The Free Mountain Snowboard Team is gearing up for its third season in Jasper with an orientation day on Dec. 18 at Marmot Basin.

The program is aimed at making high-level snowboard coaching accessible at a reasonable cost, helping young riders develop their talents both on and off the mountain.

“It shapes their lives,” said organizer Sean MacCarron. “Parents have actually given me feedback saying how organized their kids are and how they’re going to bed early because they have snowboarding the next day.”

MacCarron, who has coached snowboarding for decades, founded the program after arriving in Jasper four seasons ago and finding that there was no organized snowboard program here at the time.

“So the need was there,” he said. “At that point I was coaching U.S. athletes on the pro tour and the World Cup, prior to arriving in Jasper.”

Last year’s program included roughly a dozen participants in two groups, and this year MacCarron is hoping to have three or four groups. He said there are never more than seven kids in a group, to maximize the amount of time they each get with coaches.

“If we have enough interest then hopefully the program will go for 12 weeks this season,” MacCarron said.

The full training program won’t begin until late January, he added, but the Dec. 18 orientation is a chance for kids and parents to come and find out what it’s all about. Participants are expected to have basic snowboarding skills – including being able to get on and off the lifts and make turns on both edges – and for a cost of $25 they will be able to spend most of the day with coaches trained by the Canadian Snowboard Federation.

“They’re going to ride with professional coaches for four hours,” MacCarron said. “The idea is to give them pointers so they have a  month to practise before the training begins in the third week of January.”

The cost for the program itself will be less than $500, he added, and is deliberately kept at that level because of the availability of offsetting income tax incentives.

“In the province of Alberta you can deduct $500 if you put your kid in professional coaching,” MacCarron said.

Training takes place on Sundays and coaches take kids through a variety of different types of riding environments, both inside and outside the terrain park.

“It’s called a freestyle/freeride program so the focus is on all-mountain riding and the development of freestyle skills,”MacCarron said. “We don’t spend all day in the park.”

The program is aimed at kids aged 10 to 15. The orientation will begin at 10 a.m. on Dec. 18, with coaches and kids gathering on the deck of the lower chalet at Marmot Basin.

For more information, call MacCarron at 780-883-0785.