Welcome JF!

Canada Snowboard is proud to announce the appointment of our new Sport and High Performance Director, Mr. Jean-François Rapatel. Jean-François, known to many as 'JF', previously worked for Alpine Canada, where he served as the organization’s Director, Coach and Athlete Development (2010-2013) and as High Performance Director for Para-Alpine (2005-2010). In his Para-Alpine role, he helped develop a world-class program where the team won 13 of Canada’s 19 medals during the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Games.

In anticipation of the new role, JF commented: “I have a real passion for high performance sport and the pursuit of excellence and this represents a great opportunity for me to contribute to Canada Snowboard’s future success. I truly look forward to working with the athletes, coaches, staff and our high performance partners in helping each discipline continue to improve while we prepare for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond.”

Canada Snowboard’s Executive Director Patrick Jarvis is enthusiastic about the skill-set JF brings to the role : “JF possesses a number of great personal qualities, bolstered by tremendous front-line experience with sport excellence, but perhaps what I’m the most keen about is his demonstrated leadership capability within high performance sport. His track record of generating success within sport programs, built upon stellar planning and implementation, bodes well for the future of competitive snowboarding in Canada.”

“On behalf of the board of directors, we would like to welcome Jean-François to the Canada Snowboard team. Along with the support of our dedicated high performance staff, coaches and trainers, we look forward to a unified vision and strong strategic focus to support our athletes, ” added Matt Houghton, Canada Snowboard’s Chairperson.

Fully bilingual, JF holds an M.A, Human Kinetics from the University of Ottawa as well as a B.Sc, Physical Education (kinesiology) from the University of Montreal. Currently a Paralympic High Performance Athlete Development Advisor, a role which is a partnership between the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, JF will assume the responsibilities of his new role on February 11th.