Mt. Baldy’s Alpine Club has a new coach.
After being an assistant coach last year to Warren Evertoon, Yanni Lou Gagnon steps into the role of head coach.
“I love coaching at Baldy and realize this is my lifetime dream,” said Gagnon in a release.
Gagnon, 24, is a Canadian Ski Coaches Federation Level 2 certified ski racing coach. She brings five years of coaching experience from Quebec.
Her philosophy with ski racers is as long as she can transmit her knowledge, experience and passion to those kids while having fun, they will improving themselves as ski racers and people.”
Gagnon, who is the cousin of to Canadian Alpine Racer Marie-Michele Gagnon, began skiing at age three and raced from age five to 19. In the K1 Quebec Winter Games, she finished first in Super-G race and took the second place on the GS. Gagnon raced for bigger mountains all over the province and was always in the top-five. She lists her father as well as a former coach as the most influential people in her skiing life.
“It was first of all my dad, my best fan ever,” she said. “I needed him every morning before my race, just to hear his voice. Also, my coach Michel Paquette of four years, he was really good for me.”
Promoting Gagnon is part of the evolution that the Mt. Baldy Alpine Club is enjoying. Over the last five years, they have gone from a Nancy Greene racing program to full under-12 and under-14 ski racing program. Everton was behind this growth as were parent volunteers of the racers.
Anyone interested in having their son or daughter aged five and older join can contact okaped.com or the club’s blog baldyracers.blogspot.com for registration for Nancy Greene starting at the beginning of January. The U-12 and U-14 start with training at the end of November.
