Former Interschools competitor and now Olympic Champion, Torah Bright. Image - Dan Himbrechts

The Interschools program has nurtured the likes of Brittney Cox and Ramone Cooper (moguls), Jono Brauer (alpine skiing) Katya Crema and Scott Kneller (ski cross) and Australia's Olympic Champion Torah Bright.

And it has done so by providing both a field for every enthusiastic participant to have a go and experience sports that have minimal competitive opportunity in Australia, as well as being an avenue for the identification and promotion of kids with the potential to be champions.

15 year old Brittney Cox, Australia's youngest Winter Olympian for 50 years, still competes in Interschools. "The competition opportunities for Britteny were pretty much all interschools until she was older and able to participate in the larger events such as the Abom and the Australian Freestyle Mogul Championships," Brittney's Fater Grahame Cox explains.

"Without that exposure to Interschools at the grass roots level any of the athletes hoping to progress through the national pathway face some big challenges," he says.

Scott Kneller racing in the Olympic ski cross. Image - Getty Images

Inclusiveness is encouraging in Interschools

Inclusiveness makes the Interschools a particularly good arena for young snow sports athletes. The events, which combined are the largest sporting event by competitor number in the Southern Hemisphere, possibly the world, says NSW Interschools CEO Steve Cooper, are open to anyone, regardless of ability. Students can race individually, but most race in teams for their school, the team aspect is an encouraging way to get kids to enjoy what can otherwise be a very solitary sport.

This grassroots encouragement can have a strong follow on effect. "The Interschools competition results are utilised by a range of State and National organisations to initially identify potential champions of the future," Says Cooper, who is the father of Olympian Ramone Cooper. "These groups track athletes over many years as they progress, and the athlete families use those results to evidence applications for entry into development programs."

"Interschools is definitely a great start for kids to see what racing is about," says Olympic alpine skier and former Interschools participant Jono Brauer, who has also coached Interschools kids. "Pursuing ski racing can be a costly idea to entertain so getting a taste for it before wholly committing to a full season in the race club is definitely a positive for the kids and parents alike."

Scott James, Olympian and Interschools competitor

Brauer believes the schools now need to take devote more time and resources to snow sports in order to follow through with what the Interschools is doing for skiing and snowboarding.

"If Interschools racing is going to continue to grow not only in numbers but in quality of athletes then the schools need to implement programs where their athletes can train and grow as athletes. If you were to compare say a Sydney private school rowing program to their ski program you will see that the one or two weeks of training offered (often organised by the parents) before the events is miniscule in comparison," Brauer says.

With the amazing performances coming out of Vancouver, hopefully both kids and their schools will be inspired to spur on the growth of snow sports in Australia.

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tags: olympic, feature, features, interschools, scott, james, kneller, torah, bright, jono, brauer, ramone, cooper, skiing, snowboarding

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