For kids and teens who have always wanted to do a back flip while flying down the side of a mountain with skis strapped to their feet, the Vancouver Freestyle Ski Club (VFSC) would like to get to know you.
In fact, they would like to meet you even if you just want to improve your skiing.
The club held an open house on Dec. 8 at Cypress Mountain to introduce youth to the high-flying sport of freestyle skiing. The club runs through the winter.
The sport originally encompassed two disciplines aerials and moguls but has since grown to include skicross, half-pipe, big air and slopestyle.
VFSC development coach Ryan Purcell, 28, said he is often surprised more teens arent getting into the sport given Vancouvers readily accessible alpine terrain.
We teach at Cypress, Grouse and Seymour and, while our club is relatively young, it is still quite small and it always surprised me since [Canada] did so well in the Olympics, said Purcell. We have this at out doorstep and so we want to grow the sport and maybe get kids who arent sure of what we do inspired to try it.
Attention for freestyle spiked at the 2010 Winter Games when Alexandre Bilodeau won the men's moguls and Canadas first-ever Olympic gold medal at Cypress.
Its not necessarily our focus to get them flipping or get them doing crazy tricks right away, said Purcell. We really focus on getting them better skiers, whether they are interested in jumping or not. We want the kids to be comfortable and we never push them to go to the next level. Most of the training we do at Cypress is on the moguls that was used during the Olympics and we spend a lot of time in the parks, going in on the boxes and the features.
Cypress recently bought a giant air bag that developing skiers can use in order to make landings less intimidating. Purcell is excited that this years terrain park is being designed to appeal to developing skiers as much as advanced ones.
Visit vancouverfreestyle.com for more information to enroll in other training sessions.
