“Recruiting and Retaining - Keeping children in competitive snow sports” was the topic of the 11th FIS Youth and Children’s Seminar. 

The traditional event took place on 2nd October 2013 in conjunction with the FIS Leaders’ Seminar in Zurich (SUI), with a networking dinner cocktail the evening before.

Following an opening address by FIS Aid & Promotion Consultant Joseph Zenhäusern the first session had a presentation by Dr. Timothy Armstrong from the World Health Organisation (WHO). On the topic of “Quantifying Inactivity”, he discussed results on youth participation in sport and highlighted the importance of addressing communal diseases in youth. His speech was followed by a presentation from Pascale Vögeli from the Swiss organisation Snow for Free, on “The ease of bringing children to the snow”. As a good example of an enrolled Organiser, she shared her ideas and lessons learned on how to conduct successful events to bring children to the snow in Switzerland, an initiative involving more than 1’600 young participants.

The presentation was followed by an update from FIS representative Andrew Cholinski, who gave the participants a summary of nations that have joined the Bring Children to the Snow Campaign and motivated more nations to join.

The seminar session involved lively group discussions on the theme “What can the National Ski Associations do to bring children to the snow?”. The outcomes of the discussions were presented by the group leaders Gert Ehn (AUT), Satu Kalajainen (FIN) and Denis Giger (SUI) who highlighted how the countries in each of the disciplines of Alpine, Nordics, Freestyle and Snowboard address the aspects of bringing kids to the snow.

The level of participation, with more than 90 persons, showed the keen interest in the seminar. The strong motivation for mutual learning and sharing of experiences was expressed by lively group discussions which contributed to the great success of the event.

Source: www.fis-ski.com/