K1 Program Philosophy

The Team Panorama K1 race program is heavily based on a learning to train and learning to ski development philosophy. During this phase of the development curve it is paramount that the children continue to master the technical basics good skiing. The end of the K1 phase is seen as the second important checkpoint of a skiers development. At the end of this phase the child must be able to show a correct and solid basic skiing foundation that will serve them moving into the K2 and early FIS phases.

The females normally start puberty towards the end of K1 however most boys don’t and for this reason skill development both in and out of the race environments has to continue to be the focus. Satisfying the windows of trainability of quickness, coordination, agility and an all around athleticism must still drive the program content.

It is a prime goal that good technical skiers leave this phase and to that end, the program is heavily based on skiing all environments throughout the year. The K1 skiers will learn how to become a ski racer. They will learn what it takes to train efficiently with focus. They will be put into many different gate environments in order to teach them necessary specifics of the technical events. There will be no speed event training other than a few SG runs at Panorama at certain times of the season.

The skiers will be put into an expert physical training program for 3 days a week in the fall and spring with some ongoing programming for the winter and summer months. The on snow program will be based around an 85-90 day on snow schedule. Training is at Panorama on the weekends and some Fridays and COP is used 2 nights a week.

Our goal at this level is to patiently teach the children about ski racing and how to train ski racing. The Alberta K1 series is the basis of the race program however a local BC or Saskatchewan race may be attended at Panorama. The skiers will attend approximately 14 race starts and the program will be based on a 6 to 1 coach athlete ratio. The Whistler Cup event is far from being a goal of this program, however if a child qualifies it will be discussed with the parent whether or not the child should attend.