INTERSCHOOLS IS INTER-GENERATIONAL
2024 Regional and State Interschools Snowsports Championships have been and gone with National Interschools scheduled for next week, come sun, rain or snow!
Interschools events have now been around long enough to have become an ubiquitous part of winter for almost everyone with any kind of involvement in NSW snowsports, one way or another. In fact, it has been around long enough for early Interschools competitors to be now enrolling their own children in the competition.
During the early 1980’s local schools in the NSW Snowy Mountains got together and held an Alpine race under the car park chairlift at Guthega. The first schools to be involved were Monaro High School, Bombala High and Public School, Adaminaby Public School, Dalgety Public School, Berridale Public School, Jindabyne Public School, and Tumut Public and High School. In 1988, Interschools in NSW was formalised and was coordinated by the State Sporting Organisation. The event is now managed nationally by Snow Australia with the aim of providing well-organised school-based snowsports competition that encourages teams of young skiers to support each other while representing their schools at both recreational and competitive levels.
Melanie Sim, Emma Cattermole and Annie Hart representing Monaro High School, circa 1994.
Monaro High School’s early Interschools cross country ski teams included local students Melanie Sim, Emma Cattermole and Annie Hart, pictured representing Monaro High School in 1994. Melanie and Annie are pictured again at the recent State Interschools Championship, held at the Perisher XC Centre, supporting their own children and their schools in the races while volunteering to help make the XC Interschools competition day an event that is a highlight on the Interschools calendar.
Melanie Sim and Annie Hart supporting their own next generations at the State Interschools Championships and volunteering to help make the day a highlight of the Interschools calendar
Today, students from Kindergarten to Year 12, compete for their school as part of a team or an individual in any of nine snowsport discipline events. Each year, over 7,000 school students from nearly 700 schools compete at Interschools events.
From Interschools, many students have gone on to professional instructing, coaching, and competing in higher-level competitions, including World Cups and the Olympics. Over 80 Australian Olympians and Paralympians have begun their competition days in the Interschools Snowsport Championships.
Thousands of students have been introduced to the camaraderie and competitive spirit of ski and snowboard events through the Interschools Championships, establishing a life-long love for the sport.
