WinSport Academy freestyle coach Chip Milner is keeping busy during the competitive off-season.
The coach at the Calgary-based WinSport Academy is in Whistler, B.C., as the lead facilitator for the Super Coach Academy program – an intense freestyle training program to help develop freestyle ski coaches. He calls the camp as “a gigantic learning environment where the best coaches in Canada come out to pass on their skills.”
The Whistler Academy aims to generate quality instruction opportunities for the Freestylerz (9-12 year old) program. What the coaches learn in terms of techniques and skills are aligned with what national team coaches are looking for in upcoming athletes.
“Better coaching for kids of younger ages will grow the sport exponentially and we already saw some of that last season,” said Milner, via the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. “We don’t even know where this thing is going to go.”
One of the reasons for the creation of the program was the demand for high-calibre coaching at the younger age groups.
“We have seen unprecedented growth in freestyle and with it a big demand for trained coaches,” said Canadian Freestyle Ski Association sport development director Meredith Gardner. “We’re trying to meet that demand with quality growth of coach programming through programs like the Super Coach Academy.”
The Academy, which graduated eight coaches last summer, wraps up on July 21.
