A gap year snowboarding

18 year old Toni Westlake from Sydney wanted to spend her gap year  "immersed in snow"   

"As an 18 year old, fresh out of high school I was looking for something fun and entertaining to do.

My aim for the year was to be immersed in snow and become an instructor as I have loved snowboarding since I first strapped a board to my feet five years ago. Google found me the answer as it took me to Flying Fish, a training provider for watersports and snow sports instructors. "

Toni signed up for a Level 1 Snowboard Instructor course and flew out to Whistler to join the rest of the Fish trainees for the first course of the season, with Flying Fish training partners YES Tours.

The YES program was incredible, I improved beyond what I imagined possible and met some seriously awesome people. The instructors were awesome and my housemates were too, it made for an interesting and absolutely unforgettable experience.

Our ‘improvement’ consisted of cliff drops, park runs, powder playgrounds, shooting through trees and falling…a lot. Even the level one course was a lot of fun, most lessons beginning and ending with snowball fights and some epic switch runs.

a lot of fun ...

But you just can’t go past the amazing people you meet there, with Drew Drive partying every night and shredding in a huge group on our days off; you honestly meet friends for life. Thus, my only low point was when everyone started to leave!

Flying Fish gave me an opportunity to discover the meaning of being a true ‘Whistler Local’ as I took advantage of their free recruitment service and worked in Whistler after my course finished and lapped up the beautiful Canadian atmosphere for the season.

I became a true Whistler "local"

Flying Fish gave me the ability to go to a foreign country alone, and instantly feel at home. When I left the safety of Sydney airport I had no idea what life held in store for me, and my gap year. With the help of Flying Fish I was able to take every day as it came, and I loved it!"

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