Train to Win

Goals

• Athletes are usually at the national team level and the primary objective at this stage is to win medals at the elite levels of competition. 
• Athletes competitive at the highest level: World Cups, Olympics and World Championships.
• Perfecting competitive skills and increasing a consistent medal contending performance.
• All of the athlete’s physical, technical, tactical, mental and ancillary capacities should now be fully established with the focus shifting to the optimization of performance. 

Key points

• They are the best of the very best in their sport and not everyone on a national team will necessarily fall into this category. 
• The Podium Pathway is: 
  • A concept used by all Canadian organizations committed to high performance sport. 
  • A component of an NSO’s Long-Term Athlete Development framework that specifically addresses identification and development of podium potential athletes. 
  • Integral to guiding key foundational skills in physical literacy stages. 
  • An approach to targeted excellence that identifies an enhanced daily training and competition environment needed to achieve podium performances. 
  • An evidence-based approach to determining and defining critical performance components and standards for achieving podium-level results. 
  • A development and implementation process shared by NSO high performance and development staff along with provincial/territorial sport organization leaders. 

Athlete Skills

At this stage, periodic testing is completed to identify the gaps, the strengths and weakness of the individual athlete to create a formalized annual training plan that contains multiple periodized peaks and tapers.   

Physical 

• Improvement or maintenance of all physical capacities required for optimum performance through evidence-based training prescription. 
• Work with the athlete on:  
  • The individual and sport specific needs for strength, muscular power, aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, speed, quickness, agility, balance, coordination, and flexibility. 
  • Functional Assessments and fitness testing to develop individual correctives plan. 

Aerials  

Athlete Development Matrix 

Gold Medal Profile 

• At this stage, the training is really individualized. 
• Athletes should be able to:  
  • Refine highest DD manœuvres. 
  • Have great decision-making reactions. 
  • Show consistency in his performances. 

• Trampoline:  
  • Use the trampoline to work on individual needs.  

• Water ramp:  
  • Girls 
    • Lay-Tuck-Tuck, Lay-Tuck-Full, Lay-Full-Tuck, Lay-Full-Full, Full-Full-Full
  • Boys:
    • Lay-Full-Full, Full-Full-Full, Full-dFull-Full, dFull-Full-Full
    • 5 twists

• Snow:  
  • Girls 
    • dFull-Full,  Ful-dFull
    • Lay-Tuck-Tuck, Lay-Tuck-Full, Lay-Full-Full, +
  • Boys 
    • Lay-Full-Full, Full-Full-Full, Full-dFull-Full, dFull-Full-Full 
    • 5 twists

Halfpipe  

Athlete Development Matrix 

Gold Medal Profile 

• Skiing skill:
  • Perfecting and maximizing the amplitude of the skills 

• Trampoline:
  • Girls:
    • 10+ rotation progression
    • Doubles progression
  • Boys:
    • Keep working on triple progressions
    • Integrate different types of grabs 

• Air:
  • Girls:
    • Perfecting and amplifying skills
    • Right or left flare
    • Right and left cork 9
    • Switch down pipe or alleyoop 540°
  • Boys:
    • Perfecting and amplifying skills
    • Encouraging innovation
    • Switch alleyoop, flat 5
    • Switch double

Moguls  

Athlete Development Matrix 

Gold Medal Profile 

• MO Athletes should be able to: 
  • Refine skiing skills and tactics as applied to competitions 
  • Maximize DD in jumps 
  • Maximize individual styles of skiing 
  • Perform consistently on a multitude of different courses 
  • Encouraging innovation 

• Trampoline:  
  • Continual improvement of aerial awareness, confidence and decision-making. 
  • Keep adding new skills (more spin, more flip, more style and variety),
  • Linking difficult skills into routines
  • Maximize excellent takeoff technique 

• Water ramp/Air bag:  
  • Girls:  
    • Back full, Cork 7, variety of grabs
  • Boys:  
    • Cork 1080, Back double full, variety of grabs, introduction to doubles 

• Jumps  
  • Maximise DD
  • Encourage innovation

Slopestyle & Big Air 

Athlete Development Matrix 

Gold Medal Profile 

• Athletes should be able to:  
  • Create technical innovations 
  • Maximize individual styles of skiing 
  • Perform consistently on a multitude of different courses 

• Skiing:
  • Mastering the style 
  • Strategic skiing
  • Landing switch looking over the opposite shoulder of the rotation.
  • Arms have minimal movement (grounded), effortless skiing.

• Trampoline:  
  • Continual improvement of aerial awareness, confidence and decision-making. 
  • Variety of grabs and style
  • Perfecting skills, adding connection between skills.
  • Girls:
    • Progression towards dub 9, switch dub 9, dub 10
  • Boys: 
    • Progression towards triples

• Jumps:
  • Gils:
    • Switch off-axis 9, switch 10, cork 9 both directions
    • 3 different grabs
    • Introduction to doubles
  • Boys:
    • Doubles all 4 ways with 3 different grabs
    • 1 triple
    • 16’s and 14’s

• Features:  
  • Girls:
    • Most F/B swaps 2 out
    • All 4 out’s and one 4 on
  • Boys:
    • All 2 on swaps 2 out
    • All 2 on and 4 out
    • All 4 on and 2 out

• Tactical:
  • Training and competing podium tricks on a consistent and daily basis, regardless if weather conditions and course set up.

Psychological  

• Maximize learning opportunities in training and competition.  
• Build your belief in your ability to achieve goals.  
• Practice mindfulness.  
• Develop your ability to accept the different thoughts, feelings, and emotions that emerge. 
• Train yourself to maintain optimal focus under any competitive conditions. 

TRAINING STRUCTURE  

YTP example. 

• At this stage, sport-specific technical, tactical, and fitness training is full time. 
• The number of training days and competition is individualized. 
• The integrated support team (IST) in partnership with the coach’s construct, monitor, evaluate and adjust the athlete individual training plan to ensure them to peak for major competitions.  

Coaches  

• Athlete will be surrounded by a full coaching team (technical, strength and conditioning, mental, physio, wax technician, …) 
• Communication in between that team is key for the athlete success. 
• The lead coach will be offered professional coaching courses/workshop from CAC, OTP, Sport institutes. 

Terrains  

FIS Terrain guide

Events & Competitions

• Focus is on podium performances at highest level international events (World Cups, World Championships, Olympic Games). 
• Athletes should be trained to peak for specific competitions and major events. 

Judges and Officials 

Judges pathway. 

Official pathway

• For World Cups, World championships and Olympics Games, judges will need a license A for MO and AE and AFP gold for SS, BA and HP.  
• Officials have their FIS licenses. 
• Domestic World Cup are organized by a strong organizing committee lead by Freestyle Canada and FIS. 

Other Influences 

To come