Matt Ellinger

Coaching Experience: Matt comes to SNSC from Stratton Mtn and brings 20 years of competitive freestyle coaching experience. Matt grew up skiing competitively with the Stratton Freestyle Team and began coaching for the same team in college. While at Stratton, Matt held the roles of Coach, Head Coach, and Program Director. He has coached both competitive team and development athletes in Stratton's 200+ athlete freestyle program,supporting athletes to achieve competitive ranks including the NorAM team and US Olympic Team. 

Skiing highlight: Matt was coached by and has coached along side several ex-olympian and Word Cup champions and has passed on the pedigree producing several nationally ranked skiers including Liam Downey, Brittany Loweree(USST), Mac Bohannon (USST), Troy Tully (USST), Avatal Carrol (Austria), and Mac Forehand (USST, World Champion, X Games Gold). He brings energy, experience and a philosophy of having fun while capturing an athlete's excitement and focusing them on achieving personal excellence. 

For the Love of it: Skiing opens up a world of experiences that can't be found anywhere else. Skiing can be intensely focused, totally relaxing, and anything between. It's a gravity sport with very little between your body and the ground beneath. A game of body vs gravity where energy is focused to create a result. Be it a turn, or jump, or maybe just more speed. This play between body and momentum yields endless learning opportunities with countless variables to explore (and consequences to consider). Terrain, snow conditions, equipment, body position...each calculated and acted on to achieve a result. The personal satisfaction of seeing a line, considering what needs to happen to stomp it, and then nailing it builds confidence that reverberates through life. Especially for kids. There's nothing quite like it. This is what I coach, and a good chunk of why.

Favorite Smuggs run: M1 Liftline; shack to shack