CANADIAN FREESTYLE SKI ASSOCIATION FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Transcription

1 SECTION A Membership/Insurance (General) Page 2 1. I was told I needed to get CFSA Insurance. How do I do that? Page 2 2. What s the difference between a CFSA License and CFSA Insurance? Page 2 3. What s the difference between Liability Insurance and the Accident Insurance? Page 2 4. So what s the difference between the 2A and 2B? Page 2 SECTION B Registration/Licenses Page 3 1. I need to register, what do I do? Page 3 2. I have no idea what license I need to select. Can you help? Page 3 3. I forgot my password and/or username, what do I do? Page 4 4. The Forgot Password? didn t work, what do I do? Page 5 5. Error Messages (EM): Duplicate registration, invalid login, payment declined Page 5 6. When do I have to register/renew my license? Page 6 7. Proof of license payment that? Page 6 SECTION C Using the SportingDNA System Page 6 1. How do I get my membership number? Page 6 2. How do I change or update my profile information? Page 7 3. How do I change my password? Page 7 4. How do I upgrade my license? Page 7 5. How do I add a role? Page 8 SECTION D Sanctions and COIs Page 8 1. What is a sanction? Page 8 2. Who needs to be sanctioned? Page 8 3. Why does my club/team need a sanction? Page 8 4. Examples of what IS and IS NOT sanctioned? Page 9 5. Who can request a sanction? Page 9 6. Sanction requests for Professional and/or FIS events? Page 9 7. Competing in a FIS event as an Independent Athlete; will CFSA Insurance cover me? Page 9 8. How do I request or update a sanction for my club s activities? Page What is a Certificate of Insurance (COI)? Page Does my ski hill or training facility need a Certificate of Insurance (COI)? Page How do I request a COI? Page 10 SECTION E Club Registration Page How do I register my club? Page I m a new club, what do I need to know? Page Does my club need Director s and Officer s (D&O) Liability Insurance? Page Why does my club need D&O? Page When do I need to register/renew my club? Page 12 SECTION F FIS Licenses Page How do I get a Fédération International de Ski (FIS) Number? Page How do I find my FIS number? Page 13

2 SECTION A Membership/Insurance (General) Q. - I was told I need CFSA Insurance to participate in any sanctioned CFSA Freestyle activities, is that true? A. - Yes and No. There are licenses, then there is insurance. People get these two terms confused all the time. All members are required to purchase a CFSA license in order to participate in any sanctioned CFSA Freestyle activities. Every license includes liability insurance. So, when you purchase the CFSA license, you have purchased the so-called CFSA Insurance. If you want insurance to cover expenses in case you get injured, then you need to purchase accident insurance and this is a separate purchase. Q. - What s the difference between a CFSA License and CFSA Insurance? A. - A CFSA License is basically a CFSA membership, whereas Insurance is either already built into the license (Liability Insurance) or an option that a member can choose (Accident Insurance). All CFSA members are required to have a license, and are therefore automatically insured with the Liability Insurance. However, not all members are required to purchase the Accident Insurance. Q. What s the difference between Liability Insurance and the Accident Insurance? A. Liability Insurance is built into every single license that the CFSA offers, and appears as the $10.00 Canadian Snowsports Association (CSA) charge on the membership fee summary. Liability insurance protects the member, the CFSA, its PSOs and member clubs, plus the Canadian Snowsports Association ( CSA ), from legal action taken against a CFSA member, the CFSA, PSO or its member clubs that may result in payment to a 3 rd party, for example, as a result of bodily injury and/or property damage caused through participation in a CFSA sanctioned activity. Legal action could include, but is not limited to: a member athlete against coach or a club; a 3 rd party (someone who is not a CFSA member) who is injured by a CFSA member while participating in a CFSA sanctioned activity; an athlete, parent or relative against CFSA, PSO, Club, or another member; damage to property during a CFSA sanctioned activity. For example, if a CFSA member is training on a ski hill, loses control, runs into a skier, who is not a member of the CFSA, on the hill and injures them, and the other skier decides to pursue legal action against the member, club or ski hill, our liability insurance will cover the legal costs and any other financial claim associated with that incident up to the amount in the policy. The CFSA accident insurance ( SAIP ) covers medical expenses associated with injuries caused while participating in CFSA sanctioned Freestyle activities and is in excess of provincial health programs and private insurance. For example: If a skier takes a jump, twists his/her knee on landing and requires physiotherapy; the skier would first have to go through their Provincial/Territorial health care system to cover the costs of physio. If the Provincial/Territorial health care system will not cover the costs, then the skier would have to try and claim the physio bills through their own personal insurance or their parent s personal insurance (benefits through their workplace), if they have private medical insurance. If the personal insurance either will not cover the costs or there is no personal insurance in place, SAIP would kick in and cover the costs up to the amount stated in the policy. There are two types of Accident Insurance: Class 2A (In-Country or 2A ) and Class 2B (In-And-Out-Of-Country or 2B ). Accident Insurance is optional with every license, except for the Can Free 4 license, which automatically comes with the 2A. Q. So what s the difference between the 2A and 2B? A. The 2A (In-Country) Accident Insurance is $67.00 over and above the license fees, except for the Can Free 4 license, in which it is included in the license cost. The 2A insurance covers all accidents suffered while participating in CFSA Sanctioned freestyle activities anywhere within the borders of Canada.

3 The CFSA highly recommends the 2A insurance to any and all freestyle athletes and coaches, especially those travelling out of province, as there may be some costs that your Provincial/Territorial health care provider may not cover when you leave the Province/Territory. The 2B (In-And-Out-Of-Country) insurance fee is $272.00, for all provinces and territories in Canada except for Ontario and Quebec because of those two provinces Premium Taxes. The fee for Ontario is $ and for Quebec it is $ The 2B insurance covers all accidents suffered while participating in CFSA sanctioned freestyle activities anywhere around the world, including within Canada. The 2B insurance is MANDATORY for all CFSA member athletes AND coaches heading to CFSA sanctioned training or competitions outside of the country, because the 2B insurance covers some things that most other out-of-country accident insurance providers will not cover, such as Repatriation and Emergency Air Transport (e.g. Helicopter Rescue), which are quite costly. SECTION B Registration/Licenses Q. I need to register, what do I do? A. Well, you first have to know whether or not you were registered with CFSA last year. If the answer is Yes, I was registered, then you likely have a profile on the SportingDNA (SDNA) site, CFSA s online registration system. If that is the case, you need to RENEW your membership. If you were not a CFSA member last year and you do not have a profile in the SDNA system already, then you must REGISTER. Once you figure that out, getting signed up for the season is easy! I WAS A CFSA MEMBER IN & I NEED TO RENEW MY MEMBERSHIP If you were a CFSA member last year, then you had a SportingDNA profile that still exists in the system, today. In order to renew, you must LOGIN to your profile, using the user name and password you were given when you originally registered on the SDNA site. To get to the SDNA site, click on the "Renew/Register Now" button on the CFSA website s Membership Registration page. Once on the SDNA Login page simply log in with your login info. If you have any questions, please info@freestyleski.com. I AM NEW TO THE CFSA AND WANT TO REGISTER MYSELF / MY CHILD If you WERE NOT a CFSA member last year, and you would like to purchase a license with the CFSA, please click on the "Renew/Register Now" on the CFSA website s Membership Registration page. Once on the SDNA Login site, please click the small "Register Now" link and complete the registration form. Q. I have no idea what license I need to select. Can you help? A. Sure. Licenses are selected in the Role drop down menu on the online registration form. If you are a coach, judges, official or a parent / volunteer, you would select the following respective licenses: Coach

4 Coach; Judge Judge; Technical Delegate, Chief of Course / Competition Major Official; Parent or volunteer Associate members. If you are an athlete, you select Athlete in the Role drop down menu and there are a few license options available. Here s a quick description of each Athlete license: Can Free 1/2: For all Freestyle related training, Jumps and Bumps and Freestylerz Programs as well as intra/inter club and regional level competition, regardless of Province or Territory. Can Free 3: Everything included in Can Free 1/2, now including Provincial and National Level competitions, regardless of Province or Territory. Can Free 4: Everything included in Can Free 3, now including all FIS events (NorAms, World Cups, etc.), for which you will need a FIS number. This license also includes 2A Accident Insurance. For more information on licenses, go to the CFSA s Membership Registration page and click on the CFSA License Categories Correspond to CFSA Can Free Programs and CFSA Events tab. Q. I forgot my password and/or user name, what do I do? A. Go to the SportingDNA Login page and click on the Forgot Password? link. Remember to use the first name, last name, date of birth and primary account that were originally used in the first registration, including the original spelling of the names. Clicking Submit will send both your user name and password to the primary on your profile.

5 ! Q. After using the Forgot Password? link, I still haven t received any info. What do I do? A. Check the spam or junk mail folders in your program. If the from SDNA is not in your spam or junk mail folders, please info@freestyleski.com. Q. I received an Error Message (EM) while trying to renew/register. What does it mean? A. See the most common error messages below, including a screen shot of the EM, what they mean and what you should do: EM: Duplicate Registration The Duplicate Registration error likely means that you tried to register when you should have renewed. This is the SDNA system s way of telling you that the person you are trying to register is already in the system. Therefore, instead of re-registering that person and creating duplicate registrations in the system, you should try retrieving that person s user name and password via the Forgot Password? link. EM: Invalid Login When you get the EM that says, Username or Password entered is wrong, it means the username or password that you entered is wrong. The most common causes of this error is that people forget that the user name and password text fields are not only case sensitive, but also account for any spaces, especially in the User Names. Therefore, you must make sure the user name and password that you enter is exactly the same as it is in the that SDNA sent you. The best way to ensure accuracy is to copy and paste the user name and password directly into the text fields. However, there are a few cases when you enter the correct information and it is still incorrect. If this happens,

6 go through the Forgot Password? link first so that the system can reset your password and see if the new one works. If that fails as well, please EM: Payment Declined This error message will occur if your payment online is not accepted. The error message will appear as a long sentence, in very small writing, at the top of a blank web page, immediately after the payment gateway page where you entered your credit card information. If this occurs, please info@freestyleski.com. For EMs not covered above, please info@freestyleski.com. Q. - When do I have to register/renew my license? A. The individual membership year goes from June 1 st to May 31 st of the following year. Therefore, starting June 1st, you can register or renew your license for the new season. However, please be aware that registering or renewing before June 1 st will not make you current for the new season and you must wait until June 1 st to register/renew for the new season. Q. I need proof that I paid my license, how do I get that? A. After successfully renewing/registering, you will receive an from the SDNA system stating that you have successfully renewed/registered for a CFSA license. Barring that, you can always go to the SDNA site and log into your profile. Once in your profile, you can click on the View My Profile link in the top left of the screen. Once you see your profile page, with all of the information that you have entered upon registration, you will notice the Payment History and Role History sections at the bottom of the page that will prove your current membership status. SECTION C Using The SportingDNA System Q. - How do I get my membership number? A. Go to the SportingDNA Login page and log in. Once in your profile, you can click on the small View Profile link on the left hand side of the screen. This will show you all of the information you entered when you registered/renewed, including your CFSA ID number at the top of your profile.

7 Q. How do I change or update my profile information? A. Go to the SportingDNA Login page and log in. Once in your profile, you can click on the small View Profile link on the left hand side of the screen. At the bottom of the screen, you will see an Edit Profile button that you can press in order to change or update your information. Q. How do I change my password? A. - Go to the SportingDNA Login page and log in. Once in your profile, you can click on the small Change Password link on the left hand side of the screen. Follow the instructions in order to change your password. Q. I didn t choose the right license or need a higher license in order to compete in a certain event, how can I upgrade a license? A. Upgrading a license is only possible with the Athlete role. All other roles are their own licenses. For example, an Athlete Role can include a Can Free 1/2, Can Free 3 or Can Free 4 license, whereas the only available option for the Coach role is the Coach license. Having said that, upgrading a license is fairly straightforward. You must first go to the SportingDNA Login page and log in with your user name and password. Once in your profile, you can click on the Upgrade Membership link on the left side of the screen. In the upgrade page of your profile, you must simply choose another athlete license from the drop down menu, under the License section, of the page. Licenses cannot be downgraded online. You will only pay for the difference between the two Athlete licenses when you upgrade your membership.

8 Q. I m ambitious and would like to add a role/license to my profile, how can I do that? A. Adding a role is the exact same procedure as upgrading a license, outlined in the question above. Log into your profile, click on the Upgrade Membership link and then select a new role from the drop down menu under the New Role heading. You will pay the full cost of the new role when you select New Role. SECTION D Sanctions and COIs Q. What is a sanction? A. A sanction is basically a piece of paper that indicates the CFSA has approved and authorized the freestyle activities, included in the sanction request form, planned by a club or PSO. All participants in the sanctioned activity must be members of the CFSA, including athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, board members, etc., for the activity sanction to be valid. The sanction must state who is responsible for the activity i.e. who has control of the activity decisions. All activities must be conducted according the CFSA rules, policies and procedures for the activity sanction to be valid. Q. Who needs to be sanctioned? A. Everyone. All CFSA member clubs need to have their activities sanctioned. Moreover, all teams within that club, whether they are the club team, high performance team, or any other, must have their activities sanctioned as well. Q. - Why does my club/team need a sanction? A. Your club/team needs a sanction in order for your activity to be covered by the CFSA / CSA s liability insurance policy. If your club/team is not sanctioned to do an activity and then does it anyway, they will not be covered by CFSA s insurance in the event that something goes wrong. This means your club/team would be responsible for defending and paying any legal claims arising from legal action taken against the club/team; the CFSA and CSA will not be involved in the defense of such a legal claim. Your athletes won t be covered through the CFSA accident insurance program ( SAIP ) if they are participating in a non-sanctioned activity. The individuals will be responsible for the entire cost of their medical expenses, including, but not limited to, transportation off the hill, use of helicopters for evacuation and any ongoing medical care. The activity sanction provides protection to the club/team, board of directors, coaches, officials, volunteers, and athletes, and that is why it is extremely important that all clubs get sanctioning for their activities.

9 Q. Can you give me examples of what IS and IS NOT sanctioned? A. - What IS sanctioned: Activities that are normal to the sport of freestyle skiing. Activities such as on-snow training and competitions, dry land training, water ramp training and air bag training are covered by an activity sanction. We have also sanctioned cross training activities like yoga, in-line skating, soccer and other various sports that can be used to cross-train freestyle athletes. Furthermore, we will sanction things like fundraisers, information booths at malls and other promotional events that help raise awareness or funds for a club s programs or teams. What IS NOT sanctioned: Any activity that would pose a far greater, and often undue, risk to the members and which would not be seen as benefitting the athletes in terms of freestyle training. These activities may include, but are not limited to, sky diving, base jumping, using All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), or any other motor vehicles, as well as some Big Mountain activities, including skiing outside the boundaries of the ski hill*. If you are considering an activity for your club/team that is not normal to freestyle skiing, contact the CFSA at info@freestyleski.com. The CFSA will help you determine if your activity can be sanctioned and provide assistance to meet our sanctioning requirements if you have any concerns. *Sanctions for Big Mountain activities are evaluated and given (or not given) on a case-to-case basis. Q. Who can request a sanction? A. Clubs or PSOs generally request Sanctions. Furthermore, any club administrator or coach, or any individual charged with creating the training and competition schedule for a club or team and/or who is responsible for the club or team s activities can also request a sanction. Q. My team/athlete wants to attend a professional freeski event. Will they be covered by the CFSA insurance? A. Maybe. The answer is YES if (a) the club/team has listed this event as part of their club s/team s training and competition activities, in the sanction request form and (b) if a currently CFSA licensed coach is on location and supervising the athletes participation in the event. The answer is NO if the athletes are attending the event on their own without a CFSA member coach supervising their participation, even if the club/team has listed this activity in their sanction request. If the professional event (e.g. AFP, X-Games, Dew Tour) is taking place outside of Canada, and many of these events take place in the USA, there are additional requirements in addition to those listed above, before the CFSA will approve an activity sanction: (a) the club/team must complete an International Sanction Request Form and submit this to the CFSA, and (b) ALL athletes and coaches going outside of Canada must have 2B (In-And- Out-Of-Country) Accident Insurance. Only when these three criteria are met, will our insurance cover the members at the event. There are circumstances, determined on a case-by-case basis, where the CFSA will allow an independent athlete to participate in a professional freeski event and be covered by the CFSA liability and accident insurance. If this is the situation, the athlete must complete the Independent Athlete s Agreement and designate a coach who will be responsible for the athlete during the training and competition for the event. The coach must be appropriately trained and/or qualified for the event in which the athlete is participating and be approved by the CFSA. For further information, contact the CFSA at info@freestyleski.com. Q. I want to compete in a FIS event as an independent athlete. Will I be covered by the CFSA insurance? A. To compete in a FIS event, first you must (a) be a member in good standing with the CFSA and (b) have a FIS License. The CFSA administers the FIS licenses for freestyle skiing (excluding Ski Cross) and athletes must

10 purchase the CAN Free 4 license. Before you will be given a FIS Code (if you are a new FIS licensed athlete), you must complete the FIS Athletes Declaration Form and provide a copy of your Canadian passport to the CFSA office. If you already have a FIS Code, the CFSA will only activate your FIS Code for the current season after you have fully paid the current year s License fees (note: the CFSA de-activates all FIS Codes for Canadian freestyle skiers on June 1 st each year). You must have an ACTIVE FIS Code to be entered into a FIS event. If you are competing as an independent athlete, the CFSA will only approve your participation in the FIS event if you have a coach supervising your training and competition, at the competition. Athletes must complete the Independent Athletes Agreement if the FIS event is taking place outside of Canada. You will only be approved for participation if these steps are followed (note: The CFSA, technically, is the only entity that can enter you into a FIS event. Please contact the CFSA before you are planning to enter a FIS event as an independent athlete). Q. - How do I request or update a sanction for my club s activities? A. Download the Sanction Request Form for all freestyle related activities within Canada. One sanction request form can have multiple activities and dates on it. In fact, we encourage clubs to mark down ALL of the club s activities on one form. If a club is already sanctioned and adds new activities throughout the year, they can simply all the details of those activities to info@freestyleski.com. For all training and competitions outside of Canada, a club or coach must fill out one International Sanction Request form for each and every event. These activities include all the freestyle activities that are acceptable within Canada, but that happen outside of Canada, with a CFSA member club/team. Q. What is a Certificate of Insurance (COI)? A. A COI is basically written proof that your sanctioned activity has liability insurance. The COI is provided to the ski hill, facility, or any other entity that requires proof of insurance at their request only. The CFSA can add the ski hill, facility or any other entity to the COI, as an Additional Insured, and this will extend the CFSA/CSA liability policy to these entities during the sanctioned activity only. Adding additional insureds is only done upon request. Q. Does my ski hill or training facility need a Certificate of Insurance (COI)? A. Maybe. You will have to ask the facility or ski hill manager if they require a COI before you send us the Sanction request form. Q. How do I request a COI? A. In the sanction request form, there is a section that asks whether or not the ski hill or facility requires a COI. If the ski hill or facility does not require a COI, then you don t need to do anything. If they do require a COI, we would need the Legal Name of the ski hill or facility along with their Legal Address (contact the facility for this information as the name of the facility may not be their legal name). Once the sanction form is submitted, the CFSA will request the COI on your behalf and send it to you once it is completed. SECTION E - Club Registration Q. How do I register my club? A. Much like individual membership, you need to know if your club was registered with the CFSA last year. If your club WAS registered with the CFSA last year, see the RENEW section below. If your club WAS NOT registered with the CFSA last year, see the REGISTER section below.

11 PREVIOUSLY REGISTERED MEMBER CLUB - RENEW If your club was registered with the CFSA last year, then you also had an individual membership tied to that club. For example, if you were an Associate member last year and had the User Administrator function for your club, you would first need to renew your individual membership with the CFSA by logging into your SDNA profile and completing the renewal process. Once you ve renewed your individual profile, your User Administrator status should be automatically updated. Therefore, you simply have to log into your individual profile and click on the User Admin role in order to access the club functionalities on your profile page. If you are the club s new administrative person, then you would request to have administrative access to your club s SDNA profile by ing info@freestyleski.com. Once you ve entered into the User Admin role of your profile, you simply have to find the menu on the left side of the screen, hover your mouse over the Maintenance menu option and then click on Club. Once in the club screen, you will see your own club in a small table and you will click on the Renew button in the Status column. All that is left to do is update the club s information and complete the payment. NEW CFSA MEMBER CLUB - REGISTER If you WERE NOT a CFSA member club last year, or are a brand new club, and you would like to register with the CFSA, please go to the SDNA Login site and click on the Register Club link. There are no fees for a first year club.

12 Q. - I m a new club, what do I need to know? A. As a new club, you will need to know the following things before you register: 1. The club s administrator: This person will need to register themselves online first, before registering the club. This person must contact info@freestyleski.com and let CFSA know that they will be the club administrator for their club so that they can be set up with a the User Admin role in their profile. The User Admin role grants administrative options for club Administrators, like creating reports. 2. The club s information: You will need to know the shipping address of the club, it s contact information and the name and contact information of the primary Ski Area s manager ( Primary Ski Area is the hill where the club will train most of the time). 3. Ski Risk Management Manual: You need to read and understand the Risk Management Manual, which can be downloaded from the online Club Registration page or from our website. It is a useful and important document for any club. 4. Director s and Officer s (D&O) liability insurance: You need to know whether you will get the D&O insurance through the CFSA or through a separate insurance company. See question below. Q. - Does my club need Director s and Officer s (D&O) liability insurance? A. Yes. All clubs need to have D&O insurance; otherwise, they will not be in good standing with the CFSA. D&O can either be purchased through the CFSA during the Club Registration process, or it can be purchased through a separate insurance company. However, if it is purchased through a separate insurance company, you must send proof of your club s D&O Insurance via at info@freestyleski.com or by faxing it to the CFSA office at Q. Why does my club need D&O? A. D&O insurance provides coverage to the clubs board of directors and officers, against risks associated with the performance of their duties that result in a claim, due to their decisions, action, or omissions. The risk may include, but is not limited to, matters such as financial malfeasance (e.g. fraud), allegations of harassment or wrongful dismissal. For more information, visit or info@freestyleski.com. Q. When do I need to register/renew my club? A. Although the individual membership year is from June 1 st to May 31 st of the following year, the Club Membership year goes from November 1 st to October 31 st of the following year. This simply coincides with the renewal date of the CFSA s D&O Insurance. If you re a new club, you can register at any time during the year. However, if you decide to register in summer or early fall (May to October), you must contact info@freestyleski.com and inform the CFSA that you wish to register your club for the coming season. If your club was registered last year, then you will be able to start registering your club somewhere between mid-october and late October. This date depends on when the SDNA system can be set up. Regardless of this specific date, all clubs will receive an reminder from the CFSA.

13 SECTION F FIS Licenses CANADIAN FREESTYLE SKI ASSOCIATION Q. - How do I get a Fédération International de Ski (FIS) Number? A. In order to get a FIS number, an athlete must purchase a FIS license, which is the Can Free 4 license. Once that license is purchased, the athlete must download, read and sign the FIS Athlete Declaration Form (Request this form from CFSA by contacting info@freestyleski.com) and send it back to the CFSA via at info@freestyleski.com or fax at Along with the FIS Athlete Declaration, you must also provide the CFSA with a copy of your Canadian passport. Q. How do I find my FIS number? A. Go to and search your name. If you are not there, you do not have a FIS number.