Help make CANSI Ontario work better. Join us for the Ontario Region Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday May 30, 2010 at the Swansea Town Hall on 95 Lavinia Avenue in west end of Toronto.
At 12 noon we will have an informal get-to-know-your-board lunch. The AGM meeting will start officialy at 1:00 p.m.
More info and to register click here.
CANSI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Friday January 8th at 19:00 at Ski de fond Mont-Tremblant. A casual get together with snacks began at 17:30.
Details, agenda and reports are available in the AGM portion of the Members Area.
The Members Area has been updated with information on the latest official uniforms and great Pro-Deals. Check it out now!
We are pleased to announce that XC and Telemark courses being offered by CANSI Atlantic for the 2009-2010 season are now open for registration. See the Courses page for the list of upcoming courses
Ski Martock near Windsor NS and about 45 min from Halifax is looking for 1 full time and 4 to 5 part time XC ski instructors for the coming season. The full time position will combine instruction with XC park management. Hours for all positions are flexible.
About Ski Martock. Ski Martock is a progressive family run ski hill. The XC ski park has been newly expanded for the 2010 Canada Winter Games. It has 100% snow making coverage, spectator stands and a biathlon range. Weekday ski instruction is primarily school groups and weekend is private and group lessons.
A CANSI XC level one instructor certification is required for the position and a certification course will be run at Ski Martock Jan 16-17 2010.
Contact - snowschool@martock.com
We are please to announce that the XC courses for this coming winter are now open for registration. Thank you for your patience. We had to ensure we will have enough Course Conductors now that Steve Gentles, Paul Graner and Mike Lalonde are no longer available.
This winter, thanks to Wendy Grater, Peter Grey, Paul Jorgensen (who just moved back from BC), Clare Magee, Rob Henderson, and our trainees Ted Williams, Murray Wood and Jan Vopalensky, we are able to offer you in total 17 XC courses over 8 events and 5 locations.
Note also that this winter not only are we keeping current course prices same as last year, but we also offering four Refresher/Professional Development courses for free. But if you still feel our courses are costly, keep in mind we are again offering Youth Scholarships to qualified individuals.
On April 26, 2009 the Southern Ontario District of Cross Country Ontario presented to Mike Moran who passed away in Sept. 30, 2006 the “Cum Laude” award - an award given “in recognition of outstanding contribution to the development of cross-country skiing in Southern Ontario over a period of years”.
Cross Country Ontario is pleased to announce that Tim Bourrie of Midland has been awarded the Heinz Niederhauser Coaching Scholarship. Tim Bourrie currently coaches with the Midland Nordic Ski Club. Tim was hooked on skiing when he began cross training for triathlons. It wasn’t long before he was training for the Canadian Ski Marathon. Tim is a Level 2 NCCP coach and coaches the Midland Ski Dogs.
Greetings fellow skiers and instructors. Once again we look optimistically to the upcoming winter. Given the amount of rain and snow we had so far in Ontario, it looks like we will get as much snow as last year. Consequently, we expect correspondingly large demand for our courses.
Given that our leading Course Conductor has moved to the Pacific region, we are not able to offer you this season as many courses as we would like. However, since this February we’ve gained a new Level I Course Conductor (congratulations Wendy) we can offer two more courses.
Also always keep in mind that our Youth Scholarships are still there for the taking.
Ontario course registration and cancellation policies are similar over the past several seasons. Here is a reminder what they are for this winter and beyond.
The 2008-2009 Course schedule for CANSI Pacific Region is now updated and online at www.cansi.ca.
Contact us if you are interested in organizing a custom course for your ski school or other group - we can easily set these up with advance notice.
MOUNTAIN NEWS
CANSI Mountain Fiesta! - AN EVENT NOT TO MISS!
We’re calling it a Fiesta because it’s not just a refresher or a briefing or an AGM - it’s all those and more combined into one event. And the best part?… IT’S FREE!
The 2008-2009 Quebec XC and telemark course schedule along with the registration instructions are now available on the CANSI-Quebec site at (in French only):
The coordination committee
After the very full XC Level I+II refresher course in mid December of 2007, and listening to your requests, we have added 3 more courses:
XC Level I Refresher (Ottawa)
XC Level I Certification (Ottawa)
XC Level II Preparation (Southern Ontario)
For summary of all 2007-2008 Ontario XC courses read this older news item.
Keith Nicol has created some popular new x-country ski videos for the YouTube market. So far there has been good response on his free skate video and diagonal stride without poles video. Both videos are 3 minutes long so are quick and easy to view. The videos are top ranked so are easy to find. Keith plans on adding more YouTube content shortly. Keith Nicol (CANSI X-C Level IV - Tele Level III) teaches Winter Outdoor Pursuits at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook and runs CANSI courses in Atlantic Canada.
As announced in our earlier news item, this winter the National Technical seminars are being held in Ontario, in Collingwood area. Here are some more details.
The 2007 Annual General Meeting for the Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructors (CANSI) will be held on Saturday January 12, 2008 at Highlands Nordic, Duntroon (Collingwood area) Ontario (www.highlandsnordic.on.ca). All members are invited to attend. For further information please contact president@cansi.ca.
The Quebec coordination committee is proud to announce the 2007-2008 XC course schedule.
The National Seminar will be held in the East this year. The Quebec coordination committee would like to have a strong presence from Quebec members this year.
As a result of a proposal prepared by Mountain and Ontario regions, this September the CANSI Technical committee approved the implementation of a modular approach to the XC Level I instructor certification by introducing a XC Classic-only certification.
This XC Classic-only certification is designed to make CANSI Professional membership available to a larger audience. It is applicable to for school teachers, scout leaders, touring instructors, or instructors at classic-only resorts, who do not have any need to teach skating techniques and/or may themselves lack skating equipment and skiing skills.
Certified XC Classic-only instructors will have the same teaching training and expertise as other XC Level I instructors, and will have the full CANSI insurance coverage while teaching XC Classic skiing.
Greetings fellow skiers and instructors. Once again we look optimistically to the upcoming winter, setting new goals, and/or continuing to pursue elusive goals from years previous. As long as there is a hint of snow we will keep at it. Please keep checking this web site as course dates approach, since any course changes will be posted here as comments.
Bellow is a summary of all the Ontario XC courses planned for this season - including the newly approved Level III course. Here you can find direct links to the desired course pages from which you can easily register. However, If you know exactly what course your are looking for, simply select the appropriate course on the course page. For easier viewing, make sure you select the ON-Ontario and X-Country options.
Thanks to the grants from the now folded Ontario Ski Council and prudent savings by the CANSI Ontario board, CANSI Ontario is again happy to offer financial support to young instructors or those who target young people from 16 to 21 years of age residing in Ontario.
Specifically, the following three types of scholarships are available upon asking:
The CANSI National Seminar is held annually, with the location alternating between Western and Eastern venues. Last year’s seminar was held in SilverStar, BC, and this year, the location shifts to Ontario at Highlands Nordic from January 10 through January 14, 2008.
CANSI Uniforms for the 2007-2008 season are being supplied by Avalanche, a Canadian manufacturer of high quality skiwear.
Trail Sports, the cross country ski school and rental shop, at the Canmore Nordic Centre, Alberta, has openings for cross country skiing instructors for the 2007/2008 season. Employment will run from November 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008.
For further information please contact
John Gallagher
1 403 678 6764
john@trailsports.ab.ca
National Capital Nordic Ski Festival for Youth, Feb. 26th 2007
By: Geoff Tomlinson (2007/01/31)
The National Capital Nordic Ski Festival for Youth is new cross-country skiing event for students aged 9 to 14.
It will be held on Monday February 26, 2007 at the Nakkertok South Nordic Centre (for location please visit www.nakkertok.ca) from 10 am to 1 pm.
At this event there will be games, team sprint relays, individual sprints, and lots of fun!
Keith Nicol (Atlantic Technical Committee rep, Tele Level III and X-C Level IV) has a web site with numerous excellent tips. See them at http://www.swgc.mun.ca/~knicol and click on Nordic Ski Tips.
As you may have noticed, we now have several X-Country courses scheduled for this coming season and available at the course page. From this page you can find information about each course and register for it on-line. Here is a quick summary of these courses and how you can register for (or cancel from) them.
The National XC (Nov 30-Dec 1) and Telemark (Dec 3-4) Seminars will be held at Silverstar, BC.
Although the production of the CANSI DVD began in 2004, its roots originated in 1976, the year CANSI was established. The film is based largely on the instructor’s manual, which has evolved considerably over 30 years. In 2004 CANSI Ontario was approached by XCZone to develop a DVD on technique. The added dimension of a film would match words with visual images and greatly aid those who are predominantly visual learners. This project also presented an opportunity to bring skating technique up to date by soliciting feedback from CANSI instructors, coaches and racers.
I had no prior experience in producing a film and I thought that we had everything to gain by forming a partnership with Dave McMahon from XCZone, a professional filmmaker and an elite cross-country skier. If we prepared the script, scheduled the instructors and got them to the film location, XCZone would produce the film.
Last season CANSI Ontario offered a Pro Deal on Karhu products. Due to changes in the ownership of Karhu, the distribution channel has changed, and at the present time, we can no longer offer this program. However, the previous distributor has a limited amount of demo XC and telemark and XC racing skis that they are offering to our members at a generous discount. Please contact info@ontario.cansi.ca for details.
Greetings all. In case you have not heard, it is with great sadness that I must inform you that Mike Moran - CANSI Ontario’s master course conductor, a very generous teacher and talented Nordic skier - has just passed away this Saturday morning (around 9 am) in Barrie’s hospital.
The XC Ski Your Best Program is skills award program administered by CANSI certified instructors to skiers whose focus is improving their skiing technique. It also provides an option for higher level skiers who don’t necessarily want to become certified instructors. Participants achieve different levels based on the skills they demonstrate across the different cross-country ski maneuvers. In 2005-2006 season the program was piloted by 1 club (the High Park Ski Club in Toronto) with 10 instructors and approximately 60 students participating.