FIS Race Schedule
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Scientific research has identified that it takes at least 10 years, or 10,000 hours for talented athletes to achieve sporting excellence. There are no short cuts! There are two ways in which young athletes can improve their performance that is through Training and Growth and development.

Long Term Athlete Development is about achieving optimal training, competition and recovery throughout an athlete's career, particularly in relation to the important growth and development years of young people. All young people follow the same pattern of growth from infancy through adolescence, but there are significant individual differences in both the timing and magnitude of the changes that take place.

In Alpine racing young athletes quite often under-train and over-compete in races. If a long term approach to training is not adopted there is likely to be a plateau in performance, when growth and development slows significantly. For some athletes their performances may get worse! At this point the short-term training approach cannot be reversed as poor training between 6-16 years of age cannot be fully corrected (athletes will never reach genetic potential); This often leads to drop out before a athlete has achieved close to their potential.

It is a fact that within all sports The best coaches are encouraged to work at elite level and very young athletes to not have access to the best coaches. Our aim has always been to bring in the best coaches to train our athletes from a young age.

At the present time we have too many clubs in Great Britain offering too little training time and in most cases too much competition. This leaves many athletes hoping for national level success and international results hopelessly unprepared. This leads to disappointments, loss of confidence and It can at its extreme lead to anxiety. Adequate training at the academy alongside the athletes chosen club ensures that the athlete is well prepared and ready to perform well in competitions.

Children One

Our Children one age category program is for 11 and 12 year olds. At this age the emphasis is on perfecting technical skills and teaching the fundamentals of race competitions strategies. It will also teach the importance of fitness training and introduce fun fitness activities.

Positive reinforcement is imperative. The difference between physical and mental development can vary to a great degree and our coaches are particularly careful not to pick the early developers and neglect the late developers.

The athlete at this age will start to understand the fundamentals of ancillary capacities. Ancillary capacities are the elements in training that are critical to the success of athletic programming but are often neglected. These elements at this age include things like warm-up/cool down, nutrition, rules of ski racing, balancing skiing and school, sportsmanship, communication skills, time management skill, work ethic and are important to the development of a well rounded athlete.

There is a need at this age to adapt and refine basic skiing skills. Skiers will work on refining pole planting, edging and pressure skills, carving, technical free skiing, skiing all mountain condition. At this age the skiers will be introduced to the fundamentals of Super G training and learn the fundamentals of tucking gliding and jumping. The athletes will spend time training gates and slalom and giant slalom courses will be set. However it is important to understand that the athlete will not always be gate training.

Our children one program provides training within the school holidays and in the winter season within school time, tutoring is provided from the 1st December through to the end of March each year. Bursaries are available on application for the committed athlete.

Children Two

Our Children two age category program is for 13 and 14 year olds. The program builds on the elements learnt by the athletes in the Children one program and develops these to a higher level. The athlete at this age will have a better understanding of the fundamentals and will be able to progress much faster. There is also a facility for new athletes joining us for the first time to develop alongside those athletes that have come through our Children one program.

At this stage there will be more of a desire to participate in race competitions and individual athletes will be advised accordingly on their race and training program ratio to ensure that they do not under train. Athletes will also be prepared for each race to ensure they perform at the best of their ability. Bursaries are available on application for the committed athlete.

Juniors

Our Junior program is for athletes aged 15 - 20 plus. The Junior Racing Program is a high performance program which aims to provide high intensity and specific training all year round. It aims to teach athletes to compete under a variety of competition conditions by exposing them to all competitive conditions during training and selected competitions.

The athletes maximize competition simulation by modelling training and competition activities. The program focuses on high performance and peaking for major competitions. The athletes maintain established physical, technical and tactical capacities with optimum regeneration and recovery programs. There are regular monitoring sessions to establish the adaptation to training and fatigue levels. Fitness programs, mental management and technical and tactical capacities are fully individualised,

The program offers two levels of intensity for part time and full time athletes, bursasries are available on application to the committed part time athlete and we have a special low cost option for full time athletes.