As the temperatures drop and winter begins in earnest, Snow Sports NZ is looking ahead to an exciting season. The events calendar is jam packed and we have several innovative projects on the go. We are looking forward to the resorts opening and the season beginning.
In the office we have been busy debriefing from the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and have been working with High Performance Sport NZ on the next four-year cycle for all things snow. They are looking at our case for funding and will be advising us over the next few months as to how they will support SSNZ.
It’s great now to be able to look forward to the season ahead and continue with progressing the development of NZ’s fantastic athletes. In partnership with Cardrona we are immersed in the landing bag project build which will give the park and pipe athletes a further opportunity to hone their skills with the support of the SSNZ coaches.
The annual Alpine Forum in Queenstown on 10 June and the TD, ROC and Coaches’ Forum on 9 June will provide great information and idea-sharing opportunities around the athlete pathway and plans for the season ahead.
Our Alpine Manager Hannah Hazeldine and Head Park & Pipe Coach Tom Willmott recently attended the FIS Congress in Greece and have been reporting back on the decisions made and how these will affect our sports.
In August we will be running a national development camp and classification for adaptive snow sports athletes. The annual Adaptive Snow Sports Festival will take place at The Remarkables from 17 – 19 August where Paralympic gold and bronze medallist Adam Hall will be on hand to meet with snow sports enthusiasts and share his experience of high-performance sport.
There will be a number of opportunities to see our athletes in action at events this season, particularly with the Audi quattro Winter Games NZ programme incorporating freeride, alpine, snowboard and freeski events, and hosting the FIS Junior Freestyle Ski & Snowboard World Championships.
Competition season is already underway at Snowplanet with the NZ Indoor Masters Ski Championships held a few weeks ago, the first event in our new Slopestyle series coming up this weekend, followed by the first of the Junior Interfields on 23 June.
So, there’s a good buzz going, and plenty to look forward to in the coming months! Of course, none of this would be possible without our sponsors, partners and funders, and we thank them for their support.
Just recently we have been granted funding by the Community Trust of Southland for the Alpine National Championships, and NZ Community Trust to assist with sport development.
We look forward to bringing you regular updates throughout the season. As well as our newsletter, you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram, or via our App.
Enjoy the snow!
7 years ago