National Interschool Championships return to bolster Australian Snow Community

Perisher Ski resort is a buzz this week, as the 2022 SUBARU Australian Interschools Snowsport Championships have kicked off.

Over 1,500 competitors from 291 schools from NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, SA, TAS and WA will converge on the region as students compete in the pinnacle National event from September 6 to 11.

The National championships are an accumulation of almost 18,000 entries from State and Regional Championships held across Perisher, Thredbo, Mt Buller and Falls Creek resorts throughout July and August.

“Despite student competitors being forced into a two year absence from competitive Snowsports due to the COVID pandemic, the level of skill and competitive spirit is as high as ever,” said the National Interschools Development Committee Chair, Steve Cooper.

“Of importance with this 2022 National Championships, is that the Australian Sports Commission has recognised the importance of our Snow Australia athlete development pathway through the provision of a significant $50,000 grant as part of Sport Australia’s Regional Sport Events Fund, that supports local government in regional and remote Australia to host sporting Events.

"Snow Australia Interschools has partnered with the Snowy Monaro Regional Council and the Perisher Resort, to ensure that this National Schools Event encourages strong visitation to our region that assists in reinvigorating the local economy and at the same time enables both our local community members and the national Snowsports community to reconnect and celebrate through sport,” he added.

Snow Australia's National Events Manager, Wendy Olsen, said it's fantastic to see the return of competitive snowsports through multiple events this season.

“We’ve experienced an amazing and rapid return to competitive Snowsports throughout 2022,” Olsen said.

“Across our regional and state Championships, we've had over 8,400 individual participants from more than 1000 schools. Whilst this is around a 15% decline on average from the 2019 peak, it’s an incredible return to form and augurs well for this critical Snowsports Participation Development pathway."

Interschools is a the largest pathways contributor to future Olympic Teams.

"The Australian Olympic Team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics boasted 30 athletes who started their competitive days at Interschools Championships, which continues a legacy of over 80 Olympians being former Interschools Competitors," Olsen said.

As the Snow community continues to rebuild after the devastating impact of the COVID Pandemic, Cooper said Snow Australia will focus on introducing the younger age groups to a variety of SnowSports disciplines.

“Initial analysis of the overall 2022 event entries has revealed strong participation rates from our Secondary Schools, whilst we need to do more to re-attract our younger 5 to 10 year old competitors across our Primary Schools,” he said.

“In addition, we have work to do with re-building the discipline entry numbers in the Snowboard and Cross-Country events,” he added.

“A real positive has been the return and recognition of our Multiclass and Special Olympics inclusion-events for skiers and boarders, and this has been strongly supported by the Australian Sports Commission, to the extent that at our National Interschools Championships, the competitors who enter these events can do so free-of-charge.

“As we complete our 35th year of Interschools Snowsports events in NSW, our strong 2022 participation levels indicate robust and sustained future for Snowsports in Australia,” Steve declared.

Follow the 2022 Subaru Australian Interschools Championship results via the SnowRacer App or online HERE