The U12 Youth Development Full-Time Snowboard programs are specifically designed for athletes between the ages of 10 to 12 years, the program runs from Wednesday to Sunday each week and has 47 days of on-snow and dryland training.

The program is designed to help athletes bridge the gap between the entry-level U10 and the more intensive Snow Australia Pathway Programs from U14 and above. The program is suited to athletes who are confident snowboarders all over the mountain(black runs) in a variety of snow conditions and they should have completed levels 5 or 6 at ski school.

The U12 program provides the flexibility to place young people into the right peer-based learning environments, determined by developmental needs and not solely by chronological age.

Building the framework

The U12 athletes do a little bit of everything on and off the snow, with a strong focus on holistic skill development (technical, tactical, physical and psychological), with increased exposure gates training and all-mountain competency remaining the core focus.

The U12 program focuses on rounding out the athlete’s fundamental skills, combined with an increased time in gate-based environments and provides for the introduction of more advanced snowboarding concepts and equipment maintenance. This typically includes:

• Continue refining all key skills of snowboarding including;
• Balance, edging, steering, jumping, and timing
• Bumps and jumps;
• Off-piste in trees and powder;
• Slow, controlled and precise snowboarding;
• Short turns – medium turns – big turns – no turns;
• Fast, athletic and fluid movement;
• Regular freeride activity to further refine complement of skills
• Gate training; and
• Specific race techniques.

Maximum Age Level Enrolment

• 6 athletes

Minimum ability

• U12 athletes should be confident snowboarders all over the mountain in a variety of snow conditions.
• Prior race training experience is NOT necessary!

Snow Australia Registration

All athletes who participate in races (other than Interschools) will be required to be a member of Snow Australia. Families are responsible for the arrangement of their own Snow Australia membership. Please refer to the Snow Australia page for details.