To get to know Andrea, the Program Director, our team decided to do a Q&A!

• Years of coaching experience? 25 years - yikes! It makes me feel old.
• Favourite colour? Green
• Favourite breakfast? Red lentil porridge with hummus, grape tomatoes and flax seeds crackers.
• Best mountain/place you've gone skiing? Sansicario, Italy
• What brought you to coach within the alpine ski racing community? The desire to offer what wasn't offered.
• What does an ideal ski day look like for you? Catching first chair, feeling the brisk air following a clear night, enjoying the sunshine at the mountain top and sending it! Oh, a good lunch in a mountain hut. :)
• If you could switch coaching roles for one day with any other Tyee coach, who would you switch with? Ryan Patience, because U14s don't overthink it yet and they tend to listen (at least in my experience).
• How do you know when you’ve delivered an on-snow coaching session of high quality? When athletes are engaged, motivated, embrace the challenges and gradually show improvement.
• If you could give only one piece of advice to your athletes for the rest of your coaching career, what would tell them? Ski a lot! I mean A LOT! And never think you know enough, stay curious.
• Highlight of your career as an athlete? / What sports did you compete in? Alpine skiing. Highlight was winning a SG race in which I crashed 2 years prior, and becoming a ski instructor.
• If you weren't coaching alpine ski racers, what sport would you coach? Rock climbing
• Describe Grouse Tyee in one word, from what you've experienced so far. Friendship