‘Snowboarding is for anybody’ at inclusive Yellowknife clinic

The Bristol Pit snowboard park in Yellowknife was a flurry of action this past weekend.

Around 60 people joined the NWT Snowboard Association’s second annual clinic for women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people.

“It’s really nice having a bunch of girls come together,” said Caelyn Caris, who has been snowboarding for around 10 years.

“It’s nice when girls teach you and it’s nice when just people come together to work.”

At the clinic, which featured snowboarders of varying skill levels, Caris worked on going off jumps, turning and trying different kinds of grabs.

“It’s really fun and at the end of the day, it’s really hard to start – but it’s really exciting when you can get better,” she said of snowboarding.

Stephanie Rose, a guest coach who travelled from Kamloops, British Columbia to attend the clinic, said it offered a safe, inclusive space for people who may feel intimidated, be shy or might not otherwise try the sport.

“Snowboarding is for anybody,” she said.

“You don’t have to be competitive in order for it to be something as a passion for yourself.”

Rose, originally from northern Manitoba, said she learned how to snowboard when she was 21 while being pulled on a frozen lake by a snowmobile. She said she experienced her first mountain a year later in Fernie, BC, and immediately fell in love.

“For me, it’s always been a therapeutic outlet,” she said of snowboarding.

“It’s always been a form of release and just connecting with myself and with nature, and it’s just a really deep passion for me.”

Michelle Chiu said this was her second time attending the clinic.

“I’m kind-of afraid of doing snowboarding because I’m not good at this sport. So it’s really nice to see there is an opportunity for me to try snowboarding again in a judgement-free zone,” she said.

Chiu said she learned some of the basics and challenged herself to try the lift at Bristol Pit, with which she did not have much success last year.

Her advice to others considering snowboarding? “Try to keep an open mind.”

“Even if you have tried it before and it didn’t go well,” she said, “maybe this time will be better because you are different. You know, everybody is different every year, so just give it a go and try it.”

Charmaine Galbraith, another guest instructor from BC, was helping more advanced snowboarders with park tricks.

“There’s always something new to learn for everyone,” she said.

Galbraith said the clinic received a lot of positive feedback and encouraged people to “have the confidence to join in.”

“Snowboarding is not just a sport,” she said. “It’s all about positivity, being inclusive and everybody having fun, and everybody encouraging everyone to just enjoy themselves.”

Like Rose, Galbraith said she is originally from Manitoba and fell in love with snowboarding in BC.

“I get a lot of joy and pleasure just seeing everyone having fun and seeing all the smiles on everyone’s faces,” she said.

“I don’t think in my 25 years snowboarding have I had anyone leave disappointed. So that, to me, is very rewarding and that’s why I love coaching and doing what I do.”

Jazmine Saunders, another snowboarder from Kamloops, said she wanted to volunteer at the clinic in Yellowknife because of the community in the NWT.

“Everybody here is amazing,” she said. “There’s so much eagerness to learn the sport and it’s great.”

Saunders said one benefit of the clinic is it gets girls involved, noting there are not a lot of female snowboarders, and shows them “we can do a lot more than we’re told we can do.”

Saunders said she started snowboarding when she was 15 years old and was an athlete with the Skwelk̓wélt Indigenous snowboarding team in Sun Peaks, BC until she turned 19 and aged out.

She said snowboarding is a unique community.

“The community feel, it’s nothing like I’ve experienced before.”