Spring/Summer 2007 VOLUME 29 NUMBER 4 Intermountain dom, students have goals and you are instructor and PSIA showing the way using your training Alpine Team Coach and experience. Understanding and Rob Sogard skis the developing these seven skills will give gates at Big Sky you effective instructor leadership. during the PSIA/AASI The most effective instructors will Intermountain/North spontaneously employ any and all of west joint Spring the seven leadership skills. The follow- Symposium April ing definitions are specifically related 13-15. to ski instruction. (I will substitute coaching behavior for expedition behavior). Coaching Behavior: Being nice, respectful and supportive; serving the Brian Oakden mission and goals of your students/athletes. Your ability with this skill determines succeed at this mission NOLS has how comfortable students will feel and Got Skills? determined that leadership consists of helps them believe that you hold their seven skills (Sorry, numchuck skills best interests first and foremost. By Stephen Helfenbein isn’t one!): Expedition Behavior, Com- Competence: Your level of ability munication, Competence, Judgment and knowledge with any given skill. According to Napoleon Dynamite, “Girls and Decision Making, Tolerance for Skiing is our skill. You must walk only want boyfriends with great skills.” Adversity and Uncertainty, Self Aware- the talk and then some. Your teaching That’s probably true, but your students ness, Vision and Action. These leader- effectiveness will be greater if you can also want instructors with great skills. ship skills are directly applicable to ski ski at or above the level that you are What skills should you possess? instruction and can be used to increase describing or the level expected of you I have been an instructor for the the effectiveness of your ski teaching. by your students. National Outdoor Leadership School Instructors are leaders. My diction- Communication: Creating and (NOLS) for the past five years. The ary defines a leader as “one who shows maintaining an environment where school leads students on expeditions in someone the way to a destination by individuals can share and receive wilderness settings with the goal of going in front or beside them.” That’s information. training them to lead their own trip. In you! Whether the destination is the order to help instructors and students bottom of the hill or all mountain free- continued on 3 To Cliché or not Cliché . 2 Picture This . 6 A word about words … and meaning. Photos from Big Sky. Out of Bounds. 4 Achievements . 9 A word on backcountry accreditation. Kudos for hard work. PROFESSIONAL SNOWSPORT INSTRUCTION IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST 2 PSIA-I ◆ AASI-I Education Corner The Instructors EDGE The Instructors EDGE, official publication of the Professional Ski Instructors of America The Cliché Today Intermountain Division and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors Intermountain Division, is scheduled to be By Ron Kipp, PSIA-I Alpine Education Manager published four times a year at a nonmember subscription rate of $15. The end of the season has come. Towards the end, a bunch of instructor friends and I were hanging out after Opinions presented in the EDGE are those of the individual authors and do not a day skiing in the sun. It used to be après ski but now it is necessarily represent the opinions or just hanging out. I am not sure of the difference. Like many times before, our policies of the Professional Ski Instructors conversation drifted to technical talk. of America, Intermountain or the American There I sat with my 30-year pin on thinking this is déjà vu. I’ve done this so Association of Snowboard Instructors, Intermountain. Submission of articles and many springs days in the past. Oh boy, après ski now déjà vu. Maybe we photos is encouraged. Contact the editor. should be conversing in French. To an outsider of this conversation it might as well be in French. We talk of movements we use to start the turn. How we Editorial/Advertising Office are concerned about releasing the inside ski, as opposed to holding on to that Rodger Renstrom, Editor 770 Pinewood Dr, Sandy, UT old outside ski. We throw word around like carve, centered, and of course we (v) 801 566-9727 all know where our center-of-mass is. Words are good. If we had to re-define (e) [email protected] everything every time we entered a conversation the discussion would be cluttered with definitions. But do we get caught up in our own vernacular? PSIA-I Division, AASI-I Division Office Susan Oakden, Division Executive At a teaching assessment last winter, a candidate was working on round 7105 Highland Dr., Suite 201 turns with his make-believe students. This was all well and good. He backed Salt Lake City, UT 84121 up his decision for the round turns as there would be reduced forces at the (v) 801 942-2066, (f) 801 942-7837 end of the turn and therefore the turn pressures reduced. I liked that. He had (e) [email protected] them making continuous movements in and out of the turn, gradually PSIA-I, AASI-I Officers and Chairs increasing and decreasing edge angle. It was a nice job. He then brought up President, Dave Boucher “directional movements.” I like this term, kind of a combination of the old Administrative V. P.:Open vertical motion combined with cross-over. Yeah, good stuff. I am liking what I Communications V.P.: Open PSIA Board Representative: Jerry Warren am seeing in this teaching segment. Then, just as I was about to put a positive Programs Administrator: Nathan Emerson note in my score book, the candidate/teacher started encouraging the direc- Alpine Certification Manager: Open tional movements of his fantasy students to go toward the “apex of the turn”. Alpine Education Manager: Ron Kipp Huh? “Round turns,” “directional movements,” “apex of the turn.” Some- Alpine DECL Manager: Dave Lundberg Snowboard Manager: Open thing was amuck. All of a sudden a lot of clichés were on the table, and a cou- Nordic Manager: Steve Neiner ple of them conflicted. Round is round,... there is no apex in a round shape. Adaptive Manager: Chuck Torrey My eighth grade geometry teacher would be stewing here. So if the students Children’s Manager: Mark Nakada were making round turns... where is the apex? Where was this directional Senior’s Committee: Junior Bounous Ski School Management Committee: moment supposed to go? Brian Maguire Clichés can be valuable. But when just thrown out become worthless. In fact they probably do more harm than good (is that a cliché?). Teaching with Current Board Members repetitive phrases can be a good thing. Students tend to hang onto, and take 2005-2008: Carl Boyer, Scott Rockwood, home a way to manage a skiing situation. When they become hackneyed John Pohl, Randy Hartwig phrase that are just used for filler then their usefulness fades. 2006-2008: Tony Fantis Understanding of an idea is what is really important. We all have differing 2006-2009: Jamie MacKintosh, Mark philosophies of skiing and ski teaching. This makes our sport rich. When we Quaintance, Stew Marsh, Nancy Kronthaler, Jerry Warren. just teach catch phrases and not the idea we want represented, we run into a 2007-2010: David Boucher, Danny Edwards, impasse (ah French again,…Voltaire even used impasse as a euphemistic Chris Katzenberger, synonym for cul-de-sac…and if you have every driven around in a cul-de-sac, Kent Lundell, Scott McGee continued on 4 INSTRUCTORS EDGE SPRING/SUMMER 2007 PSIA-I ◆ AASI-I 3 SKILLS continued from 1 Without knowing and being com- fortable with yourself, students won’t The open flow of information know or be comfortable with you either. between students and instructor is criti- Vision and Action: The ability to see cal to identifying goals, giving feedback the big picture, create a plan and imple- to each other and determining success. ment it to completion. Use group goals Judgment and Decision Making: to guide your actions. Using past experience to assess situa- You fail when you can’t connect tions, surroundings and possible out- your teaching content to the goals of comes; Then using a well informed your students; or when you understand assessment to make appropriate choices. their goals but don’t present clear steps We use this skill to strike a balance towards reaching them. between creating a situation where stu- Effective teaching/leading is no acci- dents are going to feel the most comfort- dent or shot in the dark. Leadership skills able, yet be appropriately challenged. give you tools to improve your teaching Tolerance for Adversity and Uncer- precision. Much your like skis, your tainty: Living in rhythm with what you teaching is precise only when it is well cannot control and taking control of tuned. These seven skills are teaching what you can. tuning tools. Now that you know what Dealing with the X-factor takes these tools are and what they are used Thanks Carl creativity, confidence and emotional for, you’ve got skills Napoleon Dynamite Carl Boyer’s term as PSIA/AASI Inter- neutrality. would envy. ¾ Stephen Helfenbein is a mountain president expired as of the Self Awareness: Knowing personal PSIA-I DECL and one of several May 18 BOD meeting. The Board strengths and weaknesses; sharing your instructors representing PSIA-I at next elected Dave Boucher as our new presi- values and goals with others. year’s PSIA Alpine Team tryouts. dent. Thanks Carl, welcome Dave. ■ INSTRUCTORS EDGE SPRING/SUMMER 2007 4 Backcountry Peter Joyce, second Backcountry from right, stand with the backcountry Accreditation crew at the Stateline Parking lot, just back from freshies on An Interview with Peter Joyce Oliver Peak.