Sandy Ward had only been snowboarding for a year or two when Aaron Marchant, founder of the First Nations Snowboard Team, invited her to join a small group of other Indigenous youth to train for the 2010 Olympics. That was in 2005.
Now, Ward is leading her own winter sports youth team, the Lil'wat Nation Qwíxwla7 (sliding) ski and snowboard team. Over the next nine weeks, she and two other coaches will take more than 70 skiers and snowboarders between the ages of eight and 22 up to Whistler Blackcomb for lessons and a whole lot of winter fun.
"I started in that program, and it got me to where I am today," said Ward. "So I see how important it is."
When Ward first started training, she remembers it being a high-performance team.
The minimum entry level was a Level 3 snowboarder—a measurement indicating comfort linking skidded turns and using turn shape to control speed on green runs, while maybe being ready to tackle a blue. She and two other members of the team would go on to the BC Provincial Freestyle Team and BC Snowboard Cross Team.
But after 2010, funding dried up and the mindset changed; less competitive and more geared towards inspiring a lifelong love of the outdoors.
"There’s been this transition towards getting away from that competitive side [of the sport] and just giving the kids a recreational experience, so to get them in love with the sport, rather than training someone towards the Olympics,” said Ward. "We're providing a chance to find that love."
She has kept the same mindset with her new team, removing the experiential barrier she faced as a kid. The same goes for cost; the program is free for Lil'wat youth. Lift passes and equipment rentals, if needed, are sponsored for all 74 registered members of the Lil'wat Qwíxwla7 team by Whistler Blackcomb's Epic Promise program.
“I don't want to have that barrier for the kids,” said Ward. “So we started accepting everyone, and this weekend was really cute to see the Level 1s out there.”
Ward has been a trainer and observer of Lil’wat’s ski and snowboarding team since she started training at the age of 16.
Over the years, the team was subsumed by the Indigenous Life Sport Academy (ILSA). But in 2024, the executive director of ILSA announced he was stepping down, and with no one there to take his place, Ward said the program was in danger of being dissolved.
“I just didn't want to see the kids go without the program," she said. "I just thought, 'No, the kids need something.'”
So, after two decades of being involved in skiing and snowboarding out of Lil'wat—first as a student, then as an instructor—Ward decided to take the reins of the program. Her team includes Mikey Barton, head coach for snowboarders, and Ward’s partner, Morgan Fleury, who organizers the skiers.
The program isn’t easy to run. Ward remembers the first day was overwhelming at first—74 kids is a big number to wrangle and transport—but the experience and feedback made it all worthwhile.
“The kids had a great day,” she said. “I've been getting feedback from the parents through the last couple of days, just saying, 'the kids are stoked, and they're just coming home with story after story of the day.'”
If readers are interested in contributing to the team, they can always donate to the Lil’wat Nation. Ward said she is also always on the lookout for new ski and snowboard instructors with experience working with Indigenous youth. Potential instructors are encouraged to reach out on Facebook or Instagram.
When she isn't leading the Qwíxwla7 team, Ward is a backcountry guide, founding member of Indigenous women outdoors, runs the Lil'wat Youth Mountain Bike Program, and is an Arc'teryx athlete.
