Training

Selection for ESSKIA Teams and Squads is made in the autumn each year, after the National Championships. Different criteria will apply according to which group a skier is being considered for, but the following is the basis:

• Racing in the ESSKIA Championships as a member of a school team.
• Attendance at previous competitions and trainings, attitude, behaviour and progress.
• Race results on snow and plastic.
• Age.

JUNIOR SQUAD

This comprises about 30 skiers and is aimed mainly at ten to twelve year olds. The objective is to provide a good foundation training which concentrates on improving all round technique and starting race training on snow.

The 2013 Squad will be based in Pitztal, Austria, where several very successful trainings have been held.

ESSKIA SQUADS

These comprise two Squads each of approximately 20 skiers. These Squads are divided on the basis of age.  These training camps are used as a basis for selection for the teams in the World Schools’ Championships.  The objectives are to provide high quality training concentrating on developing young racers in a group of a high standard, and to prepare teams for the World Schools’ Championships. The two 2013 trainings will be based in Geilo, Norway, where opportunities for speed training are particularly good, and which has seen some very successful trainings for the past sixteen years.

WORLD SCHOOLS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS

These are held under the jurisdiction of the International School Sport Federation (I.S.F.) and can only be entered by National School Sports Associations in membership of the National Council for School Sport (N.C.S.S.). In most sports the National Associations are represented by ‘Champion Schools’, but in the ski competitions held in alternate years there are different rules for countries considered to be Lowland countries. England is a Lowland country and can therefore be represented by a composite team of 10 girls and 10 boys, in two age groups, drawn from different schools which have competed in the National Championships. It is ESSKIA’s policy that Teams should be selected from the previous year’s Squad Training groups.

ESSKIA has sent teams to the events held in Sweden (1985, 1989, 2005), France (1991, 2001, 2008), Canada (1993), Italy (1995, 2010, 2012), Germany (1997), the Czech Republic (1999), Austria (2003) and Andorra (2007).

The next ISF Ski event is planned for 2014 in Granada, Spain.

Summer Training Days

ESSKIA has developed a programme of summer training days on artificial slopes.

They are a useful part of the continuous programme for those who have attended Squad Trainings on snow, a chance to work again with ESSKIA’s coaches and to meet friends.

They are also intended as the base layer of ESSKIA’s development programme and are open to all those who can already ski, although there is a minimum age – Year 4 and older.

The emphasis of the training days is on enjoyment and technique, with some pole training.

The days are open to pupils in member and non-member schools.

The Summer Training Days for 2013 will be arranged in the spring.  Details will be sent to member schools.

For general enquiries please contact the Summer Training Day Co-ordinator, Lesley Gash.