Canmore, AB – The Alberta World Cup Academy is pleased to welcome Chris Jeffries to the coaching team as the 2010/2011 season begins. Chris will join Racing Director Mike Cavaliere and assistant coach Eric Groeneveld to provide the highest level of support to the team.
Chris replaces Christian Flury, who is returning to his native Switzerland to take up the position of Head Coach of the Swiss national women’s team following a highly successful one-year term with the Academy.
Chris brings exceptional credentials to the Academy. As an athlete he represented Canada on the Canadian Ski Team for 10 years, competing at 4 World Championships, numerous World Cups and the 2006 Winter Olympics. Since 2008 Chris has been the Head Coach of Foothills Nordic Ski Club – one of the most successful club teams in Canadian cross-country history – and his term with the club included two Canadian Club Champion titles. Chris’ experience, which includes coaching at the 2009 World Junior Championships, will be of great value to the Academy athletes as they prepare to represent Canada internationally this winter.
“I’m very excited to join a program as successful as the Academy,” says new coach Chris Jeffries. “I’ve worked extensively with Mike as an athlete and assistance coach in the past, and the opportunity to do so again as a developing coach is unique; as is the opportunity to work with the caliber of athletes we’ll have on the team.”
Assistant coach Eric Groeneveld will also see an expanded job description in the coming season, his second with the team. Eric, who joined the Academy last season as a part time apprentice coach, will be engaged full time in support of team training programs and logistics. A Canmore native who has spent his life around skiing, Eric began coaching after a successful junior competitive career. He brings an enthusiastic approach to his coaching work and will again look to learn from his experienced colleagues.
“We enter this season with much more stability than in our first two years, and I am very confident in the ability of our coaching team to provide elite level support to our athletes,” says Racing Director Mike Cavaliere. “The Academy is not just about athlete development; we also strive to develop more and better prepared coaches. With Chris and Eric we have an opportunity to create the future leaders of the Canadian coaching community,” he adds.
Chris will relocate from Calgary to Canmore to join the Academy beginning June 1st. The athletes named to the Academy team for the 2010/2011 season will be announced in the coming weeks. The team’s first camp runs from May 10th to 16th in Silver Star, BC.
The Alberta World Cup Academy was founded on the legacy of successful 2005 and 2008 Alberta World Cup events, to support Alberta and Canada’s path to international excellence in the sport of cross-country skiing. The result of committed volunteers within the Alberta World Cup Society, in 2010 the Academy becomes part of Cross Country Canada’s National Development Centre system as an official component of Canada’s high performance development system. More information on the Academy is available at www.albertaworldcup.com.
