Women of Winter - Millie Evans

If you’ve ever visited Mount Hotham during the Australian winter, or Whistler during the northern hemisphere winter, it’s likely that you will have crossed paths with Millie Evans.

Millie is a freestyle coach and ski instructor who specialises in slopestyle, but also works alongside mogul and aerial athletes. 

In her roles at Hotham and Whistler, Millie needs to know how to adapt quickly to the environment, while also being able to understand and connect with athletes. 

“I love that every day is different and that I get to work collaboratively with athletes and other coaches to come up with solutions to problems that arise,” Evans said.

“You need to be able to think on your feet as we work in an everchanging environment with high risk factors. 

“You need the willingness to want to learn, embrace that you will not always know everything and that is ok, but a drive to learn will ultimately help progress you as a coach as well as your athletes. 

“Most importantly, in this role you need a strong sense of empathy and understanding to be able to connect with athletes. 

“The thing that I love most about my job though, is the rapport and relationship that I get to create with my athletes. I feel the best in my work when I have a strong athlete-coach relationship. 

“When I have a close bond with my athletes I can understand what is going through their heads and why they are performing and training the way they are on any given day.  

“As coaches, we are more than just people who teach kids how to ski. We are role models, mentors and leaders.”

On the mountains of Hotham, Millie often found that she was one of the only girls training and competing in the freestyle disciplines, and it was this that inspired her to pursue coaching at the age of 16.

“I grew up as one of the only girls at Mount Hotham training and competing in freestyle disciplines,” she said. 

“Even outside of Hotham there weren’t many of us, and sometimes I felt super outnumbered, always training with the boys. 

“I also never had a female coach in my six years of training, because there weren’t any! 

“I looked up to my coaches and admired them so incredibly much, I wanted to be just like them. 

Still in the early stages of her coaching career, Millie’s biggest highlight was working with the Australian Aerials team last year, which gave her the opportunity to learn from some of the best coaches in the business. 

“I was the youngest and least experienced coach on the coaching team, and I learned so much about high-performance sport and how to progress athletes from the development level to the high-performance space,” she said.

“Another achievement that was really special to me was winning the inaugural Australian Freeride World Tour, which was held at my home resort Mount Hotham. 

“This was especially important to me because I was able to show all the girls that I coach that they can ski just as hard as the boys, and hopefully set the precedent that if their coach could do it, so could they. 

“Visibility of women in the industry is so important to me. I don’t enter into competitions with the aim or expectation of winning, but with the goal of driving up numbers for women in freestyle competitions and maybe even inspiring other women or young girls to have a go.” 

Despite it being a tough choice between Hotham and Whistler, Millie shared that it is the snowsport community that she loves the most, regardless of the hemisphere. 

“It’s definitely a tie between Whistler and Hotham,” she said. 

“Hotham is home, I have all my friends who over the years have turned into family, and skiing there will always bring me back to when I was a kid and skiing felt like the most magical thing on the planet. 

“However, having just completed my last northern hemisphere in Whistler, Hotham is getting a run for its money. 

“The long open runs are so incredible, and the steeps in the alpine are unbeatable. I love that one day I can have a leisurely ski, and the next I can ski really hard in world-class steep terrain, or hit the incredibly manicured parks.  

“But I love a lot of aspects about skiing and snowsports, but the big one for me is the community. 

“The ski industry is one big family with people from all walks of life, I love the diversity and family-like support that this community brings. 

“I also love being outdoors and so connected to nature. Not many jobs enable you to be outside all day doing the one thing you love. 

“When I’m skiing, I feel free. I have the freedom to choose my line down the run, or what trick I want to learn off a jump, it’s a very freeing and calming sport for me.” 

After having the chance to experience the highs that come with coaching, Millie encourages all women who are thinking about it to take the leap and learn everything you can about the sport. 

“Just go for it! You will find friends for life and make incredible memories,” she said. 

“There really aren’t enough women in the coaching industry, so everyone makes a difference. 

“It can sometimes be really hard in a male dominated industry, but the more women who decide to take it up, the better it will get. 

“I am currently the only female coach at my club, but this is something that we are trying to change and the men that I work with are so incredibly supportive of me.

“Work hard and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everybody started somewhere and most people want to help, I learnt the most when I was completely out of my depth but continued to ask questions to further my understanding of the sport. 

“Be a sponge and soak up everything you can.”