Welcome to the first newsletter of the new season from Snowsport GB which will keep you updated on all the latest from the British Ski team. Along with results, we'll be featuring profiles of the athletes and teams, will hear from the coaches and sponsors and will keep you informed about the main news and events throughout the season.

It's been a fantastic start with a successful training camp in Chile for the Alpine team and some great results to report, on what promises to be a very highly exciting season.

For the first time during the summer, the whole of the Alpine Team, from Development to World Cup, spent a month of intensive training in South America. The snow conditions were fantastic allowing the teams to have full days of training with excellent speed training in Downhill and Super G courses, with the athletes able to train on large jumps at high speed. This was an opportunity many of the athletes had never had before.

It was a great opportunity for the younger team members to spend time learning from the World Cup team and to get them all working together between different age groups and abilities.

All the athletes were focused and worked extremely hard in preparation for the season. They are motivated and positive and this was seen in the notable results achieved by Dave Ryder, Jan Kochalski, Ed Drake, Finlay Mickel, Noel Baxter, Dougie Crawford and TJ Baldwin, putting them in a great position for 2007/8. The training proved to give good grounding for the athletes with Finlay Mickel finishing as the South American Super G Champion.

Whilst the majority of the team trained in Chile, Chemmy Alcott trained alongside the German and Monte Carlo World Cup team in Argentina.

The 7th of November saw the launch of the British Ski and Snowboard Teams at the Vue Cinema in the West End of London. The event featured two new documentaries on the teams, as well as hosting an exclusive preview of the latest Warren Miller film 'Playground'.

The event, which was a great success, was attended by over 300 guests, including a wide range of media and was hosted by former Olympic Skier and BBC Presenter, Graham Bell. Interviews were given by many of the athletes on their hopes for the forthcoming season.

As ever, we'd like to thank our sponsors whose support is invaluable to the teams. Besson has provided the team with newly designed branded race suits and apparel and Forcefield is making sure the athletes have the best body protection. We'll hear from them and other sponsors throughout the season.

One of the latest sponsors to add it's backing to the British Snowsports teams is Lucozade.

Along with providing the athletes with sports supplements, Nick Morgan from the Lucozade Sport Science Academy will work closely with the teams providing education, workshops and nutritional strategies.

Sports science is of growing importance to athletes but very little research has been done on snowsports. With every competition the margins between winning and losing and even team selection are very small. The better the rigors and demands of the sport are understood, the more sports science can help aid training and performance.

The athletes will learn the basics of sport nutrition, understanding the demands of competitive training and how nutrition can help performance. It is recognised that the needs of demanding training and competition schedules cannot be met by food alone and that supplements must be part of the diet.

The British athletes will be receiving a range of Lucozade products manufactured and tested to the highest standards. They are tested by an independent laboratory for all substances banned by World Anti-Doping Agency WADA, so they are assured all products are safe to take.
Nick will work with the team and coaches over the season. They will look at what is involved in a training or competition day, such as battling ski lifts and carrying equipment, and how to counteract temperature and altitude. This will help to develop the best nutritional strategy and maximise performance.

If the building blocks are right then the athletes are on track to get the most out of training sessions and set themselves up for the best results.

Scottish skier, Eilidh McLeod, 16, was named Scotland Regional Winner at this year's OCS Young Sports Person Awards. The awards, now in its tenth year, acknowledge and support sporting achievements by young people.

Since joining the British team at 12, Eilidh has enjoyed a run of successes, holding the title of 2006 Scottish Ladies Slalom Champion and being the only female in the British Championships on the podium in every event.

The ten regional winners, including a disabled winner each receive £2,500. The prize money is a great benefit to the younger athletes as it will boost their opportunity to travel abroad. Eilidh says: "I'm ecstatic! The money will help a lot, because there is so much travelling - to where I need to be to train and compete. But what I think is more important is that the OCS Award will increase people's awareness of the sport and perhaps lead to a few more people trying it."

An inspirational award scheme which celebrates different sporting achievements can only enhance the sport of skiing as being a lifestyle worth taking up.

The British Children's team, aged from 12 to 14, were in Tignes recently for a week's intensive training camp. The goal was for the eight girls and four boys is strong technical skiing and to fine their skills ahead of the race season. This was the first of what will be an enhanced programme from Snowsport GB for the youngest team members and hopeful stars of the future.

It was an aspirational week for the children who were joined by Alain Baxter for two days as a guest coach, kindly sponsored by Lord Moynihan and also Emma Carrick-Anderson. Alain enjoyed spending time with the younger team, with training and competition schedules, it's a rare opportunity.

Jenny Shute from Snowsport GB who has arranged the week says: "The children worked really hard on what were difficult icy conditions. We had experienced world class coaches and it's great we had Alain and Emma, both Olympic athletes, to inspire the next generation of the British Ski Team."

World Cup Skiing will begin on Channel 4 from Sunday 18 November and will be shown every Sunday until the end of the season.

A documentary on the ski team will be shown on Channel 4 in early December. We'll confirm the dates as soon as we know.