Alpine Athletes Embrace the Uncomfortable at Jindabyne ETP Camp

Snow Australia’s inaugural Alpine and Ski Cross Emerging Talent Program (ETP) camp was held at the National Snowsports Training Centre in Jindabyne in late April, with five athletes invited to the immersive five-day experience.

Alpine 2022/23 ETP athletes Max Kelly, James Kelly, Bruno Bruce, Abbey Evans and Letitia Murphy joined Alpine Director Shawn Fleming and Para Alpine Program Manager Ali Bombardier for the camp, with the theme ‘becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable’.

The focus of the camp was for the athletes to learn, accept and perform in an environment of uncertainty, with sessions on High Performance practices and behaviours, nutritional fueling when energy expenditure is high, how to develop skills of resilience and enhancing adaptability in uncertain situations.

Activities began at 7am daily and included outdoor physical sessions, mobility training and education, hiking, mountain biking, stand up paddle boarding and airbag sessions. Athletes and staff collaborated with meal preparation and menu ideas provided from our network of sports dieticians. 

Athletes were also exposed to education and practical sessions that focused on mobility, movement preparation, strength and recovery tools. These sessions were led by Dan Arnold, the lead coach and founder of Falsegrip gym, and upon completion Dan presented each athlete with a training kit for them to continue to use in their daily training environment. 

“I was very impressed by the athletes’ ability to adapt to the different sessions and also to commit to the volume of training load presented over the camp,” said Fleming.

“It was great for these athletes to realise what their potential is to complete tasks when they manage their time effectively.

“Ski racing is a sport trained and competed in outdoor conditions and successful athletes learn to be resilient and accepting of what is controllable and what is not.”

Snow Australia’s Performance Health & Talent Manager Ben Bond said the Snow Australia team have been working towards hosting an alpine ETP camp for some time, and it was exciting to see the athletes embrace the opportunity.

“It is great to be able to bring together our next generation of alpine skiers, something that doesn’t happen very often at this level and in this environment,” Bond said.

“Learning to train at the intensity and duration required for elite progression does not develop overnight, so it was a nice opportunity at this stage of development to plant some seeds in this area.” 

Learn more about Snow Australia’s Emerging Talent Program HERE