Ski Utah’s “Snow Sports UNO” Debuts at
Utah Physical Education Conference

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - The national Winter Feels Good initiative has posted a new game called “Snow Sports UNO” on its website, www.winterfeelsgood.com. The game was developed by Jo Garuccio, administrator for Ski Utah’s successful Learn to Ski & Ride, Ski & Snowboard Fitness and School Assembly
programs and a PSIA certified instructor/examiner at The Canyons, near Park City, Utah. The game is intended to offer middle school physical education teachers an inexpensive way to teach students conditioning exercises that will help them get ready for snow sports activities such as skiing and snowboarding. Winter Feels Good is a public awareness initiative organized by SnowSports Industries America (SIA) to help educate children and adults about the health, fitness and social benefits of snow sports.

The game will be introduced on Sat., Nov. 15 at the Utah state conference of the Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AHPERD) being held at Weber State University in Ogden. It is part of the Winter Feels Good exhibit at the conference.

“Snow Sports UNO” uses playing cards, duct tape, exercise mats, cones and other standard items found in school gyms to teach students skills needed for snow sports including balance, core strength, upper and lower body strength, agility and quickness. Teachers can adapt the concept to suit student ability levels. The use of cards allows for simple explanations for introducing exercises. Hearts represent balance exercises, spades - core strength, clubs – upper and lower body strength and diamonds – agility and quickness.

Garuccio also helped develop a CD containing a series of conditioning and “how to dress for winter” interactive learning modules for the Winter Feels Good initiative. More than 5,000 copies of the CD have been distributed to schools throughout the U.S. Ski Utah has partnered with Winter Feels Good for several years. The national conference of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance was held at the Salt Lake Convention Center in 2006.

SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is the national non-profit trade association for snow sports providers and is based in McLean, VA.

Ski Utah is the marketing firm owned and operated by the 13 statewide ski resorts that make up the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association. The organization has been creating brand awareness of and demand for the Utah
wintersports product since its inception in 1978.

Tags: ski utah, snow sports uno

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 8:51 am and is filed under NEWS. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.