Youth Development

Entering its third year, PCSShredders is our signature Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) twelve-week program aimed at 7-10 year old skiers and riders offering them an opportunity to explore multiple winter sports and local venues including the iconic Utah Olympic Park, Woodward Park City and Park City Mountain. PCSShredders get to sample the best that we have to offer in four discipline specific modules where athletes focus on the fundamentals and techniques in alpine, nordic ski jumping, cross country skiing, and freestyle/freeski. The focus of the program is to introduce athletes to unique and challenging on-snow environments with an emphasis on skill building, collaboration, positive feedback and fun. Participants may also elect a twelve-week snowboarding module, held at Woodward Park City, as an add on or stand-alone program. Part of the magic and success of the Shredders Program is that we pair each discipline with an Olympian to inspire and mentor the young athletes. In 2021, Olympians Erik Schlopy (alpine) and Shannon Bahrke (freestyle) participated as mentors. This past season, Bill Demong, Olympic Gold Medalist in nordic combined coached the nordic sessions.  

For the 2020/21 season, we had a total of twenty-five participants in the program. In 2021/22 we increased the program to 50 participants thirteen of whom were on full scholarship from the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation (UOLF) and qualified for free and reduced lunch with the Park City School District. All but one of the participants identified themselves as part of the Latinx community.  Our goal is to increase the number of Latinx participants to at least twelve athletes for the upcoming season.  The cost to participate in the full 4 day PCSShredders program (including one weekend day at Park City Mountain) is $2,000 per person. It includes UOP lift tickets, some rental equipment (nordic and snowboard) and coaching. It does not include a lift pass at Park City Mountain Resort. 

Due to the tremendous success and positive feedback from the inaugural year, we intend to continue to grow the program to at least 60 participants for the 2022/23 season. Additionally, we would like to include a half-day weekend “add on” at Park City Mountain resort so these young athletes can improve skiing and riding techniques on a multitude of mountain terrain. This is an important element of any fundamentals programming and consistent with American Development Model (ADM) and Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) standards. To participate in the weekend programming, participants will need a local resort pass - something that has been an obstacle to many in the Latinx community.