Canadian Freestyle Snowboard Team Adds Experience to Coaching Staff

Canada~Snowboard has just announced that Kris DeCoste of Thornbury, Ontario, has joined the coaching staff of the Canadian Freestyle Snowboard Team that will be going to the Olympics in just a few months.

DeCoste, a skilled Canadian coach with previous experience at the Association of Ontario Snowboarders (AOS), has been brought in to add some experience to the team and to help prep the freestyle team, who are just a few months away from the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

“I am excited to be part of the team in this Olympic year. The 24 years of experience in halfpipe will help me to analyze the riding. I am great at breaking down and fine tuning the riders, and I hope to bring help that way,” said DeCoste, a first generation snowboarder involved in halfpipe for the past 24 years.

DeCoste will start his duties immediately, taking part in a team training camp in New Zealand in early October. DeCoste will spend his time in New Zealand to familiarizing himself with and getting to know the riders.

“The results are what drive me. I like to see the results in the riders and also I love the amplitude. What keeps me going is the balance between seeing the results and amplitude of the riders.”

“I want to bring forms of stability, structure and discipline to the team. I would like to crack down on everybody because we have less than five months.”

“Seeing Brad at the Olympics will be the highlight of my coaching career. Both he and Jeff came from my program as young riders, so to now be able to coach them again in the final stretch to the Olympics will be phenomenal,” added DeCoste who competed both at the amateur and professional levels.

The experienced coach boasts an impressive snowboarding resume, highlighted by many leadership roles including founder of the AOS Freestyle Program which he managed from 1996 to 2005, as well as the Head Coach duties for Icarus Shreducation, a private freestyle snowboarding program to which 2009 World Championships Silver medalist Jeff Batchelor participates.

“Kris will bring valuable experience to our riders. He’s a reputable coach in the industry; he has previous experience with our National Team riders, and understands the needs of our riders. He’s an excellent candidate and we are delighted to have him on board,” said Tom Hutchinson, Head Coach of the Canadian Freestyle Snowboard Team.

The list of current elite riders whom DeCoste previously coached includes National team members Jeff Batchelor, Brad Martin and Derek Livingston, as well as development rider Palmer Taylor to name but a few.

In addition to his elite-level experience, DeCoste co-founded “Interclub”, a grassroots snowboarding program in Ontario aiming at introducing the sport of snowboarding to kids age from 4-13 years old.

DeCoste is a certified Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructor (CASI) Level II.

The 2010 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup has already begun. The team competed in Cardrona, New Zealand last month. The next contest on the World Cup schedule is in Sass Fee, Switzerland on November 4-5, 2009.

This season’s halfpipe qualifying events for the 2010 Olympic Snowboard Team are the US Grand Prix on December 11-12 in Copper, Colorado, the US Grand Prix on January 6-10 in Mammoth California as well as the FIS World Cup Tour at Stoneham on January 23, 2010.

To qualify for priority selection on the Canadian Olympic Snowboard team, halfpipe riders must finish in the Top 5 at two occasions in previously identified location (Cypress 2009, Stoneham 2009, Grand Prix Copper 2010, Grand Prix Mammoth 2010, Stoneham 2010).

So far, only Justin Lamoureux from Whistler, BC has met the priority selection criteria as he finished 5th at Cypress and Stoneham last season. Batchelor and Martin have one more Top 5 results to get to meet the criteria.