September 04, 2011 – Eileen Carey (USA) is the new chair of the Sub-Committee for Ladies’ Cross-Country, appointed by the FIS Council in November 2010. The FIS Newsflash has traditionally introduced all new Committee Chairs and here are some comments from Carey following her first few months of leading the Sub-Committee.

“From my perspective, the main goal of the Sub-Committee for Ladies’ Cross-Country is to develop women as leaders in the sport. For FIS to be a leader in world-wide sports, and have girls and women participate in all levels and aspects of the sport-from being spectators and consumers to competitors, TDs and coaches- that needs to be reflected in leadership.

“I believe that if you want girls to start skiing, they have to have role models; if you want to market the sport to women, you have to have women who are helping to drive that discussion; and if you want the sport to function as well as possible on a worldwide stage down to a local level, women need to be an integral part of that process. To that end, I would like to work with the committee to recognize, promote, and support successful models for the development of girls and women as athletes, coaches and officials throughout the world.”

“Our Sub-Committee’s strength lies in the diversity of female members from all around the world who have been involved many different aspects and levels of the sport which we hope to leverage to make a difference,” she concluded.