Alpine Team Coach Rob Sogard and a new pal.
of preparation into its Interski presentations, all of which reflect the leading focus on how we teach lessons right here at home. But the individual team members also hit the event as knowledge- hungry students, intent on gleaning everything they could from other country’s presentations. Interski has long
served as a proving ground for American innovations and breakthroughs in snowsports instruction (see page 64). Most recently, Interski 2011 in St. Anton, Austria, resulted in four years of invaluable resources for the association, including, among other things, three new technical manuals. Te Argentine event is already generating content, along with a wealth of video and images(see page 20). Read on for an individual focus on the presentations of each discipline, and expect a lot of new instructional resources and ideas throughout this, and the next four seasons.
ALPINE TEAM HIGHLIGHTS At Interski 2011 in St. Anton, the U.S. was one of the only countries to bring carving skis, fat skis, and freestyle skis to the event, and addressed the benefits of each in a presentation that identified all types of good skiing. What wasn’t addressed, according to Alpine Team member Robin Barnes, was “the concrete, technical skills of good skiing.”
Snowboard Team member Eric Rolls talks shop.
built on ways to develop that conversion connection. “When students feel connected to the instructor, there is
a greater desire to pursue becoming a rider,” said Snowboard Team member Chris Hargrave. “If you rush into the technical skills, you miss an opportunity to connect with the student. If we can improve the people skills, we will increase conversion. Not only with our students but with our instructors as well.” He added, “Students need to know that we care about
T he Alpine Team strikes a pose. technical
A focus on those skills has completely clarified PSIA’s the new Alpine Technical
message, resulted in
Manual, and brought about a greater understanding of what PSIA values as good skiing. (Go to
tiny.cc/o7jq5x to log in and download the PSIA Alpine Team’s Interski handout on Te Learning Connection – which outlines the “5 Fundamentals of Alpine Skiing.”) “It allows us to always be speaking the same language, understand coaching cues versus fundamentals, develop consistent lesson content, analyze movements, self coach and
22 | 32 DEGREES • WINTER 2016
who they are and why they want to succeed. If we strengthen instructors’ people skills, they will retain more students, and we can also retain more instructors.” In Hargrave’s presentation, which was hosted at Ushuaia’s old penitentiary – evoking quite a few Shawshank Redemption comparisons – the three tiers of Connection, Fun, and Progression were identified as being critical to increasing conversion. (Again, go to
tiny.cc/h1jq5x to log in and download the AASI Snowboard Team’s Interski handout on Te Learning Connection – which emphasizes making a personal connection with students.) “Snowboarding participation has changed in the U.S., and an issue for us is that instructor retention is low,” said
learn more efficiently, and be consistent with exam standards across the country,” said Barnes. “And this is with ALL types of skiing.” On the snow, the message immediately resonated with
instructors from other countries. Said Frank Reinhardt of Germany, “It’s very straightforward and easy to understand.” Asked to cite his three top takeaways from the United
States’ on-snow clinics, Alpine Team Coach Rob Sogard said:
1.Most countries view their “fundamentals” as turn types (e.g., wedge, w/christie, parallel, etc…)
2. Semantics aside, there is no disagreement that the 5 fundamentals are all valid.
3. Tinking of fundamentals this way helped some other countries understand their own system and philosophy.
CREATE CONNECTIONS, SAY SNOWBOARDERS In snowboarding – as well as in skiing – there is that magic moment when a person decides to commit to the sport and stay with it for a lifetime. Much of the AASI Snowboard Team’s presentation is
tiny.cc/qukq5x
tiny.cc/hwjq5x
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