About Excel

Founded in 2018 by Ex British ski team athlete Rob Bullen. Rob quickly progressed through his ski racing career starting from a low-level athlete and ski racer to become one of the best skiers in the UK winning the English Alpine Championships on multiple occasions as well as taking the British Men’s Slalom title back in 2011. Retiring from ski racing in 2013 after 6 years as a full time athlete Rob moved straight into coaching and after spending a year completing his BASI qualifications took a job with Ambition Racing where he stayed for four great years and as a team contributed to the development and success of Ambition and many of their athletes.

Come the spring of 2018 and the time felt right for Rob to branch out and create his own team with some well-established values as well as a unique flexible and approach to providing programmes and access to great training to athletes of all ages and all abilities.

Locations

A stable base provides athletes with a home-like feel.

Winter base

During the winter months, we are based in the Tirol region of Austria. We have built great relationships with local schools, sports facilities, and training slopes, which all combine to create fantastic training opportunities for our athletes.

We stay in Hotel Iris, Kramsach, which is at the end of the Zillertal Valley, just 30 minutes from Innsbruck airport.

Our location is central to seven ‘local’ training hills, including Alpbach, Reith, Inneralpbach, Fugen, Hockfugen, Kaltenbach, and Mayrhofen. We also have the added benefit of being just 45 minutes away from the Hintertux Glacier which provides our programmes with snow certainty all year round.

Summer

During the summer months we train in a variety of locations that best suit the athletes’ needs. These locations vary depending on age and programme. Specific details on pre-season camp locations can be found in the Programme calendar.

Southern Hemisphere

We provide an annual training camp in El Colorado Chile. This is available to athletes from U16+. El Colorado provide us with ski in ski out accommodation and private training lanes where we can train DH, Super-G, GS and SL.

Coach Profiles

Rob Bullen
Rob BullenManaging Director
Rob founded Excel Race Academy in 2018 after a successful career both as an athlete and coach. He worked his way onto the ‘Home Nations Programmes’, the British Development Team, where he met the now Excel coaches Matt and Jo, then finally onto the GBR Senior Team. He achieved numerous international podiums and national titles including British Slalom Champion. In 2013, he hung up his race boots to work full-time as a ski race coach at a number of different academies including holding positions of Ambition Children’s Head Coach and British Children’s Ski Team coach. In his spare time he plays golf and loves walking his German Shepard “Major”.
Matt Thompson
Matt ThompsonU21-U18 Coach
Although originally from Milton Keynes, Matt now lives in Blairgowrie in Scotland during the off-season. He has been involved in ski racing as an athlete or coach for a combined 20 years. He joined Excel in 2022. He says “I love seeing my athletes improving themselves and their skiing, smashing races and reaching their goals” and boy is the evidence of this is clear. He loves a powder day, cricket, cycling and American football.
Graham Dickson
Graham DicksonU16/U14 Coach
For his Christmas present at 8 years old, G-man asked Santa for a wee block of beginer lessons at Glasgow ski centre, and the rest is history! He says “I love the mountains, it’s where I feel at home. I’m all about passing on my love for the sport, making people passionate to ski and seeing the joy people get from bombing around on wooden planks.” If not on a set of Atomic slalom skis you’ll see him laying it over on his monoboard. His other favourite sports are football, tennis, and golf, but name any sporting he’ll take you on anytime!
Jo Morrison
Jo MorrisonU16-U10 Coach
He started skiing with local Scottish club Gordon skiers and won the Bairns Bucket a record 3 times in a row! Unsurprisingly he progressed onto the children’s’ then adult’s British Ski Team, where he teamed up with another of our coaches, Matt. His claim to fame is forerunning a NorAm finishing only 2 seconds off Marcel Hirscher (if only he raced it!). Jo then took to instructing and coaching at the Warren Smith Academy in Verbier, before joining Excel in 2021.
Joe Gurley
Joe GurleyStrength & Conditioning Coach
Originally from Alabama in the USA, Joe recently moved to Lancashire in the UK to be with his wife and started work with Myerscough Basketball team. He has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Alabama, a Master’s degree in Strength and Conditioning from Edith Cowan University in Australia and is now pursueing a Phd doctorate at the University of Central Lancashire… phew! In his downtime from being an S&C wiz he loves chilled walks, hikes and a good coffee.
Jazzy Butcher
Jazzy Butcher Assistant Coach
She will act as assistant coach on a part-time basis supporting the core coaching team at UK Chill Factore training sessions and National Championship race weeks abroad. She started skiing on the Norfolk Dry Slope before making it onto the U16, U18 and U21 British Ski Team. She obtained a first-class Biomedical sciences degree whilst ski racing full-time. Now a keen road cyclist and is due to complete her Master’s in Physiotherapy (pre-reg) in summer 2023.
TBC
TBCHouse Parent
TBC
TBCTutor

Pastoral Care & Safeguarding

We understand that our athletes are a long way from home and their families, and this brings with it issues and concerns which our staff manage sensitively and responsibly. Our pastoral staff and guardians have the responsibility for parental controls and discipline as well as for nurturing the children, acting as role models and providing advice and guidance when needed.

Supervision

Children and athletes are supervised and cared for by designated house parents, coaching staff and teachers, alll of whom are fully DBS checked and are First Aid trained. With the number of athletes that we accept onto the programme, each member of staff has the time they need to do their job. As well as care for and raise athletes, house parents arrange ‘Activities’ for evenings and days off.

SnowSafe

We work continually to affiliate ourselves with Snow Sport England’s ‘SnowSafe Policy’. SnowSafe comes with strict guidelines and ensures both athletes and parents have a clear route to raise child welfare issues to our Club Welfare Officer (CWO) who is supported by the safeguarding lead at SSE – Bridget Owens. We take the welfare of our athletes very seriously and our CWO is up to date with all mandatory courses as well as continually keeping up to date with other relevant subjects such as Mental health awareness in sport and safeguarding and protecting children in the digital world.