). National Staff will review applications by discipline and if there are fewer applicants than spots on the team, we will preselect the team. For example, if only 2 women’s canoe athletes apply, we will take both and those athletes will not be required to race at trials. Event decisions can happen at the pre event training camps. The aim of this is to better use financial resources.(eg money that is spent on trials might be better spent on team boat training trips and other things). We will let people know if they are preselected to the team no later than feb 15th. We will also publish the selection at trials(if preselection is not an option) and an overview of expectations regarding costs and time at camps etc. I hope to have that out by next week.
3) U23 Worlds - We will select the U23 team at team trials. Athletes will submit a deposit and go by selection criteria that we will publish prior.
4) Sr Worlds - there is Senior Worlds this year that focuses on non olympic events. We will be attending and selecting from a pool of athletes who declare their intent and submit a deposit. Selection will occur at team trials in Lanier, GA in April.
5) World University Championships - This is a competition in August that we have typically not attended lately but we are considering attending this year. Please watch for further information.
6) Olympic Hopes Regatta(OHR) and the Olympic Development Program(ODP) - For those athletes born in 2003, 2004, and 2005, OHR is an excellent experience. We are looking closely at how we can use different strategies to select the team. We want to continue to have a large team and selecting the team early has the huge advantages of saving money on flights and also allowing for increased team boat training opportunities. We hope to have information about this program out mid February.
Aaron Huston
Sprint Program Director and National Coach
American Canoe Association
