During the winter, it’s not unusual to see McRae Williams, a 23-year-old slopestyle skier from Park City, tearing up the terrain parks at Park City Mountain Resort.

But, during the summer season, Williams is a fixture at the water ramps at the Utah Olympic Park, coaching future aerialists and slopestyle stars as part of the FLY Freestyle program.

To Williams, coaching the next generation of athletes is a great way to spend his summers and to help out young athletes in the community that helped spark his own career.

“I like coaching during the summers just because it’s a good gig and it’s right here in Park City where I grew up,” he said. “It’s good to give back.”

One of Williams’ favorite aspects of coaching the FLY athletes is trying to figure out what coaching style helps each individual kid the most.

“I think it’s just cool to figure out the different ways to get to people,” he said. “Everyone is so different. You can tell one kid the same thing a million times and it will never work for him and you can tell someone else the same thing once and it clicks for them. I like that part a lot.”

But, Williams admits, the entire coaching aspect of freeskiing is sort of unusual to him. After seeing the sport of slopestyle enter the Winter Olympics for the first time in 2014, Williams said things have definitely changed since he was a kid.

“There’s more structure and coaching and training,” he said. “That’s good for the sport and it’s brought a lot of attention to the sport, but when I was growing up, it was just going out with my friends and having a good time. My friends were my coaches, you could say.

“It was more laid back. That’s what the sport’s all about having fun with your friends and progressing that way.”

Heading into this winter, though, Williams will be a part of the U.S. Ski Team. He made the team this spring, which he said has definitely helped out his career.

“Being a part of the team has been awesome,” he said. “Working with the physical therapists and the trainers is great. It really is good for you to have those resources and to be able to do it right. They’ve got a really good structure going there.

“I’m stoked it finally happened. It’s going to be great moving forward, shooting for [the 2018] Pyeongchang [Winter Olympics] in four years.”

Williams said this winter will be a little bit more laid-back in terms of competition since it’s the year after the Olympics. So, he added, he’ll focus a little bit more on his budding ski film career.

“I’m potentially going to be working with TGR Films and the Sammy C Project, so I’m looking forward to that,” he said. “I haven’t done much filming in the past, but I think my sponsors are more leaning toward that. They want to help me with that side of things since the comp side is going really well.”

But when it’s time to strap on the skis and hit the slopes for a competition, Williams said he’ll be ready. He’s excited for a few big events this season.

“After getting gold in Tignes [France] two years ago and silver last year in Aspen [at the X Games], I’m planning for that this year and working hard to get ready for that,” he said. “That’s the big deal this year, for sure. But there’s also going to be the Dew Tour and a few Grand Prixs (Williams finished fifth in both days of the U.S. Grand Prix at PCMR last winter), but yeah, the X Games is the big one.”

He added that he’s excited to get back on the snow and start training.

“In the fall, we’ll have some training camps, probably at Breckenridge at the end of October or early-November, and then it’s Dew Tour right away,” he said. “In early December, you’ve just got to get back into it really quick.”

Though Williams has thought about getting into coaching when his competitive career is done, he said he hopes he still has several years of high-level competition ahead of him.

“It’s definitely a possibility,” he said of joining the coaching ranks. “Just with FLY, I’ve had to go through a lot of credentials and getting different certificates so that I can coach. There are different levels you can get up to, so it’s definitely a possibility to go down that road.

“But, right now, I’m just pretty focused on skiing.”

Williams is also partnering with Play Hard Give Back for the upcoming season, an organization that sells healthy snacks and donates 30 percent of the profits to the athletes and nonprofit organizations of their choice. Williams will support the Utah Olympic Park and FLY Freestyle through Play Hard Give Back. Visit www.playhardgiveback.com/mcraewilliams for more information.

Follow Williams on Twitter and Instagram at @McRae_Williams.