THE new National Snowsports Training Centre (NSTC) in Jindabyne has been praised by not only the executives of Snow Australia, but the athletes for whom the project was designed.
Starting out with new air bag jumps which have proved to be a huge success since being completed, the high-performance John Hancock Building is now operating to full capacity.
At a recent athlete scholarship presentation in Jindabyne, Snow Australia CEO Michael Kennedy acknowledged the incredible effort and collaboration invested into the development of the NSTC.
“Watching the athletes in the gym, those out on the airbag, people on the trampolines, there’s meetings going on everywhere and it really felt for the first time a real high performance centre,” said Mr Kennedy.
Kennedy said a combination of $9 million investment from NSW State Government via several grants, the Hancock family who donated $1.5 million and Snow Australia injecting over $2 million has seen this world class facility come to life.
“I do want to acknowledge Scott Kneller, a former NSWS athlete and Olympian as much as anyone who's been on this journey. Scott was the original project manager of the facility and really drove things along. Got the airbags up and running first and then to turn that old building into something that looks pretty state of the art through your work and the design team that you pulled around you, full credit to you Scotty,” said Kennedy.
The NSTC venue based at the Sport and Recreation Centre in Jindabyne is ideally situated for snow athletes who train in NSW. Plus, any visiting athletes from other states have full access to all facilities and community members can access the air bag and the trampoline area via bookings.
Touring the venue with NSTC General Manager Cathy Lambert, the venue is very impressive. Snow Australia staff are well accommodated with upstairs office space and the ground floor combination of separate coaches’ offices, NSWIS office and athlete lounge with direct access to the air bag was again impressive.
“We aim to have a world class facility to give the athletes the tools that they need to improve their performance to then go on and improve in the sport,” said Cathy.
The air bag has been in constant demand since its inception. High performance athletes predominantly use the big air bag, and junior athletes and community groups accessing the smaller jump and bag.
Athletes’ needs are all catered for. The gym has been well received plus several rooms are dedicated for cardio, recovery and physio, a learning hub for smaller sports meetings or for athlete study and performance support.
Jindabyne skier Abi Harrigan said the venue had changed a lot from the previous setup and “everyone loves it”.
“I'm lucky enough to have the airbag in the backyard. So it means a little less time overseas, a little more time at home, which is nice. So close to home, having it all right here is amazing,” said Abi.
Snowboard star Tess Coady said she was extremely happy they opened the facility for this season and described the gym area as incredible where everyone can spread out with their own space.
“It's pretty similar to the Sydney NSWIS set up so yeah, plenty of space for everyone. There's a lot of athletes down here during the winter. And yeah, it just doesn't even feel like that when you're in the gym,” said Tess.
“It's definitely been a bit of a tricky season on snow wise. So, it's really great that we've been able to come back and use the bag and use the new gym facilities, and just get heaps of work done.”
