Outgrowing Sun Peaks’ freestyle programs
“All athletes eventually outgrow their small town and move on,” said Barry Rokosh, father of local athletes Max and Justin Rokosh.
This winter season the twins will go from being two of Sun Peaks’ top competitors to transitioning to full time training with snowboard and ski programs in neighbouring regions.
Both said the decision to pursue training, at SilverStar Mountain Resort and Whistler Blackcomb respectively, came down to coaching and where they’d be able to fully develop their skills.
“It was a bit of a tough decision because I love Sun Peaks and Sun Peaks is an amazing mountain… but it just came down to the coaching that I was able to get at SilverStar. With the coach I’m going to be using at SilverStar he’s an ex-Olympian and then he also coached the 2014 Sochi team, so overall better coaching,” Max said.
Both of the boys advanced to national competitions last season but with no certified coach able to travel with Max his family was forced to hire a SilverStar coach to attend.
“To go to the top major events you need to have a coach because you’re not allowed to enter them with no coach. That could mean you’re not learning things properly and it’s more dangerous to learn without a coach,” he said.
Wanting to compete at the national level again this season, Max made the decision that a change in coaching is what worked best for his goals. Barry explained they saw the move coming last year.
“We kind of already knew because last year we had to hire Chris Liscomb out of Vernon a couple of times for events that the snowboard club wasn’t going to, like the nationals in Calgary, so we worked with him, we liked him and we knew unless we heard differently there wasn’t going to be a change with hiring a higher level coach. Basically, at that time, we decided if Sun Peaks didn’t step up then Max would train out of Vernon this year.”
For Justin the decision to switch to Whistler came after being named to the BC High Performance Pipe and Park team. He said it makes sense for him to train there.
“Not to shine down on Sun Peaks but they (Whistler Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Club) just have better training stuff going on over there with coaches…they just have a better coach over there for me,” said Justin.
Spending the majority of his summer training with the BC Team in Whistler, Justin has already been putting in the work to make this his breakout year, working to perfect his double corks, rodeos, single corks, and misties.
“My goal pretty much is just to try to do the best I can and try and take skiing as far as I can. So I’m taking a year off school after high school so I’m taking this hopefully to be a breakout year and see if I can make something out of it.”
Brennan Thompson, president of the Sun Peaks Freestyle Ski Club, said seeing Justin move onto Team BC and switch training locations isn’t a loss but rather a natural progression, adding Justin is at a much higher level than other kids in the program.
“It’s great for the club… he’ll still be in Sun Peaks occasionally. He can act as a mentor to some of the younger kids whether it’s the Ryders or the Luc Dallaires of the world,” said Thompson. “That gives them something to look up to and say ‘Here’s where I wanna be in five years.’”
Justin may have outgrown the club at Sun Peaks but the future is bright for up and coming athletes who will have a level four certified coach this year for the first time in the program’s history. Head coach Graeme McKay’s training will allow for the club to teach and certify athletes in inversions when in the past they had to participate in training camps with different coaches.
“For the younger kids that are coming up competing at a level just below where Justin is now…that’s great for them,” said Thompson.
Making the decision to leave their home mountain to pursue a new level of competition and fully commit to their sports was a difficult one for the Rokoshs, but they said they knew it was the right choice for their family.
“We collectively talked about it. (We) want the best for the kids and want them to be able to take it to the next level and this was really the only options that we saw,” Barry said.
The boys begin training full time in November attending multiple camps, training sessions and competitions each month and will reevaluate following the end of the competitive season in the spring.
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