Dear Friends and Family of SSRA,

On behalf of the SSRA Board of Directors, let us be the first to welcome you to the 2006/2007 ski racing season! Last season was surely one to remember…

SSRA experienced competitive team excellence and significant individual accomplishment in 2005/2006. Amongst the juniors, we had an athlete named to the PNSA Alpine team, several athletes qualified for regional FIS races, and nine athletes attended March championship races including J1/2 Champs, FIS Finals, and J3 Junior Olympics. Amongst Youth Ski Leaguers; Intro, YSL, and Jr. Development athletes reached phenomenal heights. The team narrowly finished 2 nd in the EEYSL standings while individual SSRA athletes took 7 of 19 season-long titles. The Buddy Werner team racked up 6 top-ten finishes, 2 wins, 1 combined title, two qualifications to the regional J4 Festival and 1 qualification to the Whistler Cup International Children's Race. This outstanding talent and team depth contributed to a 2 nd place team finish for the boys, and a 6 th place finish for the overall team. On the snowboarding side, SSRA was equally successful with 7 athletes qualifying for USASA Nationals. A silver and a bronze medalist emerged while the SSRA team collected five top-ten finishes.

In addition, SSRA worked together to meet our most challenging fundraising and race-hosting goals in memory. We had a great Fund Run in September and an outstanding Auction in February. We exceeded fundraising goals and simultaneously established the Fitzgerald-Jensen-Peck scholarship fund. On the racing front, we held 17 days of competition on Mt. Spokane . Of course, the culmination was the Buddy Werner Championships; now referred to as the best Buddy Werner Championships in PNSA history, if not the best race ever hosted in the division. And, in spite of the tremendous efforts required by many, the challenges truly brought the membership together.

Early enrollment has begun!

Please find attached an enrollment form for the 2006/2007 racing season. Specific program information can be viewed at www.gossra.org. Please feel free to share the information with a friend. Let us know if you know of anyone who would be interested in the program and would want to know more. Please take note of the early bird discount when paid in full by October 15.

Looking ahead

This season will bring change to SSRA. Sadly, the organization will not offer a snowboarding program, in large part, due to the loss of our head coach, Casey Smith, to a career opportunity in Colorado . In spite of efforts to replace him and start anew, the program lost momentum and will experience a hiatus after three successful seasons. We will therefore focus our energy on the ski racing program, and hope that we can again expand our program to include additional winter sport programs in the future.

Our calendar has been filled over the past week with exciting training plans, fundraisers and races. Parent/athlete meetings have already begun at the junior level, while meetings for Jr. Development, YSL and Introduction to Ski Racing will take place in October. SSRA will again have the Fund Run (Sun, Oct. 1) and Auction (Fri, Feb. 2). In addition, we will introduce some new events that may help to increase community exposure of SSRA. SSRA/Mt. Spokane has also been awarded the January PNSA J3 Junior Olympic Qualifier and the EEYSL Finals in March. In addition, we will host our Holiday Camp GS on Dec. 31 and our Corporate Cup Fundraiser 5-week race series on Wednesdays in January and February!

For those of you wondering, we will have the vast majority of our talented coaching staff returning for 06/07 while we have been lucky to add some outstanding new members as well. Early indications strongly suggest that enrollment will be up with thirteen new members already becoming involved in the program! Thank you for continuing to spread the word about SSRA!!

Mt. Spokane remains SSRA's staunchest ally while boasting some very key improvements for this winter. One fantastic example is the new state-of-the-art winch cat that will allow for superior grooming, specifically on the steepest terrain and during the early season. In addition, SSRA will continue to pursue corporate sponsors to help us attain the items on our “wish list”, as well as, the significant level of tuition subsidization.

Stay tuned…

Be sure to check out the website (www.gossra.org) for the latest information. There is much more planned for the coming weeks and months. And, let us know how we can be the best that we can in 2006/2007!

SSRA looks forward to a fantastic and successful 2006/2007 season, and is pleased that you will be a part of that success. Thank you.

Chuck Holcomb      

Program Director/Head Coach, SSRA   

Rob Lindsay

President, SSRA