Current Gordon Skiers club chairman John Allan is pleased to announce the appointment of Carrie Will as new head coach. Carrie brings not only years of experience of Scottish skiing to the club but also a very rounded parental approach which will be nurturing to all our athletes and their sponsers (the parents!) Our aim is not only to produce fine competitive skiers, but young people who want to make skiing an integral part of their lives and give their skills back to the sport.
Carrie introduces herself: "My name is Carrie Will and I've been skiing since I was 2.5 years old. My early skis were wooden with screw on edges, cable bindings with a push forward close spring. All kids in that day had long hamstrings due to having to push shut the springs on the toe piece. Boots were leather lace ups, inner boots were 4 pairs of socks, these doubled up as hiking boots. I was brought up as an all mountain skier from skiing family of 3 girls, skiing and racing in fun leagues.
"My first skiing qualification was my ski leader at 16, then onto my ASSI, BASI 2 and ADC level 1 and 2. In the 28 qualified years I have taught a large variety of people. Coached for the British Special Olympic Team,representing the UK in a delegation of special olympic coaches working together with the Austrian Special Olympics Team, Austrian Sports Minister and the Shriver family who founded the winter special olympics.
"My partner of 4 years, Gilbert Runcie also coaches and is near completion of his level 4 BASI ISTD. Although its only been 4 years we have known,skied and worked/taught on and off together for the past 25 years. On the more recent front I have been concentrating on the scottish racing scene and believe there is a very strong inter-club presence. The races I attended last years with Gordon Skiers showed a phonmenal amount of numbers from different clubs and it was great to see Scottish racing doing well in a fun friendly atmosphere.
Gilbert and I coach for Aberdeen Ski Club and Gordon Skiers. We teach dry mat racing throughout the whole year at Aberdeen in which many Gordon skiers attend. Autumn is when Gordon Skiers start their dry mat season continuing onto snow till it melts. We have a strong coaching team with well known and experienced skiers such as Louise Kolchanski (racing), Eilidh McLeod (racing), Gary Whatford (all mountain/BASI) Malcolm Campbell (BASI), Gilbert Runcie (all mountain/BASI), Ali Mathieson (racing) Kenny Morton (racing/ BASI).
"I am also proud to see many of the older racers coming through and attaining qualifications to coach such as Lucy Garvie, James Paxton, David McIntosh, Kate Angus, Alex Duncan Stirling, Andrew Campbell. With Grant Scott, Jamie Brown and Paul Paxton following suit.
"We must be doing something right for theses guys wanting to follow in our coaching pathway.
"The future of Gordon Skiers, I am currently producing an Athletes Handbook which apart from 4 assessments a year will be the responsibility of the Athlete. He/ she will fill it out as much as they're or as little as they want. They can request feedback from their coach at any time, write in their diary, record race day times and general comments and goals they want to achieve . It will also give guidelines and information on fitness, nutrition, other camps, like FAST and ADC and club information. Knowledge that we as individuals may know some but as a collective don't know everything. .
Individual athlete booking is also to be streamlined so we have a better tailored coach to athlete needs. Making it easier to programme the right coach for the days needs based on a set of booking criteria. Saves over staffing and keeps the class ratio to what we want.
Going ahead with Gordon Skiers, this is a strong club with a great reputation and a background of producing great ski racers like Alex Tilly, Jan Kolchalski and many more. I hope my role will add value and i want to enable athletes, coaches and future coaches to recognise and achieve their goals."