In the early days of the Freestyle Ski Club there were just a handful of kids training and working with a few coaches provided by Sun Peaks Resort. Today the program has grown to nearly 40 athletes with an almost even amount of girls and boys training and club president Brennan Thompson said he expects to see numbers continue to grow.
“I think we ended with something like 38 last year so it sounds like almost all of those are going to return and then potentially another 20 on top of that. It’s growing,” he said.
The club, which provides both competitive and non-competitive programming options, will open their registration mid-October for kids aged eight and up to learn the sport.
“We’re really interested in long-term athlete development. We don’t want kids getting pushed into this competitive thing early on and then burning out by the time they’re 13,” said Thompson.
This season he said the club will look to provide more training options for the athletes, adding a Friday training session geared towards local kids.
“That clears up some room on the weekends to bring in kids who, say are in school in Kamloops and can’t come on Fridays, so the younger kids that live here might have their training days on Fridays. That allows us, even with the two coaches we have, we can offer a lot more spaces overall,” he said.
With an emphasis on fun and safety, each child enrolled in the program can choose if they want to attend Timber Tour competitions or keep with a recreational training schedule.
“Even when kids are starting to get involved in competition it’s not necessarily for the competitive aspect, it’s often just an opportunity to go to another mountain, meet kids from other hills and ski on different courses,” said Thompson.
As registration inquiries grow, Thompson said the club will look to bring in a program director to manage the day-to-day operations and continue to become more independent from the resort.
“If we still only had 10 kids, then there wouldn’t be any of these issues about hiring coaches or program directors. It’s just about accommodating the growth. It’s great because it allows us to do these things like putting on competitions or fundraising towards getting an airbag,” he stated.
No exact date has been set for the opening of registration for this season’s programing but Thompson recommended families sign up as soon as it does.
“If you want to ensure yourself a spot the day registration opens mid-October you need to sign up. I expect we’re going to be at a point where we may have to turn a few
people away.”
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