Peer Feedback QuestionsWhose draft are you responding to? Does the author identify a specific person in the To: line in the memo? Do they follow the appropriate memo format as in the sample WP #3? H

To: Tiger Shaw, CEO of US Ski and Snowboard

From: Grace Henderson

Date: May 21, 2020

RE: Equal Funding for all US Ski and Snowboard Athletes

Over the past few seasons of being on the US Ski Team I can’t help but express my opinions on the equality of distribution of athlete funding between the teams. Between the programs of  Alpine, Freeski, and Snowboard; the funding is very unequally distributed. 

The first issue I would like to recognize is the fact that US Ski and Snowboard is a non-profit foundation. Most people do not know this and assume that this foundation is government funded like most other countries like; Switzerland, Norway, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and pretty much every other country. I think the fact that we are not government funded puts our team at a disadvantage towards the rest of the competing countries. These other countries have the ability to train and compete without worrying about if they can even afford to travel to the next competition. Their countries provide them with salaries, cars, and extensive social media exposure. This puts our foundation at a disadvantage.

But some of the teams within the foundation get much more of the small amount of funding we do get from donors and sponsors. The Alpine program gets the most funding by far, but why? The Alpine program is put on a pedestal; travel costs, training camps, and everyday needs are covered by the foundation. Meanwhile, the Freeski and Snowboard teams are barely receiving enough money to attend these mandatory training camps. We are losing money by attending these camps, pushing ourselves to be the best so we can perform for our country at a global level. Yet, losing so much money to do so. 

Someone on the Freeski team who wins 2-3 XGames medals per year only gets $5,000 dollars a year. While someone on the Alpine team gets funded $50,000 for not even having a podium result. I know you recognize this but I hope you can understand how frustrating this is to these higher level athletes.

For most of us, this is our full time job, our main source of income. Which basically means that if we don’t have a good season, don’t podium, or don’t have the right sponsors. We are at a negative profit for competing for our country. Which for people on the lower levels of the team, such as myself, are getting below $1,000 dollars per year and with my few podiums this season and multiple flights to Europe and back, I am barely breaking even every season.

This distribution system needs to change. In the 2018 Winter Olympics the Alpine team had a total of 3 medals. The Snowboard team had a total of 7 medals. While the Freeski team had a total of 5 medals. So again I ask how is it fair that the two teams bringing in the most medals are being funded by 5 times less?

This winter when we had a discussion about this topic, I understood when you said that it is out of your control. That the donors are old, rich, white men, who have no idea about the new Olympic Freeski and Snowboard disciplines. It makes sense that they are directing their donations to the Alpine team because that is the sport they know and love. But you need to do something that doesn’t allow this. There needs to be a rule put in place that all donations to the team will be spread equally amongst the teams. If these teams are continued to be funded unfairly these athletes will have no choice but to quit because they can no longer fund themselves. 

With someone in your position, you need to advocate for these teams. Spread the word that we need funding. Let the people of the United States of America know that the Ski and Snowboard programs are a non-profit and not government funded organization. We need their support to continue to produce success. 

Team USA is one of the strongest in the world. With some of the highest medal counts at almost every Olympics. Imagine how much better the Freeski and Snowboard teams would be if we had even more opportunities and funding to train to be the best team in the world. If we don’t make some changes soon enough, there will be no Freeski and Snowboard athletes left to represent this country.