L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Louise Bain and Callum Henderson win both rounds of Twin Peaks races at Fir Park & Hillend ...

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

New Snowsport GB Chief Executive talks openly about the new set up and the five pillars that Snowsport GB is now based around

As we sat in the lounge at the Lake Hotel in Port of Montieth, near the Trossachs in central Scotland, Mark Simmers, four months into his job as the Chief Executive of Snowsport GB, spoke exclusively and openly on the new beginning for the sport in Great Britain. With the alpine athletes away training in Chile and the Snowboarding team in the UK, Simmers had brought the staff that are based at Hillend out of the office for the day to sort tactics for the coming season without the hassle of the phone going every five minutes.  The direction coming from the Board down is much more athlete focused than in previous years and administrations. The new beginning that started with his appointment has seen five key areas being addressed as well as bridges being built between the elements of snow sport that make up Snowsport GB.

After a number of years of floundering and lacking direction, Simmers's appointment as Chief Executive of Snowsport GB was crucial to the sport in terms of giving the sport direction and leadership.  Prior to his appointment, discontentment was rife amongst many interested parties to the sport. One of the key areas that has been looked at is that when people call into the office there is a dedicated person who can deal with their enquiry; whether it is Finance, Alpine athletes, Snowboarders, administration or media, there is now a dedicated person to deal with this. The new beginning has seen the snowboarders being welcomed back into the fray after they were not taken seriously in previous years. the support and back up being offered in the office has been welcomed by head coach Craig Smith and his athletes: Snowboarding has some real medal prospects for the next Olympics in the likes of Dan Wakeham and Zoë Gillings. The chances of these guys will be greatly improved if the sport pulls together.

Following his appointment, Mark Simmers was given five key areas that needed to be focused on, five pillars.  These five areas have been designed to take the sport forward on all fronts.  As he spoke, Mark Simmers spoke with confidence and clarity.  The transparency of his comments was open and fresh.  The hiding behind pillars from the past needs to be removed and the way that the route forward was explained certainly gave this impression.

The first of the pillars that Simmers explained was that of raising the profile of the sport. Snowsport does have an image problem at the moment and there is a need to breath "fresh air" into the sport. "We need to be more creative, think smarter and become more athlete focused," Simmers explained.  "We need to identify with the elite athletes," he continued. This is great to hear that this has been recognised as there is a growing cancer amongst those from outside the sport that ski racing is "just for the rich." If this image can be conquered and the rising number of gifted athletes that are racing and boarding, can be supported then this will surely increase the base number of competitors, thus increasing the pool of talent available.

Following the disappointing results from the Winter Olympics in Turin 2006, Chemmy Alcott's 11th in the Downhill and Noel Baxter's 14th in the Combined being the stand out results, it became apparent that the sport could no longer rely on the lottery for funding.  While the effect 2012 Summer Olympics will have on finding for the Winter sports remains to be seen, Simmers acknowledges that "we have to be more street wise if we want the commercial revenue to increase." With this in mind there has to be a return on investment for sponsors, they need to be able to see what they are getting for their investment. While Snowsport GB recognise the huge part that British Land have played and continue to play in the funding of the sport, British Land do not ask for much in return but philanthropic sponsors are rare in this day and age: sponsors have to justify spending shareholders money.

The third area that has been earmarked for attention has been Athlete support.  "We need to nurture our talent pool," emphasised Simmers before continuing: "We need to make sure the programme we offer is athlete centred." It is not only the athletes that are being focused on but also the need to bring on and develop British coaches to help train the athletes: "We have noticed that the athletes respond better to the comments from those that speak the same language," added Simmers.  Britain has a rich and professional sporting services pool and it is these support services from the Institutes of Sport (both English and Scottish) as well as the Olympic Medal Institute that is being tapped into. "We need to have more physio's available for the athletes out on the slopes," explained Simmers. "Alain Baxter has a back problem at the moment and it is a waste of time Alain having to travel back to the UK for treatment.  He needs to be fit when he is in the start gate and not nursing an injury because we cannot help him."

Along side this area, Simmers wants to help more athletes make a living from competing in the sport. Currently only Chemmy Alcott is in the enviable position to be able to say she can do this. In order to help this process more is now being done to help the athletes with their post racing career. Instigated by Snowsport GB, all those on the Development and Youth team have been offered the chance to study for an A Level at Loughborough College. Funded through TASS and the Learning Skills project, the course will help with their own understanding of why things happen physically. "It is a win win situation for the athletes as it is fully funded and they get funding back for their racing and training," Simmers explained. The programme will see a tutor go out to Lofer and blocks of time set aside for the athletes to study. "Despite it being a voluntary project there has been a 100% take up by those on the team!"

Over the years, Snowsport GB has had a lot of criticism aimed at it by parents and racers as well as coaches with regards to the pathway to success.  In conjunction to the athlete support side mentioned already, the athletes now have clear targets with regard to funding coming from Snowsport GB and contributions to core costs. From the moment that a racer reaches FIS level, the percentage behind the top racer in the world now dictates as to how much investment Snowsport GB will make to their core costs. With five bands to target and being reviewed during the season as well, athletes now have a much idea as to where they stand.  If athletes make good early season progress they will be refunded but if their performance drops off early season, they will not be asked to pay more. This welcome openness has seen all the athletes receive a letter from Snowsport GB explaining the contributions already this season. "There is a science to this as well as a subjectiveness," admitted Simmers.  With the selection for the next season's teams having now been brought forward to the week of the British Seniors, end of season points bonanza's will carry little weight with the selection panel.

Acknowledging that the girls team had the rough end of the stick last season due to circumstances, the girls have a new set up this year: Günter Puhringer will be the head coach with Boris and ex Scottish Team head coach Sam Liddell returning to the fold to coach the Development team girls. The link up with the Monaco Ski Team is working well for Chemmy Alcott and it is planned for this to continue this season though Simmers stresses that he would like to see her back on the fold in the future yet this relies on the gap to the rest of the girls closing - something all the parties would like to see happen. One of the benefits of Alcott's success has been the creation of Team Chemmy. This group has been set up to help Britain's leading racer on the World Cup crack the bigger time. Yes the results have been very good in the last few years but she has now been recognised by Sir Clive Woodward as one of the leading athletes across the board of having outstanding World Class potential.  The group, headed by Matthew Stock ford and including the likes of Dave Reddon, Dave Aldred and Mark Tilston has looked at the science behind the athlete's performance and has already identified why Chemmy is not such a good glider: For years she has had her feet too tight in her boots and she has no feeling in her feet to make slight adjustments so that she can retain more speed across the gliding sections.  While this group has been set up with Chemmy in mind others will be able to take advantage of the set up once the funding is in place but will be able to learn from the experience gained. This season has seen the strength and conditioning programme taken back into the control of Snowsport GB to make it more skiing specific and the results have already been noticed: Prior to going to Chile for the main summer training camp, Alain Baxter scored his best lactic acid tests for a long time!

The fifth pillar that has been set out has been to make Snowsport GB more efficient. With a more defined set up and each sport within the Snowsport remit having its own logo and identity, the new beginning that is emanating from Snowsport GB is positive and athlete focused. Behind the scenes there are also changes and more cooperation between the governing bodies as Simmers will meet with the CEO's of the Home Nations quarterly.  It has also been identified that there is a need for a National Performance Manager who would work with the coaches yet the funding has to be sourced for this role.  As well as the top level athletes, it has also been acknowledged that the Pathway to podium for the Children age group needs to be clearer and monitoring of the talent pool needs to be undertaken.  One of the key areas that will be addressed and promoted is the entry points to the British Team: Simmers is keen to stress he wants lots of entry points to the team and not turn racers away if they do not meet the criteria at set points.

With the management also becoming more media savvy, linking up with the BOA (British Olympic Association) FTSE 100 Programme will see an evening of Fundraising at the Dorchester Hotel in London on February 12, 2008 as well as the teams being presented to the media and others in London in October. Add to this there will be a chance to ski with the Men's World Cup Team in December. 

With all this going on, this is a breath of fresh air: It does seem as though the management and board of Snowsport in the UK have woken up from hibernation and are finally embracing professional sport in the 21st century.  The proof they say is in the pudding but the work has started, the support from all needs to be forthcoming if the next generation of stars are to benefit from the plans being put in place!