QUse practical experience. To reinforce the fi fth tenet of the Code (Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment), fi nd an out-of-the-way slope next to the lodge or in your school’s teaching corral. Have students remove their skis or board and slide them down to a partner. Snowboards obviously will slide and even pick up speed, while ski brakes will arrest skis.
stop on the trail. Are they good stopping points? Discuss the pros and cons of where your group is positioned.
VIEW VIDEO
tiny.cc/parq5x
Watch this video for an up-close look at NSAA’s Your Responsibility Code.
QFind a new source of information. Kinsman suggests having students talk to a liftie to help ingrain the seventh part of the Code (Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely). Send two students over to the lift shack to ask a lift attendant on break if he or she would come out and go over the basics of safe loading and unloading, and how important it is to act safely even when passively riding on the chair. If you have students who already know how to ride a lift, have them rouse the liftie from the shack to explain how the lift actually works.
NSAA’s Byrd said he has seen a lot of impressive resort-wide eff orts to put some fun into knowing the Code. New York’s Holiday Valley, for example, has a program based on the Discovery Channel’s Cash Cab game show. Ambassadors riding lifts with singles inform them that they will ask safety-related questions and correct responses earn prizes. If your area doesn’t have such a program, perhaps you could join forces with a fellow instructor and make up your own trivia game. California’s Mammoth Mountain Ski
Area emphasizes 360-degree safety awareness with a “Know Your Zone” slogan, said Byrd.
And, of course, there is the NSAA’s National Safety Awareness Month each January, in which resorts throughout the country reinforce the message with a variety of initiatives (contests, games, presentations, and giveaways”. Find out about activities at your resort,
and if there aren’t any, off er your assistance to help your resort get more involved. Although the Code forms that foundation of safety awareness, there are all kinds of ways that resorts can put their own spin on it.
THINK DRIVER’S ED If anyone understands the need to teach safety to students, it is George Rooney, driver’s education teacher at Vermont’s Middlebury High School. “Driving is something my students are going to do every day for the rest of their lives that has the potential to kill both them and someone else,” said Rooney. His challenge is similar to ours: impress upon students the need to make good decisions when they leave his class. Here are some of his suggestions for how to
make that happen: QQuiz ‘em. When teaching students about the road signs symbols, Rooney gives them an impossible 50-question quiz in which he fl ashes a sign for a split second and asks students to identify or reproduce the sign or symbol. T is is roughly how long a driver
THE 7 TENETS OF YOUR RESPONSIBILITY CODE 1. Always stay in control, and be able to stop or avoid other people or objects. 2. People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them. 3. You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above. 4. ________________________. [Fill in the blank… check your answer at
nsaa.org/safety- programs/responsibility-code/ or in the video accompanying this article.]
5. Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment. 6. Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas. 7. Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely.
QMake comparisons to other experiences. Because Rooney and his students live in Vermont – and most of them ski or ride – he often compares driving to snowsports. Part of his teaching approach is to get students talking about times they’ve felt out of control of a situation, how they got there, and what they did to resolve the issue. Sounds like a potential conversation about the fi rst tenet of the Code, doesn’t it? (Always stay in control, and be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.)
has to internalize a sign and react. Flash cards can be a fun and interesting way to drill students on the sixth part of the Code (Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas).
Learning the concepts and importance of Your Responsibility Code is as much as part of learning to ski or ride safely as taking a driver’s ed class is in becoming a responsible motorist. Teaching safety, whether on the slopes or on the roads, is a key way to help reduce incidents, injuries, even death. By the way… did you notice that the
fourth tenet of Your Responsibility Code is conspicuously absent from this article? Do you know what it is? If not, watch the accompanying video or visit http://www.
nsaa.org/safety-programs/responsibility- code/. When you know and practice the Code, you’ll leave your students with a strong imprint of safe
attitudes and
behaviors that help assure a lifetime of fun on the slopes.
Mark Aiken’s PSIA-AASI resume includes Level III alpine, Level I telemark, and Level I snowboard certifi cation and membership on the Eastern Division’s Advanced Children’s Educator (ACE) Team. Website:
markaiken.com
INSURANCE POLICY FOR SNOW PROS
Despite safety awareness and pre- cautions, ski and snowboard instruc- tors do encounter risks in their jobs. For information on insurance poli- cies available to PSIA-AASI members through Sports Insurance, go to:
tiny.cc/wr125x
96 | 32 DEGREES • WINTER 2016
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