VANCOUVER, BC (Friday Oct. 21, 2022) – Former World Cup medallist Emily Brydon, of Fernie, B.C., joins the BC Alpine Board of Directors, adding to the stability of the provincial ski association. The winner of 9 World Cup medals, the Fernie executive looks to “give back to the ski community”
Brydon, 42, a three-time Olympian (Salt Lake City 2002, Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010) is also a 10-year executive with bp. In addition to her role with BP as Integration Lead for the global bp Pulse EV business , she is heavily invested in the ski community in BC. Brydon created the Emily Brydon Youth Foundation “in support of youth and empowering and enabling them to achieve their dreams and goals through sport, education and the arts”.
The program has raised over $1.5M to date – with an endowment of $1.1m and with an impressive ~ $700,000 investment back into the community, positively impacting youth across a multitude of activities, including ski racing in the Elk Valley.
Brydon joins an experienced Board of Directors, with representation across the province. “I am keen to give back to the organization and community who have given me so much,” she said.
Emily joined the BC Alpine Strategic Planning Committee over the past few months, joining a diverse group who have been tasked with producing a five-year Strategic Plan for the association.
“We’re keen to have more of Emily’s input into the direction of ski racing in the province, to get her insight and perspective will be exciting,” said Johnny Crichton, BC Alpine VP Athletics.
BC Alpine Board of Directors (2022-23)
Graham Cope, Chair
Gordie Bowles, Vice President, Finance
Emily Brydon, Vice President, Athletics
Mike Giannelli, Secretary/Treasurer
Murray Smith, Okanagan Zone Chair
Catherine Grant, Coast Zone Chair
Gord Reese, Kootenay Zone Chair
Phil Bernier, North Zone Chair
About BC Alpine Ski Association
VISION: To inspire skiers for life and develop world-class athletes.
MISSION: To lead and govern the sport of Alpine Ski Racing in BC, to provide leadership and structure for our clubs to deliver high quality, sustainable and affordable programming and to communicate the competitive, recreational and lifestyle benefits of ski racing to the community.
Rally Together (comprised of the Sport Participation and Sport Volunteer Grants) was developed to provide one-time recovery funding for amateur sport organizations that have seen a decrease in membership and volunteerism due to COVID-19. This fund will help B.C.’s amateur sport system continue to provide opportunities for sport development and recovery as well as the significant community and economic benefits. The Rally Together Fund has a total funding envelope of $4M and is supported by the Province of B.C. and administered through viaSport British Columbia.
The $2M Rally Together Sport Participation Grant helps organizations build their participant numbers – to recruit players, athletes and participants of all ages, and to offer more inclusive and accessible program options so that more British Columbians can play. It’s time to rally together through programs and activities that encourage all British Columbians to participate!
Who Can Apply?
Recognized, Accredited or Affiliated Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs)
Recognized or Accredited Disability Sport Organizations (DSOs)
Recognized Multi-Sport Organizations
Non-profit local sport organizations (LSOs) that are members of eligible provincial or disability sport organizations
All eligible organizations will need to show a 20% loss in their membership due to the impacts of COVID-19.
Provincial and disability sport organizations that don’t meet the membership loss threshold will be able to apply for special consideration if they can express how their organization meets the intent of the grant (i.e. there was a decline in sport participation in their sport but it is not reflected in the annually reported membership data and can be explained).
How to apply
Applications for funding will only be accepted ONLINE. Please complete the online application form at this link
Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. PT on November 4, 2022.
If you wish to discuss your proposal and its eligibility prior to submitting an application, please contact us at grants@viasport.ca. All program activites must be completed and funding expended before January 15, 2024. Final reports are due one month after program completion and no later than February 15, 2024.
With the spectacular backdrop of the Sun Peaks Grand Hotel & Conference Centre and the legendary ski coach rock band “The Batterheads” belting out some great tunes – such as Reno and I Fought the Law – BC Alpine presented 26 awards to deserving recipients (see full listing below) in the categories athlete bursaries and awards for coaches, volunteers, officials, resorts, events and clubs.
The BC Alpine Summit Meetings – the first in-person provincial meetings in three years – were a smashing success, with representation from all zones, clubs and all levels of ski racing in B.C. The four-day meetings included presentations from BC Alpine staff and coaches, Allison Forsyth on the topic of Safe Sport, a Risk Management presentation by Steve Harris of Alpine Canada, a new Fitness Combine (physical testing & benchmarking) program presented by Jenni Stilow, also of Alpine Canada, and many others. All presentations can be found here.
The meetings concluded with the AGM, which saw the appointment of three-time Olympian Emily Brydon, of Fernie, BC, who was elected to the VP Athletics role on the Board of Directors. Murray Smith, also a former World Cup skier, was appointed to the role of Okanagan Zone Chair, while Graham Cope was elected to BC Alpine Board Chair position, replacing Hugh MacNaught, who was the Board Chair since 2013.
“We send Hugh off with a heartfelt thank you for all that he has done, not just for BC Alpine, but in representing the provinces on the PTSO Board for so many years. Job well done Hugh!”
Anders Hestdalen, BC Alpine CEO
See below for a complete listing of awards and bursaries.
Hugh MacNaught, Long Term President’s Award
Rod Timm, Hustler Award
Leslie Firstbrook, Train to Train Coach of the Year
Diana Veitch, Okanagan Zone Volunteer of the Year
Catherine Grant, Coast Zone Volunteer of the Year
Ben Cohen, Head Coach of the Year
ATHLETE BURSARIES AND AWARDS
Dave Murray Ski Foundation Bursary – $750 Heming Sola, BC Ski Team/Okanagan Ski Team/Apex Ski Club
Dave Murray Ski Foundation Bursary – $750 Jasmine Coubrough, Okanagan Ski Team /Vernon Ski Club
Bob Parsons Memorial Fund Bursary – $1,000 Molly Raymond, Okanagan Ski Team /Apex Ski Club
Bob Parsons Memorial Fund Bursary – $1,000 Finley Cashin, Okanagan Ski Team /Big White Ski Club
Ski Canada Bursary – $500 Roxy Coatesworth, Black Dogs Ski Club/Golden Kicking Horse Alpine Team
Ski Canada Bursary – $500 Tylee Carr, Vernon Ski Club
Cary Mullen Sportsmanship Award Takoda Ito, Okanagan Ski Team/Big White Ski Club
Cary Mullen Sportsmanship Award Brooke Irish, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club
COACH AWARDS
Learn/Train to Train Coach of the Year Leslie Firstbrook, Smithers Ski and Snowboard Club
U16 Coach of the Year Andrew Lambert, Vernon Ski Club
FIS Coach of the Year Samantha Fournier, Okanagan Ski Team
Head Coach of the Year Ben Cohen, Kimberley Alpine Team
Team of the Year Kimberley Alpine Team
Hustler of the Year Rod Timm, Fernie Alpine Ski Team
VOLUNTEER/OFFICIALS AWARDS
Coast Zone Volunteer/Official of the Year Catherine Grant, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club
Kootenay Zone Volunteer/Official of the Year Steven Koles, Fernie Alpine Ski Team
North Zone Volunteer/Official of the Year Ben Weinstein, Smithers Ski and Snowboard Club
Okanagan Zone Volunteer/Official of the Year Dave and Diana Veitch, Big White Ski Club
Moira Jaatteenmaki Officials’ Award Rob Tupper, Vernon Ski Club
Volunteer of the Year Gerry Whittaker, Big White Ski Club
EVENT/RESORT/CLUB/PRESIDENT AWARDS
Event of the Year Whistler BC Cup Speed Series, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Mountain Resort of the Year Apex Mountain Resort
Mountain Resort of the Year Kimberley Alpine Resort
Club Development of the Year Smithers Ski & Snowboard Club
Long Term President’s Award Doug Jevning, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Long Term President’s Award Hugh MacNaught, BC Alpine Ski Association
The Canadian Olympic Foundation and Alpine Canada announced today a gift of $1.3 million dollars from Tim Dattels, Chair of the Board of Alpine Canada. This donation represents the largest personal philanthropic gift towards alpine ski racing in Canadian history, and will support Canadian alpine, para-alpine and ski cross athletes.
Dattels is a Partner at the global investment firm TPG and served as Managing Partner of TPG Asia. Prior to joining TPG in 2004, he served as a Partner and Managing Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Dattels was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to represent Canada on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council. He also serves as Chairman of The Jackson Laboratory and is the Founding Trustee of the Kingfisher Foundation.
“I am proud to support our world class athletes by lessening the financial burden to compete,” said Dattels. “Philanthropy is essential to the success of ski racing in Canada, and the importance of donations cannot be overstated.”
After a successful workshop last month on complaint management, ViaSport is inviting BC Alpine members to continue building your comfort-level with handling potential conflicts in sport. This upcoming training session will introduce sport leaders to mediation as part of your organization’s toolkit for safer sport.
Join us for safe sport workshop #5 on Thursday, October 13 at 1 p.m.
More details to follow, but you can register early here. Also, more on ViaSport Safe Sport program here.
