Submitted from Jeff Jones, AOA Coach Education Consultant
AOA is back for another year here at Tremblant, although this season feels a little different with the launch of the new Club Excellence (CE) program! The Rossiter raffle and the Club Excellence (CE) Program is specifically designed to provide support to AOA clubs as they develop their coaches and in turn their athletes.
The CE project now underway and brings together AOA clubs including athletes and coaches as well as Alpine Canada Alpin’s (ACA) coaching education experts. The Tremblant projects focus is on the Development Level (DL) where coaches are demonstrating their skills in a supportive environment with the goal of moving forward in their coach pathway from Trained to Certified.
Tremblant has so far been provided great snow, pristine training lanes and a warm Quebec welcome to all the Clubs training on the Mountain. While it has been cold (it is Tremblant after all) we are still getting some great work done. The DL candidates attending the project include; Julie Statler/Craigleith Ski Club, Taylor Poast/Brimacombe Ski Club and Avila Holland/Toronto Ski Club. These coaches have been paired with AOA Coach Developers Sarah Edwards, Dave Hunt and myself.
Jenn Stielow, ACA’s Senior Manager-Coach Education is also attending to provide support to not only the 
coaches being developed, but also the coach developers.
“ACA’s support is incredibly important; knowing we are on the same page and that we are delivering the same message builds confidence on both sides. Having Jenn here with boots on the snow is incredibly valuable.” Dave Hunt, NOD
Great coaches do not grow on trees, it takes time to develop a great coach and just like athletes they thrive on opportunities to showcase their skills and receive guidance and direction. Mont Tremblant is proving to be the first of many great opportunities that we hope to deliver to AOA coaches this season.
Every Athlete Deserves a Great Coach! Please sign up for the Club Excellence Program here.