Mike Yamashita – Head Coach & Program Director
Mike has been a coach with the Rabbit Hill Ski Club for 15 years. Over his coaching career Mike has coached at all levels in the club – Nancy Greene, Kinder Provincial, Regional and FIS. Prior to coaching, Mike was a Rabbit Hill racer for 9 seasons. Mike is active withAlbertaAlpine and has achieved his Development Level (level 2) with the Canadian Ski Coaches Federation and is currently working towards the CSCF’s Performance Level Certification. Mike is passionate about ski racing and coaching and loves sharing his passion and experience with the athletes he coaches.
Tim Zarski – FIS Head Coach
Tim Zarski is now in his fifth year with the Rabbit Hill Ski Club as a coach. He started out working with one of our 7 year old groups in our Nancy Green program and then moved to our K2 mountain series for two seasons. Tim now is in his second year as the head coach for our FIS program and is looking forward to another great season with all the FIS athletes. Tim’s knowledge of the Rabbit Hill Ski Team is not limited to his time here as a coach. Not many people are aware that Tim holds an un-official record of racing 11 consecutive Rabbit Hill Opens. Tim started his own skiing career when he was just 3 years old atMarmotBasin, Jasper, AB. After several years of racing for the Jasper Ski Team, Tim put his ski career on hold to go to pursue his post secondary education and his love for the sport of Volleyball. After a grueling three season of playing post secondary volleyball and additional couple years of education, he emerged with his Bachelor of Education Degree from theUniversityofAlberta. His major is Physical Education with a minor in Math at the secondary level. One day he will pursue a career as a teacher but right now he is very content being a member of the Rabbit Hill Ski Club family.
Tim enjoys all sports except for soccer, with golf holding a special place in his heart. When Tim is away from the ski hill he can often be found on the golf course trying to perfect his game, or at home trying to convince his girlfriend Nicole that they don’t need to get a puppy.
Graham Ferguson – K2 Provincial Head Coach
Graham had been coaching with Rabbit Hill Ski Club for going on six years, working with the K1 Provincial Program and was promoted to his current K2 Head Coach role for the upcoming season. Graham is a Development Level 2 Coach with the Canadian Ski Coach Federation. Graham raced up to the FIS level and then scaled back in order to complete his engineering degree at theUniversityofAlberta. Graham says: “I absolutely love skiing and coaching, and try to be doing it as much as I can.”
Blake Bentt – K1 Head Coach
This will be Blake’s third season coaching with Rabbit Hill following up on 18 years of skiing and a ski racing career up to the FIS level with Rabbit and the Sunshine Ski Club. Blake has completed the Development Level (level 2) with the Canadian Ski Coaches Federation.
Blake says:
“The sport of skiing consists of wearing thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around on the side of the hill, but wait that’s not me. I am a firm believer in better the free skier, the better the racer. Through my 18 years on snow, I have spent five years with Rabbit Hill as either a coach or athlete this year I plan to improve the kids skiing as well as there love for the sport. I enjoy skiing because there is nothing quite like it, especially on a powder day.”
Eric Fruhwirth – Regional Head Coach
Hello Parents and racers my name is Eric Fruhwirth and I am the head coach of the regional program. I have been with the Rabbit hill ski team for over 10 years now, I started off in the regional program working my way up to the Fis program racing untill I was 18 years old. At the end of my racing years I also helped the club build our new rabbit Hill race shack for all the Racers/Coaches and Parents. I am now on my third year of coaching and I love to coach and pass my knowledge on to the racers and I also like learning new things on coaching or something from the racers. See you all on the Hill.
Kerstin Skow – Nancy Greene Head Coach
This season will be Kerstin’s 5th year as a Rabbit Hill ski coach. Kerstin has her level two CSCF certification. She raced for 10 years with the club, including a year of FIS. She is currently finishing off her last semester in Elementary Education through theUniversity ofAlberta.
“ I am really excited to take on the Nancy Greene head coach position this year. I love working with children and it’s great having the chance to share my passion of skiing with them. I am looking forward to another exciting ski season at Rabbit Hill!”
Brian Bentt – Coach Development
“I have been coaching for ummm I think 25 years at all levels Nancy Greene to FIS. I have been head coach/program director at both Rabbit Hill and Sunridge and have also coached with Sunshine and Jasper ski teams. I am a Level 3 CSCF, level 2 CSIA level 3 NCCP. I enjoy coaching for a number of reasons. It keeps me active, I get to work with many other coaches and pass on my experience and get many new ideas, but most of all I love working with the young athletes.”
