Sports Performance Program

Excellence on snow starts with developing all-around athleticism on the field and in the gym. Our strength and conditioning programs, both in-season and in the off-season, are designed around creating athletic awareness, developing fundamental movement patterns, improving aerobic and anaerobic systems, and developing strength and power. We are lucky to have strength and conditioning experts who have been leaders in their field for decades, training some of the best athletes in snow sports! Physical fitness is integral in performance on the hill, endurance through long days of training and competing, and injury prevention, so that our athletes can continue doing what they love. General physical education promotes happy, healthy humans long past their years at the Competition Center!

Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) Exercises – Level 1 L AIC, Level 2, Level 3

The purpose of the Return to Sport (RTS) program is to facilitate the injured athlete’s journey through rehabilitation, recovery, and a successful return to sport. Injury can come with a lot of frustrations, emotions, and changes, and the RTS Team is here to help. Focus areas include but are not limited to:

- Social support (coping with feelings of isolation from the team/sport they love)

- Fear of re-injury

- Staying motivated throughout physical therapy

- Handling stress. Skiing can be a stress reliever, and with injury, that coping mechanism goes away. This sometimes causes changes in mood, behavior, eating/sleeping habits, and other wellness indicators.

- Regaining confidence as the athlete transitions back into activity

The Winter Park Competition Center holds concussion injuries in high regard, with a strict protocol for return-to-sport post-injury governed by the State of Colorado. Learn about the protocol here.

To learn more or get involved in the RTS program as an athlete or coach, email Stephanie Zavilla at szavilla@winterparkresort.com.

FUELING FOR Optimal performance in Mountain Sports

During the sports season, it is important to establish healthy, nutrient-dense fueling habits for optimal performance when engaging in mountain sports activities. The athlete’s body goes through tremendous amounts of work and needs energy to sustain the demands of high performance. Eating fresh, unprocessed foods creates an ideal environment for the body to live and thrive. You will feel more consistently energized, reduce muscle soreness and inflammation, build lean muscle mass, and have an overall healthy and happy body.

Nutrient-dense fueling means eating quality foods to absorb the most vitamins and minerals possible. Prioritizing vegetables, fruits, whole grains/carbohydrates, and quality protein and fats in your diet will allow a wide variety of options to help properly maintain or improve your performance. Mountain sports activities and competitions can last a long time, so it is critical to keep your body energized throughout!

Make each meal and snack well-rounded and colorful, including all food groups - vegetables, fruits, protein, whole grains, and dairy. Then, add wholesome snacks to fuel your body and relieve hunger. Invest in high-quality foods, just like you would any equipment, to keep your body functioning at its optimal level.

We are lucky to have trained dieticians here at the Competition Center, so take advantage! They have a wealth of knowledge on important topics like:

- Fueling for competition
- Eating healthy on the road
- The importance of hydration
- Specialty diets like vegetarianism/veganism in sport
- Fueling for healing post-injury

Contact Stephanie Zavilla at szavilla@winterparkresort.com with any questions, and she will get you connected to our experts!

RESOURCES

Fuel and Hydrate for Optimal Performance
Choose My Plate
Good sources for US Ski & Snowboard supplement rules
Nutrition topics for athletes

It is the Winter Park Competition Center’s top priority to be diligent and intentional about creating a safe environment for our athletes and membership, and in the prevention of bullying, harassment, and abuse. All staff undergoes yearly Safe Sport and the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP) training. We apply those best practices in all Competition Center activities and interactions. For more information, please visit the following links:

Preventing and Addressing Abuse

Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention

HAVE YOU EVER…

- Felt like everything goes well in training, but when you get to a competition, you can’t seem to perform?

- Felt like fear of injury is holding you back from accomplishing your goals?

- Felt like nerves get the best of you on competition day?

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Mental skills training and sports psychology provide the opportunity for athletes to discover the power they have within themselves, and the ability to use it when it matters most.Skills that are developed include:

- Focus, concentration, allocation of attention

- Confidence

- Self-motivation

- Overcoming obstacles

- Handling pressure

- Self-talk

- Imagery, visualization

ON-HILL CONSULTATION

On-hill consultation is an opportunity for your athlete to receive mental skills coaching while in their training environment, as opposed to the classroom. On-hill mental skills consultation allows them to get in-the-moment feedback and helps immensely with transferring skills taught in sessions to their performance on the mountain.

BIOFEEDBACK

Winter Park Competition Center is now on the cutting edge of sports science with the introduction of comprehensive biofeedback training protocols. We use heart rate, respiration, muscle tension, skin conductance, and peripheral skin temperature to tell us more about how your body manifests stress, and then work with you to improve self-regulation!

During biofeedback sessions, athletes receive instantaneous feedback demonstrating the mind-body connection. It allows us to assess an athlete’s ability to handle stress, as well as how quickly they can bring their physiology back to baseline. After determining the baseline responses, we then have the opportunity to train the body to adapt to stress.

Sports psychology resources- apps, podcasts, books, and blogs.

Stephanie Zavilla, sports performance director

Entering her tenth season with the Competition Center, Stephanie gets to live her dream every single day, serving as the Director of Sports Performance. In this role, she coordinates and supervises Strength and Conditioning, Sport Psychology, Injury Management, Sports Nutrition, and Return-to-Sport Programs. After earning a double major in Psychology and History with a minor in Coaching from the University of South Dakota, she went on to receive her Masters in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology in 2013. During her time at the University of South Dakota, she played four years with the school’s NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Team!

Stephanie has worked as a consultant for a myriad of sports and organizations on a group and individual basis. She has experience in football, baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, exercise endurance, lacrosse, figure skating, tennis, skiing, snowboarding, Paralympic skiing, and gymnastics. She has worked with athletes ranging from those who are just beginning their recreational sports careers to those who are competing at the international, professional, or Olympic level. A certified consultant for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, Stephanie spoke at several regional and national conferences on her work in heart rate variability biofeedback and has authored several peer-reviewed articles that feature her research in the parent-athlete relationship. She has recently co-authored a graduate-level textbook chapter on the psychophysiology of self-regulation. On the side, Stephanie enjoys being an adjunct faculty for her alma mater, the University of Denver, working with high-risk occupations and running a private practice out of Denver.

Stephanie’s philosophy revolves around the idea that simply by being aware, present, and in love with what you do, you will gain freedom. Freedom from judgmental thoughts and the constraints of internal and external pressures result in freedom of movement and the opportunity to step beyond perceived limits.

Outside of working with parents, athletes, and coaches, Stephanie finds happiness in hiking, camping, white water kayaking, Paul Simon, and skiing as many months in a row as possible (113 and counting!).

Jeff began skiing in his home State of Maine at the age of 3 and moved to Colorado in the early 1990s to pursue a more consistent ski season. He has been a physical therapist in the Fraser Valley for over 20 years. Jeff has treated National Team members and Olympians from around the world. His practice is based on an osteopathic background with a functional approach that emphasizes injury prevention through balanced strength and flexibility, and appropriate biomechanics. In his capacity as a therapist, he has designed ski-specific training programs for the community for over 10 years. Jeff is also a fully certified skiing instructor in Nordic and Nordic downhill disciplines through Professional Ski Instructors of America and has recently become certified as a coach by United States Ski and Snowboard. Jeff currently coaches for Winter Park Competition Center Nordic Program.