Emerging Talent Program kicks off with pre-season camp in Jindabyne

Snow Australia is pleased to present plans for the 2021 Emerging Talent Program (ETP) throughout the domestic winter.

Sixty-seven athletes across Alpine, Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross, Snowboard Alpine, Park & Pipe and Cross Country have been invited to join the program after a thorough nomination process which reviewed and ranked all athletes according to the information provided in terms of program activity engagement, performance mindset, injury history and athlete projected potential.

Following a newly adopted Talent Identification approach, the 2021 ETP will continue to facilitate additional activity support in conjunction with the current pathway programs. Services offered to the athletes include education, testing, strength and conditioning support, and pre/post season camps.

Thanks to the financial support of the AIS, The Lind Partners and John & Gemma Hancock, the program has been highly successful and has given young Australian athletes amazing opportunities to grow their talent and perform at the highest level of the sport.

Snow Australia 2021 Junior Athlete of the Year Valentino Guseli and 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Josie Baff have both been supported by the ETP program over the last few years. Last season they made their debut on the World Cup circuit, demonstrating that they are destined for greatness.

Guseli burst onto the world stage and proved his prodigious talent qualifying first in his maiden World Cup competition in Laax, Switzerland, before going on to finish eighth overall.

Snow Australia Performance and Pathway Manager Ben Wordsworth said he was impressed with Guseli’s debut international season, which also saw him finish 11th overall at the 2021 World Championships in Aspen.

“Valentino has been identified as an extreme talent for many years. He is the prototype for the Snow Australia Emerging Talent Program, which is designed to recognise and support talented athletes,” Wordsworth said.

“I remember when Scotty James made his Olympic debut in Vancouver at 15, so it’s exciting to see Valentino following in his footsteps,” he said.

Fellow Aussie snowboarder Josie Baff continued to impress on the world stage, after taking out Australia’s first ever Winter Youth Olympic gold medal at the beginning of 2020.

Baff travelled to Europe where she joined the Australian snowboard cross team (Belle Brockhoff, Adam Dickson, Adam Lambert and Jarryd Hughes) for training, before making her World Cup debut in Bakuriani, Georgia.

“Josie certainly has reaped the rewards of the Emerging Talent Program and we saw her take a leap in her career development when she made her debut during the Northern Winter,” Wordsworth said.

“Achieving 15th place, followed by first in the Austrian Championships, is an effort that deserves to be commended.

“Josie and Valentino are phenomenal young talents and with the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on the horizon I look forward to continuing to see them both producing some good snowboarding,” he said.

Snow Australia has again partnered with South East Sports Academy (SESA) to deliver the program in 2021. One of the 11 regional academies of sport operating in NSW, SESA was established in 2017 to provide development opportunities for talented athletes and coaches in the South East area of the state. The first 2021 Emerging Talent Program activity is a pre-season camp which is scheduled at the end of May at Jindabyne Sport and Recreation Centre.

The camp will integrate the expertise, services and facilities of the Jindabyne Sport and Recreational Centre and is designed to better prepare athletes for the performance pathway, by providing opportunities to be guided through activities such as physical capability tasks, screening, physical preparation fundamentals and education sessions.

It will also allow the athletes, head coaches and coaches to discuss goal setting and seasonal planning.

About Snow Australia Emerging Talent Program

The Emerging Talent Program (ETP) is Snow Australia Talent Identification and Development (TID) program which aims to identify, support and enhance preparation of potential performance athletes for transition into the performance pathway programs. It is made possible via funding from the AIS Performance Pathway funding stream and with generous support from The Lind Partners and the Hancock Family.

The Lind Partners is a US-based institutional fund manager and leading provider of growth capital to small and mid-cap companies, including many Australian businesses, particularly in the mining sector. The partnership between Snow Australia and The Lind Partners is designed to nurture emerging talents and help them unlock their full potential. Lind Advisory Board member John Hancock made a further pledge to support Australia’s next generation of snow athletes via ongoing program donations, which will enable additional investment and support of the ETP. The generous support of both John and Gemma Hancock and The Lind Partners, through its founder Jeff Easton, will make a substantial difference to the capability of the ETP.