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SASA’s roots are in the promotion of skiing for schoolchildren and SASA continues to be active in supporting schools skiing, both in the running of its own SASA Interschools Challenge event and in its support of ESSKIA (the English Schools Ski Association), for which the SASA Chair (Lesley Gash) is a Regional representative.
SASA Interschool Challenge
The SASA Interschool Challenge is an annual event, usually held on a Tuesday afternoon in early May at Southampton Alpine Centre and is open to teams from any school that can raise a team of three or more skiers. Team and Individual prizes are awarded in both Primary and Secondary School categories. ESSKIA Events
Training Days
A number of ESSKIA Training Days are held at slopes around the country throughout the year and are open to individual entries. The Southampton event is supported and attended by many SASA members.
National Schools Championships ESSKIA also runs an annual National Interschools Ski Championships, currenly held on dry slope. A number of regional qualifying events are held around the country in September, including a qualifier in Southampton, the organisation of which is strongly supported by SASA, with many SASA members also participating as part of their school teams.
On the basis of the results in the regional qualifiers, ESSKIA invites leading school teams to participate in the National Finals. The National Finals are held over a weekend in October, with Age Group Finals held on the Saturday and the Open Championship (with no age group banding) held on the Sunday.
In November ESSKIA and the other UK National schools associations organise the British Schools Ski Championships and the ESSKIA Teams for these championships are chosen, by invitation, from schools who participated in the ESSKIA Open Championship.
ESSKIA Squads Each year ESSKIA selects trainees for its National Squads; selection is based mainly on individual performances in the ESSKIA Championships and Qualifying events. The Squads are split by age bands into two Senior Squads (I and II) and a Junior Squad. Squad selection requires attendance at a week’s training camp on snow, with ESSKIA coaching and supervisory staff.
ISF World Schools Ski Championships The ISF World Schools Ski Championships are biennial (held every even number year) and ESSKIA selects a National team to represent England from ESSKIA squad members in the preceding year’s squad. The World Schools Championships is an amazing opportunity and an invaluable experience. For most children, it is the closest they will ever get to what it must be like to go to the Olympics. |
