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2025-2026 Team Ontario Q4G Direct to Athlete Funding – Nominations

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Updated May 16, 2025
XCSO is pleased to offer Q4G (Quest for Gold) direct to athlete funding of $3,732.00 to 10 Olympic Stream athletes for the upcoming season. Selection is based on the attached criteria. The list includes all athletes who achieved the stated benchmark of 93% of IPB. Athletes with AAP or OAAP Card listed beside their names are nominated for this year’s carding.

Congratulations to Ontario’s top performing athletes!

At this time, nomination is for Olympic Stream athletes. The Paralympic stream announcement is pending receipt of updated PN CPL.

Athletes with confirmed carding will receive an email from XCSO by Friday, May 16 at 5:00 pm on next steps to confirm their nomination.

Q4G Program Objectives:

    1. To help athletes continue their pursuit of athletic excellence at the highest levels of national and international competition;
    2. To compensate athletes for earnings lost while training;
    3. To enable athletes to successfully pursue excellence in sport while fulfilling their educational goals;
    4. To increase athlete access to improved high-performance coaching;
    5. To encourage athletes to stay in Ontario to live and train; and
    6. To enhance training and competitive opportunities in alignment with the Nordiq Canada Gold Medal Profile and/or XCSO Individual Athlete Performance Plan.

The intent of the Q4G OAAP is to provide funding to individual athletes in the sport’s Train to Compete level based on their demonstrated commitment to high performance sport, allowing them to continue to pursue athletic excellence at the highest levels of national and international competition.

Force Majeur deadline for Olympic Stream athlete appeals: 29 May 2025 at 12:59 pm.
Criteria Documents can be found here. Appeals form can be found here.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Stephanie Marler

Olympic and Paralympic Stream nominations:

PDF for download

2025-2026 Q4G Olympic Stream Nominations

 

Ontario Coach Leslie Bode joining Nordiq Canada as the Para Nordic Development Coach.

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Don’t forget to apply: Para Mentorship Program 2024-25

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See Application Here!!
The aim of this program is to facilitate connections, partnerships and knowledge transfer to build the capacity of Ontario coaches to offer quality training experiences for Para Nordic athletes and increase the number of coaches and clubs in the province who are “Para Ready”.
Through increased collaboration and knowledge sharing, XCSO aims to improve the coaching environment in the province while increasing connections with coaches. Through this program, coaches will:
– identify gaps and develop individualized learning objectives related supporting \Para athletes in the daily training environment
– share experiences
– exchange ideas
– increase and refine their understanding and comfort level with Para Nordic specific coaching principles and strategies
– participate in coaching immersion activities with athletes registered in the Ontario Para Nordic teams through targeted Provincial Coaching Experiences (PCE)
Cross Country Ski Ontario believes in cultivating a diverse and inclusive community of skiers and coaches that can work seamlessly with all athletes. An integral part of becoming a better coach is through a mentorship relationship.  The very best coaches are themselves coached by someone else.
This program is open to new and experienced coaches alike.
Applications will be accepted on a continuous basis until all positions are filled.

Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club Pilots Para Nordic Eagle Program

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Arrowhead Provincial Park hosted Canada’s first pilot project for Nordiq Canada, integrating a Para Nordic Skills Development Program called the Eagles Para Program.

The motto of the International Paralympic Committee is ‘to soar higher’, and in carrying on the theme of the animation, the Eagle was selected.  Thank you to Arrowhead Jackrabbit Coach Kade Vink for designing the program logo.

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Celebrate Para Nordic at the Toronto Argonauts game June 18th!

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Join XCSO at the Toronto Argonauts game on Sunday June 18th 2023 to recognize the accomplishments of the Ontario Para Nordic athletes throughout the 2022-23 season. The game is the Toronto Argos home opener vs the Hamilton Tiger Cats at 7pm on Sunday June 18th 2023. Tickets are $36/person. Section 105 Please email Jennifer Nieson […]

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Para-Nordic Mentorship Opportunity at ON Para-Sport Games

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The Ontario Parasport Collective and Coaches Association of Ontario strongly believe that coaching apprenticeship programs are an essential part of the development of a coach.  This pilot program would be the first of its kind as part of the Games Ontario Program. The program will provide up to one coach per sport the opportunity to develop their coaching skills through the Ontario Parasport Games.

Please review the program guidelines and timelines HERE. If you are interested, please apply no later than November 14, 2022 by 12pm EST. Please click here to apply.

Team ON Programming Opportunities Para-Nordic

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Please see Team ON Programming Opportunities PN HERE.   New this year is our Para-Nordic VI Guide Program. Please apply for the VI Guide Program is HERE

Introducing XCSO Para-Nordic Lead – Jen Nieson

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Cross Country Ski Ontario is very excited to welcome Jen Nieson as our Para-Nordic Lead.  Jen is an Occupational Therapist and brings a unique and exciting perspective to program development for our para-nordic athletes and participants.  Jen is an active member of Soo Finnish Nordic and most recently was the Volunteer Coordinator at Youth Championships.  This is the first step in implementing the action plan identified in the Program Review & Development Plan.  PN Committee Chair John Cowan, “We look forward to working with Jen with accomplishing the report’s recommendations.”   Jen begins working with XCSO on May 2 and can be reached at [email protected] (pending email setup).

Provincial Coaching Experiences Opportunity – Para-Nordic & Team ON

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Looking to expand your experience as a coach and make a difference in the athlete experience at a training camp?  XCSO is seeking coaches for two Provincial Coaching Experiences (PCE) – Para-Nordic dryland camp and Team ON on snow camp in Morin Heights, QC.   Deadline to apply is October 9th.  More details.