Last Monday evening Mike Barker spent some over at the Ipswich club with the Vikings team during a training session. He was there to see how things are done at Ipswich, talk to the coaches, racers and parents. This also included something to eat and drink afterwards.

Mike is head coach of the England Alpine Team. He is going road the grass roots of skiing and focusing on the 8 – 14 year old range. The visit went extremely well and from reports afterwards he left with a good impression. The racers and parents were also extremely happy with his visit and look forward to seeing him again in the future.

The visit was arranged by our club chairman Rolf who put a lot of effort into making sure the visit was a success and is following up afterwards. It was also a good opportunity to find out more about how the racer development is working in SSE, more about the coaching.

There is a lot happening in SSE to promote the increase in Snowsports attendance in England and a drive to bring on more children. Two sports development officers working throughout England visiting various slopes and clubs and it is definitely worth talking to them, they are there to help progress Snowsports and off course if you as a club are keen and pro-active then there is more incentive for them to work with you, the same goes for Mike.

Anyway Mike is back abroad now but hopefully we will see more of him at the club during the summer.