WMSC Staff 2012-2013
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(Click on name to view Bio) Management Staff |
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FIS Staff
SkiX StaffMasters StaffOffice Staff
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U12 Staff
U14 Staff
U16 Staff
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Nigel Loring – Executive Director
At the age of 12, Nigel started alpine skiing rather late when he went on a school ski trip to a local hill in Nova Scotia. Right away he was hooked and joined the local Wentworth Ski Racing club the following fall. At the age of 17 he moved to Rossland, BC to compete in FIS as a Red Mountain Racer. Committed to a career in coaching upon finishing racing, Nigel started working on his degree in Kinesiology in 1988.
Now, 24 years later Nigel brings a wealth of experience to the Whistler Mountain Ski Club having worked as a professional in the sport for a number of successful organizations. Most recently, Nigel ran the race program in Kimberley, BC. Prior to this he held the top job at Mt. Hood Meadows in Oregon for six years. He has also been the Director of Alpine for the Pacific Northwest Ski Assoc. (PNSA), Program Director at Sun Peaks, Ontario's National Capital Division and the NS Provincial Ski Team. Nigel holds a bachelors degree in Kinesiology from Dalhousie University, is a Level 3 coach, a Level 3 instructor, a US Technical Delegate and a board member for the Canadain Ski Coaches Federation.
Nigel is married with two children aged 12 and 15 all living in Whistler. Nigel’s wife Christiane is from Leysin, Switzerland where she managed the ski school office and has a background in tourism as well as hotel management. She is now serving as the administrator for the club’s biggest and longest running annual event, the Whistler Cup.
A firm believer in team building at every level, Nigel is continuously working with staff, club members, supporters and partners to deliver world class services and support to all our athletes and their families. Nigel is currently signed on with the club as Executive Director until the spring of 2013.
Rob Boyd -Sports Development Manager
Rob grew up in Vernon and moved with his family to Whistler at the age of 16. While growing up he rode and showed horses with his family from 1975 – 1981. Switching to a different form of transportation (and clearly feeling that need for speed) he raced motorcycles (cross country/enduro) from 1980 – 1984 and was sponsored by Suzuki and Honda. He graduated from Pemberton High in 1984 and completed the BCIT Venture program 2000.
Rob first started skiing at 2 yrs old on his Dad’s ski hill (Tillicum Valley) in Vernon. He raced Molson Molstar races at 9 and 10 years old at Tillicum, did a bit of skiing in the Nancy Greene Ski League (NGSL) and then progressed into “C” class racing at Silver Star. Rob raced with the Vernon Ski Club until he was 16yrs old, when, in 1982, he moved to Whistler with his family. Rob then qualified for BC Team where he spent three years before qualifying for the Canadian National team in 1985. He competed on the World Cup circuit with the National team until 1997 after which he raced on the professional Downhill circuit in US for 3 yrs.
Throughout his ski racing career Rob has had many highlights, but perhaps none more so than when he famously won the World Cup Downhill at Whistler in 1989. In all he had 3 World Cup downhill victories.
Val Gardena was special with 4 of his 6 podiums coming from there as well as a podium (3rd place) in Kitzbuhel in 1991.
Rob is a Level 3 CSCF senior coach and is working towards his Level 4 (two tasks away). He is also a CSIA Level 2. Although he called WMSC his home club while on the National team, he never actually skied with or was coached by the club. However, as this was his home town from the age of 16, Rob was keen to return the favor of support whenever he could – fund raisers, ladies days, etc. He formally joined WMSC for two seasons (2002-2004) as the K2 head coach from before heading off to coach for 6 years with the ladies speed National team where he worked with, among others, WMSC alumni Britt Janyk.
In 2003 Rob married Sherry Newstead and they now have two boys – Dylan 5, Evan 4. It was the desire to stay home with his family and settle in his Millars Pond home that was a deciding factor in Rob choosing to no longer coach at the National level, but instead work with the Club in developing all aspects of the racing program. When not skiing or looking after his boys, Rob likes to mountain bike, wind surf, rock climb and play the guitar. He's excited about returning to WMSC and is keen to pass on the many great gifts and lessons that this sport has offered and taught him over the years.
U12
Leslie Firstbrook - Head U12 Coach
Leslie was born in Toronto but has spent most of her life in Collingwood ON. She holds a strong passion for a variety of sports with her #1 being Alpine Skiing. A former Ontario team racer, Leslie, for the last 6 winter seasons has spent time coaching ages 14 and under. She is currently a certified performance level 3 coach and level 2 instructor. Her future goal is to complete her level 4 coaching certification, as she is committed to develop and strengthen her knowledge and qualifications.
Following her racing career, Leslie completed a Kinesiology and Phys Ed degree at Wilfrid Laurier University, and also holds a Sport Business Management graduate certificate.
Leslie describes herself as outgoing, athletic, and creative with a very strong work ethic. She is determined to making Alpine skiing a positive experience for all athletes. Leslie feels that sport and in particular, Alpine racing provides an excellent opportunity to teach important life lessons while developing skills.
Leslie is very excited about her move west and is looking forward to the upcoming season!
Sebastian Moes
Sebastian Moes started skiing at a very young age at Mount Seymour in Vancouver. In K1 Sebastian switched to Cypress ski club, then joined WMSC to race FIS in 2006, but got injured and missed two years of racing. Once recovered, Sebastian raced for two more years with Whistler then travelled to Sweden to go to a ski academy in Tärnaby, the hometown of skiing legends Ingemar Stenmark and Anja Paerson. Being an older student Sebastian became a de facto coach for many of the younger athletes and decided that coaching was the next logical step in his skiing career.
Sebastian has a level one certification from the Swedish Alpine Ski Federation and is very excited to bring a tans atlantic perspective to skiing, but more importantly, bring a ton of enthusiasm and fun.
Besides skiing, Sebastian enjoys pretty much all sports, anything that involves running around and having fun. When he isn't playing tennis with friends or playing soccer sundays, Sebastian attends Langara and is studying to get transfer credits to a university in Sweden in the next few years.
Aleisha Cline
Sammy Kent
Sammy grew up in Whitehorse in the Yukon and but first started skiing when he was 2 years old on trips to Whistler and Mt. Washington. When he was 6 years old the ski resort in Whitehorse opened and it was here and throughout Northern British Columbia that Sammy started racing. When he was 15 years old he traveled from the Yukon to race with the Vancouver Ski Team and after a year with them it was recommended that he move to Calgary. He raced with the National Alpine Training Center Ski Team for four years and graduated from the National Sport School in Calgary, AB.
A Level 1 coach, skiing has afforded Sammy some great experiences. He travelled to South America with a Japanese film crew to be a test skier for cameras and help to film the Canadian Men's Speed Team. In 2010 he had the amazing opportunity to be a forerunner for the Olympics Ski Cross races at Cypress as well as being the main ski tester for the Men and Women's Speed teams.
Home for Sammy is on snow, wherever he finds it. Sammy is currently attending the University of Victoria pursuing a degree in environmental and earth and ocean sciences. When he's not coaching, Sammy is a skier at heart but also loves to mountain bike, surf and adventure in our amazing country. As far as his talents, word has it he can drink water standing on his head. But a true magician never reveals all of his secrets (talents).
Sammy returns to Whistler for his third season at the WMSC, he is very excited to share his experiences and knowledge with the up and coming racers. While he is not an alumni of WMSC, he did nevertheless grow up racing with many of his great friends that came from WMSC. Sammy loves to laugh and smile, and having a great time with all aspects of his life is very important to him. He hopes that together this year everyone will learn a lot about racing and skiing and of course have a lot of fun at the same time.
Luke Hadley
Luke currently calls Whistler home, but in 2007-2010 he was living in Les Houches, a community in the Chamonix valley in France. Les Houches is the home of the Chamonix World Cup Downhill. He was coaching full-time in Europe for three years, and filled the gaps in the season by spending time in the backcountry of the European Alps, particularly around the Chamonix valley and surrounding area. He also spends time in the Coast Mountains of Canada, as well as playing music and recording with friends with similar musical interests.
Luke spent his childhood in Collingwood Ontario while frequently travelling to mountains in Europe and Western Canada to ski. He first skied on a visit to Whistler in 1986 at age 2. He began learning to race with his father (Dan) at age 5 and entered the Nancy Greene League at age 7 at Craigleith Ski Club in Ontario. He raced for two and half years at the FIS – J1/J2 Level at the National Ski Academy, Collingwood Ontario. He raced Pontiac Cup throughout the east of Canada and Eastern Cup in the U.S. with regular training experience in Europe and western Canada.
Luke is a Level 3 coach and a level 2 instructor. In 2006 he coached the 1st year WMSC FIS team with Jeff Hume, which was part of a larger training group coordinated by Jeff MacLennan and Jordan Williams. Luke was the head K2 coach at Cypress Mountain in 2011-2012, and was a K1 coach at WMSC in 2010-2011, so we welcome him back. He has an Ontario Secondary School Diploma w/ Honors from Jean Vanier Catholic High School and completed his 4th year B Comm. Management Economics at University of Guelph.
Luke is a musician and recording artist as well as an aspiring mountain guide. But skiing is his first love. He really loves skiing and ski racing and is looking forward to sharing his experience as well as learning from a new community of people involved in the sport.
U14
Jordan Williams - Head U14 coach
Jordan began skiing at the age of 5 years old on Mount Seymour’s “Goldie” rope-tow. He started racing with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club in the late 60’s. The BC Club Championships in Mt. Purden 1973 (where he won some Sunglasses), was a very memorable and inspiring event. Jordan had a great time racing - most of the courses and races he attended were incredible experiences and great highlights.
Coaching began for Jordan at WMSC. He has coached FIS, K2 and Masters Skiers for the Club and the Dave Murray Masters Camps. He is a fully certified Level 3 coach, Entry level course conductor and working towards his ‘Master Coach”. Some of Jordan’s coaching highlights have been:
-National Dev. Coach of the Year
-BC Alpine Coach of the Year
- Three tours to the famed Topilino Race series.
- Head or Assistant coach to many of the BC Team initiatives to national championships, Noram Finals and many Provincially organized Ski and Dryland Camps
-Assistant to Dusan Grasic for 3 years with the BC Ski Team.
-First coach of the BC Skicross Team
-Head Coach of the BC Men’ Ski Team
-Aided in the development of more than 10 Athletes from our club to the National Teams.
Though there may be many more experiences and achievements accomplished by Jordan, we know he is looking to develop and enhance many more opportunities for much more success in the racers for the future.
When he wasn’t training or racing Jordan attend Hillside Secondary School on the North Shore. Graduating from the Outdoor Recreation Management diploma program at Capilano College (as it was called at that time) helped him to gain new skills and perceptions that he applied to his Alpine Ski Coaching. At this time Jordan was driving a Pedi-Cab on the streets of Vancouver to earn cash and ski-legs, one of the toughest jobs that he ever had. His ‘Ritchie Montare’ was his vehicle at this time and it was “the Boss”, it went everywhere.
Jordan and his wife Audra have two children; sJett and his little sister Juliet. The Williams family is all very proud to call Whistler their home town and seem to have very full schedules with all the action and opportunities around here. Audra is now a Teacher’s Assistant at Spring Creek Elementary school.
Jordan will be heading up the U14 age group for this year and is very excited to lead this strong group into the 2013 season. Jordan will also be running the off-season fitness program as our ‘Summer Dryland Coordinator’. Jordan is excited to be working with this year’s U14 athletes whom he considers to be a strong, young group of experienced skiers who seem keen and able to endure and excel at anything Raul has thrown at them. The best advice he can muster for this crew is to prepare well for every pursuit and opportunity that occurs this summer and autumn. If you are striving to be a better athlete during the off-season you will be ready to ski. As Jordan puts it: “If you can take full advantage of every quest and experience you will be attaining your goals.”
Andreas Epp
Born into a family strongly committed to skiing and growing up in the heart of the Swiss Alps, it did not take a long time until the passion for snow and especially for skiing was ignited in Andy. He started skiing at the age of 3 in a little village called Andermatt and participated in his first competition at the age of 6. Until the age of 14, Andy spent most of his free time in different sport clubs (soccer, volleyball, athletics and of course in the ski club). This experience showed him how great the impact of sports can be regarding the values of friendship, individual responsibility and achieving personal goals. He hopes to share these core values with the athletes at WMSC.
After retiring from racing at the age of 18 and having performed for 4 years on the FIS level, he started his coaching education. This was the perfect opportunity to combine his passion for skiing with his talent to help athletes explore and push their limits. Andy holds a master degree in sports sciences with a minor in history from the University of Berne (Switzerland). Additionally, he has an upper secondary school teacher diploma and he is a certified coach in high performance sports (highest coach training program in Switzerland).
Overall, Andy has coached athletes on the FIS level for 3 years on a 100% workload. Additionally, he can look back on 6 years working with athletes on the U12 and U14 level as an assistance coach during his university studies.
Andy is very enthusiastic and hopes to become a valuable part of this famous ski club!
Jim Parsons
Jim grew up in Burnaby and Whistler and first started skiing at the age of 4. His racing career started at Mt Seymour at the age of 7. He ultimately raced for WMSC for 8 years, the highlight of which was winning the Bob Parsons memorial downhill, named after his father. At the conclusion of his racing career, Jim immediately got his Level 2 Instructor and Level 2 coach certifications and started coaching the Nancy Greene Ski League and K1s at Whistler and Blackcomb. After moving back to Vancouver, Jim took a few years off skiing and he was then drawn back into the sport in the late 1990s and has coached for the last 13 years. 4 years of this was spent coaching the FIS Vancouver Ski Team and other 9 years was spent coaching K2s at Grouse, Seymour and Cypress.
Jim’s family was one of the early families with the WMSC. Both of his parents were very involved with the club and his sister (Chris Leighton) is still involved in the office. Jim went to BCIT trade school and is a journeyman carpenter. He calls North Vancouver home, where he lives with his wife Suzanne and kids - Julian age 17 and Griffin age 12. When not skiing or coaching Jim works as a carpenter and enjoys a host of other sports.
Jenni Graham
Jenni joins WMSC this year with enthusiasm and determination to help the K1 racers achieve all their goals. Growing up on Vancouver Island, she first started skiing at 2. Racing at Mt. Washington took her to the Provincial Team. She says that skiing provided her with amazing life experiences and life long friendships. She has achieved her Level 1 coaching Certificate and this will be her first year coaching with Whistler.
Her degree in Human Kinetics with a minor in Psychology has kept her busy and in her spare time she loves to ski and ski tour. She calls Whistler home now and has lived here for 7 years.
U16
Jeff Maclennan - U16 Head Coach
Jeff first started skiing in his Mum and Dad’s back yard at the age of 5. Finding a place to race was a challenge as Jeff grew up in Sydney, Nova Scotia (Cape Breton Island). There was not a lot of races going on locally so he only got into some racing when he moved to BC and traveled internationally to work as a Ski Instructor. One of his most memorable childhood events was watching one of his heroes, Robbie Boyd, win the Whistler Downhill on T.V.
The highlights of Jeff’s ski career are on the coaching side. He has traveled the world demonstrating, competing and coaching. He’s coached all levels of skiing from entry level at the Club to the World Cup level. He has coached athletes who have had top ten World Cup results, made National and Olympic teams for Canada, Australia, N.Z. the first time and coached many athletes as they start out or continue on their ski racing careers. Along the way Jeff has done a fair amount of work with the C.S.C.F. helping to train and certify and mentor other coaches from all over the globe. He is a Level 3 coach and a Level 4 instructor.
Jeff first started with the WMSC in the summer of 2003 when he moved to Whistler. He was Assistant Coach on the K2 program working with a guy named Rob Boyd. After Rob left to work with the National Team, Jeff headed up the K2 program and then FIS before heading off to work with the Alberta and B.C. Provincial Teams. Four years later and he is excited to be back!
Jeff has 1 year of college and then a 22-year education on the mountains of the world. Home is now Whistler, where he lives with his wonderful wife Liss and 16-month-old daughter, Annabel. He claims he can hold his own in a kitchen, but this is yet to be confirmed by Liss! This summer he worked as a builder for R.D.C. Fine Homes and watched their new house being built at the new neighborhood, Rainbow.
Christine Kohls
Christine grew up in Ontario and started skiing when she was 3 years old. When she was 8 years old she joined the Training Squad program at the Toronto Ski Club. The highlight of her ski racing career was being the 1st overall female champion in University race series for 3 consecutive years.
Christine coached 6yrs in Ontario (Nancy Greene, Hershey and Masters). She joined the WMSC in 2003 and has coached K1, K2 and FIS. This will be her 8th year with the WMSC and 14th year coaching. Christine is a Level 3 coach and a Level 3 instructor.
Christine has a BA Kinesiology at University of Western Ontario. When not skiing she enjoys mountain biking, hiking, running, swimming, golfing, and cooking. Home is Pemberton and while she has no kids of my own, she points out that she has 40-50 kids she borrows every winter to brag about and call her own! This summer she coached the May and July summer camps and managed to get outside and enjoy the summer when she wasn’t working! When not coaching, Christine is a self-employed bookkeeper.
Hal Gunby
Hal Gunby aka "Halby" was born in Ontario in 1959. He started in the ski industry in 1974 and spent from 1977-1986 teaching and coaching in Europe. Since then Whistler has been home in the winters. Hal has worked for Whistler Blackcomb ski school since 1986 and WMSC since 2003. In addition, he gives courses for Canadian Ski Coaches Federation, just to keep him busy. Hal and his wife Nicole, their daughter Kiana (7) and son Kekoa (5) are fortunate to spend the summers in Maui where he teaches surfing and windsurfing. Hal says his biggest passion is the ski club and the continuous flow of motivated athletes.
Gabriela Pawlowski
Gabriela grew up in Vancouver, BC and started skiing when she was 4 years old.
She began in the Nancy Greene Program at Cypress Mountain at 6 and continued racing for Cypress right up to K2. She enjoyed skiing on the Vancouver ski team for 2 years. She has her CSCF Level 1 and CSIA Level 2 coaching certificates as well as a BA in Cognitive Systems from UBC. Gabriela has been coaching skiing now for a total of 7 years. Traveling the world with her family and skydiving on her 18th birthday are some of her best memories and when she is off the mountain she works for SFU and loves to swim, bike, rock climb, hike and travel. Gabriela calls North Vancouver her home now but still loves to visit her family in Krakow, Poland each year. She is eager to start with the kids this year and is looking forward to getting to know all of the kids!
Ken Doraty
Ken comes to WMSC equipped with lots of spirit and much experience. Originally from Ontario, he began skiing at Glen Abbey in Oakville at the age of 5. He raced around Southern Ontario in the Nancy Greene Ski League, and still holds the record for the “World’s Shortest Downhill” with a time of 8.89 seconds. “Can’t do much with only 36m of vertical”.
Growing up with a father who was a ski patroller , Ken had a lot of childhood skiing experiences while plugging their motorhome into Patrol Huts and getting to know ski mountains all over Ontario. He is a certified CSSCF Development Level Coach , CSIA L4, and has previously coached at the Petawawa Ski Club at the K1 and K2 levels. With an education in life, Ken joined the Canadian Forces in 1983, where he traveled the world on various deployments. He worked for 11 years with the Infantry bouncing between Petawawa and London, Ontario. In 1994 he reassigned to the Air Force as a Meteorologist where he was posted to Comox , BC and later to Victoria.
Retiring from this in 2003 brought Ken to Whistler.
Currently Ken spends his summers as a Mountain Bike Coach and Staff Trainer for the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and as a Course Conductor for the Professional Mountain Bike Instructors (PMBI) and also coaches Summer Gravity Camps. In his spare time in the winter he works as a Gap Year Instructor for the Whistler Blackcomb Ski School and is a Staff Trainer.
He is married to MaryAnn since 1989 and boasts 2 fantastic kids: Andrew, 17 and Caitlin, 11. With much to contribute he looks forward to working with the K2 kids and families.
Jack Evans
Jack was born in Windsor, England and moved to Canada in 2009. He first fell in love with skiing when he took his first family skiing trip to Piztal, Austria at the age of 9. He then started skiing for Hillingdon Race Club in Southern England at age 10, where he was coached by Austrian World Cup Ski Racers. One of the highlights of his career came when he competed in China for the Student Olympic Games, where he placed 19th in downhill. He also competed in Topolino where he placed 1st and 15th in his K2 years. He has a passion for skiing and is thrilled to be working in Whistler. He has competed at a high standard in FIS and retired from ski racing at the age of 18. He has a great understanding of what it means to be a ski racer and brings 10 years of experience to our club. Before joining WMSC, he coached with the White Water Race Club. On top of his Sport Performance Diploma from Loughborough College in the UK, Jack currently holds his Level 2 Ski Instructor and Level 1 Coach Certificates. He is keen to get started and cultivate a fun and competitive environment for our kids!
FIS
Ryan Jazic - FIS Head Coach
Ryan, the WMSC FIS head coach, first started skiing at the age of 2 at Rainbow Mountain, now the home of Whistler's newest subdivision. He started racing at an age too young to remember and raced with the Blackcomb ski club. He became a member of the BC Ski Team and earned a 2nd and 3rd place at the Canadian Junior Championships.
Ryan has a great depth of coaching experience. He is a Level 4 instructor and a Level 3 coach. He coached FIS with the Blackcomb ski club for 2 years and has also coached for the BC Ski Team (where he was the women's head coach), Alpine Canada and Mt. Washington. He has a Diploma in fire-fighting and graduated from the National Coaching Institute. He still lives year round in Whistler and when not skiing loves to play all sports.
Kayla Benbow
Although Kayla was born in Banff, she has lived in Whistler since she was 8 and still calls Whistler home. She comes from a very active ski racing family, and has two younger sisters who were both successful ski racers. Kendall came 2nd in Whistler Cup as a K2 and, according to Kayla, Brynne definitely kicks both their butts. Kayla's Dad John is a hard core weasel worker who started volunteering as a weasel long before his daughters had anything to do with ski racing. He also oversaw the move of the ski club cabin (learn about the history of the club cabin here), built the Garbo “Benbow” hut, and was the WMSC Alpine Chair for many years. Kayla's mom Kerri has been super involved with the Whistler Cup of years. As cheesy as it sounds, Kayla considers herself to be super lucky to come from such an amazing family!!!
Kayla first skied when she was 6 years old and progressed from J4 right the way through WMSC into FIS. Highlights from her years of ski racing include the FIS Speed events, especially Lake Louise. Today she still enjoys great friendships from her days of racing and particularly takes pleasure in watching old teammates race on the World Cup circuit. A Level 2 coach and a Level 2 instructor, Kayla has coached on and off for WMSC ever since she finished racing in the summer of 2003. She has worked with every level in the club, K1, K2, FIS and masters for at least a day.
Kayla has a BA in Psychology and sociology from UVIC and, when not skiing, enjoys crafts as well as playing soccer and volleyball. When not working for WMSC she runs the Big Brothers Big Sisters program for Whistler and Pemberton, teaches a Pre-Kindergarten class, and is a youth worker at the youth center in Millennium place. Over this past summer Kayla moved into a new place and started a couple new jobs. Needless to say, she's looking forward to getting back on snow.
JD Levine - FIS Coach
Started skiing at the age of 6 at Sir Sam's in Haliburton, Ontario before pursuing racing on the escarpment at Blue Mountain with Jozo Weider, the Toronto Ski Club and the National Ski Academy. Went on to complete a degree in Business Administration and Philosophy at Saint Michael's College in Vermont where I was a member of and senior captain of the NCAA division 1 ski team.
Striving towards gaining my certified level 2 coaching status and moving towards my level 3 coaching certification down the road. Looking forward to an exciting first season in Whistler with WMSC.
SKI X
Drew Hetherington - Head Ski X Coach
Drew grew up in Whistler and started skiing at a young age. He clearly had a natural talent for it as he went heli-skiing at the age of 6. He only raced for a short time with WMSC as the lure of a brand new skating rink at Meadow Park drew him away. However, he was soon back on the slopes and started coaching and instructing at the age of 16.
Drew is a Level 3 Instructor and a Level 2 coach. He also has his Level 1 Pipe and Park certification. Many of the club’s current FIS and K2 athletes first met Drew when he was a J4 coach. Drew coached J4 with Denis Ebacher for 4 years. In 2009 he joined WMSC as the BCSX and WMSC SX head coach. Drew continues to call Whistler home and when not coaching he works as a carpenter.
Richard Lovat - Ski X Coach
MASTERS
Tomio Fukumura
Tomio grew up in Vancouver and started skiing when he was 6. He learned to ski in Vancouver and didn’t race full time. He was always more interested in instructing and coaching rather than competing.
Tomio has now been coaching for over 15 years and has coached all levels of junior racers up to FIS. He was a co-proprietor and head coach of a ski school in Japan from ‘96-’07 and was an assistant coach on the Japanese Men’s National World Cup Slalom team. He joined WMSC as a coach in 2008. Tomio is a Level 3 instructor and a Level 1 coach.
Tomio has his professional chef certification from BCIT and was formerly a professional cook. He also has an International Business Certificate from Capilano University, and a B.A. Political Science from SFU. He is a 4th degree black in Kendo, loves to golf and speaks Japanese fluently. He now calls Whistler home where he lives with his wife Sachiko who is a 2 time former Olympian (’88 and ’92) with the Japanese National Alpine Ski team. They have two children Hilo (8) and Koa (5).
This season Tomio is returning to WMSC once again as the Masters Head Coach. During the summer he has travelled, studied, and tried to get his golf handicap down (but apparently to no avail).
Chris Leighton
Chris has a long history with WMSC having been a racer, coach, parent of a racer, board member and now office administrator. She comes from a family committed to skiing with her father, Bob Parsons, competing in alpine which at that time included nordic and jumping - there was even a jump hill at Seymour! Bob went on to found the Weasel Workers - the annual Parsons speed race is in his
memory. The family tradition continued with brother Jim joining the WMSC coaching staff as a K2 coach and Jim’s son Julian joining the WMSC FIS team in 2011.
Chris grew up in Burnaby and started skiing when she was 3 years old. She began racing in the Nancy Greene Ski League at Mt Seymour when she was 8 years old. Chris raced for Mt. Seymour until 1968, after which she joined WMSC. She skied for the Vancouver Ski Team from 1969 – 1973 (along with Dave Murray), the highlight of which was winning the Pontiac Cup overall speed title in 1972.
In 1974 Chris moved to Whistler. She coached the NGSL for WMSC in 1975/76 and then coached K2/FIS for the 1976/77 season, where Jordan Williams (current WMSC FIS coach) was one of the athletes!
Chris is married to Brian who currently works as a Safety Manager at Whistler Blackcomb. Chris and Brian have two children. Hardy, aged 29, skied for WMSC through K2 and now lives in Vancouver with his wife Amelia and son, Magnus! Alison, 26, also skied for WMSC, was a member of the BC ski team from 2003-2007 and was the overall Pontiac Cup winner in 2006. Alison graduated from Montana State University in June 2011 where she was on the ski team competing in NCAA Tier 1, and is now attending UBC Medical School.
Chris joined the WMSC Board member in 1994 and 1995, and started working in the office in 1996.
Christiane Loring
Although Whistler is now home, Christiane was raised in the Swiss French Alps overlooking Lake Geneva in a Swiss town called Leysin. She had fun growing up in this small town of 1500 people with a dad who was the local policeman! After graduating from high school she did an apprenticeship in Commerce and Marketing and earned her Certification in Tourism, hotel management and languages.
Christiane learned to ski (somewhat reluctantly) in Leysin after her family moved there from the city when she was 9. She admits she likely would never have skied had the town not made a move to have every child ski without exception. Having never raced (she’s always hated gates) she calls herself a Sunday skier who enjoys being outside and the view more than the sport itself.
Christiane met her future husband (and WMSC’s future Executive Director) Nigel when he came to work for her while she was managing the ski school in Leysin. She then followed him to Canada and then the States. Nigel and Christiane have two sons – Jonathan, 16, who was born in Kamloops and Thomas, 14, born in Halifax. When not helping out in the WMSC office or organizing the Whistler Cup, Christiane enjoys yoga, books and has a great appreciation for wines and foods! She really loves travelling, which is probably a good thing given the career choice of her husband!
