NSW / ACT / QLD / SA Interschools 2022 calendar announced with new events on the program

Snow Australia Interschools have announced the provisional daily event schedules for the 2022 NSW/ACT/QLD/SA Interschools events, in a release that was highly anticipated by the Interschools community and the accommodation providers.
 
The 2022 SUBARU Interschools Snowsport Championship Series for NSW/ACT/QLD/SA will kick off in Thredbo on July 4-8 with the SUBARU Northern NSW & Queensland Championships and conclude with the AUSTRALIAN Championships at Perisher on September 6-11, for a total of nine events.
 
The highlights of the 2022 calendar include the option for 2020 and 2021 Year 12 students, who were unable to compete due to COVID-related cancellations, to participate in the State Championships at Perisher on August 22-26, 2022.
 
These previous Year 12 students will compete alongside students in the 2022 Division 1 (Year 11 & 12) competitions, with separate results and event medals for the 2020 & 2021 Year 12 cohort.
 
In addition, 2022 will also see the introduction of the Junior Interschools Masters Championships, to be held over two days at Thredbo in late July. This is a new event targeted towards 19- to 29-year-old ex-Interschools Snowsports competitors.
 
“We wanted to give our previous Year 12 students an opportunity to finish their Interschools Snowsport experience with a level of renewed positivity,” said Steve Cooper, Chair of the Snow Australia National Participation / National Interschools Snowsport.
 
“With the development of the new Junior Interschools Masters Championships we aim to inspire young adults to maintain and build their competition skill-levels and experience beyond their school years, with the objective to continue that involvement into both the UniSport Championships and the 30 to 80 Australian Masters Series.”

 The NSW/ACT/QLD/SA provisional schedule is the result of significant work conducted behind the scenes by Snow Australia in collaboration with its resort partners - Perisher and Thredbo - and other snowsports community stakeholders, including Disability Wintersports Australia.
 
Cooper said that over the past 5 years the development of the daily event schedules has increased in importance and urgency for the school and parent community, as the demand for accommodation in the Snowy Mountains has intensified during the July and August period. 
 
“The 2022 Interschools Events Calendar is our largest and most ambitious ever as we look to re-build, re-engage and re-ignite our schools Snowsports community with 37 days of events which includes 30 Championship Event days across 5 Regional, State and National level Championships, expected to attract over 15,000 event entries from schools,” he said.  
 
Following the restriction of most international travel options for the foreseeable future, Australians holidaying at home have significantly increased the pressure on major tourist destinations such as the Snowy Mountains, and particularly in the winter-season and school holiday periods. These considerations brought a reduction of approximately 20% in the number of entries for events held during the July school holidays period. 
 
“To achieve our goal will require some new considerations for schools and their communities, and we have an objective to increase our flexibility through the purposeful reduction of some events during peak school holiday periods, alongside building capacity through the expansion of some of our traditionally smaller events held in late July,” Cooper said.
 
Snow Australia have teamed up and will continue to collaborate closely with their resort partners to improve the on-mountain guest experience for all members of the Interschools Snowsport Community during 2022 and 2023, and are planning to embrace a COVID Aware & COVID Safe operational environment.