The U 12 age category is a milestone for many sports as children are asked to choose whether to follow a competitive course. We as Snowport, understand that there is a gap in the process of transition of children to competitive categories and that it is difficult for a child reaching the pre-competitive age (U12) to choose: Racing or Nothing! Maybe one child wants to go to a more intensive training early without meaning that he will necessarily become a ski athlete and we have to offer it, while another may be “late” to join cross-country skiing, without this meaning that his performance in the future they are irreversible with the appropriate training. That is why we propose the sub-categorization into Development Team & Sports Team, so that:

• To give the opportunity to each child to develop in the sport according to what he wants and not based on his age alone. That is, at this stage if a child (and his parents) does not want to support a more competitive approach to the sport despite the fact that his age “requires” it, the training should be structured differently from the child who wants to proceed differently and the opposite.
• The division into Development and Sports Team does not aim to classify children in 1st and 2nd category, but to offer them a more harmonized in their goals or to the extent that they can support skiing in their life, perspective on the sport. In this way we believe that we will be able to provide the appropriate supplies (both coaching and psychological) so that children can better manage what they have chosen to do.

For the same reasons then, as the children get older, they are given the choice of Athletic Team or Leisure Team.