As we prepare for USSA Congress next week, I wanted to share a few developments with you and ask for your input and assistance with improving systems.
I once again want to thank you for your commitment to ski racing and all the hours you have put in this past winter to support, set up and run ski races for our USSA competitors. Throughout this past fall and winter, I was able to meet with and work with many of you and I learned a lot about what makes our organization work. Alpine ski racing could not exist without the efforts of people like you.
The changes associated with Vola timing systems this winter were not without challenges. I am well aware of this and many of you have given us considerable feedback on how to improve and help you organize and run events. Feedback included not only comments on how to improve Vola, but many of you also asked to have flexibility in choosing your timing software. As you know, were in a situation last fall that led to our focus on Vola as the only approved system. For this coming season, we have forged a strong relationship with Split Second that allows us to approve both systems for use in timing USSA sanctioned races next season. Split Second is now a strong partner and we look forward to having them back as we envision a marketplace with both choices and flexibility.
Going forward, the live timing system will list races together from both systems and will be supported by both companies. All races run on both systems will be listed and available on ussalivetiming.com. Improvements and enhancements to USSA Live Timing are currently underway and we will be soliciting feedback directly from users soon. This survey information will be shared with both companies so that their support of Live Timing and its features and performance will benefit.
Since both Vola and Split Second are entering their cycles of software revisions and improvements, we are soliciting RAs, timers and others like you to help us prioritize and summarize the desired feature additions and changes. If you have used Vola’s timing and data platform please help us improve it by participating in this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Again, we cannot thank you enough for all that you do to support the USSA, your clubs, competitors and families.
Tiger Shaw
President and CEO
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association