1. CAN FREESTYLE LTAD PROGRAMS
Can Freestyle is the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Pathway for Freestyle Skiers. LTAD is a clear path to better sport, greater health, and higher achievement. Science, research and decades of experience all point to the same thing: kids and adults will get active, stay active, and even reach the greatest heights of sport achievement if they do the right things at the right times. Can Freestyle is a like large box in which we can put training and programming and share best practices to support athletes, coaches, parents, officials and clubs!

2. Long Term Athlete Development & The CANADIAN FREESTYLE SKI ASSOCIATION
CFSA implements LTAD methodology through Can Freestyle by:
Athlete Development – since 2010 and ongoing
Clubs and coaches are trained and supported to build strong Can Freestyle athlete programs.
CFSA partners with Provincial Sport Organizations and Canadian Sport Centres to help athletes excel.
Coach Development-since 2009 and on-going
Skill and athletic development are valued and fostered for long-term success
Training is stage appropriate to meet growing and changing needs of athletes
Competitions, Judges & Officials Development - starts 2014
Competitions are modified for fun and development
Judges and officials will be prepared to deliver Can Free Events
Most of the coach pathway has been built out and is National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) approved – we are now entering Competition Review which involves analyzing, reviewing and revising the competition pathway. CFSA is partnering with Own The Podium in 2013/14 on a data and performance analysis project to determine the optimal pathway for Train to Train and up athletes to reach the podium in International Competition. This ”Podium Pathway” will be overlaid with our LTAD and then will inform a review and update of the CFSA Judges & Officials Programs: Comp Review will be on-going over next 3 years to further adapt to LTAD principles and improve athlete engagement and performance.

3. CFSA’s snapshot LTAD pathway the 2012/13 Can Freestyle Brochure
CFSA’s snapshot LTAD pathway the 2012/13 Can Freestyle Brochure. Parents, clubs and athletes are able to understand how their athletes will develop through the sport, and this is a tool to help clubs structure successful programs. Note that Jumps and Bumps and Freestylerz are multi-discipline programs. It is recommended that athletes do not start to specialize until their early teens to gain well rounded skiing and jumping skills.

4. CFSA ATHLETE PATHWAY HIGH PERFORMANCE
NATIONAL
T2W
CFSA Dev. Team and Institute Programs T2C-L2W
Elite Provincial Teams L2C- T2C
Club, Regional, Provincial Teams T2T
Club Programs L2T
Club and Snow School FUNDAMENTALS
HIGH PERFORMANCE
HIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT (HPAD)
SPORT DEVELOPMENT
This is a general framework of how our athletes progress through CFSA programs and LTAD Stages – but it is important to remember that these lines aren’t always as black and white as they appear in this model, e.g. some provincial teams are at the Train to Train stage and some at Train To Compete. It is important to asses what stage of development an athlete is in and creating a training and competition plan that creates the best environment for the individual athlete and their training group. CFSA has implemented a coach development system that gives our coaches the tools and knowledge to assess and develop their athletes on an individual basis and make the best decisions intheir training progressions for each stage.

5. Jumps & Bumps Entry Level
FUNdamentals
Ages 6+
Jumps & Bumps Entry Level
Includes a wide variety of fundamental movement skills and sport skills that make up PHYSICAL LITERACY.
These should be learned before the adolescent growth spurt in four different environments: earth, water, air, and snow / ice.
Jumps and Bumps offers lots of freeskiing time
Fun events focus on playing varied terrain develop skills and a love of the sport
The skills matrix and benchmarks to be ideally accomplished in this stage are contained in Jumps and Bumps Passport/ stickers/ club support book and taught through Club Coach program. There is a cross over of skills at the end of Jumps and Bumps and beginning of Freestylerz that allows for variance in athlete skill development at different ages. Skill progressions and basic skills should not be skipped at any stage! It is not necessary to award medals at this stage – kids participate for fun and to learn and be with friends.

6. 2014 Jumps and Bumps
View all program guidelines, operating agreement, program reports cards etc. at freestyleski.com under the Freestyle Ski Programs menu. Click from the JB or Fz page to a form to order Can Free program materials including stickers, passports and wings badges. Note Jumps and Bumps starts with kids who are parallel skiers and take them up to spinning off of jumps. In 2013/14 CFSA id offering Can Free Program Materials at no charge for skiers with a current CFSA/PSO membership license – the Can Free 1 and 2 license is generally around $40. CFSA is piloting on-line program materials in 2014/15 and all clubs will move to on-line materials in 2015/16 season.

7. LEARN TO TRAIN Freestylerz Program Females 8-11 Males 9-12
“The Golden Age of Learning” for specific sport skills.
Fundamental movement skills are converted into fundamental sport skills.
Still important to practice general rather than specialized sport skills
Focus on practice over competition.
This is an important stage to acquire good basic acrobatic and skiing skills.
Athleticism is developed
The skills and benchmarks to be ideally accomplished in this stage are contained in Freestylerz Goal Book and taught through the Supercoach program. Explain that this is a tool to educate athletes and parents to understand the full skill set needed to be successful in Freestyle club competitions and continue to develop Physical Literacy. It is important that athletes and coaches use the book to set their personal goals as skill acquisition can vary widely by age, gender, and physical and emotional maturity.

8. FZ Program Support
Download the Freestylerz Program Guide and carefully review the new Freestylerz formats! CFSA has added more planning materials, and guidelines. Fz Competitions should be affordable, fun and give as much volume on snow as possible. CFSA with its PSO Team reccomends medals are not awarded for U12 athletes and results should not be emphasized, skill acquisition should be rewarded. The CFSA PSO Team and technical staff have created recommendations to run skill tests as part of the event package and will pilot Fz skills tests in 2014 season.

9. CanFree TEAM: Year Round Training Programs at Club and Regional Levels
TRAIN TO TRAIN
Females 11-15, Males 12-16
CanFree TEAM: Year Round Training Programs at Club and Regional Levels
Young athletes need to build:
aerobic base
consolidate their sport- specific skills.
Towards the end of the stage they need to focus on:
strength
anaerobic alactic energy system.
The TEAM Toolbox helps coaches create an annual plan and measure progress to help each athlete attain their long-term potential.
This stage covers a wide range of programming in the provinces from club up to provincial team depending on the province and their clubs. Currently within the Train to Train stage clubs, athletes and parents shift their focus to improving competitive performances which is not the primary focus when planning effective athelte development. While there is more time spent on developing competitive skills, athletes still have many athletic and freestyle skills to aquire and develop. Often young skiers in puberty struggle with mechanics and they change shape and size. Athletes who have an early growth spurt can race ahead and we “deselect” athletes who simply have not grown yet. It is important to allow athletes to mature physically and emotionally, and consolidate skills before they start performing “big” tricks. Coaches need to ensure athletes are becoming more self reliant and are learning to think critically. Competitions should still focus on developing skills, and providing a fun experience even though results start to matter for talent development purposes later in this stage. Stage objectives are achieved through well rounded physical, acrobatic and snow skills training.

10. YPI Phase Training Guidelines Team Scope and Training Priorities
TEAM TOOLBOX
CFSA has developed age & stage appropriate training tools and resources for the Can Free Team level athlete and their Coaches. See the guidelines below that will be helpful in creating year-round training plans.
Example YPI
YPI Phase Training Guidelines
Team Scope and Training Priorities
Physical Testing Protocols aligned with the High Performance Program
Performance Tracking Tool
Find simple dryland fitness tests, videos on how to run tests and a way to track these test results on line in the TEAM toolbox. CFSA will continue to add Key Performance indicators to measure athlete development at this stage. Also find yearly planning tools for coaches and other support resources to meet the needs of running a competitively focused program.
Physical Training Exercises Wiki
Technical Training Wiki
Check Your Coach Education Information
Nutrition Info for Coaches

11. LEARN AND TRAIN TO COMPETE
Females Males 16-23
Performance Programs
( National Development/Provincial & Institute Teams)
Athletes specialize in one discipline.
Athletes will train to solidify their discipline – specific and physical skills
These athletes are competing in national and international events
Athletes require integrated support from medical, strength and conditioning, psychological and technical experts
Athletes need to commit to high-volume and high-intensity training throughout the year. Instruction in topics such as nutrition, sport psychology, recovery and regeneration, injury prevention, and injury management becomes very important for athletes and coaches. Formal competition becomes more prominent in annual periodized training, planning for recovery, and includes major national and international events. Athletes will likely require support to meet their educational goals.
Train to Compete athletes are not the average community sport program participant. They are committed athletes with recognized talent who have chosen an elite pathway. It is becoming more common that in the Train to Compete level the athlete is supported to the Canadian Sport Centres and Institutes which means higher volume training and scientific support. Programs may choose to define themselves as L2C or T2C depending on their focus – defined stages may vary across Canada and with development of athletes within the program.

12. Academy / Institute & High Performance National Team
LEARN &TRAIN TO WIN
Females 18+ Males 19+
Academy / Institute & High Performance National Team
The final stage of the LTAD high-performance stream.
Full time athletes with identified talent pursue high-intensity training to win international events.
These athletes are performing on the World cup circuit all year and their training is revolved around tapering into and out of performance / Competitive PEAKS. At this stage the athlete is training as if it were a full time job, they are accountable to the program, their sponsors, their funders and themselves for PERFORMING. These programs are closely tied to the Canadian \sport Centres and travel about 10 months a year. Psychology of sport plays a bigger role in their training and competition planning, maintaining fitness levels is focused on more than developing –this is why development has to happen earlier in the athlete development pathway. It’s more about Performanes.

13. CAN FREESTYLE COACH PROGRAMS
Here is the overview of details of how coaches are trained and certified to coach Can Free programs. CFSA is very proud to be one of the first Canadian Sports to be fully updated in the new NCCP/LTAD based system. Coach program enquiries can be sent to For our athletes to develop the skills they need to be safe and successful – coaches need to be trained to support athletes to develop skills, and manage their athletes stage appropriate needs. They are trained to do this through CFSA/NCCP courses.

14. LTAD Best Practices
Check out how tennis and soccer have made adaptations to improve the athlete experience, and focus on skills mastery over High Performance style competition at the developmental stages. CFSA is also producing LTAD related videos – watch for them in the LTAD section of freestyleski.com. Find detailed LTAD information at activeforlife.ca