The Tawatinaw Valley Freeriders, located 100 km’s north of Edmonton, are a true grassroots club with a focus on promoting lifelong family skiing. The club offers a variety of programs to meet a wide range of ability and age levels from FUNdamentalz, to Freestylerz to off-season dryland training.
We had a chance to catch up with the club and hear a bit more about them.
Club Origins: How did the ski club get started?
The club started about 20 years ago when a group of local ski families were looking for a way to expand alpine sports in the cozy Tawatinaw Valley. This led to the founding of the Tawatinaw Valley Freeriders and the rest is history!
Mission & Values: What is the club’s main mission or philosophy?
TVFR is a non-profit club with the vision of promoting lifelong family sport through freestyle skiing.
Membership: What kinds of skiers typically join your club?
Our membership varies. Once skiers can snow plow, stop, ride the lift independently, and pick themselves up, they are eligible for our Jr FUNdamentalz program. We also have Provincial level Freestylerz competitors and we have produced many athletes that have gone on to compete at even higher levels!
Activities & Events: What regular events or activities does the club organize?
In addition to our regular training, our club holds both pre- and post-season camps at our home away from home in Jasper and Marmot Basin. We attend many competitions every year, ranging from fun mini-comps within our club to Alberta champs, and everything in between. Our family centric club also rents Evolution Freestyle throughout the off season when families camp at the facility and enjoy dryland training and camaraderie around the camp fire. Our team is stoked to kick off our snow season at our pre-season camp at Marmot Basin in mid-December.
Skill Development: How does the club support the development of skiing skills?
Our club works with our highly skilled coaches to help early skiers master turns, learn to ride the bumps, and play in the park, while working with more developed athletes focusing on competition development. This includes participation in joint club dryland training and independent dryland training at Evolution Freestyle and local gymnastics centres.
Community Involvement: How does the club engage with the local community?
Our club is active every fall at local community Registration nights where we encourage new registrants by showcasing our sport with videos, props, and live testaments from our athletes and parents. Our club also works hand in hand with our local non-profit ski hill, Tawatinaw Valley, to help deliver the ski season, including the build and maintenance of our terrain park, which is open for use by anyone with a lift ticket!
Memorable Moments: The most memorable ski trip?
While no single memory stands out, our club always enjoys a trip west where our athletes can apply their skills in front of their families and friends on the big mountains. Especially when the snow piles up!
