Virtual ETP sessions provide training opportunities to young athletes

Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, movement restrictions have caused significant disruption not only to competition and events, but also to athletes’ opportunities to maintain sport-specific training in a suitable environment. 
 
These challenges are also affecting the developing snow sports athletes participating in the Emerging Talent Program (ETP), who have access to very limited on-snow and off-snow training opportunities at a time when both NSW and Victorian resorts are in lockdown.
 
To assist in these circumstances, Snow Australia’s talent development program in 2021 had set up physical strength and conditioning hubs, providing ETP athletes access to gym and S&C programming at several resorts as part of their involvement in the program. 
 
More recently, Snow Australia has enlisted the support of Strength and Conditioning Coach Carla Zjistra to run virtual training sessions twice a week, conducted on a video-conferencing platform to support participants with her expertise and assist in their training and recovery within the limitations of the current environment.
 
Snow Australia Talent, Health and Performance Coordinator Ben Bond said that Snow Australia coaching staff immediately recognised the need to pivot quickly, not only to provide some consistency to the physical training of the young athletes, but also to give them an opportunity to connect with each other in these uncertain times. 
 
“Unfortunately we find ourselves in this unique situation with both states and even New Zealand going into lockdown concurrently,” Bond said. “This put a halt to much of our on-snow and off-snow activity for the next breed of talent, so we decided to come up with an alternative option.”
 
The results so far have been extremely positive, with almost 60 young athletes in attendance over the first two sessions.
 
“The uptake has been fantastic. The level of engagement has been high and it’s nice to see a smile on the athlete’s faces, whilst also working hard at the same time.
 
“We plan to keep these sessions going over coming weeks, with some special guests hopeful of joining in on the sessions too, which is exciting,” Bond said.

About Snow Australia Emerging Talent Program

The Emerging Talent Program (ETP) is Snow Australia Talent Identification and Development (TID) program which aims to identify, support and enhance preparation of potential performance athletes for transition into the performance pathway programs. It is made possible by funding from the AIS Performance Pathway funding stream and with generous support from The Lind Partners and the Hancock Family.

The Lind Partners is a US-based institutional fund manager and leading provider of growth capital to small and mid-cap companies, including many Australian businesses, particularly in the mining sector. The partnership between Snow Australia and The Lind Partners is designed to nurture emerging talents and help them unlock their full potential. Lind Advisory Board member John Hancock made a further pledge to support Australia’s next generation of snow athletes via ongoing program donations, which will enable additional investment and support of the ETP. The generous support of both John and Gemma Hancock and The Lind Partners, through its founder Jeff Easton, will make a substantial difference to the capability of the ETP.