Category: Interski 2019 (Bulgaria)

Similar to CASI, Snowsport Sweden aims to give their instructors a framework within which to build their lessons.

Starting with Conditions, instructors are encouraged to find out a bit about their students and to look at the conditions of the day in order to form the basis of the technique that will be appropriate given those factors. Instructors look at Physical and Psychological factors of the student along with Situational factors such as equipment, terrain, snow conditions etc.

The next step is to identify the desired Outcome or “result” that you will be aiming for. Outcomes can be a certain type of turn, a trick, or a specific maneuver.

Once the instructor has analysed the Conditions and decided (in conjunction with the student) on a desired Outcome it is now time to identify the Positioning required to achieve the Outcome. Their Positioning is similar to our Skills, or as they describe it “how we regulate the relationship between centre of mass, the snowboard, and the resulting forces from the snow”.

The over arching message was that we shouldn’t jump to techinal (Positioning) without first assessing the Conditions (student and environmental factors) and establishing the desired Outcome.

While the Swedish terminology and methodology might differ from ours this is a message that we could all do to remember when building our lessons.

The Slovenia team based their work shop around a survey.

The team asked close to 100 snowboard instructors why they teach snowboarding. The most common answers were;

Fun

Outside

Exercise

Money

Responsibility

Lifestyle

Next they asked 100 snowboard students the same questions. What do you like most about snowboarding? Top answers were;

Fun

Family

Friends

Nature

Exercise

They then asked snowboard instructors what they did not like about teaching. Common answers were;

Students don’t listen

Students don’t want to learn

The student was spoiled

The student was disrespectful

The Slovenians concluded that;

The common idea of snowboarding is to be outside having fun getting exercise.

Why then were instructors having a hard time teaching? If the instructor is not having fun then the student may not be having fun.

The Slovenia decided that their must be a problem in the way the material is being delivered to the student.

After observing their instructors they realized their was a problem in delivery.

Instructors were teaching lessons which had a strong focus on developing skills. For instance, young children were being taught how to control their speed on a slope. The instructors were choosing outcomes that they themselves thought were appropriate without consulting the student. The students were getting frustrated and would disengage in the lesson.

Often a young student is not interested in controlling their speed, they are interested in going fast.

Instructors need to understand how to cater their lesson to the student. They need a wide range of ideas and progressions to put together a great lesson for any student.

If a young student does not want to side slip, do not make them. Figure out what the student would like to do and move forward on that outcome.

Many children like to make small jumps and practice jumping. If this is the case the instructor must figure out a way to make this happen in a safe and suitable area.

If the student is happy then the instructor will be happy.

This is an idea that seems to be well none. I think it is a very important message however. Too often we get stuck in our basic progressions. Sometimes we need to step outside our go-tool box and get creative to keep children engaged.

Journée 3 du congrès Interski et aujourd’hui j’ai eu le plaisir d’assister à la session sur neige de l’équipe Suisse, un pays qui est toujours très branché et toujours en recherche d’innovation pour améliorer l’experience des étudiants des écoles de glisse de la Suisse, c’est bien aussi de jaser en Français avec eux, un de leurs languages officiel.

Le but de leur session étais de partager leur façon d’enseigner un mouvement ou une manoeuvre de façon simple et efficace; la manoeuvre du jour… Le Harry. Le Harry est facilement décrit come un nose press avec un backside shifty. Le but était de créer une position stable en nose press et en même temps envoyer le tail en contre rotation avec le haut du corps et une extension de la jambe avant pour produire un effet dramatique et un style sans égal! Assez difficile pour nous garder engagé!

La méthode d’enseignement fut simple… 1: On essais la manoeuvre après avoir vu une démo. Sur une piste verte damée, conséquences potentielle minimale. On en discute, on échange des impressions et on pose des questions…Similaire à la découverte guidée. 2: Quelle sorte de méthodes d’apprentissage sont les plus efficaces et quand les mettre en pratique? On déconstruit la manoeuvre en étape. Sur une surface plate on commence avec un nose press, on explore l’amplitude des movements avant, la position des hanches et les sensations recherchées. On se met par deux et on va encore plus loin dans notre amplitude et on ajoute le shifty, mon partenaire me tenant les deux mains pour stabilité lorsque nous somme statique; pas facile! Nous sommes en Acquisition des mouvements.

3: On glisse! Maintenant c’est le temps de mettre les mouvements acquis en pratique, toujours sur du terrain vert ou les conséquences sont basse pour assurer une performance optimale. On nous donne beaucoup de temps pour la Consolidation des mouvements de la manoeuvre. 4: Application et Variation des mouvements (manoeuvre): Comment individualiser l’enseignement pour pouvoir adresser tout les types d’apprentissage? On trouve des analogies pour contribuer davantage à la simplicitée de l’enseignement et assurer la comprehension… dans ce cas ci: Bowling! On peu aussi comparer à une autre manoeuvre commune: Frontside Boardslide, Nollie, speed checks, etc. On se met en partenaire pour l’équivalent du bon vieux Top Gun, on varie en utilisant du terrain varié (les bords de piste, on essaie en switch) et en augmentant la difficulté et le défi. Tout ça soutenue par une analyse individuelle de la performance.

5: Création et Supplément des mouvement: Que puis-je faire comme enseignant pour aider les étudiants à atteindre leur but(s)? Dans ce cas ci on nous emmène dans le parc pour utiliser les modules; des Harry sur les jointures des sauts et gérer les pressions associées aux changements de terrain, vraiment le fun et un bon défi pour tous.

Donc un modèle d’enseignement simple, individuel et efficace pour une progression plus rapide et une expérience durable avec une progression similaire au modèle Canadien du développement des habilitée motrice (IARCV). Bravo les Suisses; très bonne présentation.

Merci!

Luc Bélanger

This morning was kind of cool.After St Patricks day things were a little slower paced for a lot of the teams. With some of the riders taking some well earned rest from the stresses of the previous day.

Not us CASI folks though we were tucked up in bed nice and relatively early as we knew we had a big day today.

So back to how cool the day was, on the 8.15 shuttle to the resort we arrived to see a few people milling around and all the snowboarders congregated in the middle of the village below the demo slope. Not having a specific plan we all decided to go for a ride together , so a few groomer laps and then some in the park with riders from all over the world just doing their thing , it was awesome to see and none of us were focused on doing perfect demos just ripping some turns with like minded people.

At 10:30 we split into 2 groups and went on sessions presented by Poland and Slovakia.

Yuki, Luc and I went with the Polish guys and Jeff and Adam went with Slovenia.

The Session idea was about using methods of contrast in order to get development from students. They took us to extremes with our equipment to help our understanding of our movement patterns. The first thing was to limit the help we get from our bindings and concentrate on using our joints to be able to turn our boards so loosening off our bindings to the point that our ankle straps were only a click or two connected and then riding switch – It made me think a whole lot about where I was stood and how I moved on the board to be able to change edge.

The next task they asked us to try was to take a lack of vision and see how it affected our balance. So we put bubble wrap( you know the stuff that you pack boxes with ) in our goggles and tried riding down the slope, it wasn’t overly challenging try thinking of driving just before you turn your windshield wipers on, you can kind of see people and where the slope edge was but not the smaller details. The next thing was total blackout we upped the ante and put a dense sponge in front of our eyes and it was like trying to ride in a power outage. Trust in the people guiding me was needed as i felt like I’d never been on a board before,for most people our body tensed and lateral movement almost came to a screeching halt with the majority prefering to rush the edge changes in their turns at the last minute. The idea was good and they got us thinking about how our students feel when they are riding in whiteout or stormy conditions as once the visability goes we get into survival mode.

They showed how even limiting one sense in varying amounts can develop9 understanding for students in how they stand and balance on their boards and that we can create extremes aimed at riders from beginner to advanced and use them as development tools in our lessons

The topic of this session revolved around the psychosocial aspects in the training of snow sports instructors, presented by German, Austrian and Polish presenters.

The thesis presented is that the goal is to go from being a good instructor to a great instructor. The key to becoming a great instructor is to support people to stay in their comfort zone and coach them so they can go beyond the limits of their comfort zone.

1: Neurobiological Aspects

Factors that influence us without us being aware of them…

What happens when our brain perceives a threat? The example given is to imagine you’re out for a run in the forest, and you encounter a bear in the trail. Increased heart rate, tense muscles, flight or fight mode. The amygdala takes control and prepares an emergency reaction: fight, flight or freeze…what the presenters referred to as “amygdala hijack”.

In teaching snow sports, it doesn’t take much of a threat to put someone in this state. In fact, our brain reacts similarly in social interactions as actual threatening interactions.

The SCARF model describes the way our brain interacts in social situations:

S: Status – relative importance, pecking order and seniority.

C: Certainty – the need of our brain to predict the near future.

A: Autonomy – perception of having things u see control.

R: Relatedness – being “in” or “out” of a social group.

F: Fairness – perception of fairness between people.

So What?

When we teach students (or train instructors) we need to keep the above factors in mind to ensure our students don’t experience “amygdala hijack”.

Our brain constructs our reality. Help your students to construct a positive reality and be in a state of well-being as often as possible.

2. Group Dynamics

Improving the learning experience by observing group dynamic processes.

The three models below show us how group behaviour can be observed:

• The Iceberg Model
• The Group Dynamic Space model
• Rank Dynamic model

Think of an iceberg – approximately 1/10th is visible above the water’s surface, and the rest is submerged and invisible. This is also the case in relationships and group dynamics – most of the important stuff is not visible or happening behind the scenes!

A sense of belonging is a vital part of a good group dynamic.  Here are some examples of ways to create a sense of security and belonging:

• Getting to know each other by name.
• Finding out who knows who, and how well – this give social orientation.
• Actively encouraging contact between different group members during the initial phase.
• Sharing ideas on how to spend the time together.
• Putting the group and “WE” first.

The 3 aspects at play here are:

1. Belonging: People who feel they don’t belong perceive this as a threat. The mind experiences social exclusion as physical pain.
2. Power: Opportunities for participation and involvement increase motivation. Power demonstrations of the instructor help him/her more than they help the students.
3. Nearness: Balanced attention by the instructor promotes a good learning climate in the group.

3. Coaching Role

How can we as instructors develop people’s full potential?

Coaching: Giving assistance in reaching desired results by reinforcing existing talents, asking the right questions, and expressing concern.

Using the SCARF principles, a good coach will minimize threats and maximize rewards.

Using Coaching to its Fullest

1. Serve your clients, and make them smile by doing a great job.

• Show your dedication to your job.
• They must feel that you care for their needs.
• Have empathy.

2. Form A Contract

• Define the rules of working together to ensure total confidence.
• The contract forms understanding of boundaries of the student and the coach.
• In a group situation, the contract should be understood by everyone (generally).

3. Set The Aims and Objectives by Defining the Goals and Setting Intentions

• Helps to realize what we’re here for.
• Open up, talk to clients, listen to their stories and tell yours.

4. Be an invisible leader – pacing and leading

• Let the client be at the front. Give them time and space to express opinions and theories. Follow the discussions and guide them gently to achieve results.

5. Promote Teamwork

• Resonance: Where do we connect?
• Synergy: Where are we different? Can they compliment one another?
• Emergence: What new can come of our interaction?

6. Feedback vs. Feedforward

• People love appraisal and hate judgement. Concentrate on solutions instead of problems.
• It is easier to show people things they can do better than to prove them wrong.
• “Feedforward” tips”
  • Give students awareness exercises exploring critical parts of the movements.
  • Explore the functions of the movements by going into extremes.
  • Let them decide if it’s useful or not for their snowboarding. If not, research it further.
  • Let the student describe their own experience / movements in their own words. This improves awareness by finding the words for a body experience, the coach gets a picture of the student, and can build the next steps.

7. Avoid Your Own Agenda

• Avoid the “too much’s”:
  • Wanting to be liked.
  • Wanting friends (desperately).
  • Proving your skills
  • Wanting results (not conforming to the client’s wishes)
  • Needing income (desperately).
  • Wanting to heal yourself.

8. A Bit of Anxiety Is Good!

A small dose is natural and beneficial. It means you care about how you do your job. But, too much is harmful! It’s crucial to recognize the emotional state of your students, so you can manage the amount of anxiety.