Although its been a hot, dry summer in Jasper, that hasn鈥檛 stopped our freestyle skiers from keeping fit for the winter season.
As well as their usual dryland training, eight athletes from the Jasper Freeride team have spent two and a half weeks learning new tricks and honing their skills in Whistler, B.C., where they鈥檝e been bouncing on trampolines, flying down water ramps and skiing the glacier.
This is the competitive freestyle team鈥檚 third year training in Whistler and, according to coach Nic Bazin, the time spent there is invaluable.
鈥淲ithout the camp, the athletes don鈥檛 ski on snow for six months during the summer,鈥� he said, noting that with the camp, the athletes are stronger when they return to Marmot Basin in November, giving them a solid foundation for the competitive season.
鈥淭he big advantage of coming to Whistler is that we have the water ramp, trampoline鈥攚e have access to an airbag if we want鈥攁nd we have snow available in the same day. So the athletes work out their tricks way quicker because it鈥檚 fresh in their brains.
鈥淵ou start on trampoline and then you鈥檙e right away on the water ramp, so it鈥檚 back-to-back and then you bring that right away to snow.鈥�
The athletes use the trampoline first because it allows them the opportunity to try a trick again and again, so they can fine tune their movements with a soft landing.
鈥淭he trampoline is a really good tool for us to use in order to fix little details in their tricks, so when you go on snow they鈥檙e less likely to crash or to fall,鈥� said Bazin.
After learning a trick on the trampoline, the athletes then move to a water ramp, where they can practise the manoeuvres with their skis on, without fear of a hard landing.
鈥淭hen when they get good enough we move them to the snow where the landing is important, because you want to land on your feet and you want to be able to ski out of it without hurting yourself.鈥�
The Freeride team is sharing its spot on the glacier with a number of other teams from Alberta. Bazin said the conditions are awesome right now because, with the heat, the moguls are soft and the athletes are able to ski in their t-shirts.
As well as the trampoline, water ramp and glacier, the athletes have also been playing soccer and volleyball. They even had a volleyball match against their parents.
Bazin said that鈥檚 one of the nice things about the camp: many of the parents take their holidays at the same time, so they can accompany their kids to watch their development and to take them out on adventures after their practise is complete.
The Jasper Freeride team trains year-round, with dryland training for strength and conditioning taking place during the offseason.
So that means days on the Jasper Gymnastic Club鈥檚 trampoline, both before and after the ski season, and road trips to Red Deer and Grande Prairie to practise on their water ramps, as well as the Whistler camp each July.
鈥淭he kids probably do 20鈥�30 days of water ramp in the summer, plus 11鈥�12 days on snow, plus the trampoline, plus their dryland training. So, if the athletes really want to commit it鈥檚 actually a year-round program,鈥� said Bazin.
鈥淚f we want to be some of the top dogs, we need to make sure we train properly so we can be really strong on the Canadian scene.
鈥淟ast year we had seven athletes qualify for the Junior Nationals鈥攖hey take the 100 best of all of Canada to send to the competition and Jasper itself had seven athletes鈥攁nd that doesn鈥檛 include the provincial level athletes,鈥� he added, noting that the athletes are in really good shape for another solid season.
To learn more about the Jasper Freeride freestyle ski team, check out its website at www.jasperfreeride.com.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
