The mercury may be hovering around 30 degrees, but that didn’t stop 11 athletes from the Jasper Freeride ski team from strapping on their skis and getting in a few tricks and turns in Whistler, B.C., last week.
The team arrived in Whistler on July 3 and spent two weeks training for the upcoming ski season.
“What we do here is mixed training using a trampoline, a water ramp and we also ski on snow on the glacier here,” said Nicolas Bazin, the head coach for the team.
For a lot of athletes it was their first time attending the summer training camp.
“They all did really well and learned tons,” said Bazin. “We had four new athletes do their first backflip here at the Whistler water ramp, which was amazing.”
The athletes also spent some time doing dry land training, including a 4.7 kilometre run and played beach volleyball with some of their parents.
“This is the first year we had so many young athletes,” said Bazin. “Usually we have a lot of 14-plus, but this year a lot were around the 11-year-old mark so if they can commit to the next few years then the possibilities of what they can accomplish are pretty much limitless.”
The camp officially wrapped up on July 16, however the team plans to do some more trampoline and water ramp training in Grande Prairie and in Red Deer over the course of the summer.
Bazin said he was really excited to see so many new faces and said it bodes well for the team’s future success.
“If they stay focused then I’m pretty sure we’ll be a really strong club for years to come.”
Paul Clarke
editor@fitzhugh.ca