SSA Alpine Club Workshop
Published Tue 19 Jun 2018
As outlined in the SSA Alpine & Ski Cross Review, SSA and the National Alpine Committee (NAC) view the Australian Race Clubs as the valuable key to delivering best practices for athletic and sport development. On Monday 4th of June, SSA and the NAC hosted an inaugural SSA Alpine Club Workshop in Sydney.
The SSA Alpine Club Workshops was attended by the Program Directors and Head Coaches of the six core Alpine Ski Clubs being:
- Mt Hotham Race Club
- Mt Buller Race Club
- Falls Creek Race Club
- Thredbo Ski Racing Club
- The Thredbo Mountain Academy
- ​Perisher Winter Sports Club
The Workshop was hosted by SSA Alpine Director, Mick Branch, and presented by Andrew Logan and Dr Juanita Weissensteiner, newly appointed Principal Advisor of Talent Pathways for the NSW Office of Sport. Dr Weissensteiner was the original co-author of the FTEM (Foundation, Talent, Elite and Mastery) Athlete Development framework utilised by the AIS to inform the review, refinement and support of the entire athlete pathway from a foundational to a podium level. Dr Juanita Weissensteiner and Andrew Logan were instrumental in supporting Mick Branch and Shawn Fleming with the development of the SSA Alpine & Ski Cross Review.
The Alpine Club Workshop aimed to assist clubs to better understand how to implement key strategies from the SSA Alpine & Ski Cross Review and to understand their roles and responsibilities within the Alpine Pathway. It also provided valuable insight into how SSA can better support our Australian Race Clubs and the community.
Main topics included; the athlete profile from the FTEM model, the environmental profile, challenges and potential solutions to the environmental issues faced by clubs, and understanding best practices and desired ratios for skill development.
The SSA Alpine Club Workshop was very successful and is the first stepping-stone to cultural change and alignment, as well as better collaboration within the Alpine community. SSA look forward to working and supporting the Alpine Race Clubs to build a better future for our athletes.