Youth Program Registration for 2024/25 will open on October 15, 2024.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Already bought your family membership this season? If you have already purchased your family membership before Oct 15th, please use the option “I am already a current member for 2024-2025 and just signing up for a program” to register your children for a program.

• Child is the only family member joining? If your child will be the only person in your family joining this season, please use the option “Youth Membership” or “Child Membership”, depending on their age, before proceeding to register for a program.

• Interested in the Seasonal Rental Option for Youth Program Participants? If your child is registered for a youth program this season, they can sign up for seasonal rental equipment. More about this program on each program page.

Youth Programs

The Golden Nordic Ski Club (GNSC) offers Skill Development Programs for youth ages 3 to 16 years. Our Bunnyrabbit, Jackrabbit, Track Attack (Nordic Cruisers or Nordic Racers), and Junior Race Programs offer a fun and active way for your kids to enjoy cross-country skiing with our fully qualified and certified NCCP coaches.

The GNSC is always looking for volunteer coaches! Please see the Coaches tab on our website for more information on how to become a coach. Please, contact programcoordinator@goldennordicclub.ca if you are interested. The Golden Nordic Ski Club will pay for your training if you volunteer for the entire season. Benefits for coaching: the joy of skiing with the youth, providing learning experiences in a life-long sport, eligibility for the following year’s volunteer membership discount, and an honorarium after volunteering for the season (or an individual membership for the following year). We cannot run the youth programs without our volunteer coaches. Please consider joining the coaches team this season so that the children can get out and have a great time developing skills, meeting new friends, gaining confidence, building fitness, and getting a start on a lifelong sport.

Why Cross Country Skiing?

Our Bunnyrabbits, Jackrabbits, Track Attack (Nordic Cruisers and Nordic Racers), and Junior Race Program offer a fun way for your kids to get out in the snow with our fully qualified and NCCP certified coaches. Your kids will learn essential ski techniques, critical coordination, and balance skills through games and challenges, while developing a love for being on their skis! They will also love to be outside and active in the winter environment, putting them on the right path for a healthy lifestyle. Most importantly they will have, hopefully, a lot of FUN!

Cross-country skiing is great fun and offers great affordability. It is a low impact, low risk outdoor winter sport and is truly a “sport for life”. At a basic level, it is a sport that is easily learned, with “no boundaries” for age, gender or fitness level. At the highest level of competition, its mastery demands exceptional skills and fitness.

Why the Golden Nordic Ski Club?

GNSC’s trail system is a premier cross-country skiing destination just twenty minutes from downtown Golden!
Our facilities include a log-built Chalet which provides a warm, comfortable and safe base for the participants of all our programs.
Our team of youth coaches have all been trained to the standards set by the Skills Development program of Nordiq Canada to set your child on the right track and keep them on it! Our programs are affordable and offer exceptional value.

Programs

All our programs run on-snow from December (Jackrabbits, Track Attack) and January (Bunnyrabbits start then) until Spring Break. The program fee includes all coaching plus registration in the GNSC Huckleberry Loppet.

COLD WEATHER POLICY

Our threshold for cancellation of a program is -15C. A number of factors will play into this decision such as wind, sun, snow, etc. We will inform parents the day before. Expect at least one or two cold weather days through the season.

Wait List

There are limits to the number of children who can be registered in each program based on coach availability and adhering to the 1:8 Coach-to-Athlete ratio recommended by CCBC. If the program is already full, please place your child on the wait list by emailing: programcoordinator@goldennordicclub.ca And then we will do our best to find more certified coaches to help with our programs.

Financial Assistance

If a family needs financial assistance in order to participate, they can apply for KidSport by filling out the online application. Select BC Provincial Office as your community chapter. Also, they could complete a paper application and send it into their office: Katelynn Ramage at kidsport@sportbc.com. They can provide grants up to $400 per child, per calendar year towards registration fees.

Skill Development Programs for each age group:

Ski Rentals Program

*** Children must be a participant of our Bunnies/Jackrabbits/Track Attack Program, or Race Program***

To keep cross-country skiing affordable for families, GNSC has a fleet of rental skis, boots, and poles that are available to rent for the whole season. GNSC is unable to guarantee the availability of rental equipment for all participants.

Huckleberry Loppet

The Huckleberry Loppet will be February, 8-9, 2025. All children registered in GNSC youth programs will participate at no extra charge. Wednesday coaches will be asking their skiers whether they would like to participate in the loppet. Saturday youth programs will participate as part of their sessions.

Parent/Guardian Involvement

Our youth program is entirely dependent on volunteers. Volunteers are needed for coaching, tail guiding, lodge sitting, and many other duties. All parents of the Bunnyrabbits age children must accompany the program (on skis) for the full hour to help the coach and your child. We require that no coach is alone with their group. So each week a parent must ski with the group. The coach will organize this and have a parent each week with the group. The hours that each parent assists the group can be hours put towards their volunteer club membership rate.

Notes:

** Skill Levels – GNSC will do its best to put your child in the suitable level group based on age, ability, and coach availability. When registering please let us know what level your child has already achieved in the program, whether they are new to the program, or continuing to the next age category. The categorization of kids in suitable levels is at the discretion of the program coordinator and coaches.

** In addition to the program fee, registrants are required to pay the $21.00 Cross Country BC & Nordiq Canada memberships fee which provides liability coverage for the participant and GNSC. This will be calculated on Zone 4.

If you have any further questions please email the Program Coordinator

Additional programs are available through the Schools and Special Olympics