National governing body Snowsport England are calling for ski and snowboard instructors from across the country to come together for the UK Snowsport Coaching Conference, running on 19th and 20st September 2015 at Chill Factore, Manchester. ...
In a bid to share best practice amongst coaches and instructors from across the country, the event, which is organised by Snowsport England, Snowsport Scotland, Snowsport Wales and BASI, offers attendees the chance to learn from the world’s best, including the Director of Alpine Skiing at the Norwegian Ski Association. It also offers the chance to get involved in practical sessions, including the chance to refresh coaching qualifications.
After the success of last year’s event which was described by one attendee as “an excellent event to refresh, motivate and learn, well timed for the start of the season - a must for all coaches and instructors”, the conference will continue in its two day format, but this year moving to the Chill Factore in Manchester. The event is open to coaches and instructors from all snowsports disciplines, including alpine, freestyle, snowboard and nordic. With over 100 attendees at last year’s conference, it is hoped even more young and new coaches will attend in 2015.
This year there are some exciting new additions to the conference including a keynote talk from Claus Johan Ryste, Director for Alpine at the Norwegian Ski Association. He has been a coach since 1995 and with success of producing consistent top-level athletes from a small nation, will have plenty of advice for conference attendees.
There will also be a workshop run by ex-Scotland rugby player and former Head of Talent at the Scottish Institute of Sport, Tony Stanger. He will be delivering a session on Understanding Talent, including a look at selection policies and athlete profiling tools. Sport psychologist Dave Collins, who has worked with over 60 world-class athletes, will run a session on promoting peak performance where he will examine what it takes to be a champion.
Alongside the workshops there will be a plethora of practical sessions from high profile names such as freestyle coach Andy Bennett, moguls coach Andrew Longley, Phil Smith from Snoworks and Alpine coach Robin Kellen.
A highlight of the conference is Saturday evening’s UK Snowsports Coaching Awards dinner where the hard work of coaches is recognised. Awards include the UK Snowsports Coach of the Year, Children’s Coach of the Year, Community Coach of the Year, Performance Development Coach of the Year, High Performance Coach of the Year and Disability Coach of the Year. Voting will be online shortly once nominations are in. If you would like to make a nomination or find out more information visit: http://www.snowsportengland.org.uk/News/News.aspx?id=272
Tim Fawke, Chief Executive of Snowsport England, said of the conference: “We are looking for coaches from all disciplines to come along to the UK Snowsports Coaching Conference to share knowledge and hopefully learn from each other and the experts delivering the practical and ‘classroom’ sessions. It would be great to see even more young coaches and instructors attending who can bring their fresh ideas into the mix.
“We are delighted to have Claus Johan Ryste from the Norwegian Ski Assocaition as our keynote speaker. Norway, like Great Britain, has a small pool of athletes, but they have enjoyed huge success on the world circuit. He will share some of his learnings, his techniques and hopefully some of his secrets!”
To book onto the UK Snowsports Coaching Conference call the Snowsport England office on 01509 232323
Sponsors for the UK Snowsports Coaching Conference are Rossignol (www.rossignol.com) who will be providing ski testing and the prizes for the coaching awards.