COACH’S CORNER
Michael Rogan (center) gets insights on Alpine Team candidates from Ron Kipp (left) and Mike Porter (right), who were among the distinguished experts who served as selectors.
GRANT NAKAMURA
MORE CLINIC DAYS WITH MEMBERS AT TOP OF TO-DO LIST FOR ALPINE TEAM
By PSIA-AASI Team Manager Jeb Boyd, with Alpine Team Coach Michael Rogan H
i, and welcome to “Coach’s Corner,” the spot in 32 Degrees where you’ll get a regular update on what the PSIA-AASI Team is working on to help you improve
your teaching, technical, and people skills, which – as elements
of Te Learning Connection – form the framework for high-quality lessons. In my role as manager for the newly selected Adaptive, Alpine, Nordic, and Snowboard Teams, I want to make sure you and your fellow ski and snowboard instructors have opportunities to work with team members on snow and through Community group discussions to benefit from the inspiring educational innovation the team develops for PSIA-AASI. Simply put, our goal is to make a day skiing and riding with us more fun and educational than a day skiing or riding without us. Kicking off this season’s offerings in Coach’s Corner, new Alpine Team Coach Michael Rogan offers a sneak peek at how that can happen.
GRATITUDE AND GOALS By Michael Rogan
I’m incredibly honored to serve PSIA-AASI as the new PSIA Alpine Team Coach, but I won’t hide the fact that I feel enormous pressure to fill the shoes of the great coaches who came before me. Especially those of Rob Sogard, who spent the previous 12 years in this role. He brought to life the best Alpine Technical Manual to date, a unified
110 | 32 DEGREES • FALL 2016
team, and a clear, consistent message to our membership. He had a leadership style that was subtle and precise. He knew where he wanted the Alpine Team to go, but let the team members find the way. As an organization, we owe Rob a huge thank-you for all he did. As I now find myself tasked with leading
a team that is near and dear to my heart – a team that I’ve been a member of for five consecutive terms – my biggest goal is for all 14 members to spend more time with you, the members. To accomplish this, we have put together a group of full-time teaching snow pros who have enough flexibility in their schedules to spend 50-plus days a year on the road giving clinics. In addition, all divisions and member schools have received a letter that outlines how they can bring a PSIA-AASI Team member in to provide valuable training experiences for instructors and education staff. My goals for the 2016-20 Alpine Team
are fairly straight-forward: Q Increase clinic days with membership QGet more involved in divisional education staff training
Q Increase team participation in Te Community and content creation for 32 Degrees
QDemonstrate education and personal/ professional development at the highest level of PSIA-AASI.
TOUGH TEAM SELECTION PROCESS SET THE BAR HIGH
We jump into the 2016-17 with a brand- new Alpine Team, formed through the most rigorous selection process ever. When it came time to try a new venue for National Academy and Team Selection, I thought Snowbird would be hard to beat. As it turned out, Breckenridge provided a tough test for every aspect of a team member’s job. Every candidate was tested physically, mentally, and emotionally. Each day started at 8:30 a.m. on snow and
the indoor presentations and subsequent work indoors didn’t end until 9 p.m. at the earliest. Candidates didn’t know what conditions to expect and had to have excellent coping and quick decision-making skills to succeed. Te exercises participants were tasked with averaged 500-plus yards in length, so fatigue became a factor. As many tasks as possible had blind entries. Here’s a brief breakdown of what each day of this grueling process entailed.
DAY 1 QProduce more short educational pieces
Ten tasks were performed on this first day – including short turns in bumps with
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