by John Cameron, March 20, 2023

Sixteen cross country ski instructors travelled from across Nova Scotia to North Highlands Nordic in Cape North for an amazing weekend of coaching development with Stephen Novosad, Nordiq Canada’s manager of coach development, on March 10-13, 2023. 

Stephen brought an infectious energy to the camp along with incredible knowledge of ski technique. The camp focused on technique instruction for the instructors and we all worked together to find ways to help each other improve our technique. Everyone came away with big new insights about technique and approaches to coaching. We all stayed and ate at the Highlands Hostel and used that down time together to plan next steps for coach and instructor development in Nova Scotia. We also enjoyed live fiddling on Saturday night and many of us raced in the North Highlands Nordic Loppet on Sunday afternoon. 

Stay tuned for more coach development camps with Stephen Novosad – including a Maritimes camp in August, a fall camp, and another on-snow camp next winter. 

Participant Quotes

All the participants raved about Stephen’s knowledge and enthusiasm and how much their ski and coach skills improved:

“I now feel more confident as a coach and skier. Stephen [Novosad] is a first class coach, skier and person.”

“I loved having a professional coach and so many other supportive Nova Scotia skiers offer kind, helpful and supportive comments about ways to improve my own skiing technique.  What a lovely group of people!  I am inspired by the ski coaching community and want to do more to support the development of young skiers in Nova Scotia.”

“What an amazing experience!  The opportunity to connect and share with other coaches from across the province was invaluable.  Stephen Novosad had a stunning amount of knowledge, and was able to convey it clearly and efficiently.  I feel like my skiing improved 200 percent, during this action-packed weekend!”

“Coaches on the East Coast have been starving to learn from someone with Stephen‘s knowledge, skills, and experience for a long, long time, and he did not disappoint. Grassroots skier development, for both youth and adults, is critical to growing Nordic skiing in the Maritimes and Stephen helped us develop the community of competent, confident, and committed coaches to make it happen.”

Interested in Becoming an Instructor?

If you are interested in becoming a cross-country ski instructor or further developing your skills as an instructor/coach, contact David Hubley: davidhubley@icloud.com.

Photos

Stephen Novosad (red hat) instructs participants on-snow at North Highlands Nordic in Cape North, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The course participants stayed at the Highlands Hostel (photographed bottom right), which is one kilometer from the nordic centre.

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