U.S. SKI & SNOWBOARD ANNOUNCES MATT GNOZA AS FREESTYLE SPORT DIRECTOR
PARK CITY, UTAH (July 21, 2022) – U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the promotion of Matt Gnoza to Freestyle Sport Director. Gnoza brings extensive freestyle leadership and coaching experience to his new position.
Gnoza began his career at U.S. Ski & Snowboard as the Moguls C Team coach in 2014 and was promoted to Head Moguls Coach in 2015. He coached the 2018 and 2022 Olympic teams and brought home silver with Jaelin Kauf’s performance in Beijing in February. Prior to U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Gnoza served as the Action Sports Athletic Director and Freestyle Head Coach at Killington Mountain School from 1994 to 2014. He has over 28 years of coaching experience.
Gnoza was instrumental in helping to include dual moguls in the 2026 Olympic program, having brought the elite international moguls community together for a successful petition to the International Ski Federation and the International Olympic Committee to have the sport confirmed in June. Throughout his career, Gnoza has been committed to continuing to learn, grow and develop as a coach and leader, as well as apply those same principles to his teams.
“I am deeply invested in the U.S. freestyle community and am excited to be in this new role at U.S. Ski & Snowboard,” said Gnoza. “Freestyle has a rich history in the U.S. and I look forward to extending our sport’s legacy for years to come. We have some serious momentum building from our hugely successful 2022 U.S. Olympic Freestyle Team and I look forward to developing this program’s incredible potential. I am excited to work with our elite teams as well as the development pipeline to realize success at every level.”
With Gnoza’s promotion, Bryon Wilson takes over as Head Moguls Coach for the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team.
As Freestyle Sport Director, Gnoza’s scope extends from the elite to the grassroots levels. He will oversee the U.S. national moguls and aerials ski teams, as well as be tasked with developing and managing a high-quality talent identification and development program for freestyle athletes, coaches, officials and judges to ensure the U.S. not only remains competitive in the discipline, but has a solid foundation and infrastructure to support excellence in freestyle skiing long term.
“Matt brings a tremendous amount of coaching and leadership experience to this role,” said Chief of Sport Anouk Patty. “He has a great vision for the sport at both the grassroots and at the elite level and he knows what he needs to do to implement that vision.”
Immediate goals for Gnoza are to recruit top talent to round out the national team’s staff. One of his first moves as director was to name a dedicated Moguls D Team coach, Jordan Krober. “This is an investment in development, ensuring we have a thriving pipeline to draw from for the next two to three Olympic cycles at least,” said Gnoza. “Development is a theme for freestyle right now. I am spending my first weeks and months on the job meeting with key stakeholders from the freestyle community and the organization to understand how we build on our national team’s success while simultaneously developing the up-and-comers and supporting our clubs.”
Gnoza will look to revamp the Project Gold Program, including extending the program to aerials, to provide targeted opportunities for young, developing athletes to collaborate and learn from each other, as well as from the national team at select national camps throughout the training season. In order to ensure there is a pipeline of development talent to pull from, Gnoza will work with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s sport education department to update long-term athlete development systems and freestyle coaches’ education offerings.
Through enhancing relationships with clubs, Gnoza will create an open and collaborative dialogue with the nation’s freestyle community. On the event side, Gnoza will work towards a well-developed NorAm tour and pursue additional FIS Freestyle World Cup opportunities.
Gnoza’s appointment as the Freestyle Sport Director position is part of an organizational restructure for U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Under his leadership, freestyle stands on its own and reports directly to the Chief of Sport.
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About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah at the USANA Center of Excellence. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders in 2021, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org
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