CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
BOOST YOUR FUN AND VALUE WITH CERTIFICATION IN A SECOND DISCIPLINE… OR MORE
By Ed Younglove, PSIA-AASI Board Chair I
f you’ve earned Level I (or higher) PSIA-AASI certifi cation in a primary teaching discipline – alpine, snowboard, cross country, telemark, or adaptive – congratulations! T at’s a
measure not only of your skill as an instructor but also of your commitment to your students.
But why stop there? Speaking from personal experience, I know that getting a second certifi cation (even if it’s in a discipline you rarely teach) can be a smart and rewarding move.
I have skied since before I can remember skiing, or anything else. My earliest memories of sliding on snow are from some pretty faded photos and my parents’ stories. Naturally, when I started teaching back in 1992, I taught alpine skiing. And when I got my Level III certifi cation two years later (it was called full certifi cation back then) it was in alpine skiing.
ADVENTURES IN SNOWBOARDING But skiing hasn’t always been in my life. I attended high school in Hawaii and identifi ed myself as a surfer, not a skier. In the early 90s I began to see a few people sliding on my home mountain, Crystal Mountain in Washington State, on something bearing a close resemblance to the surfboards of my Hawaiian youth. I had just earned full certifi cation in alpine and thought snowboarding would be a fun diversion. So, while on a skiing vacation, I decided to take a snowboarding lesson, certain that my earlier surfi ng experience would make it an easy endeavor. What I learned in my fi rst snowboard
lesson was that my surfi ng skills didn’t transfer as well as I had anticipated, but I also discovered both the anxiety and the fun of learning a new snow sport. I had a great young instructor who taught me the fundamentals in a safe environment, yet standing (or sitting) at the top of the gradual slope that was the local beginner
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hill (on a pair of skis I would have said “what hill?”) I was struck with a paralyzing fear of falling and getting injured. I had some “hard fun” that day and got addicted to snowboarding for the next several years. (“Hard fun,” as you may recall from a 32 Degrees article about Snow Operating founder Joe Hession’s research, is the fun that – because it’s also
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riding skills that I had to focus on in my certifi cation training.
OPPORTUNITIES DOUBLED In addition to gaining the personal satisfaction a second certifi cation brings about, I became a much better and a more valuable instructor. T is was early enough in the development of snowboarding that the ski school did not have a riding program. We started one, and my versatility in being able to teach skiing or snowboarding made me more valuable to the school. My multiple certifi cations also helped in my successful tryouts for the Northwest Division Education Staff . I am back to teaching skiing almost
exclusively but I know having obtained my snowboard certifi cation had the unexpected benefi t of also improving my ski teaching. Today when a skiing student tells me he or she is afraid or shows signs of fear, I can relate by thinking back to my own fi rst snowboard lesson. I get it. I also know that the fun I had in that
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Watch Ed Younglove share his snowboarding story – including a shout-out to his ski-school mentor Willie Grindstaff and memories of creating the fi rst snowboard teaching program at Washington’s Crystal Mountain.
a challenge – gets us addicted to trying to get better… and the better we get the more enjoyable it becomes. T at’s as opposed to “easy fun” that soon just gets boring.) Hooked by that fi rst experience, I was able to earn both my Snowboard Level I and II certifi cations. My alpine certifi cation was certainly a big help. As you’ve likely learned in Core Concepts for Snowsports Instructors, good teaching is good teaching, and my alpine teaching experience transferred nicely. Even the skills-based technical knowledge from skiing greatly aided my ability to understand the skill and movement applications in snowboarding. So, my path to certifi cation mostly had to do with improving my technical knowledge in areas unique to snowboarding and acquiring
fi rst snowboard lesson is what hooked me on riding. It’s a great reminder that – even if students doubt their ability to learn a new sport – as long as you make the adventure a fun one, you’ll likely have a convert by lesson’s end. If, after attaining Level III in your
primary discipline, you’re looking for some fun and new insight into teaching, I encourage you to dive into a diff erent discipline and even pursue certifi cation. And, frankly, if you feel a higher level of certifi cation in your main sport of choice isn’t attainable, adding a second discipline to your teaching repertoire is a wise decision. Anything you can do to increase your versatility – whether that involves higher or multiple certifi cations – will make you a more valuable asset to your ski school. And besides, being able to take on the mountain with a diverse set of tools in your quiver gives you that many more adventures in your life experience!
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