“Being a coach is the best way to share my love of snowboarding with other riders,” affirms Beaver Valley’s snowboard coach Cam Farrell.
Three years ago Cam made the move to Beaver Valley Ski Club in Markdale Ontario, where he has taken over as Head Snowboard Race Coach. As a member of the Beaver Valley team Cam coaches athletes of all levels, from grassroots to high performance. Cam enjoys the opportunities he has had to work with “great staff and provincial organizations as well as great athletes and parents who love snowboarding and have dedicated their valuable time to having fun on the hill.”
In the three years Cam has been coaching at Beaver Valley, he has increased the number of team members from five to twenty-two. He has also had success in growing the adult program. In Addition, Cam is a learning facilitator with the Canadian Snowboard Federation for their Basic Coach Course.
Coaches like Cam are an integral part of their sport, not only in the development of their athletes, but of other coaches as well. Cam enjoys sharing his knowledge of snowboarding, not only as a course facilitator, but at the races and events he attends. As a coach he strives to ensure that all competitions are catering to the needs of everyone involved. Cam participates in the educating of Resort Park and Operations Staff in the building of Snowboard race tracks. Cam’s role also extends to his mentoring of eight race and freestyle coaches as well as overseeing Giant Slalom, Parallel Giant Slalom and Boardercross events where he works with race officials and volunteers.
Cam is enthusiastically working with a large group of young riders who are just getting into speed events, “seeing riders at the grassroots level is really fulfilling for me.” He is also working with the Adult Race Team of riders who use snowboarding to stay active, “I am proud to see grandparents having a lot of fun on a snowboard. It really makes me happy to see riders of all abilities falling in love with a sport that I have dedicated a large part of my life to.”
In the foreseeable future, Cam’s goals include building the Beaver Valley team into one of the top development teams in the country as well as to introduce young riders to Alpine snowboard race equipment and boardercross.
