2023 Coaches
QAST 2023 Coaching Team
Celine Arnold - Program Director
Celine has been our Program Director for 2 years now and has masterminded 2 extremely successful seasons. Celine’s passion for the outdoors led to her career in skiing. She has been teaching people to ski for over 20 years, 15 of which have been back-to-back winters in Switzerland and New Zealand. Having worked as a Head Coach/Program Director since 2009, most recently with Villars ski club and ESS Villars which is rated in the top 3 best club in Switzerland
A Kiwi Swiss (born at the ex-Bungy Backpackers) in Queenstown, she moved with her family to Switzerland where she grew up and ski raced until she was 18 years old. The diversity of skills, energy and experience Celine brings has had a very positive impact on our growing club. Celine loves to share her knowledge with people, she is full of enthusiasm and you will rarely find her without a huge, warm, smile on her face.
As QAST Program Director Celine has redefined the structure of the club and implemented a number of new initiatives including our soon to be launched Coaching Pathway. she is bringing this new direction to life by handling the behind the scenes efforts - logistics, financials, staffing and management of the team.
Celine is loving being being part of the QAST family, along with her partner, QAST FIS Coach Angus Rose. Their eldest daughter Sierra joined the program in 2022 and their youngest will not be far behind!
Angus Rose - FIS Senior Head Coach
Once again Angus takes his place on the QAST Coaching Team. Angus is a Queenstown original, a past QAST and NZ Ski Team Athlete. Angus competed in Alpine Skiing and Skicross. Angus raced at the World Championships in 1996 at Sierra Nevada in Spain and in 1997 at Sestriere in Italy. He attended the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2020 Youth Olympics as a race coach. He has coached with QAST for the past 23 years and has been our FIS Head Coach since 2005. He currently split his coaching expertise between Queenstown and Villars in Switzerland.
Angus is a leader and has inspired many generations of skiers. We now have athletes on the World Cup circuit and coaching in QAST who he coached and inspired. Angus became a lifetime member of QAST in 2022 in recognition of his huge contribution and dedication to our club. We are thrilled to have Angus back and extremely lucky to have his passion leading our FIS team again this year.
Lucy Brown - FIS Team Coach
Lucy Brown is back for her 7th year coaching with QAST. She is looking forward to coaching the FIS Team in 2023 and helping them to be the best they can be.
A QAST member from a young age, Lucy grew up in Queenstown, attending Queenstown Primary and Wakatipu High School. Lucy is a very competitive person, having been brought up from a child competing at a national level both with equestrian and Alpine ski racing. Racing in her blood; Lucy comes from a family that has raced extensively - her father, uncles and older sister have all raced and coached internationally. From the age of 7-16 she was involved in Alpine ski racing. She competed successfully at a national level consistently placing in the top seven. She trained locally with QAST for four years, being taught by top coaches from around the world including Tim Cafe, Ian McLean, Chris Knight and Jeff Fergus.
In 2018, she joined the International Ski Racing Academy and coached in Copper Mountain for their pre-season training. Following that, a stint in Italy coaching Juniors and FIS athletes.
Lucy is also part of the prestigious Te Hapaitanga, a coach development program that champions women in High Performance Sport. She is dedicated and qualified to encourage women to follow this path as well as the men.
She is a great asset to our coaching line up this year.
Emma Gamson - Interfield Team Head Coach
This will be Emma’s fourth season coaching having been Head Coach for the Interfield Team in 2022. She learnt to ski and race at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables and has previously raced with QAST for 10 years. To expand on her ski racing background she is currently working through the NZSIA qualifications and is next aiming to obtain her level 3 qualification. In addition to skiing, Emma has pursued studies in Neuroscience, Anthropology and Philosophy and enjoys finding ways to translate what she has learnt from these areas to the sporting world. Emma is calm and technical coach, taking the time to give very precise feedback to the athletes, resulting in their deep understanding of the improvements that they need to make in their skiing. She loves assisting young athletes to enter and progress in the sport of ski racing as well as to develop an all-round love and passion for the sport. Emma spends her free time up the mountain working on her own skiing technique and having fun with her friends. She lives and breathes skiing.
Along with having an all-round passion for skiing Emma is a caring person and is concerned with not just the athletes’ skiing progression but their mental wellbeing. She always looks out for her athletes and seeks to develop all round stable and talented athletes making her the ideal person for Interfield Team Head Coach.
Max Vaughton - Interfield Team Full Time Coach
Max is an ex alpine ski racer who originally hails from the United Kingdom but has lived all over Europe, he has competed at Europa cup level. As a newly retired athlete he is looking to make the move into coaching and is training for his Ski Instructor Qualification in the European winter.
Max coached the QAST Interfield Team for the 2022 season and is looking forward to joining us in 2023. Max is an inspirational coach being able to demonstrate fine skills, either on the racecourse or off piste, where he sends back flips! His positive vibes and big smile inspires the athlete’s to follow in his footsteps as all round skier, enjoying every moment of their time on snow.
Oskar Tuffley - Part-Time Interfield Team Coach
Oskar is an Australian Kiwi and grew up in Switzerland where he pursued ski racing. Oskar has shadowed ski racing coaches since he was 14 in a variety of European clubs. He gained his Level 1 Ski Instructors qualification at the age of 16 and completed level 2 in New Zealand during the 2022 season. Oskar loves working with kids, coached the Interfield Team for QAST in the 2022 season and was a great hit with the athletes. He also coaches in Switzerland. He is passionate about the technical side of ski racing and has a great talent for communicating this to the athletes. He enjoys football and cycling aswell as skiing and is a whizz at incorporating ski racing technique into fun games. Oskar works part time for Snowsports with NZSki, sharing his skiing knowledge with a great variety of ages and abilities. He is currently studying at University in the UK and is returning to coach QAST for the 2023 season.
Evelyn Lark - Part Time Interfield Coach
Evelyn has been ski racing for 7 years, she first started racing on Mt Ruapehu and for the last 3 years moved to the Canterbury and Otago regions for the winter season. She spent the 2022 season training with QAST in our FIS team. As an athlete she has always enjoyed being a part of the team and being able to support everyone. SHe has finished high school and is looking forward to developing her skills as a coach. In the 2023 winter season she plans to gain her NZSIA level 2 certification. As a coach she wants to make sure the younger athletes have fun and enjoy skiing as well as developing their skill and passion for the sport.
Angus Wills - Part Time Interfield Team Coach
Hamish Garrick - School Holidays Coach
Luis Parker - Interfield Team Part-Time Coach