 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Stuff happens! it's a chicken and egg problem (as it always was); Need sucess to get funding; funding needed for sucess. When I was campaining for Atlanta/Savanna '96 there were no lotto grants; we had to get our funding ourselves. Our campaign ended when one of our headline sponsors pulled out.
Not sure what the solution is for Chemmy 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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This is a sad day for the sport
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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They are still funding paraskiing so its not skiing/snowboarding absolutely that's being picked on, just our lack of success at alpine skiing etc. Its an age old debate but at least the system seems transparent now - medals = cash. Seems not unreasonable when there isn't an unlimited number of sports that can be funded. Baxter's Vicks still has a lot to answer for I guess.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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fatbob, so in order to get any funding you have to be succesful already. How is anyone supposed to get there in the first place?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| fatbob, so in order to get any funding you have to be succesful already. How is anyone supposed to get there in the first place? |
I guess the counterpoint would be alpine skiing has aleady had X years funding and 0 medals to show for it, so getting there at all is the question. I'd guess that skeleton hasn't always been heavily funded but seem to have done ok.
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| fatbob, so in order to get any funding you have to be succesful already. How is anyone supposed to get there in the first place? |
You spend hours not practicing and doing endless presentations and branding proposals. You do not live a life as you spend all money on skis and travel (or boats and travel in my case).
You scrounge favours from friends and family; via contacts; you do not know where the next set of sails will come from; or how to pay for the new <insert>. It's a nightmare....
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skiing is a relatively expensive pastime in this country because it involves travel and accommodation as well as an expensive ski pass. Where i originate from in the Black Forest skiing is a normal winter sport, if you are 'into' it, you buy a relatively good value family season pass. Good second hand equipement is readily available. So all in all its affordable for many people. Competitions are frequently seen on the TV and so it is attractive for advertisers and sponsors.
Here in this country there is a strange mix. Many people seem to have learnt at a local dry ski slope and then abandon the facility for a once or twice yearly fix in the snow, never giving repeat business to the dry slope. There is a 'hardcore' of enthusiasts who regularly use the dry slopes but this is not enough to keep the business in good health. To an extent the same is true of the new indoor ski facilities.
What i am trying to say is that although there is much money being spent on skiing by UK residents, most of it is spent out of the country. Therefore the skiing remains a struggling minority pastime in the UK with struggling ski facilities. So it is unattractive to sponsors.
There are some very wealthy people in the UK who own very lucrative businesses and who are passionate about skiing. Yet they do not support home based facilities or sponsor skiers such as Chemmy. I can understand this as skiing is so low profile in the UK. It is a shame though. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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While this is bad news for Chemmy, it's a tad ironic that all the concern is for how it will affect her when she is probably the one individual who stands a snowBall's chance in hell of getting any useful amount of sponsorship outside of the team. This is on the back of (aside from her skiing talent of course) the extra-curricular profile building she has done and indeed oft been criticised for.
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Unfortunately that's life. And it's not just in UK but everywhere else too. If you want to get money, you need to show some results first. And contrary to popular belief here, this is actually possible. I'm not saying winning gold medal on Olympics without funding is possible, but getting good enough results to get funding is possible. Just for example... Slovene xc skiing had few years back budget of less them 100.000eur/year... for all teams (kids, juniors, seniors, europa cup, world cup... all together). Now we have Olympic medal, World championships medals, quite few World cup victories etc. But you need someone first, who is ready to work hard, a lot harder then rest of guys, and on top of that he (or in our case, she) needs to have some extra talent, and he doesn't need to feel sorry for himself. Life is tough but you can get high enough without huge budget. Yes, you will have to cancel summer skiing in New Zealand, and many other things which Austrians or Swiss guys and girls can afford. But with spending a bit more time in gym, you can do a whole lot more then with week or two of New Zealand skiing  No matter how it sounds, but I'm enough around WC, and I have enough experiences to see how fit someone is even without going through their test results. And if you believe it or not, many people would be really surprised with fitness level of someone who is on place 50 in alpine skiing WC.... and I don't mean positively surprised.
So yes, I do believe it's possible to get good enough results to apply for serious funding, even when your current budget is almost non existing.
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FAQ
