Coaching Resources for Athlete Development
Nordiq Canada is proud to provide the development tools coaches need to create lifelong skiers and future world champions. In addition to pathway benchmarks and development standards, you have access to thousands of activities, videos, tutorials, testing protocols and more. You can even borrow equipment.
Our Athlete Development Matrix
The Athlete Development Matrix provides guidance on how to build performance factors at every stage of development. It includes specific benchmarks and standards, as well as additional resources.
The Matrix also includes recommendations for additional factors affecting performance, such as the supporting role of parents, good coaching, balance with academics and/or part-time work, financial considerations, accessible training facilities and equipment.
Ski Playground
Nordiq Canada, Biathlon Canada, Nordic Combined Ski Canada, and Ski Jumping Canada have created the nordic snowsports ski playground where aspiring young athletes from all the nordic sports can develop and learn common skills together. The following resources are intended to be used anywhere there is snow and a bit of space, adaptable to your local surroundings, needs and imagination.
- Ski Playground
- Ski Playground Drill Appendix
- Ski Playground posters 8.5×11
- Ski Playground Posters 11×14
As coaches, instructors, learning facilitators, etc., the key is to let the environment teach. Set up the challenges so that young skiers are challenged to explore and discover the possibilities. The information contained in the following document is intended to help coaches cue in on key developmental benchmarks and to adapt the challenges and environment to bring these forward, not to have the skiers think or become self-conscious of “doing it right”. The environment will do the teaching. So step back, ensure that the space is safe, encourage exploration and watch the skiers progress!
XC Ski Nation
XC Ski Nation is your online nordic ski school. Mostly a members-only platform, XC Ski Nation partners with Nordiq Canada to offer videos, courses and drills to help you and your athletes ski faster. Sample topics include:
- Biomechanics for performance and injury prevention
- Expert demos of all techniques
- Roller skiing drills and advice
- On snow drills and lessons for skiers of all levels
- Member-only forum
Non-members can access some Open Access videos, like tutorials of kids’ games.
Nordiq Canada licensed coaches receive a 10% discount on a one-year membership. Sign-up details are provided in a confirmation email after registering for your Nordiq Canada Coaching Licence.
Dryland Training and Testing
Dryland Training and Testing
The Athlete Development Matrix and XC Ski Nation include many dryland resources. Be sure to check the Document Centre for Run-Jump-Pull testing and roller ski resources.
Run-Jump-Pull is a very simple set of dryland tests to measure athlete fitness. The program gives athletes a set of straightforward goals to work to improve.
Roller sking is fantastic sport-specific training for the off-season. Rollerski training can be introduced as early as Learning to Train (9-12 years).
Learning to Train (9-12 years old)
Roller skiing can be introduced at the end of this stage.
Training to Train Part 1 (12-14 years old)
Introduce athletes to roller skiing (skating to start with) by the beginning of this stage and give them enough opportunities to develop and refine their ski-specific skills in the off-season.
Training to Train Part 2 (14-16 years old)
In addition to ski striding, athletes are significantly increasing their time on roller skis during the off-season.
Learning to Compete (16-20 years old)
By now, athletes will need to roller ski a few times per week throughout the off-season and progressively increase training volume throughout the stage. By the end of the Learning to Compete stage, athletes should have acquired a High Performance level of technical skills at high intensity in all conditions.
Free Equipment Fleet
Nordiq Canada has purchased and will ship 50 pairs of SWENOR skate roller skis anywhere in the country for standardized testing and sanctioned roller ski events.
Visit the Document Centre for more on roller skiing, including an equipment guide, event technical package and ski fleet rental agreement.