Snowsport England is pleased to announce the appointment of 2 New Development Officers. This is a very exciting development for Snowsports and will make a huge difference to the development of the sport. The development officers will be attending the All England Championships on 5th September so please introduce yourselves. Below is some back ground information about the development officers.

They will be in touch with the regions and clubs shortly that they will be responsible for.

Jan Doyle " Snowsport England Sports Development Officer

Sport has always been important to me initially as a participant, then as a coach, spectator and volunteer. I have played many sports at all levels from grassroots to national and have coaching qualifications in several " most recently fitness coaching. Volunteering roles in my children’s sports clubs led me to leave the education sector almost 9 years ago to pursue a career in sports development. Since then I have worked at the Greater Manchester County Sport Partnership which has involved writing, co-ordinating and implementing a county club development plan. Greater Manchester has been recognised nationally for its club development success which has been achieved by building capacity across the sports development network ensuring a good level of support and expertise is given to more clubs which in turn has meant the communities across the county have access to high quality clubs. As a result of these successes I have regularly been invited to be part of national forums and working groups.

I am also a tutor for runningsport, Sports Coach UK and Sport Englands Clubmark programme delivering training to both the volunteers and sports development networks. Almost ten years ago after a family ski holiday we joined a ski club on our return. This resulted in our sons taking part in the ski racing side of the sport. Through the excellent training, friendship and support they received from the clubs Paul has been a ski instructor for the Red Devils Ski School in Kitzbuhel, Austria for the last 5 years and takes part in the racing programme over there and Tom is race captain for Salford University Snowsports Team.

I hope through these newly created development officer roles with Snowsport England we can ensure clubs and their volunteers are recognised in the sports development network and receive support in the excellent work they are doing and helping them to develop further, including them in new initiatives and funding as they occur. This will hopefully result in increased membership in clubs so others can gain a lifetime involvement in all disciplines of this fantastic sport and the enjoyment and friendships which result as me and my family enjoy! Exciting times for Snowsports in England!!

Vickie Pullin: Sport’s Development Officer

I’m twenty four years old and have been involved with Snowsports since I was 12. At 18 I moved to Canada, where I worked for Lake Louise Ski & Snowboard School for 3yrs. During this time I took several skiing and boarding qualifications with the highest being the Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors level 3, I’m told I was the youngest person to hold this award at the time. During my time in Canada I was lucky enough to spend a great deal of time riding with pro-snowboarders, honing my technique trying to keep up with these guys. It was suggested to me that I had some talent and I could compete if I was up for the challenge. So the gauntlet was well and truly thrown and it was up to me to pick it up and run with it. I returned home to set about becoming a member of the British Snowboard Team. With little experience I entered lots of competitions across the UK and soon had a few notable results. Spurred on by these achievements I entered the Brits in Switzerland and following some credible results was invited for a trial with the British Team. Luckily my trial was a success and I secured a place competing in boarder cross.

I had a great time on the team and learnt lots, but inevitably the same old problem that faces most UK based Snowsports athletes reared its’ ugly head " money! The financial cost of training and racing was a mountain too high for me to climb and I retired from the team. Let’s hope for future athletes we can break this cycle and snowports competitors can reach their full potential without breaking the bank. I still wanted to be in the Snowsport business so enquired at my local ski slope and promptly found myself in charge of snowboarding at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre. It was a different experience to teach on an artificial slope and this winter has been a busy season. I currently still take Snowboard Instructor Training at the centre and have recently become a tutor for Snowsports England. I am very passionate about skiing and boarding and want to help develop and promote snowsports within the UK. Watch this space…………