Our beloved Head Coach, Andrea Stapff, is stepping down in her role of the Strathcona Nordic Ski Club as of July 30, 2023. She announced her resignation in person to athletes and parents and via an email to the race teams after a meeting with the Board of Directors early this week.  

The Board of Directors are incredibly grateful for her contributions to our ski community, on and off the trails, and are incredibly happy for her as she takes on a new challenge and adventure.  It’s bittersweet for us and we will miss her greatly.

Andrea’s involvement in our club started over 20 years ago with her kids participating in JackRabbits and she as a parent volunteer. She transitioned to taking over the role of Head Coach in unusual circumstances. The late Dave Battison passed away suddenly while she was still very busy with her working life and raising her children. She was thrown into the role while also grieving as well as supporting the club through a sudden change of leadership and loss of Dave. 

We’ve been so fortunate to have Andrea as our Head Coach, and she’s incredibly humble about her accomplishments and impact. Andrea truly “walks her talk”. The coaching and life principles she teaches and upholds with our club and athletes are her own guiding posts. A Canadian Olympic rower herself, she’s been instrumental in coaching athletes of all ages and skills as well adding strength, depth and collaboration in our local, provincial and national ski communities. 

Andrea values all of our skiers and their well-being is prioritized over their results. She sees the long game and how sport can enrich a life over a lifetime. She values the importance of process and consistency. She takes great pride in our club and prioritizes taking care of our athletes and coaches, above everything else. 

Billy Graham’s quote seems fitting to describe Andreas’s impact, “A coach will impact more young people in a year than the average person does in a lifetime.”

Under Andrea’s quiet and strong leadership, her contributions are far reaching and these are only a few:

• NCCP Coach Developer since 2012 for Community Coaching and Learn to Train workshops
• Completed Coach training to Comp-Dev Certification 
• CCBC Talent Squad Head Coach for ages 13-14 from 2016/17 season to 2021/22
• Leads 3 annual Regional Training Camps, since 2015 
• Since 2014 Andrea has completed 49 coaching assignments to Regional Camps, Provincial Camps and Special Competitions 
• CCBC Board of Directors member  2020-Present
• Strong Coach mentor to 40-50 Strathcona Nordics Club coaches annually. 
• Runs annually 3-4 Coach Refresher 2 hour on-snow sessions for all Strathcona Nordics Club coaches.
• Andrea has built an alliance with Vancouver Island Biathlon Club, to coach ski training for teen biathletes since 2015.
• Coached athletes to National Champion titles in 2022 and 2023.
• Two of her athletes competed at 2023 Nordic World U-23 Championships.
• Two of her Athletes competed at 2023 Biathlon World Junior Championships. 
• 2019 Canada Games BC Team Coach
• 2020 Co-recipient with fellow rower Heather Clarke, of one of ten OLY Canada Legacy $5,000 Grants for efforts in sport inclusion. The grant supported Strathcona Nordic School ski program for two schools with large First Nations populations, and many socio-economically disadvantaged families. 

Andrea’s statement perfectly captures the bittersweetness of her resignation and the importance of staying true to oneself:

With the utmost respect and gratitude for the opportunity to have been your head coach for the past 10 years, I want you to know that I have submitted my resignation to the board. I intend to remain as your head coach until the end of July and want to reassure you all, athletes especially, that I plan to be fully involved in supporting you in staying the course, which I know you are all very much capable of doing, and helping to facilitate as smooth a transition as possible. To be clear I want to reassure athletes and parents that any plans, camps, events etc that are in place or are in the works, will proceed as planned.

This is a personal decision, a difficult one, perhaps best summed up like this: as a coach we ask athletes to embrace personal growth and development, to constantly stretch and challenge themselves. In the simplest terms, I seek the same and wish to also stretch and challenge myself. I have been offered and have accepted the position of head coach at Bulkley Valley Nordic Ski Club in Smithers, effective later in the summer. This decision is bittersweet for sure, as there are so many incredible and amazing athletes and people to work with here. Leaving that behind will be the hardest part of this. I am however not giving up my connection to this community, this club, to my place on the mountain - it is my home. My family is here, my friends are here, my people are here, much of my world is here. So, fear not, I will be around to bug you all, as often as possible, whether here at home or at some other race or camp location! 

I know that planning for a smooth transition is a priority. I can tell you that the board is on it and I trust that they and all of you will navigate this process successfully. 

There is so much I could say about all of you incredible people and how fortunate I am, but for now please accept my heartfelt thanks for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of your worlds.  Much gratitude to you all. ❤ ~ Andrea

The Board of Directors are working with Andrea to ensure a smooth transition as well as moving forward in recruiting for our upcoming season.  It's business as usual until July 30, 2023 :) 

We want to thank Andrea for her incredible coaching, dedication, professionalism and loyalty to our club and athletes over the years. We want to wish her the best in her new adventure ahead and look forward to seeing her on our local ski trails when she is back on the Island.

 If you have any questions, please reach out directly to us by email at admin@strathconanordics.com or by connecting with me directly at 250-650-2359.

Wendy Johnstone
SNSC, President