A ski and snowboard club featuring local athletes from across Rocky View County has added an Olympic silver medallist to its coaching staff.
Mike Robertson, who won silver in snowboardcross at the 2010 Vancouver Games, is joining his brother Adam with Evolve SSX. The club has its base at Lake Louise, and is hoping to expand its reach and provide a transition level of coaching for skiers and snowboarders to further develop their skills.
“I think he’ll bring a lot to the table with all of his experience, especially with an Olympic medal from last year,” Adam said of his brother.
“He’ll be a great asset to the team and we’ll have one of the strongest coaching teams in the country. Bringing Robertson on will really help us help these riders, who already have a lot of talent, make it to the next level.”
Adam, who is the head coach of the snowboard team, said Robertson will take over coaching riders in the performance snowboardcross program. Robertson, 26, is taking a second year off from competing, after a concussion sustained on the World Cup circuit after the Olympics knocked him out for the rest of the 2010-11 season.
He plans to return for the 2011-12 season.
“He believes coaching would be a great way to give back to the sport that has given him so much,” Adam said.
Before then, he’ll help Adam, who has coached for more than 10 years, continue to develop Canada’s next generation of high-performance downhill athletes. Evolve SSX had about 60 riders last year, but hope to expand with up to 100 for this season.
Adam said many of the athletes are between 18 and 22 years old, but he believes it’s the 13 to 16 year olds who can benefit the most from the high-level training.
“Our goal is to bridge the gap from athletes competing at the provincial level to making it up to the national team,” he said.
“Canada as a whole has a lot of talent and we’re hoping we can help the athletes around here accomplish that goal. We will give these high-performance athletes all the training tools they require to succeed at the highest level, as we have great combination of competitive experience and coaching background.”
More information on the club is available at www.evolvessx.com
