Snow Athletes Canada was inspired by the success of Wind Athletes Canada, incorporated in 2008, it is an organization that helps raise money for high perforamce sailors and the organizations that support them.  Wind Athletes Canada was the brain child of Paul D. Phelan, a National Team Finn sailor and "Investor" in many Canadian Athletes.  He was also a mentor to countless people.  Paul was also a gifted downhil ski racer and provided seed money for the Ski Academy in Collingwoood.  He did not live long enough to see Snow Athletes Canada come to fruition but it was no doubt inspired by all the lessons learned in the creation and operation of Wind Athletes Canada over alsmost four Olympic quadrennials. 

The essential learning with Wind Athletes Canada is based on three simple facts.

1. The Canadian Sport System is grossly underfunded as compared to other successful Olympic nations.

2. Most National Sport Organizations (NSO's) are unable to make up the shortfall with private sponsorship deals. This is not meant to be a criticism, its just how things are in Canada for most sports and it is not going to change any time soon.

3. Canada is a wealthy nation of generous people who are willing to support individual athletes they know and care about and high performance sport related projects in their communities (eg. National Training Centres).  Canadian recognize that our athletes are among the best and brightest of our nation and will become the leaders of the future.  Sport is a fantastic way to learn life and leadership skills. Canadians who understand this want to support our athletes, especially the ones with who they share a personal connection. 

With these ingredients Snow Athletes Canada helps Athletes and the Sport Organizations who support them (eg. Clubs and PSO's) help themselves, by providing athletes with a fudnraising platform that offers donors a way to donate to their favourite athletes and programs along with tax deductible donation receipt.  

Wind Athletes Canada has worked closely with Sail Canada over the years and there is every expectation that Wind Athletes will enjoy the same positive relationship with the snow sport NSOs.  We expect much of the money raised by athletes through Snow Athletes Canada will go directly to these NSO's in the form of annual Team Fees.

The team at Snow Athletes Canada looks forward to working with everyone in the Canadian High Performance Sport family to raise the performance level of our athletes.

John Curtis

President and 2004 Olympian, Sailing