Nominations open for 2021/2022 Emerging Talent Program

Nominations are now open for the 2021/2022 Emerging Talent Program (ETP), Snow Australia’s talent identification and development program which aims to support young athletes and introduce them into the performance pathway. 

The program is sponsored by American fund manager The Lind Partners, who signed on in 2020 to assist the development of Australia’s next generation of snow athletes with ongoing program donations. Through the ETP, Snow Australia facilitates additional athlete support within the current development pathway, providing services such as education opportunities, strength and conditioning, testing and pre/post-season camps 

For 2021/2022 the program has been reviewed through extensive consultations with Head Coaches and discipline Directors to establish a clear and effective process geared towards further improving the identification of potential talents. 

Ben Bond, who last November stepped into the newly created role of Talent, Health and Performance Coordinator within the ETP team, will be working closely with athletes and coaches and provide key support and case management to a select group of candidates that could transition to an institute program in the next two years.

Bond said Snow Australia’s objective is to implement an evidence-based strategic approach to athlete profiling, enabling a streamlined talent identification & development process.

“We will be collecting specific and detailed information that can help us understand in depth each young athlete’s profile and where they are in their current development.

“The next step is then to map athletes’ progress according to physical, technical, mental and performance-driven dimensions, with discipline-specific abilities like on-snow skills also taken into account. 

“We want to approach talent identification through a holistic view of the athlete and not be limited by one specific measurement criteria during the nomination process,” Bond said. 

To ensure the nomination process captures all potential performance athletes, Snow Australia invites all Club and Performance Coaches to nominate athletes which they believe have the performance attributes to be identified as an ETP Program Athlete for the respective program year. This also includes any current ETP athlete.

More details are available in the ETP area of the Snow Australia website, including an online Athlete Evaluation Application form designed to collect specific information and assist the ETP Selection Panel in the talent identification process, which all Club and Performance coaches are encouraged to complete. 

Snow Australia will host two webinars to present the nomination process, explain in more detail how the program identifies talent and introduce Ben Bond to the participants. The first webinar, scheduled for 24 February 2021, is aimed in particular at coaches (4pm-5pm, register here), while the second one on 25 February is directed at athletes and their parents (4pm-5pm, register here). Both sessions will also offer the opportunity for a Q&A session.