2011

SNOWPRO

Official newsletter of the Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors Inc . A98X

Winter 2011

Interski issue • Technical Director Reports • Demo Team Reports • 2011 Changes • and more...

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SNOWPRO

24. USA 25. Snowboarding Technical Director’s report.

32. James’s Snowboarding Report 30. Hayden’s Snowboarding Report 33. Avalanche Risk in Germany 36. Interski is For Everyone 38 Interski better late then not at all 39 Interski: what is ahead 41. New for 2011: Alpine 42. New for 2011: Snowboarding 43. New for 2011: Telemark 44. New for 2011: Nordic 45. APSI 2011 Calendar of events 48. Telemark Technical Director’s

Report 51. Nordic Technical Director’s Report

Official newsletter of the Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors Inc. A98X – Winter 2011

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Alpine Technical Director’s Report Czech Republic Denmark Germany Japan North Korea Netherlands New Zealand Slovenia Sweden

Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors

Experience the best!

The Australian Demo Team: Interski 2011 - St Anton. (Rear from L to R: Warren Feakes, James Lloyd, Jason Clausen, Ant Hill, Andy Dean, Richard Jameson, Paul Lorenz, Hayden Lawns. Front from L to R : Reilly McGlashan, Andy Rae, Demelza Clay, Marty Firle, Tom Gellie, Tim Robertson.)

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interski 2011 - St Anton

What is Interski?

• The Interski umbrella consists of three main working groups. These are International Ski Instructors Association (ISIA) which is the organisation for professional snow sports instructors, the IVSI (the organisation for amateur instructors) and IVSS (the organisation for instructors who teach part-time as a part of the curriculum in schools & universities). These three specialised organisations meet yearly to deal with problems and opportunities. However, once every four years INTERSKI INTERNATIONAL brings them together for a world congress.

Andy Rae • It was the mandate of the 19th Interski congress in 2011 to tackle the challenges of our fast paced world

INTERSKI IS NO LONGER EXCLUSIVELY ABOUT TECHNIQUE

• The program includes; workshops, lectures, demonstrations, keynote presentations and for three nights from 8 pm to 10 pm a snowsports show is be used to express the creativity and skills trained over the past 4 years. This allows each country to contribute to the latest developments, emerging trends, experiences in addition to teaching and safety models.

“I have returned with a renewed focus on beginners….as well as focusing on meeting the needs of multiple generations at once.”

This excitement will translate to an update for this winter in the way we view the guest experience. It needs to be an individual experience - whether they are beginner kids, a mixed age and ability group or a new level one APSI group. I have seen the same excitement in my fellow team members who are equally thrilled to share the new information they have gained with their snow sports schools in Australia.

• Involvement at the Interski world congress provides the only available international forum to showcase Australian Instruction and technique.

Benefits for attending Interski The major benefits of attending the Interski include the interchange of ideas and skills that then find their way into the APSI Manual and onto the slopes of our resorts which benefits visiting guests when they are taught by APSI qualified instructors.

I honestly believe that anyone who attended Interski and was not inspired, or at the very least impressed, can only mean they have lost the passion for being an instructor.

Snowsport instructors not only spend more time with our resort guests, they can also affect their decision making process in a way that can’t be rivaled by any other employee.

However, I must admit at my first Interski was I mostly inspired by technique while repeated attendance has opened my eyes to the broader picture including the beliefs and philosophies of each country plus new ways to market & sell the products they provide.

“A happier guest does =more money” • Lessons are a significant portion of revenue and contribution • Lesson-takers typically spend more per visit than nonlesson takers • Lessons improve the likelihood that a skier/rider will participate more often and continue with the sport, there is also a direct correlation between guest satisfaction and those resorts that rank as most profitable.

Instructors Deliver Promises Made by Resorts and Manufacturers….therefore the instructor/guest relationship is crucial.

Source: National Ski Areas Association

Hotel Parsierblick: A family run hotel where the team enjoyed great breakfasts and a relaxed atmosphere with their own family and friends. 2011 Australian Interski team members (L to R) Jason Clauscen, Martin Firle, Tom Gellie and Paul Lorenz.

The largest and most direct benefit to the Australian snowsports industry comes from using those individuals who attended Interski to train staff, at a time that suites 3

• A proven examination system backed by international influences, but adapted to meet the demands of the short unique Australian winter.

each resort. This is the best way to speed up the spread of information and clarify what we learnt at Interski; furthermore, in most cases these people were senior members of each school.

• Showing a similar theme throughout.

Location/accommodation

How we achieved this

Congresses 1951-2011

Indoors-An overview of our PowerPoint presentation

1951 Zürs (AT)

“there’s nothing like the Australian training system”

1953 Davos (CH) 1955 Val d‘Isere (FR) 1957 Storlien (SE) 1959 Zakopane (PL) 1962 Monte Bondone (IT) 1965 Bad Gastein (AT) 1968 Aspen (US) 1971 Garmisch Partenkirchen (DE) 1979 Zao Onsen (JP) 1975 Strbske Pleso (CZ) 1983 Sexten (IT) 1987 Banff (CA) 1991 St. Anton am Arlberg (AT) 1995 Nosawa Onsen (JP) 1999 Beitostolen (NO) 2003 Crans Montana (CH) 2007 PyeongChang (KO)

Photo: Surf Lifesaving Australia

Once again Austria held the Interski congress, It has been 20 years since St. Anton am Arlberg were the host resort. It is the cradle of skiing in the alps and home to the renowned St. Christoph instructor training center.

Australia has a unique environment & culture • There is nothing like the wide open landscapes, the pristine oceans, our vibrant cities, but mostly there’s nothing like the people. The Australian people are friendly, straight talking and open, it’s their sense of mate ship and no worries attitude that makes visitors feel welcome.

Our Theme: Building great instructors – ‘The first step in delivering exceptional guest experiences is by training exceptional instructors’.

We wanted to show that the Australian alpine environment is unique to the world of snowsports and our resorts all have one thing in common; ‘Guests’

Growing up in Australia • There’s nothing like growing up in Australia, most people do not grow up in the snow however many decide to become instructors…giving the APSI a very unique clientele

These guests are introduced to this unique environment by snowsports instructors who are trained by the APSI. The aim was to show the snowsports world how the APSI develops great instructors through our uniquely Australian training system.

Factors that have influenced our systems evolution • Historically Europeans who worked in the Snowy Mountains introduced skiing to Australia, setting up

• A simple progressive training pathway, broken into 4 levels.

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We gave an overview of our level system & our mechanical beliefs within them

resorts & snowsports schools throughout the alps.

• More lately major international influences to our system have included participation to Interski and the many job placements Australian trained instructors enjoy worldwide.

Level ONE-Basic skills (explaining our thoughts on each of the skills taught on a level one course)

•STANCE: ‘the way we stand’ is functional & natural.

•ROTARY: ‘the way we turn’ is through leg rotation from beginner to advanced.

•EDGING: ‘the way we tip the skis to control edge angle’, we use a combination of ankle/foot, knee, hip & whole body & believe edge control is important not only for carving but all performances.

•PRESSURE CONTROL: ‘the way we manage pressure to both make turns & deal with conditions’, the movements we make are to help us maintain balance when skiing & should be functional to both the speed & variations in snow/terrain conditions that we encounter.

One of our high flying trainers growing up on the snow – guess who!

Our goal

Level TWO-Steering (progressive blending)

is to successfully create instructors in a short period of time out of laid back active Australians

Skill blend , the correct skill blend for any turn or performance type is crucial because we believe:

How we do this (our system)

• Helps with the finish of the turn & hence control

• A structured training program including a new 4 level system-aligned closely to our performance model & Creating an in depth understanding of turn mechanics

• Aids with stability & balance • Aids efficiency • Produce more dynamic looking skiing in a greater variety of conditions

• Accurate diagnosis in movement analysis giving our guests a consistent service • Our system is not just mechanically based, we defiantly care about the guest experience • Consistency & fairness across the country’s training program

We used a combination of our performance clinic & low end demonstrations to show this.

Level THREE- Carving (dig it & twist it) compare the blend

Outdoors An overview of our Alpine Workshop overview

Part one- “Functional, Dynamic skiing” 5

We used dynamic short turns to show how an increase in edge & consequently pressure control is needed for both speed & mountain versatility.

Level FOUR- converting a rail to pure carve; comparing the blend

We used pure carved medium turns to sho how the ski is not twisted across the snow but rather the femur is twisted for edge control & to create our balanced basic position.

Jason Clauscen, James Lloyd and Hayden Lawn were the snowboard representatives in the 2011 Australian Interski team

An overview of our Telemark workshop:Efficient Telemark skiing

Part Two-‘Being a skiing mechanic?’

In Australia guests come to instructors to have their skiing fixed, not unlike going to a mechanic for your car…….& if you have a shaky back tire there is no use looking under the bonnet. So we train a form of ‘reliable diagnosis’ that fits within our mechanical beliefs to fix a problem. We used an example of rotation in ‘Dynamic short turns’ to explain this.

Tom Gellie with the 2011 German Telemark Interski team

•Understanding our skiing skills & how we apply them for different levels of telemark skiing.

•“Building a great telemark instructor”, A look at how we build a telemark instructor through our levels.

Additional team contribution The team ready for action in St Anton

Training

Our system is not just mechanically based, we definitely care about the guest so each group presented with a classically relaxed Australian training style so the participants got an example of how our friendly open nature works in practice.

At St Anton we got one day to see the resort & work on our workshops plus half a day to practice on the demo slope.

An overview of our Snowboard Workshop: The fundamentals & dynamics the Australians use to shred from the mountain to the park

Six team members were able to ride in the opening ceremony, chosen to show a cross section of the disciplines we offer & for their strong riding ability were Richard, Tim, Paul, Ant, Jason & Tom.

Part A: the Australian certification levels

Night show

Part B: a hybrid of freeride & freestyle riding

This is where we got a chance to show all the other countries how we ride in Australia, it is done in a synchronized team format. We had a chance to send

Opening ceremonies

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the team down the hill three times - each of the runs the crash, the map of Australia and the snake are available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5s15u0F3pW4

Expression session Snowboard represented Australia from the air very well

Pictured at right (L to R) Marty Firle, Paul Lorenz (obscured) Tom Gellie, Jason Clauscen and Demelza Clay enjoying the St Anton atmosphere

motivation to make sure attendance occurred. All of the funds to attend Interski were a result of team organized fundraising and sponsorship, I think that all should be commended for their determination to make the event happen.

Also a big thank you to Australian ambassador to snowsports, Brad Spalding I believe his management skills and aid to me as coach added to this great team atmosphere.

Attendance by snow sport school directors: Interski provided a unique opportunity to • Attract International staff • Encourage instructor exchange programs We would like to thank NSW snow sports school directors Tina Burford (Perisher) and Adam Hosie (Thredbo) who took the opportunity to attend. Both were members of past Interski teams so their interest and support was very much appreciated. It provided them with the opportunity to look at international recruitment opportunities as well as compare the ISIA equivalence of some of the countries currently employed in Australian resorts. Our plan is to use the APSI website as a contact point for international exchanges.

Attending workshops & lectures from the other countries With the current format it was difficult to individually attend more than 3 on-hill workshops all week. However by watching a different indoor lecture to the 4 hour outdoor workshop the team was able share attendance to the many countries. Their thoughts have been put into web articles and this special edition of snowpro.

Team spirit: This was my fourth Interski and although the excitement you get from attending your first international event as a young team member is hard to beat - I would have to say that the atmosphere at St. Anton was awesome, electric and the feeling of a cohesive team was exceptional.

I think that the team make up had something to do with it, the willingness of the individuals at the event and the

Brad Spalding (centre) addressing the crowd at a night time function at the ski museum.

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Meetings Politics seemed to be the order of the day when it came to the general meetings that Brad & I attended. Mostly they follow a general outline of a standard AGM with the financials and the election of board members however a few issues turned both into very drawn out experience.

ISIA GA The key issue here was the Eurotest the current standard for European community recognition. Although this is not needed for the ISIA stamp & is not very relevant to Australians not working in Europe. It does form a part of the ISIA card, something that is needed to open your own school in Europe.

The Argentinian 2011 Interski Representatives

• Adventure sports for our leisure clothing • Dialog-information technology for financial assistance

Currently the ISIA are entering a legal battle with country members of their own association over the validity & way the Euro test is run…..this is not a good situation as continuing down this line will only be a cost to members, which is us. I hope this can be worked out in the near future.

• ‘Euro point prestige’- for financial assistance • Contact & Clarendon printing for our ‘theme brochure’ • SnowSports International & Hestra for our gloves • Toko

Interski GA

• John and Sandi Szangolies

Interski internationals board elections were slowed down by a late application by an existing board member, a much liked Scandinavian representative. The result was the vice president position remains open until the next meeting in two years time.

• APSI members who donated to Interski when paying their annual memberships.

• Each of the Australian resorts-for their training facilities, help with fundraising events & allowing your staff to participate

Next Interski Argentina, yes you heard correctly!

•APSI board of management for their commitment to the event

Interski will be in the southern hemisphere for the first time. This is really exciting and should prove to be a location that many of us may not have ever visited but like me have always wanted to.

• Brad Spalding for his commitment to the team and his position as ambassador I would also like to personally thank all the team for their efforts at the event, their personal assistance in raising funds when it looked like we may not get there because of financial difficulties. Also a big thank you to our supporters and friends and families who made the trip to St Anton.

It will take some “thinking out of the box” and future planning when sending a team to Argentina in early September (during the traditional exam period), but I am confident that we will be able to come up with a way to attend Interski during a time of the year where we are actually riding fit.

Thank you: Attending Interski would not have been possible without all the support that the team received during the past four years leading up to the event. Although I have tried to include as many of the main supporters as possible, I do know that the commitment from others should not go unrecognised. So to all those listed below & those I have possibly forgotten, we all sincerely thank you.

• Karbon & Ed Fortey for our uniforms • Tourism Australia for their photos & video 8

Alpine - Czech Republic

• plastic dice • plastic cones • hoops • foam noodles • small colourful spring mattresses • frisbees • box of lollies The instructors also have snow blades to use instead of

Marty Firle normal skis to help with moving around in the area.

Czech Republic Indoor Lecture

Before the kids put on skis, they use the plastic animals to sit on and talk to each other and relax. Then onto to some games without skis on, kicking the balls around and using the jumping rope to compare force in pairs.

“Children’s Ski Park in a Bag” The Czech Republic chose their “ski park in a bag” idea to teach children to ski where they don’t have a fixed ski park. The lessons are typically one day or over a weekend.

The plastic stones are used to mark a course or a parking spot for the first goes at sliding. Skiing with the slalom pole for safety with the instructor. The dice is used to choose who is to go first. They use the plastic cones to race around. To help with turning they use the small hoops as mock steering wheels.

The ski park consists of three bags which have in them all that are needed to create their own fenced off area to teach the kids.

The foam noddles are called “rain worms” and they use them to help the kids stop by having the kids hold them so when they stop the worm knocks over a cone.

• a rope with coloured pendants to mark off the area.

• carpets to help with walking on snow.

• plastic balls to kick around

They get the kids involved with packing up all equipment by throwing out the little spring mattresses to grip. Then some more out of ski games like throwing a Frisbee.

• jumping rope

Finishing off with some lollies.

• plastic stones

This is a good idea to be able to set a kids area anywhere and still be able to kids to learn how to ski.

• plastic animals to help relax the kids, Winnie the Pooh.

• short slalom poles

Snowboard and Alpine Teaching Manuals The latest version of the teaching manual is available to APSI members The manual was a big hit in 2010 with clear descriptions of the ‘Performance model’, new photos and greate teaching tips from the current National Demo Team.

Manuals are available through the APSI online shop www.apsi.net.au

Purchase online for only $85.00 (Plus postage & handling) 9

Alpine - Denmark

skier can be achieved by means of a pre made plan.

“Ride Free!” is born of the belief that a skier will learn best from experience while attempting to master multiple challenges provided by the instructor in a number of varied ways. An example used in our class was a double pole drag through big bumps with a focus on pressure control.

Some background on the Danish customers will help understand this philosophy. Most Danish people learn to ski in the mountains of Scandinavia, as naturally in Denmark there are no ski resorts. The common duration of a ski holiday is one full week and to the Danish people skiing is seen mostly as a social event.

Demelza Clay Danish On Snow Clinic

Half a million Danish people consider themselves ‘skiers’ so I am guessing their presence is fairly noticeable in the ski resorts of Europe. The Danish ski instructors have found that their customers have usually already been out and attempted to ski in varied and challenging terrain without a lot of success before any formal intermediate instruction. To me it sounds somewhat similar to the Australian approach of “lets go out and learn to stop, then tackle a few blue and black runs!” The difference here is that the Danish people are skiing around in the European Alps not the Aussie ski hills.

“Ride Free!”

The Danish Ski School is the institution which coordinates ski instructor courses and exams for Denmark. They have a member base of approximately 500 – 600 people. The institution is a member of the Danish Ski Federation, which has about 12,000 members.

The clinic led by the Danes was focused around their philosophy of Ride Free, which is intended to ‘guide’

Demelza lovin’ Interski

‘active movements’ and use of ski terrain.

both teaching and skiing with the eventual goal for the skier to be able to ride as much of the resort as possible.

Of the many things they presented in their clinic I found their approach to teaching and learning the most interesting.

Their basic belief here is that every skier will develop the best possible foundation for skill development t h r o u g h

The concept of ‘Flow’ was talked about extensively in their clinic. They define flow as “the mental state in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the progress of an activity.” They believe ‘Flow’ represents a key factor in harnessing the emotions, which facilitate learning and performing.

They don’t believe this philosophy is a revolution, but it is a movement from the earlier approaches of step by step development achieved through more schematic routines.

Although they acknowledge that some skiing essentials need to be learned by all skiers in a structured way, but they do not believe that the optimal development of a 10

clients to ski as much terrain as possible, rather than ‘making the client an expert on the green slopes’. The goal is to enable the client to adapt their movements to all situations encountered in the resort by carefully choosing the appropriate terrain, which matches the students’ level of physical and mental preparedness.

The Danish system attempts to use the natural flow of learning to channel and energize emotions, and then align them with the tasks in a lesson. When your current skills match the skills required for the challenges you ski, you are able to feel the spontaneous joy, or emotion, that we all derive from our sport.

In APSI terms, this approach is almost like a mixture of a ‘Guided Discovery” and “Task Style” teaching, with a big focus on terrain control and adaptation. The Danes spoke extensively about the level of analytical skills and knowledge of biomechanical movements required to be able to affect this method of teaching, and how it can be difficult to deliver the level of precise individual feedback required in a class especially for a new instructors.

As lovers of snowsports, this emotion is a challenge to ‘teach’ a potential lifetime skier and client. It is a step sideways from the inverted arousal ‘U”, and I like the way the Danes have presented this concept enveloped in the context of emotion.

Incidentally, emotion was a topic and principle talked about extensively during the congress by a number of teams. With the longevity of our profession in mind, the need to keep skiers engaged in snowsports has seen the concept of emotion bought to our attention.

I liked the way the Danes have stepped back from the traditional structured lesson format and used highend teaching and analysis skills to provide a positive and engaging experience in the mountains for clients learning to ski. The connection between this experience and the now popular topic of ‘emotion’ in snowsports is, I feel, a new key focus to encourage further participation our industry.

Ok, great concept but how do Danish instructors do this?

• Learning Through Movements • Less Talk, More Skiing • New Conditions = New Focus

Learning Through Movements This process is not only movement oriented, as it is also very experimental. Their clients are encouraged to experiment with different movement patterns as they ski the mountain. In our clinic, the Danes controlled the learning environment (terrain) while the group was given a few challenges to complete on that terrain. In APSI terms this aligns with out Task

Less Talk, More Skiing The Danes do not believe in dictating everything their client does and hence they try to avoid describing things in too much detail. They would like the client to be active in the learning process, and this is achieved by exposing the client to different exercises and terrain. This is related to their goal of helping clients to be able to ski most of the mountain, on and off piste, early in their skiing lives.

New Conditions = New Focus Due to the nature of skiing where the conditions change constantly the Danes encourage their 11

Alpine - Germany

3. Stance: Equally flexed in all joints with tension A similar description to our athletic stance was given.

The Germans place an importance on bending the ankles, knees and hips with the hands in front of the body. They strive to keep tension in this stance trying not to relax the position.

Exercise: Frank had us holding our poles out in front of our body gripping them from underneath (figure 1).

Richard Jameson German On Snow Clinic 8 Traits to dynamic skiing One of the more enjoyable clinics I was able to attend this Interski was this one from Germany. The workshops simplicity and logical structure gave me a good insight into what Germany holds important on their technical thoughts of “perfect” skiing, as our clinic leader Frank put it. The language barrier can sometimes be a problem when interpreting information from some countries; however, in this instance it proved to be a bonus. Frank got straight to the point of what the 8 mechanics of “perfect” skiing are and a drill or exercise to help train this into their students. I’ll do my best to keep it as simple as he did with the help of a couple of pictures to show you some of the exercises.

Figure 1: Equally flexed in all joints with tension.

4. Moving forward A movement forward trough the transition of the turns.

We practiced this in a medium radius turn.

Exercise: switching your poles behind your back through the transition. The aim was to move the body forward to help the poles pass behind your body (figure 2).

1. Carving Germany’s idea of dynamic “perfect” skiing is where the “tail of the ski followed the tip” and would be what we call in Australia, Pure Carving. If the terrain was steeper or the turn shape shortened, the German demonstrators would try to ski as close to this ideal as they could, even if there was some small amounts of rotary blended in.

Figure 2: Pole switching exercise.

2. Rhythm from turn to turn

5. Using the Ankles and legs

This was explained as, “skiing should be like walking”.

You take one step fluidly into the next with no static point as it makes flowing easier and movement effortless.

Our turns should flow from 1 into the next with no static points as well.

Exercise: We performed syncro skiing in pairs where you had to match the person’s tempo in front with yours in the hope you would develop a seamless ryhthm between turns.

An emphasis was placed on tipping the skis onto the edges by using the ankles and legs, while at the same time trying to isolate the upper body.

Exercise: Pure carved slalom sized turns using an alternation of our hands on our hips-chest-in the air (figure 3). The drill definitely forced you to do something else with your upperbody leaving only your legs to worry about the tipping. It was hard to co-ordinate at first but felt cool after a while.

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standing on the old little toe (inside ski in the completion) as he rolled to the big toe (becoming the new outside ski).

Exercise: Widening our stance through the transition of a pure carved medium turn, exaggerating this width so the new outside ski was placed onto the edge at the start of the turn. This exercise felt pushy to the edge but it did achieve the goal of placing the ski on its side to develop pressure under the ski.

7. No vertical movement in the transition Trying to keep the COM at a similar height through the transition.

Exercise: No particular exercise was given to us here, however, the skiing by the German demonstrators looked stable in the upper body with some ext/ret movements from the legs, especially in shorter turns.

8. Ankles, knees then hips Starting the edging movement from the ankles followed by the knees and then the hips, paying close attention to the rotational alignment of the upper body. It was noted that if the upper body rotates in too much the skis will skid and if too much counter was created or “rotated out� of the turn, you would get good edge but pushed into the back seat.

Exercise: Heisman drill. Outside hand on hip and inside hand extended out in front of the body switching in the transition (pic. 4)

Figure 4: Heisman Drill

In summary, there are some interesting similarities between our mechanical beliefs in the APSI and the Germans way of thinking. Some of the exercises were good ones that I have never seen or even heard of before. It’s not to say that all of this information above is the way we should move forward, it is however, food for thought and some of the ideas blended with ours can only make our skiing and thoughts of skiing that much stronger.

Figure 3: Ankles and legs drill

6. Early Pressure to the outside ski

Trying to get the pressure to build on the new edged outside ski as early as possible. Frank described this as 13

Alpine - Japan

popularity among the Japanese people. In 2010 the number of ski areas in operation had dropped to around 350 with a skiing population of approximately 9 million.

This prompted the SAJ to have a look at their ski technique and develop new, more achievable technique that put less stress on the body and lowered the risk of injury.

They started to look at other ways of making a turn, mainly using gravity with less emphasis on muscular effort. The professor had videoed a series of experiments that they had performed to come up with their new ski technique known as the Hybrid Turn. These experiments started with just a ball and a slope. As we all know, if you roll a ball across a slope, as the inertia fades the gravity takes over and pulls the ball down. As this happens the ball makes a perfect arc towards the bottom of the slope.

Paul Lorenz Japan Indoor Lecture Gravity, not muscles I had always wanted to learn more about the Japanese system, particularly now that I am working in Japan. I have often seen Japanese instructors teaching very strange movements out on the hill, very different to anything I had ever seen before. I found this interesting and had therefore made up my mind that I wanted to ski with the Japanese team and listen to their justification of these movements.

This proves that the first half of any ski turn can occur with just the allowance of gravity to play its part. They then had to figure out a way to finish the turn so that it would end up going back across the slope in the other direction. They experimented with many different shapes and objects until they stumbled across the idea of the cup. A cup has a smaller radius at the base than it does at the brim. This means that when you roll a cup on its side down a slope it will follow an arc around the base of the cup until it turns back up the hill.

I attended the Japanese indoor lecture before heading out on the snow. This proved to be very useful as the on snow portion of the presentation was short and demonstrative, without too much talk.

With this experiment the Japanese started to play around with shaping their body in a similar fashion to a cup (shorter on the inside and longer on the outside (they named this “dual axis control”) hoping that gravity would act in the same way as it does with the cup.

We were spoken to by the Japanese team coach and also by a physics professor who was employed to develop new ideas about ski technique.

The lecture started with some interesting facts about the Japanese skiing culture. Towards the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a boom in the development of ski resorts within Japan. In 1993 there were approximately 950 ski areas with a skiing population of around 18 million. Skiing quickly became one of the Japanese national sports and attracted people of all ages including the older generations.

Over the years the price of skiing and the amount of ski related injuries increased substantially.

This saw a decline in

Dual Axis Control

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We then went out for the on snow clinic. We were lucky enough to ski with one of the most famous demonstrators and competition winners in all of Japan, Keisuke Iyama.

During this on snow clinic they did not explain very much as their English was limited. They did however demonstrate the hybrid turn and attempt to give feedback on our performance of this technique. Andrew Rae also chimed in now and then, explaining to other countries what they really meant which was quite entertaining.

This technique was hard to grasp for a lot of countries as it does not involve any direct pressing, pushing or twisting that they all come to expect.

This was all well and good for 1 turn, but how would they link these turns together? The next series of experiments saw the Japanese taping 2 cups together by their brim with a solid ball inside. As the cups rolled across the slope, gravity would pull the ball down into the lower cup forcing it to drop and cause the cups to now arc around the new, lower cup. This would repeat itself all the way down the slope, seeing the 2 cups link turns with only the use of gravity.

At the end of the day I admire the intent to create new and better technique and hope that this leads to the increase in the amount of skiers seen on the Japanese ski fields. This technique is definitely achievable for beginners as this is what most new skiers end up doing naturally.

While it seems very interesting and justified through these experiments, when put into practice proves to be a little different. We often observed Keisuke falling to the inside with his outside ski splaying off on its own course. This was handled with his strength, balance and understanding of skiing but may not be handled by the average beginner. I also think that this technique can be more suited to certain snow conditions. It is debatable if this would be successful on the icy snow fields of Australia. All in all it was a fun session and answered a lot of the questions I had about the funky Japanese exercises I had seen being used.

Dual Axis Control

What was very interesting about this experiment was the path that the ball took was identical to the path that a skiers’ centre of mass takes in relation to the skis, when skiing down the hill.

If a skier relaxes the outside leg and allows gravity to pull their centre of mass down the hill (as in the experiment), the COM passes over the skis which in turn flattens them, and the new turn will initiate. The Japanese had proved with these experiments that no muscular effort was needed, no torque or twist on the knees was needed and therefore this is a much more user friendly and injury free way of skiing.

This new technique is called the “hybrid turn” and is what is being taught on the Japanese ski fields at the moment. They believe this new technique will cut down on ski related injuries and attract the older generations that have been scared off skiing as a result of injuries.

They are teaching this technique to all levels, at all performances on all terrain.

Paul lapping up the views.

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Alpine - South Korea

are around 35-50 short turns (8-10 long turns) in length.

They are held over 3 days and only the top place getters are bestowed with the name of a demonstrator.

With these competitions being the focus for most highend skiers and ski instructors, their technique is very much driven by the above mentioned criteria. When watching the Koreans perform short turns their stance became very low. During the transition they have a similar appearance to that of a World Cup mogul skier on the top of a mogul. They believe that this position allows them to extend their legs further out to the side, therefore gaining more edge angle and more pressure/ rebound from the ski. When asked if this feels “back seat” they said that at this level of skiing, they are trying to balance on the heel as much as possible to use the energy in the tail of the ski at the end of the turn. I have to admit, their turns are extremely round and very snappy. With the pressure that builds up from the high edge angle, high speed and the balance point being over their heel, it is easy to understand why they look like a mogul skier through the transition – because they have so much pressure to deal with.

Paul Lorenz South Korean On Snow Clinic Technical Competition Skiing The Koreans were the standout skiers at Interski in my opinion. The combination of speed and performance at all radiuses, on any terrain was outstanding. I was fortunate enough to not only ski with the best Korean skiers and competition winners during their workshop, but I also had a chance to sit and talk with the Korean head coach Ray Yang.

Apparently when progressing a student they teach 3 different positions: Tall, Middle and Low. They believe tall is easier for beginners as it is less stress on the body and allows for a flatter ski. As the skier’s ability increases they are encouraged to flex more and more to allow for more edge and pressure control movements (extension/ retraction).

In this article I will cover what the Koreans presented at Interski, and the ski technique beliefs of the Korean team. I think it is important to note that while their beliefs on high-end technique may seem strange and different after reading this article, they have a very similar strategy to the APSI for progressing beginner to low intermediate skiers (e.g. separation, angulation, balance over the outside ski , rising and re-centering etc.).

To say that the Koreans had prepared an on snow workshop is would be something of an exaggeration.

This lack of preparation, coupled with their ability to string very few words together in English made for an interesting on snow workshop. The plan for their workshop was to demonstrate the tasks they perform during their technical skiing competitions. Fortunately, Reilly and I are very interested in these technical competitions and had spent a lot of time watching videos and reading articles about these comps on the internet. This interest provided great groundwork as they didn’t say a whole lot during their presentation.

When watching the Koreans perform longer radius turns, they seem to be very square through the start of the turn, with a lot of inclination. From the fall line they appear to balance over the outside ski and use more of a retraction/extension move or cross under during the transition. When asked where they balance, they answered inside ski to the fall line, 50/50 in the fall line then outside ski after the fall line (figure 1).

Pressure

The Korean technical competitions consist of 6 tasks: • “Progressive” Short Turns (APSI Carved) • “Carved” Short Turns (APSI Pure Carved) • Long Turns • “Middle” Turns (Mediums) • Free Run • Moguls Figure 1: Long radius turn weighting

During these tasks, the judges are looking for speed, performance and movements (it seems in this order).

The competitions are usually held on steeper runs that

This was very interesting to me as we promote standing on the outside ski from the word go. Reilly and I managed 16

next turn as seen in the diagram above) will also mean that when they choose to transition, it is just a matter of relaxing the downhill leg and rolling onto the new edge.

By relaxing the downhill, or old outside leg, it causes their COM to pass over their feet and move down the hill and inside the next turn more quickly. This looks a little like a crossunder. Ray called the COM moving down the hill “vertical drop”. Vertical drop is very important to them as it allows them to get further inside the following turn. I guess because there is no emphasis on standing on the outside ski early in the turn that this transition is functional for their goals.

to track down the Korean Coach, Ray Yang and organized to meet him in the lecture hall with his laptop so that he could explain this technique further.

As mentioned above, their primary goal is speed down the hill. The Koreans believe that if a skier stands on their outside ski at the start of the turn on a steep, hard packed run at full speed, it is too difficult deal with the pressure and continue moving inside to create higher edge angles. The Koreans believe that keeping the weight on the inside ski will allow them to move inside further, putting them in a position to deal with the pressure when they do stand on the outside ski. They believe this not only gets the COM in the right position but also allows the outside leg to lengthen, therefore being able to cope with more pressure. This also gives the skier a greater edge angle therefore producing even more pressure or rebound.

Ray went on to share his thoughts on angulation, rotation and being square. He believes that to keep the weight on the inside ski at the start of the turn, one must stay as square as possible. He showed me the following diagram of the hip position and its effect on inside/outside ski pressure.

The pressure is at its maximum “usability” just after the fall line, as shown in the diagram below. They believe that trying to build and use pressure at the start of the turn will limit your ability to gain “Max Power” or potential edge angle and pressure where it is at its greatest. A skier is naturally pushed to the outside at high speed, this coupled with the side cut of the ski will mean that there is always going to be pressure on the outside whether we try to or not. This pressure is enough get the turn going at the start without actively standing on the outside. Without placing weight on the outside ski at the start of the turn, they believe they can move further to the inside. As mentioned above, this allows them to be far enough inside, with a lengthened outside leg to deal with and use the pressure where it is most powerful.

They believe most World Cup skiers are doing a similar thing as can be seen by the incredible inclination up until the gate where they angulate, stand on the outside ski and use the pressure to boost them across the hill. Ray Wang drew this diagram and aptly named this part of the turn “Max Power” (Figure 2).

Ray believes that having the pelvis facing the direction the skis are travelling, or square at the start of the turn allows them to balance more easily on the inside ski and consequently move further inside the turn. It also gives the skier the ability to turn, or pivot the outside ski before locking it on edge to set a steering angle (figure 2).

Angulated

Square Pressure applied to ski Pelv

is

elviviss PPel

Direction Plevis is facing

Figure 2: Hip angulation and ski pressure

They teach this square position by using a Tai Kwon Do analogy which apparently everyone in Korea can relate to. When you perform a Tai Kwon Do punch it is a similar position as the one you would be in when turning on skis at high speed.

60-70% Pressure

100% Pressure MAX POWER

Ray told me that this technique is relatively new and was brought about in 2004. Prior to 2004 the Koreans had very similar beliefs to many other countries, with strong focus on counter, angulation and early balance over the outside ski in high end skiing. They believe that this new technique is more beneficial to meeting their goals and performing on their slopes and snow conditions. It is great to see a country that is open minded enough to try something out of the norm to achieve what they believe is stronger technique based on performance over form.

Figure 2: Max Power

Keeping the weight on the outside ski through the transition (turning into the inside ski at the start of the

Paul Lorenz 17

Alpine - Netherlands

initiation to completion, as the centre of mass is moved inside between the feet, which are weighted evenly. The hips are kept high and as speed increases skiers are encouraged to allow the inside ski to match naturally.

Edging With the focus on injury prevention the Dutch maintain knee stability by using less ankle and knee angulation in the initial stages of learning. Edging is taught simply by shortening the inside leg as speed and terrain increases, while the outside leg is kept long and strong. The outside ski is in front at the start of the turn and as the inside leg shortens a natural tip lead change is observed as the hips move inside with a little counter. I found this method of edging really effective, especially for high end dynamic skiing.

Demelza Clay Dutch On Snow Clinic Teaching Beginners I was enthusiastic and somewhat delighted to ski with the team from The Netherlands… Their performance on the demo hill was very fast and thrilling to watch intensified by the fact that the team wore pink pants. Epic.

Summary Though the Dutch technique can appear very ‘square’, is it very fast and powerful. While lower leg angulation is avoided initially, it is taught eventually to fine tune inclination movements (especially to solid intermediate skiers who have developed the muscle tone and strength in their legs to perform them).

In true Dutch style their clinic strayed away from the traditional. The initial subject of teaching beginners was introduced with a focus similar to a few other nations such as Korea and Japan. The concern is that traditional angulation and separation can produce injury in the beginner skier. Hence, the Dutch method utilizes whole body steering and inclination, introduced to beginners using a really interesting and effective ‘Truck Wheel’ analogy.

For the recreational skier I really like the Dutch approach for two reasons: 1. It allows for skiing to be learned in a more intuitive way.

1. Could the acceptance that learning to ski for the beginner is not an ‘intuitive sport’ be a thing of the past…? (… where ‘intuition’ is moving in a way that feels logical based on our knowledge of other movement patterns in life - ie. Riding a bike, walking, running etc) 2. Places less stress on the body and lower leg joints, potentially preventing/decreasing incidence of injury.

1. Especially as a large percentage of our population are ‘overweight’ and not fit enough to learn to ski, we are realizing that injury management and prevention is important to keep people engaged in skiing and to encourage others to try it.

Truck Wheel Analogy: 1. Students are to imagine that they are standing on top of a large steering wheel in a truck that has no roof and no sides.

2. Using only the steering wheel they try to turn the truck with their feet.

3. Students are encouraged to pull the inside leg back and the outside leg forward.

Truck Wheel Analogy For Kids: There are some schools now that use wooden steering wheels as an indoor teaching tool, mounted on a stable pivot point on the floor. The children can safely stand in their ski boots on the wheel and attempt to turn the wheel with their feet thereby learning the movements required to turn the skis before they hits the slopes!

For the instructor 1. Introducing stronger inclination movement patterns into our system at an earlier level could help to balance out a situation where we see a common thread of hip dumping in our APSI candidates (potentially due to emphasis on angulation in the APSI system).

This ‘mini progression’ allows the turning of the skis to be learned in a very intuitive way. The skier uses the whole body in unison to turn, which helps to decrease counter rotation in beginners because of the action of pushing and pulling the feet.

1. The use of exercises such as these could help instructors to explore movements outside of those taught in the paradigm of APSI demonstrations.

Inclination Movements: Inclination is also introduced early. In the demonstration it appears that there is bracing on the outside leg from 18

Alpine - New Zealand

Australia has approx one million Snowsports participants, New Zealand has around 200,000 participants. Of the Aussie market, New Zealand attracts 100,000 of these Snowsports enthusiasts per year, that’s a whopping 10% of our market.

The kiwis have been very pro-active in attracting international Race Teams to train in their resorts by offering worldclass training facilities. Eighty-two percent of Alpine Medallists from the Vancouver Olympics trained in New Zealand. There are also dedicated facilities for freestylers and Snowboarders. One such facility is “Snow Park”. New Zealand boasts two Olympic sized half pipes, one at Snow Park and one at Cardrona.

Not only are they offering excellent facilities for overseas riders, but NZ is also developing their own local talent.

Tim Robertson The indoor lecture was very interesting, the topic was “Why New Zealand’s Ski Industry is Growing”.

The emphasis was on how NZ attempts to capture a significant slice of the Australian Ski and Snowboard market.

Instructor training programmes are also very popular, attracting participants from all over the world. New Zealand ski resorts attract many overseas participants to a number of large events. These are the Burton Open, the Rip Curl Heli Challenge, the FIS Junior World Ski and Snowboard Championships and the NZ Winter Games, which are held every two years and before each Olympics.

The on snow workshop “Embrace the Adventure” was quite good too, showing many similarities to our system.

New Zealand Indor Lecture Why we have growth New Zealand has 25 club and commercial resorts.

There were 1.427 million skier visits in 2010, which was up 15% on 2009. Of these 38% were snowboarders.

Australia accounts for 32% of skier visits. It is the biggest overseas market. NZ considers itself, a value for money destination. There has been on going investment, i.e. snowmaking and lifts. The ski areas of Coronet Peak and Cardrona have spent 100 million dollars in the last 8 years on improvements and infrastructure. Heli skiing is a big attraction for intermediate and above skiers and snowboarders.

New Zealand sales and marketing consider NZ to be a soft ski market, which means visiting tourists come out for approx 7-10 days but actually ski 4-5 days.

In other words they like to participate in other activities such as bungy jumping, paragliding, jet boating and hiking (adventure tourism market). There has been a marked increase in business from Australia, 2 years ago there were 13 flights into Queenstown per week.

However flights for 2011 have been increased to 44 per week!

This obviously shows their expectations of increased business from Australia

New Zealand On Snow Clinic Embrace the Adventure The object of the clinic given by Gavin McAuliffe and Matt Lewis was to show how their system can turn a parallel skier into a skier that can tip up their skis (carve on piste) to be competent on the off piste and prepare for the pipe and park. Their catch phrase is “Tip it, Rip it and Jib it”. The clinic started off with explanations of the four

New Zealand on snow clinic

19

movements, Fore and Aft, Rotation, Lateral and Vertical.

Later outlining the elements of co-ordination which are, rate, timing, duration, range and intensity.

happens earlier on steeper terrain.

3. The duration of the movement – This is the length of time a movement is sustained. For example, the length of time the skier remains balanced on the outside ski will control the length of the turn. Also the length of time rotational movements are held in a certain direction will dictate the shape of the turn. Extension/flexion movements need to last for a longer length of time in a long term.

With these explanations and outlines, we are able to get an idea of how a skier achieves a parallel turn. We all skied and watched Matt demonstrate, whilst Gavin explained using a “tactical” approach to increase the “tipping up” of the skis by increasing the range of lateral movements, speed and terrain. Tasks he used were, railway track turns, stem turns and leapers. For the “rip it up” skier, we used a mixture of bumps and crud.

Tactically we worked with a line choice and intensity of rotation. Pivots, slips and Spiess turns highlighted this.

Lastly, for the “jib it up” skier, we kept the centre of gravity above the base of support and therefore we kept relatively flat skis on the snow. We took advantage of natural features such as spines and jumps.

4. Range of movement – this is the amount of movement which is applied. For example, as the student moves from basic parallels to carving, the range of lateral movements needs to increase to tip these skis up on a higher angle. Another example, in bumps skiing the vertical range of movement changes to manage pressure differences for the terrain.

Next we spoke about the co-ordination elements.

1. The rate of movement – described as the speed with which a movement is applied. Examples: Rate of rotational movements control speed by shaping the turn, ie if the legs are turned quickly, the radius will shorten and the speed will be slower. If vertical movement is made quickly, the skier will look jerky.2. The timing of the movement – is when a movement is applied at a particular point in time or in a particular phase of the turn. For example: transfer of lateral balance happens earlier from beginner to advanced. As the skier becomes more skilful the weight transfer happens earlier in the initiation phase. Another example is that a pole plant

5. The intensity of movement – Intensity refers to the amount of power or strength used when a movement is applied. For example, using muscular strength in the legs and core muscles, to brace or control against the outside ski will help increase grip and generate forces resulting in acceleration out of the turn. Another example is the degree of strength used in rotational force will control the arc of the turn.

In summary the workshop highlighted that there are a lot of similarities to the Aussie system, it’s just explained, emphasised and prioritised differently. I particularly liked the elements of coordination and their explanations.

St Anton Moguls

20

Alpine - Slovenia

hips facing the direction of travel. They do this drill many times.

Next drill is the “shooter”. Where you point your downhill hand over your uphill skill, with your uphill hand on your hip. Again this traverse is done with the downhill ski slightly forward.

Then we moved onto the “happy man” drill. You place both hands on your hips, with the focus of hips and shoulders facing the direction of travel. Downhill ski slightly forward.

Marty Firle

After do lots of single traverses you link them together.

The point where you link is done with a steered turn. As Sandi says in world cup, most courses can not be carved the whole way through the turn.

Slovenia On Snow Clinic The role of a demo team member working with racers

Max. Deviation between the skier’s centre of mass and skiing line.

Slovenia’s clinic was on how Demo team members have been helping world cup racers in their training.

The Slovenia’s focus on keeping the CM flowing down the fall line,with the legs staying on the skiing line. Causing a deviation between the two. Like we do in Dynamic medium turns.

Sandi Murovec was leading the group I went with and he explained the main topics, 1. centrally balanced position & back cat position – starting point for attack

Swift knee and ankle movements

2. Body following – maintaining the shoulder axis in a position that follows the direction of skiing (or skier’s centre of mass) in all phases of a turn

Focusing on swift ankle and knee movements through all phases of the turn the Slovenia’s start off using a special Edgie Wedgie.

3. max. Deviation between the skier’s centre of mass and skiing line

This super edgie wedgie screws onto the ski tips like a normal edgie wedgie. It is made out of strong plastic and has hinges to allow tipping and lead change of the skis.

But will not allow any diverging.

4. swift knee and ankle movements (both legs at the same time) in every phase of a turn

They use this to help with the ankle and knee movement, also help to stay parallel when starting a turn with the inside ski ahead.

Centrally balanced position They start by using Snowblades to promote a centrally balanced position. Then progress to 125cm skis and then onto slalom skis.

I had a good time on this clinic. It gives you an interesting feel when starting a turn with the inside ski slightly forward. I will be playing with it more during the season.

Starting on snowblades they do a lot of traversing exercises to really work on be being centred, plus their other main part is to have the outside ski leading slightly.

Sandi says they really feel that this system is show that instructors can have a major affect on racers and it is bridging the perceived gape between instructors and race coaches.

Their reason for this is that it allows the inside ankle to activate better and get the ski onto the edge. This was discussed about how world cup skier Nika Fleiss was loosing time in races. When Sandi looked at her skiing he saw that in almost every turn to the left, the turn was started with the inside ski diverging. So part of his work with Nika was to correct this.

Here is the website of the UPS Snowsports Concept, www.nakanto.si This is what the Slovenian Demo team are using for the racers as well as it being sold in Russia.

Body following The first traverse drill is called the “straight jacket”.

Where you place your downhill hand on your uphill hip. Holding this position traverse with the downhill ski slightly forward. You end up having your shoulders and 21

Alpine - Sweden

You use Will-Skill-Hill.

Firstly, attempt to tap into their passion or Will. What brought them to this lesson, what do they expect, want and desire? WSH recognises that passion is by default personal, therefore, the more personalised the experience you can provide, the better the results will be. WSH states that there is no “right way” of teaching every guest, every group, every day demands a different approach.

WSH relies on the perception of the instructor to adapt to the different guest needs, based on their will and skill requirements and changing external conditions in real time. To be able to continually adapt their progression and to ensure it is personalised, the instructor must be confident, have “highly developed analysis skills, interpersonal skills and a large number of potential progressions/exercises”.

Andy Dean Swedish Indoor Lecture Predefined progression is Stone Age: Creating passionate and high performing ski/ride experiences through the Will-Skill-Hill approach The Swedish indoor lecture introduced their Will-Skill-Hill (WSH) teaching/experience framework, which aims to help instructors design a lesson in such a way that the rider, when finished, walks away satisfied but wanting more. The goal of this framework is that by the end of the lesson the student feels confident and has developed skills that will lead to his/her dream.

In conclusion the WSH premise is that: •The best instructors have the ability to create and sustain skiing/riding passion •Passion can only be reached through personalized experiences

I really enjoyed this lecture and the on snow application of this framework in the 50+ presentation. The question posed in the indoor lecture was “what differs the best instructors from the good? With the answer proffered being “the ability to create and sustain skiing/boarding passion”. A description of how to recognize these WILL instructors was, that they are the instructors Expectations who at the end of the day are standing with a • What does the rider expect to do group of skiers/riders and everyone in the Preferences group is glowing. They • what does the rider want to do have had the best day of theirs lives, a great skiing Objectives experience and they’re • What is the rider’s objective/aim just dying to get back out there tomorrow for more.

Furthermore, this is the reaction of the guests each and every time this instructor goes out.

•The best way to create personalized experience is through a Will-Skill-Hill approach For more Information on Will-Skill-Hill go to www. skidlarare.info/english. I think this model is excellent

SKILL Technical Skills • Rotary Movementss • Edge control movements

HILL Conditions • Weather, Terrain Equipment

• Pressure control movements • Balancing movements

Physical Skills • Strength, coordination, fitness, mobility

Context - Static • Set up (group, private, recreations, competitive)

Context - Dynamic

The WSH approach continually emphasises the importance of building a lesson that is personalised to the individual in order to maintain and build this passion. WSH is a model for analysing, and acting in a teaching situation and is designed to support you in how you use your knowledge and experience with the correct timing.

• Personalised progression

PWill Skill Hill

at highlighting the need to be flexible in our teaching presentations and as a reminder that every guest interaction and teaching context is different. Anything we can do to ensure continued passion in our guests is valuable and worth further exploration.

So how do you create these personalised experiences?

22

passion these guests needed to be shown how Explore, observe to get similar results and find the will, Discover with less effort using movements they both skill and hill already understood and could realistically perform.

Many of the movement’s demonstrated/attempted worked on pressure control movements initiated from the feet to Perform Invent align the skeleton against the external forces. These simple movements were Formulate a Present and perform related to those made personalized skier/rider the identified whilst walking making experience/progression them immediately experience understandable and relatively achievable.

The goal of these simple PWill Skill Hill movements being to reduce muscle fatigue the end Swedish On Snow Clinic result being of course to allow the student to ski for Alpine skiing at 50+: Applying the Will-Skill-Hill longer with less effort.

Framework. Maintaining passion for skiing for students over 50.

The clinic also stressed the interrelatedness of the three components of WSH. If any one of the three is neglected, i.e. the terrain is inappropriate, the individuals motivations are misread or the technical movement is incorrectly matched to their physical ability the student’s passion will diminish and the goal of Will-Skill-Hill will be circumvented.

The 50+ clinic began with a discussion of the expectations, preferences and objectives of the typical client in this age group (their Will). Both the presenters and the group agreed that the typical student in this category has no interest in hours of exercises or indeed the perfection of their skiing style. These students hope to be able to gain tactics and develop simple movements to enable them to continue their skiing career for as long as possible. In essence they want to minimize their output WILL while maximizing their results.

I sincerely enjoyed the 50+ clinic and the opportunity

SKILL

Particular importance was given to ensure that the “Hill” was appropriate to ensure passion was maintained.

Hill in this context includes picking the best terrain, in this instance groomed blue terrain, making sure the equipment is modern and in good condition, constant evaluation of the weather and snow conditions and focusing on delivering a personalized experience.

HILL

PWill Skill Hill in interrelated

The Skill portion was introduced by discussing the importance of reviewing the guest’s current abilities, which encompasses both their technical and physical skills. It was decided that our target group where strong intermediate students who were using abrupt edging and balance movements leading to rapid fatigue. Our presenters emphasized that to maintain

to work through the Will-Skill-Hill framework in a real world setting. The presenters were very organised and professional and had a genuine passion for both skiing and the benefits of WSH and applied it well to this age group.

23

Alpine - USA

“buttering”.

With this focus, you end up skiing in a taller position with not much inclination or angulation. As carving in not the main aim.

USA On Snow Clinic

I was able to fit into his skis and have a go. The skis were about 115mm under foot and were nearly full rocker.

With just a bit of camber under the foot. I found the skis to be fun and trying what Jeb said it was just like I was skidding my way down the hill. Jeb was saying that they try not focus too much on edging as the skis want to flatten, so they try to get just enough to make a turn. This also is a lot easier when skied in softer snow, not on the ice we had in St Anton.

Marty Firle

Teaching for Rocker Skis

The other big thing is that PSIA are trying not to turn anyone away from lessons. So if they show up on powder skis or carve skis everyone is welcome.

USA’s workshop was on how to adapt teaching to suit the new rocker skis.

This also stems to instructors.

Jeb was the trainer I went with and he explained that in America, PSIA is finding that people are turning up to lessons on skis that are more towards all mountain rocker skis, than the traditional carve skis. So they are finding ways to change the lessons to suit.

I asked Jeb how they deal with instructors turning up to exams on fat twin tips. He said if they can perform the manoeuvres to the standard of the level, then it is all good. This way they found that they end up having higher instructor retention.

He explained that skis with rocker have made it easier for people to ski in all conditions as there is less chance for the skis to hook up without the skier being ready or capable.

With this teaching style I can see this working well when the snow conditions are a lot softer and the snow gives you the platform under the skies. But on firmer snow in seems that guests being welcomed to the lessons out way the need for edging skills to be improved to help with skiing.

As these fatter skis are harder to keep up on the edge on firmer snow, Jeb said they focus more on keeping the CM up and moving with the skis. Also there was less emphasis on carving, more on a steering. Or as Jeb said

2 01 2 S o d e r g r e n S c h o l a r s h i p The APSI offers a scholarship fund in recognition of the rising potential of snow sports instruction within our resorts.

The Sodergren Scholarship was founded in 1997 to remember Mike and Mim Sodergren who died in the Thredbo landslide.

Both Mike and Mim epitomised what is was to be a professional snow sports instructor.

Their passion for the industry and their dedication to training and professional development were legendary.

They ignited passion for snow sports in both recreational skiers and professional instructors alike. A clinic with either of them was something that you never forgot.

The successful applicants must meet the following criteria: • Commitment to personal education, training and accreditation in the Snowsports Industry • Professionalism and image • Contribution and service provided to the industry • A current financial member of the APSI at the time of application 24

To apply for the opportunity of gaining all course fees and exam costs to be covered for one season please send applications in writing to the Board of Management before the 1 May 2012.

Please send all information to: PO Box 131 Jindabyne NSW 2627 or email apsi@apsi.net.au All applicants must be a current member of the APSI with no outstanding debts financially to the association.

•

The Board of Management reserves the right to seek nominations.

•

The decision of the APSI Board of Management is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

The successful participant will be notified after the May Board Meeting. The scholarship is current for that season only.

Snowboard

for the team over the years and battling all the odds to get the team there. Richard Jameson for putting together the indoor presentation for the Australian team. And last but not least Brad Spalding for being the Australian ambassador and right hand man for the team. Brad’s efforts for the team and representing the country were outstanding.

Well it seems like I’m getting into a summary before I even get to my Interski reports and adventures so here I go.

The mission: Interski 2011, St Anton. Start time for myself, the 13 January 2011 at 4.30 pm Melbourne airport, the travel time around 28 hours. Oh what joy!

Jason Claucsen Snowboarding Technical Director’s Report

The Snowboard team: Jason Clauscen, James Lloyd and Hayden Lawn

For me Interski started well before the actual travel adventure to St Anton, Austria.

The Aims:

It started by researching web sites of countries that were attending to try and gain some insight as to how they ran their snowboarding programs.In doing so I started to become aware of some of the current similarities and differences around the world. It started to get me thinking of some changes the APSI is going to need to make in order to improve the process candidates undertake to become an instructor in Australia. The talk over the past few years has been about the pass rates and the standard that Australia holds.

I believe by changing the process we ask instructors to undertake to become certified we do not have to lower the standard, but we improve the time and the experience spent with APSI and the trainers and examiners.

• To represent Australia and present a workshop that showcased Australian riding and communication skills.

• For myself to attend the Canadian, New Zealand and Great Britten workshops.

I will be honest these ideas have been tossed around by a number of people over the years and are not just my own.

But I believe after some 12 to 14 years of roughly examining the same way it’s time to look for some modern changes.

Going to Interski - with out a doubt - confirmed these ideas and helped give some insight as to why and how. Interski is an invaluable resource that Australia has access to - not to attend would be a great loss not only to the APSI but also in the snow sports industry in Australia.

Interski

• To net work with as many countries as possible and gain a better understanding of their countries systems.

I would like to thank all those that supported the team and allowed us to represent the APSI and Australia.

Especially, big thanks to Andy Rae for continually working

The Whys?

• To show the world what the Australian riding standard 25

workshops, before the opening ceremony.

looks like throughout the 4 levels and to highlight what makes us unique.

Saturday was the first day of riding for a number of team members including myself. But this made absolutely no difference. We rode like mad men trying to rip turns and get in a rhythm as a team as quickly as possible. I can truly say I have never ridden that hard in 1 day to get back into form. This did take a toll on myself, burning a hole in the back of my heel through massive amount of fiction. A very nice blister! This was mainly due to the conditions with St Anton suffering form a bad case of firm hard snow, just like OZ. It was strange to travel so far an experience OZ snow, just on more insane terrain.

Little to say riding so hard on the first day lead to some very sore legs, backs, feet, necks and so on.

• Canada, New Zealand and Great Britten are the main countries that Australian resorts are seeing appear at hiring clinics and on job applications. Also these were the countries I missed out on in South Korea while I was attending more European workshops.

• Interski is the only opportunity that world trainers and examiners have to meet in the one place at the one time, so networking is made a lot easier.

The Goals.

• The Australian workshop had a focus on letting the board and rider’s movements speak for them self and allow the world to spot and see the differences.

During the first two days the team took quite a lot of note of the terrain and the amount of time it took to get around such a huge resort. We as the snowboard team had a very good idea of what we were going to present but being unfamiliar with St Anton it was important we had a truly good understanding of how to present our workshop in such foreign terrain.

This constantly changed throughout the 2 days and was slowly refined down to its final content. This combined with trying to ride our selves into form lead to a heavy workload not just physically but mentally.

I am more to happy to say the hard work over the first 2 days paid off with James, Hayden and myself presenting a sold workshop on the first day. This was quite an achievement being the genie pigs on the first day for the rest of the teams to watch and learn from.

The Australian Interski 2011 Snowboard Demo Team

• To find out how Canada, New Zealand and Great Britten have such a huge membership base and how they run their programs.

With only 2 countries presenting on the first day, Switzerland and Australia the turn out was massive.

There were 44 people from around the world ready to attend our workshop. With only 3 team members we ran a fast moving and informative program, which showcased Australian riding and communication skills.

Australia ended up having the largest groups of the week, and it was commented on by a number of countries that they were impressed with how we dealt with such large groups. You could see some countries quickly freak out and try to adjust their plans just incase such numbers did occur in their workshops.

• To become familiar with current changes and gain better understanding of the future of all organisations.

Upon arriving in Zurich, I met up with some of the team to enjoy a two hour train ride to St Anton through what can be describe as unbelievable country side. Little did I know this would be one of the last times I had during the week to truly relax. Arriving in St Aton the team met up for the first time to have a few drinks, celebrate Andy Rae’s birthday, and lay out a plan of action for the next day and the coming week.

We started as a group focusing on some key fundamentals that Australian riders use to ride such

Saturday was the only team preparation day, with Sunday giving the team a chance to put the final polish on their 26

being presented.

unique terrain that our country offers. We then split into 3 groups, riding the representatives through each of the 4 levels of Australian instructor certifications. We did this by choosing riding tasks such as short turns and then increased the performance required to be successful at that level. The last hour of the workshop we used more changeling and diverse riding tasks to test the representatives imagination and ability. We also offered a prize to the top 3 participates that were able to complete the final task well.

Straightaway I was interested in how they were able to bring such a large team. In short it is due to two main factors.

1. They can offer all their levels to the public allowing massive numbers at their course and exams.

2. They hold training courses for their certifications that run anywhere between 4 to 12 weeks, that people that take in order to become and instructor.

The prize was the converted Free Style Max! And yes everybody was keen on trying to win one.

These courses are supported by the resorts and they have a large number of foreign participates which come out for the entire season keeping the courses, trainers and resorts busy. The money is huge but they have implemented large training programs, which cater to this market.

We were able to cover our workshop and in doing so we covered around 8 to 9 runs and used 2 sides of the mountain. During other workshops the average riding time was between 2 or 3 runs.

The workshops ran for around 4 hours with a break and it seemed some countries were just not prepared to present for such a long period of time. Not just on the snowboard side but also the ski and Tele side. The feedback we received from other countries was strong but with such a focus our riding we have already made plans that our next Inter-ski should possibly focus on our strong teaching and communication skills and how passionate Australian instructors and trainers are.

Maybe, maybe not? But that is up to the next Demo team that is selected.

New Zealand broke their workshop into 2 sections, firstly they presented a brief look at their level requirements and fundamentals expected at each level. Secondly they focused on the ‘Coach Approach’, which was another draw card that drew me in as Australia is approaching coaching programs. It looked at what we would call more ‘Modern Teaching’ involving the student in his or her own learning. It looked at the types of question you ask and choosing the right questions that could generate the student learning form them self. We worked together in teams and tired to put this into practice. It was interesting and good to work amongst the group.

The Team was able to select the countries that they wanted to see. I had already chosen and of those New Zealand was the first cab off the rank.

Through questioning the New Zealand team you could gather that over the past few seasons they have made huge changes in their country. They have recently moved to a 3 level certification system and with the development of coaching programs they have found

New Zealand had 11 Snowboard Demo team members, which enable them to send out 2 presenters per group but also attend other countries while their workshop was

The Jason Air

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Canada also has a large team with 10 members, with 2 of those being involved in filming their team at Interski. I could clearly understand way Canada was able to send such a large team with 10,000 snowboard members!

That’s right 10,000. I would love to know how many of those are Australian? The snowboard division in Canada is selfsufficient and stands separate from any other discipline allowing them to have complete control of their courses, events and budget. They still remain heavily dependent on the support of the ski resorts and snow sport schools, as do all the countries that attended Interski. Canada spent time presenting their new approach to introducing snowboarders to the sport. It’s called ‘Quick Ride’. The aim of Quick Ride is to get instructors to use more of a free flowing approach to instructing. Not trying to be over technical with information and spent too much time using a set progression or a particular step. It aims at getting snowboarders moving through to turning quickly and making them self sufficient while doing so. One important factor of this is the ability to have good terrain and snow. Which we know Canada can have plenty of. In the Quick Ride booklet which every resort and member receives. There are recommendations on terrain and mini progressions that can be used to help instructors teach.

This booklet can easily be carried in the instructor’s pocket.

business and workload have increased. They have been marketing their products to the European, Asian and even Australian markets, which has seen huge numbers of participates brought in.

With courses and exams being held in both the North and South island, the end of the season is heavily loaded with large numbers of candidates combined with short days in which to exam them.

Wednesday saw a break in the program, which allowed the team some time to work on team demonstrations. At 9am, the demo slope was bullet proof and hard to see.

Little to say the team freaked out a little but managed to pull it back together. To break up the intensity slightly, we got the snowboarders to lie on the ground and place their boards into a rail position. We then got the skiers to ride over us! The look on some of their faces was priceless to say the least!

The remainder of the workshop was spent on riding through the higher levels of the CSIA system where there have been big changes with how they position their upper body. They no longer ride with their leading shoulder across the nose of their board.

They did admit that the position developed from not having a clear communication with all their trainers in the country. With having such a large number of resorts, trainers, courses and exam’s it can be hard to keep everything in check. It is clear that they have addressed the issue and they are riding in a much stronger direction.

The Snowboard demo run

With the weather closing in we lost the opportunity to free ride St Anton’s, which was a shame. Wednesday evening saw a freestyle show on a jump and rail. This also saw the snowboard team take some serious beltings! James and myself managed to find screws on the rail that were not screwed down and had slowly lifted. This inflicted some nice injuries and bruising on our bodies. Good old Hayden managed to come up a little short on the jump, which had a very sharp knuckle to it. This saw Hayden bruise the hell out of his back heel and put an end to his freestyle for the night. With the jump being a little sketchy the snowboarder’s went out and held our own. We joined in on an all countries expression sessions. Fun was the main aim and I believe we accomplished this. It didn’t really feel like there were about 2000 people watching and enjoying the show.

Last but not least I attended the Great Britain workshop, or BASI as it is more commonly know. This was held on the last day of Interski and you could see the week had taken a toll on all participants. The workshop focused on the basic position they try to install in all their courses and instructors. BASI are fortunate to be able to hold their courses and exams all over Europe, which can see a large number of potential instructors turning up which a poor stance. They stressed the importance of a ‘Stacked’ position over the board from which a rider can then start to perform. Without a solid foundation it is hard to develop riders and their skills. From a ‘Stacked’

Canada was the second workshop I was able to attend.

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key. This passion flows threw you’re teaching and lessons which inspirers others into action.

position they then develop the skills using a range of tasks to test the rider’s strength and weaknesses. They hope that these tasks are put to use, using mileage to strengthen the rider’s ability. The drills range from flexion and balancing movements, edging, rotation and pressure control. In the higher levels of riding, being fit, healthy and an athlete is important. Also using less movement to preserve energy and maintain balance is key to be prepared for what is ahead. The one question I did asked was about the way the flex or claps the ankle joint. The answer was to allow greater flexion in the knees and the ability to remain in a stacked position.

I did mention that in the Australian system the ankle joint is needed to be kept in a much stronger position to enable greater edging and balance on our unique terrain and conditions. The workshop then moved into some free riding to allow the group to cut loose at the end of the week.

So as Interski has passed I’m hoping we’ll see a number of benefits come form such an event.

• An evolution in the way we exam candidates • An improvement in our pass rate at exams • Improved communication with instructors and potential instructors • Improved training techniques • Development of the next Demo team • Greater communication and understanding with other countries • And much more……

As with all countries including Australia we all focused on the importance of a strong stance or position from which to build great riders and instructors.

This will allow riders to develop their skills to be efficient and effective while on a board. A strong stance accompanied with good skills will allow riders to continue to enjoy snowboarding for as long as they like. A poor stance will only develop weak skills and waste energy. This will only aid in developing bad habits, which are hard to break.

Just ask the thousands of smokers in Europe! Wow! Since South Korea in 2007, I was amazed to see that all the countries I attended are using up- un-weighted turns throughout their systems.

There have been subtle changes in their position with anticipation in their stance obvious to see. The level of riding and knowledge was impressive to say the least.

Jason on the Expression Session jump

With the next Interski being held in Argentina in September 2015, this will make it hard for Australia with the time falling in our exam period. This does not make it impossible to send a team on the other hand it allows for a great opportunity for some young guns to step up and represent for OZ. I’m hoping in 2012 we can inspire people to want to be part of the demo team and the future of the APSI. In 2013 the selection will begin for the snowboard team and before yvou know it, time will fly and it will be 2015.

Although the focus was spent on riding and the development programs that each country runs. There was still no escaping the fact that to make a good instructor or trainer all countries need to find people that are passionate and dedicated to snow sports and teaching people how to do it. You can take the best rider in the world but if they are not there to help people and teach them, then they are useless as instructors.. It is easy to develop good riders but it’s harder to develop good teaches, instructors, trainers and coaches.

Instructors and trainers that study, research, practice, train and are motivated to keep improving can be hard to come by on matter what country they are in.

Last but not least I would like to thank all the team and the supports that were at St Anton, which made it such a fun and full on experience. The team rode, skied, tellied and presented world-class workshops to the represent Australia and the APSI with the highest regard. Well done!

In the end whether you’re not certified and it’s your first season or your fully certified and it’s your 30th season… being passionate about snowboarding and it’s future is 29

Snowboard

We presented one demonstration component and one free-ride component from each Certification Level (1 to 4) to show how we ride and the different requirements from level to level. The response from the group was extremely positive and I think we were able to show that the APSI produces very strong and versatile riders / instructors.

New Zealand Freestyle Workshop

James Lloyd January 10, 2011 brought a new adventure as I prepared myself for the long flight from Salt Lake City to Europe to attend Interski 2011 in St Anton. It started off quite interesting when Hayden Lawn, another APSI Interski team member, and myself had to have our flights redirected because Atlanta Airport was experiencing a heavy snowstorm. This issue turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was upgraded to business class direct to Paris. Hayden was not so lucky.

A few days later we both arrived safely in St. Anton. It was now that I started to realise how privileged and honoured I was to be representing APSI Snowboarding at Interski 2011.

Australian Workshop Day one of the workshops was a great experience with Australia being first off the bat to present. Due to the large numbers that turned up to our clinic, we ended up splitting the crew into three groups with Jason, Hayden and myself taking one each.

On day two I attended New Zealand’s Freestyle Workshop. Our closest neighbours at Interski covered the freestyle requirements for their Certification levels 1 to 3 and also for their two Freestyle Accreditations.

• Level 1 has no freestyle requirements.

• Level 2 requires five freestyle elements: Switch riding, Straight airs, Ollies, Nose rolls and air 180’s.

• Level 3 requirements are competency on elementary terrain park features including tabletop jumps, straight rails/boxes and a clean 360 air.

The Freestyle Level 1 Accreditation is designed for instructors who want to get involved with teaching freestyle in and out of the terrain park.

The requirements are straight airs (forwards and switch), varied grabs, frontside and backside 180s and a 360 on small park tabletop jumps. Pipe riding includes dropping in on both walls, pumping transitions, appropriate speed control and edging skills, clean hop turns at lip with and without grabs, plus one 360. A 50/50 and boardslides on boxes or basic rails are also required.

There is also a brief coaching presentation to introduce freestyle skills using the four-step plan; stationary, simple, complex, freeride, as well as elements of safety, park etiquette and fun.

The Freestyle Level 2 Accreditation is designed for riders/instructors with a strong skill level and understanding of Park and Pipe, looking to progress their freestyle riding and teaching ability, with a goal to increase their knowledge and ability.

The requirements are switch straight airs, all four 180’s, two 360’s and a 540 on medium park tabletop jumps (approximately 20ft or 6 metres). Pipe riding requires airs consistently two feet or more above the lip, at least one grab and a

The Australian Workshop

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Context-Dynamic (Personalised progression)

360 Air on each wall. Frontside and backside boardslides, switch boardslides and 50-50s, plus different presses are the jibs. Regular riding is expected on advanced rails and street-style features.

SKILL: Technical skills (Rotary movements, Edge control movements, Pressure control movements, Balancing movements)

There is also a coaching presentation where candidates are required to demonstrate their own ideas in a clinic suitable for their peers that I thought to be a great idea.

Physical skills (Strength, coordination, fitness, mobility) In the workshop, the clinic leader used the terrain park (HILL) as his area to demo the Will-Skill-Hill Concept.

We were asked to find a partner and experiment with the concept by firstly trying a trick that we were WILLing to perform. We then compared it with a trick we were

Overall I found the New Zealand system to be very similar to the APSI. The main differences were the slightly different examining structure and cleanliness that each task requires.

Nothin’ like Fussball and beer

Sweden Workshop - “Will-Skill-Hill”

not so WILLing to try. We found that we had a higher success with the task that we were more willing to do due to having more drive and passion for the task. We were then asked to stay in our pairs and one person was to plan a series of different tricks using both the jumps and jibs. The partner was then asked to perform the line of tricks. In some cases we found that the WILL could suffer if the jumps or jibs (HILL) were too difficult which would then impede the SKILL of the rider.

On day three of workshops I attended the Swedish workshop with the theme being the Will-Skill-Hill concept. This concept I found a little confusing at first but after reflecting on it I was able to put a better picture in my head and found it to be quite an interesting and innovative concept.

The three areas are detailed below: WILL:

Overall what the concept tries to put across is that if the drive and passion (“Will”) is there and the instructor gives the student the correct “Hill” then in most cases you will see more enjoyment and success due to the improvement in their “Skill” area.

Rider’s expectations

Rider’s Preferences Rider’s objectives/aim HILL:

The Conditions (Weather, Terrain, Equipment)

Holland Workshop- “Tea Concept”

The Context-Static (whether it is group, private, recreational or competitive)

On the final day of the workshops I attended the Dutch 31

Conclusion

workshop where they introduced the T.E.A. concept. The T.E.A. concept is broken down into three sections.

Overall the week in St. Anton was unbelievable. We were able to gather some great information from all around the world and also share our thoughts and concepts to help improve instruction for the Snow sports industry.

I think that Interski is an absolute must for continually improving the product we are putting out there.

T – Try E – Exercise (Task) A – Apply Try allowed us to experience by doing and try exercises without feeling pressure from the instructor due to no feedback in this section. The Instructor only gives example and open instructions in this part.

Finally, I would like to mention my favourite three moments of Interski 2011: • Participating in the freestyle expression session under lights in front of a massive crowd was a huge buzz.

Exercises were given to us but with the idea of keeping us moving and learning by doing, remembering that people are on holidays and wanting to have fun.

Individual feedback and compliments were given in this section with corrections being applied in new exercises.

• Being part of a team that had so much camaraderie was awesome.

• Last but not least knowing that our system is extremely strong in all areas of riding and instructing.

When applied we end up mastering the exercises we were working on and were able to apply them to our general riding whether it would be variable surfaces, steeps or even using different levels of speed.

The clinic leader did a very good job of minimising talk and maximising movement. She gave us freedom to experiment (TRY) with some exercises and everyone seemed to be having fun. After plenty of mileage, we were able to apply the skills we refined from the exercises into our riding.

I found the concept to be fun, it kept us moving and we were learning.

The one area I was a little concerned with was the looseness of just trying something, but I feel with good class handling this concept would work very well especially in Australia with our have-ago attitude.

We fittingly finished the workshop with a cup of tea at the top of St. Anton with the amazing mountains and views all around us.

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Snowboard

morning lectures at 9.00 for an hour then on snow work shops for four hours starting at 10.30 am and then afternoon lectures. (Most of the countries did an on hill work shop and lecture over the week.) There were big days considering all the cultural apres ski activities we had to experience.

With the week so full of work shops and lectures there was not much time to rest. This was made all the harder when I bruise my heel on the demo jump. Jude to this. I could only see USA and Finland out door work shops and the Canadian indoor lecture.

The USA had a good work shop with the group riding a

Hayden Lawn lot. Their topic was Incorporating free style to beginner

Wow... What an amazing trip, this being the first time I have ever been to Europe and my first time attending Interski.

lessons. There was lots of encouragement on being free and just snowboarding because its fun. They encourage that there is no right or wrong to snowboarding and not to use the ski school snake. That does not allow freedom in your students riding. They want their instructors to use animation and treat their lessons like a session in the park with friends. Loads of high five, hoots, hollering and playing with the students like friends.

St. Anton in, Austria was such a great venue for Interski with its tourist friendly village, its apre ski which start as soon as you get off the hill and their unbelievable mountains where the vertical and endless valleys go on for ever.

The way they incorporate freestyle into their beginner lesson is by changing the names and the reasons of learning particular steps in the progression. Becoming mobile is like skating on a skate board, straight Glide is

The purpose for attending Interski was to observe and absorb the information given and skills shown on hill by the various counties in their “on snow” work shops and their indoor lectures. This is so the APSI can grow its modern teaching methodology and riding style by considering implementing the good things we saw and heard at Interski into our system.

My personal high light of Interski was when all 37 nations rode down the demo hill together in the closing ceremony night show. I think this was my high light for several reasons.

The mateship that grew between all the countries and the chance to ride with everyone was amazing. The night was capped off with a huge fire works show and the many beers that followed.

Interski was an amazing experience It’s just that there were not enough hours in every day. The first two days were spent training and finding terrain for our on snow work shops - as Australia was on the first day.

What we didn’t expect was the large group that wanted to ride with us. There were more than 40 riders between Jason and James and myself: with our planning and time line every thing ran very smoothly. (Even when the trail map is written in German!) Our topic was “How we ride at a level One standard all the way through to a level 4 standard, with a focus on switch riding and short turns.”

The snow played to our advantage with it being like the snow back home... terrible….

Hayden Lawn and a great view

a 50/50 on a box, slide slip is a board slide and falling leaf is riding switch. It’s just like when we use spider webbing, but they just have used freestyle as the topic.

The Canadian indoor section was all about safety fun and learning, with humanistic teaching. They try and put that winning feeling into their student and their members.

They do this by making everything fun and relaxed as possible. It’s all about encouraging good emotions so people want to come back. The Canadians have been doing this by implementing a very similar teaching

After our work shop day our typical days started with

33

methodology to what we have. It’s worded differently but the outcome is the same. Their training and examination process is the same, they try to make it as relaxed and user friendly as possible. One thing they do have is loads more information on their web site to help with training and exams.

did Ollie’s, manuals and rode a box at the end. A lot of the group didn’t understand why?

The Fin’s did also have a big thing about not doing anything on the demo slope... Because “well you know what every one thinks about turning...” So the Fin’s were more interested in showing their freestyle skills in the park. But they canned that idea because one of there riders did their knee on the big demo jump.

Finally there was Finland’s on snow work shop which was based on how guided discovery teaching is the way of the future. And that their country does have different teaching styles like we have, but they want to steer away from traditional teaching. They did discuss that they do have progressions and that they do use them with explanation, but they want the students to learn things for themselves. The work shop consisted of an open forum discussion on just using guided discovery teaching with all age, genders and social groups etc.

The group did take in all the information but they were a little hesitant about using guided discovery for every one, especially tentative people. The riding section of the work shop consisted of hiking a cone line were we

Personally I was impressed by the USA, Canada and New Zealand out of the snowboard representatives.

Even though I didn’t get to see much of The NZ bro’s, their riding and their involvement in the whole Interski impressed me. If any member is considering trying out for the “Demo Team” for 2015 I highly recommend it. It’s a great experience with all the riders you meet and the contacts you make… plus I got a pretty sick uniform out of it which I will keep forever.

Think snow every one

A P S I 2 01 1 M e m b e r s h i p n o w a v a i l a b l e

Membership is based on a calendar year so a 2011 membership extends from 01 January 2011 to 31 December 2011. Your membership fees go directly to supporting the administration costs of the association. In return the Board of Management works to provide you with access to the best and information about instruction and snowsports in the world!

Members wishing to attend any APSI courses/exams or to apply for ISIA status are required to register as full members. It allows you to access to all parts of the web site, access to the APSI office, full voting rights and you even get issued a membership card.

Membership Annual membership - $100.00 3 year membership - $240.00 New Member - $80.00 Associate membership - $70.00

After a troubled start to 2010, APSI seems to have recovered well, thanks largely to help from you the members and the snowsports schools, therefore the APSI board of management is repaying that support by keeping membership prices at 2010 levels.

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Avalanche

with video and first hand experiences with avalanche survivors. This way they scare them into wanting to find out more about avalanches. They work in groups and go through some drills like, Seeing how long they can hold their breath.

Being blind folded, ears plugged and lying on the floor with pads on top. Then with other people lying on top to see what it is like to be buried.

Level 1.5 CYR Workshop This is a half day workshop outside. Where they work in

Marty Firle teams go more in depth with using beacons and probes.

Looking at slope angle and how different surfaces slide at what angle. This is all done with a timber set up and blocks with different finishes on them. Smooth to rough, trying to simulate the different types of snow.

Avalanche risk in Germany: “Check your risk�

In 2006 two young German free riders died in an avalanche in the alps. Following this tragedy, Germany decided they needed to find a way to educate young skiers and riders of the dangers of avalanches.

Level 2.0 CYR Academy This is a full day workshop out in the mountains. Where they continue with what the learnt in the class room and learn more on route finding and snow pack assessment.

Finding the best way to contact these young skiers has led the authorities to tap into experts from the free ride community and take them into schools.

Level 3.0 CYR Free ride Camp

The four part course that has resulted has been very successful in raising awareness of the dangers of avalanches in the German alps.

This is a week long camp, where they get to put into practice what they have learnt. All with the guidance of a trainer.

Level 1.0 CYR Basics The first part is a 90 min lecture to show the dangers

An Australian Alpine Demo Run

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interski 2011 - St Anton

with each country and more time dedicated to skiing the Arlberg area. The day was split into morning indoor presentations, followed by on hill workshops and concluded with main keynote lectures. The workshops ranged from children focused to high end, off piste skiing. There really was something for everyone. The exciting ski shows were held on the demonstration hill each evening.

The indoor lectures provided a theoretical outline of skiing techniques. Application of the demonstrating country’s techniques were then demonstrated and practiced on snow. Below are number of points I gained from attending the indoor workshops followed by the on hill workshops.

Ant Hill Interski is for Everyone St Anton am Alberg, boasts more than skiing prowess, expansive terrain and history. To me it personifies a skiing region to which I owe much of my progression and skiing ability. In my formative skiing years as a ski racer I was lucky enough to train at the Austrian Ski Academy, formerly the Bundes Ski Akademie in St Christoph. Just over the valley in Brand I worked as a Level 2 Instructor for two seasons. It proves difficult to stay away when the country offers such commitment to winter sports, irresistible food and wine and an expanse of mountains which take your breath away. St Anton am Alberg could not have been a more fitting skiing destination for Interski 2011.

The 2011 Australian Interski Demo Team

Finland The overall focus was on motivation, emotion and progression for kids and adults alike. The APSI has similar ideologies such as motivation is linked to positive feedback, and emotion to soft focus issues. The alpine workshop was a little disappointing in the detail, we skied a vast amount however we only sampled a taste of their progression. From here I moved to the cross-county workshop which was based on learning basic alpine skills on cross country skis. The idea is that the lighter equipment improves balance and develops different balance stimulus. The focus was on learning by skiing different conditions on different equipment. I am keen to try this concept with cross country skiing this coming year.

St Anton

Each day the town bustled with the Interski vibe. The main street transformed into a festival for après ski. The fairy lights in the trees throughout the village added to the romance of the town, it is a place that every skier dreams to go. The facilities were outstanding. All the formalities were conducted across the town, which gave foreigners a great feeling for Austrian hospitality.

Our pension was delightful. Every morning began with a typical classic Austrian breakfast (wow!), cosy boot room, and a ten meter walk to the gondola.

Denmark The Danes had a massive contingent and were prominent throughout the congress. The indoor lecture raised the concept of “ride free”. This concept was supported only by a pocket sized information brochure. More detail on other progressions would have proved beneficial.

So the scene is set and you have a brief snap shot of the surroundings for Interski in St. Anton. The congress itself was different to Korea 2007, longer opportunities 36

The core focus of the Danish Ski School is to ride free.

They concentrate on the soles of their feet, position and rhythm, assessing what the client can do, can’t do and can do with help; the later is called the Zone of Proximal Development. What’s that? Well ZPD is the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving in collaboration with the ski instructor. In other words what you can do with help. The Danes don’t claim this to be ground breaking but they say with help anyone can ride free. There are a number of similarities with our system.

One difference was a focus on teaching new skills on new conditions. This principle was a talking point in the on hill workshop. On one hand they accept the safety considerations of teaching new skills on new terrain.

The contrary was that the Danes would prefer the client to experience as much terrain as possible rather than become an expert on the green slopes.

At this stage the grasp of their concept loosened.

The bold claim that they will throw a beginner on to a black run is ‘an objective’ however they reverted to claim that the change occurs gradually.

each looks to their own rather than to each other.

Over the coming season I will engage various winter sports organisations to various avenues which we could create a lifelong interest in winter sports.

The demo show The demo shows were electric; in short Australia skied extremely well. Our Australian Map formation was a hitwe thought we would never pull off an off sync double diamond but the crowd begged to differ and the “map” was a hit, coupled with our rocking choice of tunes. One of the runs saw us mach III through the opening banner and set the quickest run time. We managed to throw a

The indoor lecture also raised the point of less talk more skiing, and the workshop held strong to this concept- however there were complaints as we were skiing on and off piste, top to bottom, in St Anton, in Austria, on a sunny day, with 15cm of fresh .

Along with Denmark and Finland I also dropped into Germany and Austria and I picked up more similarities than differences. I believe Australia can learn much from Sweden.

Sweden The Swedish Ski Council is the pinnacle winter sport body in Sweden. Their mission is to promote a lifelong interest in winter sports. The council incorporates all organisations which control the various aspects of winter sports. It is such a body that Australia is lacking. Some of you may think that we have such an organisation; however you must look at their core focus. We have organisations that produce instructors, strive for gold medals, produce racers, manage ski resorts, conduct a major ski race for school children; we don’t have a body that links everything together. The Swedish Ski Council is such a body. One of the recent achievements of the council was presented at Interski. It was a project based on providing 1200 year 4 students the opportunity to try winter sports. The project combined the efforts of many organisation and required only participation from the students.

The St Anton Demo Hill

couple of rails, however hats off has to go to the boys on the boards cracking some huge air, jumping in to the demo slope and hitting the big kicker.

Technically we have significantly improved from Korea.

We skied strong and showcased our style with great success.

Interski is for everyone All snow lovers and riders have much to gain from Interski. It is an experience of a lifetime even as a team supporter. I had my family and partner there this time and they enjoyed it just as much as me. The highlight for them was skiing from St. Anton to Lech, experiencing the differences in skiing styles from all over the world, and the odd gluhwein or two.

I am a realist and I understand we have only a short season, however with the co-operation of existing bodies we would have a better chance of creating lifelong interests in winter sports. The benefits of working together to encourage people to try winter sports will benefit all winter sport organisations. In my twenty year experience the present framework is segmented and

The next Interski is in Argentina and I will be there.

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Interski 2011 - St Anton

The other on snow presentation I went to was the French France: The French took us out for a day in the off piste.

Their focus was on how they prepare and take students off piste in 3 simple steps.

Step 1: We went through their avalanche beacon protocol and how they check that all transceivers are in working order. We skied past the guide one at a time seeing if he could pick up signal. Then he did that back towards us one at a time, very important in the off piste in Europe.

Step 2: Next we did a skill test review. To see if all students were up to the level required to ski off piste. Our guide explained if some people were not ready they would do a mini lesson showing the essentials (hop turn, step turn, Christie etc) we went through the mini progression.

Reilly McGlashan Interski better late then not at all.

After missing my flight in Denver and then there for missing first day of training, the trip started off pretty rocky! But when I arrived in St Anton everything started shaping up nicely. Good vibes and great hanging out with the team.

Step 3: the last phase of the 3 step progression to take guests off piste was the group handling.

Explaining the different ways that they take guests down a run. E.g.: one at a time, instructor first, instructor last, snow cuts, scoping snow conditions.

Italy: I went to the Italian on snow presentation where they primarily focused on there 3 levels that they categorise their students into (bronze, silver and gold).

Within these 3 levels they had 3 demos the students had to master before moving onto the next level. We all were shown the demos and we had a go at them.

I had a great time at Interski. I had a good time getting to know the other teams. Everyone was super fun and

In Bronze the primary focus was on “foot twisting”. I asked if they were talking about leg rotary but they said no just the foot, which keeps the ski super flat.

So the first 3 demos were focused on this!

With no edge talked about at all...

The main change that the talked about from the last Interski in regards to technique was the up and down movement to finish and initiate turns.

They said they were eliminating these moves all together because its something they said was un necessary now.

In the low end demos it was demonstrated with little to no extension flexion moves.

One of the Australian Alpine Demo Runs

friendly to hang with and the experience over all was a good one.

I got some new terms from Interski that Tom & I kind of made up because they sounded like words we heard but were a light variation. “heelen svischen” (heel pushing or swishing) “Hooften Schvingen” (hip swinging) and “hande winken” (hand waving)

Silver was where they started to talk about edge and more speed.

Gold was the highest level a student could achieve in lessons. The highest demo was a GS race turn where they focused a lot on the movement forward at cross over.

So all in all a good time

38

Interski 2011 - St Anton

you see a team member ask them some questions like.

•W hat did you do in Interski?

• Which country did you examine and what do they do differently to us?

• Which countries have a different focus on skills or learning styles • When explaining and teaching a snow sport?

• How does their exam process work?

• Are there any trends in the industry that may affect

Mark “Macca” McDonald our lesson

• Programs or overall instructing process?

Interski: what is ahead

• Is there something that I can work on to improve my skills in riding,

After the alpen glow of St Anton returning home is something that is equally as thrilling as the preparation and participation of Interski.

skiing, and teaching?

The great thing is that what we have brought back is the knowledge that we are a part of a greater snow world picture.

Where do we go now and what do we actually do. The team members now are informed of the industries latest techniques and more importantly our industries direction and trends.

We all share the same belief that being outdoors is - as best put over one hundred ago by the Arlberg ski Club, that we are “ delighted by nature, enthusiastic about sport and convinced of the necessity to create a suitable meeting place at the Arlberg for friends of this noble pleasure, we, the members of the excursion feel moved to establish the Ski Club Arlberg”

The exciting news is that the next Interski is the first to be in the southern hemisphere and happily Argentina is the destination in 2015.

That is the already the next goal. However I would urge all new and up and coming members of our industry to start setting the four year goal. If you are level one or two it is achievable and an amazing honour to be a part of.

For us - although we are not starting a club - we are essentially a part of a big family that shares experience and ideas to develop our sport and life. Being a part of Interski is one thing and the next thing for all of us is to carry the passion and the information into our next four years.

For example, When Andy Rae, Paul Lorenz and myself were in Japan after Interski we straight away organized a meeting with one of the senior instructor/demonstrator,... code named “The Bull” due to his power on the skis - from SAJ. We wanted to share the knowledge and to once again compare what we had learned at St Anton.

I encourage you all to participate by asking questions and trying new concepts to increase and expand our knowledge and develop until we all will once again join the world in Argentina 2015....... Where everyone is welcome.”

The key is that the process continues and that is what we would like our greater colleagues to be apart of. When

39

SPRING SESSIONS

SPRING SESSIONS 2011

2011

Spring Sessions will be run in NSW and Victoria.

The Spring Sessions is an event like no other in the APSI calendar. Open to all members you can come for 1 or 2 days and ski/train with the best ski instructors in the country – the APSI National Demo Team.

Clinics are about having fun, improving and spending time with like minded colleagues who love and live in the mountains like you. We run 2 sessions per day on free skiing topics like Carving, Bumps, Short Turns, Racing, Park/Pipe and relaxed clinics like – “shut up and ski”!!

There will be a silent auction during the event and APSI merchandise to purchase.

All funds raised are used to directly support the national team.

Price per day approx $85 Recalls, price per day $175 plus manual included

For further information contact:

Dates and Venues; Venue: Hotham, VIC Dates: 3 -4 September

Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors PO Box 131, Jindabyne, NSW, Australia, 2627 Ph: 02 6456 1255 Email: apsi@apsi.net.au

Venue: Perisher, NSW Dates: 17 -18 September

Website: www.apsi.net.au

40

New for 2011: Alpine

• A tangible increase in MA pass rates was noted over the past couple of years since the introduction of the ‘APSI MA training DVD’. It is our hope to produce another one of these tools comprised of past exam footage, so that the resorts can utilize it through the season. We realise these disks can be tough and time consuming to put together and we are committed to the ongoing cooperation to help the resorts with their in-house training programs.

• Perhaps the biggest change and hardest one for some of us to adapt to, will be the name changes to the levels.

Remember that this is just a name change. We have always had four levels and now the names will reflect this. The curriculum and standards have not altered and will remain the same.

Richard Jameson It will be an exciting time for APSI Alpine this year after an amazing Interski conference held over the summer in ST. Anton, Austria. There was a treasure trove of information gathered and shared by our National Demonstration Team at a very successful event for the Australian industry. This year’s trainer’s coordination will be one not to miss as the team shares its experience and gathered knowledge in a mixture of multimedia shows, interviews and on snow clinics. I urge all those that want to share in the experience to come along and take advantage of this event in early June at Mt. Buller. Trainers Coordination is open to anyone that has involvement with their in house training programs or mentoring other instructors in their schools.

New Name

Old Name

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Entry Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

• The alpine level 3 course will now be a shorter 5 day product (instead of 6). It is our hope that reducing the cost and time out of work will allow this course to be more accessible to instructors in the industry, while still delivering an exceptional learning experience to those involved.

Alpine has only a few minor changes to its programs and courses this season. The APSI technical committee sees this as a reflection to the positive nature our products are having at the moment. After a few years of tweaks and changes we feel strongly about the outcomes of the training courses, exams and ultimately the quality of instructors being produced at present. That being said, we continually look at the processes involved and curriculum of the products to stay at the cutting edge of instruction both domestically and around the globe.

• The alpine Level 4 courses have some slight changes to the curriculum. A pedagogy lecture has been added to give these participants a basic knowledge of how to teach fellow instructors how to teach. Often a Level 4 trained or certified instructor is called upon to help with in-house training programs and this knowledge will be useful to their day to day job in the resorts. Another practice MA session has also been added to the program giving more exposure and practice to this invaluable part of their development.

Some of the changes to look for this year are:

I hope your summers or winters abroad were safe and successful and I look forward to a great Australian season with you all. See you soon.

• A slight change to the MA system and sheet. The APSI will be developing a training sheet to aid in-house trainers when going through the system with your instructors.

The sheet will help train their eye into the key elements when conducting MA on their guests.

Richard Jameson

The APSI Alpine Team demonstration at St. Anton

41

New for 2011: Snowboarding

The three riding sections will be Demonstrations, Free ride and Freestyle, with 3 tasks in each section to be examined.

The ‘Station’ system will be used for the Demonstration and Free riding tasks with an ‘Open’ style being used for the Freestyle section.

The added bonus of having three days for this level means it will allows more time for candidates to show their true level of knowledge and riding ability across the board.

Level Four has also seen some changes.

Jason Clauscen

There are also 2 teaches with one being an on hill ‘Scenario’ teach and the second being a Freestyle specific teach.

2011 will see a number of changes occurring to the APSI snowboarding courses and examinations.

The new Level One will stay mostly unchanged using

The Race times have also been adjusted to allow the race to be performed on a G/S or Boarder-X Course. Oh what fun that will be!

the ‘Open’ style of examining, which it is well known for. The ‘Open’ style of examining allows candidates to spend quality time with examiners and offers mileage with riding tasks. The only real change is some riding tasks have become clearer to train and be examined on.

The Certification will also recognize Freestyle and Racing.

This has been done to recognize what this level truly represents, a Full Certification and one of the strongest in the world.

Level Two sees the first of the big changes with two

examining styles being used.

One of the days will now use the ‘Open’ style of examining with candidates heading out for the day with 2 examiners. During the day they will be covering the Teaching and Demonstrations sections. We are aiming to save time and allow for greater mileage and use of terrain so candidates can show there riding skills in a smaller group.

The exam will still be run over 3 days and will remain in the ‘Station’ style of examining.

The second day will use the well know ‘Station’ system where candidates will rotate through selected terrain focusing on the free riding and one selected demonstration. Over the years this has proven to be the best way to exam groups during riding tasks and keeps the standard consistent throughout all those that attend.

This will not appear automatically on any re-issued certification but will require instructors to attend the Spring Sessions in Perisher at the end of the season, where they will be tested on the new requirements.

These developments have occurred in 2011 and the Certifications will recognize this. There will hopefully be a number of older instructors looking for their new certification to show Freestyle.

This will keep instructors up to date with the modern developments and hopefully also keep progressing the APSI standard for years to come.

Level Three has had some major changes.

The major reason for these changes is to try and move with the ever-evolving sport of snowboarding. Freestyle has had major influences on the industry so it is important that Instructors knowledge and abilities are solid.

With Snowboarding progressing at such a fast rate especially with freestyle, we are aiming to introduce more freestyle into this certification and recognize this on the certification.

The certification will now read ‘Level Three with Introduction to Freestyle’

It is not all about the tasks and components that the APSI is asking candidates to perform. It is also about having the correct amount of time to truly allow candidates to show their abilities across the board and allow examiners the right amount to time to judge these abilities correctly.

This comes with a small price. The exam will now be 3 days which will involve 2 teaches and 3 riding section.

One teach will be an on hill ‘Scenario’ and the second is a Freestyle specific teach.

42

New for 2011: Telemark

The new level 1 is a skills based course giving those

who are new to ski theory and teaching a foundation to build upon. “Skiing” (telemark and alpine) basics will be covered. It will be a fun two day course where the assessment is continuous and ongoing. At the end you will be assessed either ‘Skills and theory competent’’ or ‘more practice and understanding needed’. It is a great course for those who may be curious about Telemark skiing. Upon successful completion candidates will be certified to teach first time and beginner telemark skiers.

The new Level 4 is aimed at those Telemark skiers wanting to push the limits and possibilities on Telemark equipment and be involved in training. It will be broken into two modules. The first is focused on high end dynamic skiing on and off the groomed. The second module will be focused on high end teaching and the APSI Teach to Teach system. All in all this is an exciting addition and I hope to see some of you taking it on!

“Tele” Tom Gellie New Level Changes with Telemark The new level changes introduced to the APSI have opened up opportunities to simplify the process of going through Telemark certification. I believe it will make the steps from one level to the next smoother and more logical and encourage more people to go through the system. So what is different?

2011 is the year of Telemark (i’m calling it that anyway) so get out there and try it, practice it and master the free heel turn.

2011 APSI Trainer’s Co-ordination & Rookie Selection

Rookie Selection

If you are an Alpine Level 4 instructor then why not try out to become an APSI trainer. Come and join this on snow interview on 13 June at Mt Buller. This is the first part of the 2011 season selection.

13 June 2001 at Mt Buller

Trainer’s Co-ordination

A must if you plan on being a trainer at your resort this year. Come along and hear what the APSI has planned for this year and find out first hand about Interski 2011. There will be information sessions on all disciplines and other news updates. Just what you need to kick start your 2011 training season.

14-15 June 2001 at Mt Buller Register on line today at www. apsi. net .au 43

New for 2011: Nordic

analysis as well as race technique and skills) As the new Level One will be added as the basic level of instructor, current APSI Nordic instructors will automatically be recorded at the next level, i.e. Current Level 1s will be Level 2 and so on.

The new Nordic level 1 qualification is a two day course and assessment aimed at people interested in entering the Nordic Teaching and/or snowsports industry; no previous work experience is required. Part of the assessment will be a written test, completed as an open work book format.

Warren Feakes

On successful completion, an entry level instructor is qualified to teach very basic beginner classes and act as an assistant instructor in groups of intermediate level skiers (Stationary Skills, basic diagonal stride, slowing and stopping and free running over gentle terrain). This is the perfect course for Outdoor Education schoolteachers as well as Club Tour Leaders and Instructors.

Becoming an APSI Nordic Instructor now less of a Hurdle and more Prestigious Along with the other snowsport disciplines, Nordic is moving to a four tier system for instructors. It will mean a slightly easier pathway to enter the system and a more prestigious qualification at the top. The new Levels are simply explained as:

At level 3, Nordic Instructors will commence a parallel coaching pathway by completing the mandatory Australian Sports Commission generic coaching course and starting on The National Coaching Accreditation Scheme with the aim of becoming a fully accredited Level 1 Nordic Coach as part of their Level 3 certification.

Level One- Teach Basic Skills and initially act as Assistant Instructor (groups) Level Two- Teach Advanced beginners (Diagonal Skills, Basic Skating Skills)

Level 4 instructors will have the opportunity to achieve a Coaching Level 2 Qualification as well as a Nordic Technical Delegate Level 1 certification. As well, Level Four will be the default level for employment as an APSI Trainer and Examiner.

Level Three- Teach Intermediates (all skills plus basic error detection and correction)

Level Four– Teach Advanced (all skills and technique

APSI Annual General Meeting 5pm, 14 June 2011 At the Moosehead Bar downstairs in the Abom Restaurant

Mt Buller, Victoria For more information see: http://www.apsi.net.au/news/2011-apsi-agm-notice.aspx 44

2011 APSI CALENDAR OF EVENTS Dates

Course Details

Closing Date Venue

Cost*

ALPINE Resits & Prep days 20 June 21-22 June 23 June 5 August 6 August 6 September

Resit Prep day Level 2 Resit Level 3 Resit Level 4 Prep day Level 4 Resit Level 4 Prep Day

7 days prior Perisher $180* 7 days prior Perisher $105* 7 days prior Perisher $105* 7 days prior Perisher $180* 7 days prior Perisher $105* 7 days prior Hotham $180* * indicates price per component

Level Two Courses - Avalaible for Staff unable to meet in-house training dates 29-31 August 12-14 September

VIC Level 2 Course NSW Level 2 Course

7 days prior 7 days prior

Hotham Thredbo

$355 $355

Level 3 Course Level 3 Course Level 3 Course Level 3 Course Level 3 Course

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Perisher Falls Creek Thredbo Mt Buller Mt Hotham

$515 $515 $515 $515 $515

Level 4 Teach & Demos Level 4 Teach & Demos Level 4 Race & Freeski Level 4 Race & Freeski

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Thredbo Hotham Perisher Hotham

$515 $515 $515 $515

Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff)

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Thredbo Perisher NSW Falls Creek Mt Buller Hotham

$290 $290 $290 $290 $290 $290

Level 1 Exam VIC Level 1 Exam NSW VIC Level 2 Exam NSW Level 2 Exam VIC Level 3 Exam NSW Level 3 Exam Level 4 Exam

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Hotham Thredbo Hotham Thredbo Hotham Perisher Hotham

$210 $210 $440 $440 $440 $440 $625

Level Three Courses 27 June-1 July 17-21 July 18-22 July 27-29 July & 4-5 August 25-29 July

Level Four Courses 25-29 July 1-5 August 1-5 August 1-5 September

Exams - Level One staff exam includes new membership @ $80 1 July 2 July 17 July 24July 25 July 31 July

Exams 31 August 12 September 1-2 September 15-16 September 5-6 September 13-14 September 7-9 September

The APSI reserves the right to reschedule or cancel courses or exams if less than 4 candidates have registered for a course or exam by the closing date. APSI reserves the right to relocate the event due to snow conditions and candidate numbers.

45

2011 APSI CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Dates

Course Details

Closing Date Venue

Cost*

ALPINE LEVEL ONE COURSES - Course/Exam for general public 28 June-1 July 29 June-2 July 5-8 July

20-23 July 22-25 August 9-12 September

Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam

7 days prior 7 days prior FULL 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Thredbo Perisher Thredbo Hotham Charlotte P. Thredbo

$740 $740 $740 $740 $740 $740

SPRING SESSIONS - for all disciplines.

Optional training for all APSI members run by the National Demo Team

3-4 September 17-18 September

Spring session Spring session

On arrival On arrival

Level 2 resit Level 3 resit Level 4 resit Level 3 Prep Day

7 days prior Thredbo $105* 7 days prior Thredbo $105* 7 days prior Thredbo $105* 7 days prior Perisher $180* * indicates price per component

*Price on a per day basis approx $85.

Hotham Perisher

*Recalls also being run at one day price – plus you get a manual $175

SNOWBOARD Resits & Prep day 21 June 20 June 21 June 31 August

Level Three Courses with intro to freestyle 25-29 July 25-29 July

Level 3 Course Level 3 Course

7 days prior 7 days prior

Perisher Mt Buller

$515 $515

Level 4 Teach, Demos& FR Level 4 F’style & Race

7 days prior 7 days prior

Mt Buller Perisher

$540 $540

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Thredbo Perisher Mt Buller Falls Creek Hotham

$290 $290 $290 $290 $290

Mt Buller Perisher Mt Buller Thredbo Mt. Buller Perisher

$210 $210 $440 $440 $625 $625

Level FourCourses 18-22 July 26-30 August

Exams - Level One staff exam includes new membership @ $80 1 July 2 July 24 July 30 July 31 July

Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff) Level 1 Exam (Staff)

Exams 7 September 11 September 8-9 September 12-13 September 5-7 September 1-3 September

VIC Level 1 Exam 7 days prior NSW Level 1 Exam 7 days prior VIC Level 2 Exam 7 days prior NSW Level 2 Exam 7 days prior Level 3 Exam with f’style intro 7 days prior Level 4 Exam with F&R 7 days prior

The APSI reserves the right to reschedule or cancel courses or exams if less than 4 candidates have registered for a course or exam by the closing date. APSI reserves the right to relocate the event due to snow conditions and candidate numbers.

46

2011 APSI CALENDAR OF EVENTS Dates

Course Details

Closing Date Venue

Cost*

SNOWBOARD LEVEL ONE COURSES - Course/Exam for general public 28 June-1 July 29 June-2 July 5-8 July 22-25 August 23-26 August 4-7 September 8-11 September

Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam Level 1 Course & Exam

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Thredbo Perisher Thredbo Selwyn Charlotte P. Mt. Buller Perisher

$740 $740 $740 $740 $740 $740 $740

Crossover Course Crossover Course Crossover Course NSW Level 1 Course/exam VIC Level 1 Course /exam Level 2 Course Level 3 Course

7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior 7 days prior

Thredbo Falls Creek Perisher Perisher Falls Creek Perisher Thredbo

$285 $285 $285 $420 $420 $445 $590

Resit Exams VIC Level 2 Exam NSW Level 2 Exam VIC Level 3 Exam NSW Level 3 Exam

7 days prior Thredbo $105* 7 days prior Falls Creek $210 7 days prior Thredbo $210 7 days prior Falls Creek $220 7 days prior Thredbo $220 *Indicates price per unit component

Recall

TBA

Level 1 course/exam Level 2 Course Level 3 Course

TBA TBA TBA

$420 $355 $490

TBA TBA TBA

* * *

TELEMARK Courses 18-19 June 27-28 June 2,6,9,13 Aug (nights) 2 days including exam-TBA 2 days including exam-TBA 22-25 August 29 August-2 September

Exams September 9 & 11 9 September 11 September 9 September 11 September

NORDIC Recalls TBA

$180

Courses 2 day including exam-TBA 3 day-TBA 4 day-TBA

Exams TBA All levels Exam TBA All levels Exam TBA All levels Exam *Exam costs Level 2 $210

Level 3 $220

ADAPTIVE 4 September 11 September

Adaptive Exam Adaptive Exam

7 days prior 7 days prior

Hotham?

Thredbo

$220 $220

The APSI reserves the right to reschedule or cancel courses or exams if less than 4 candidates have registered for a course or exam by the closing date. APSI reserves the right to relocate the event due to snow conditions and candidate numbers.

47

Telemark

well and I explained how it is done at the start of every course be it alpine or telemark to get the instructors thinking, feeling and understanding what is going on to make up a turn.

This led me into explaining the performance model and how the skills are blended together to create different performances on the snow.

I really enjoyed presenting the workshop and found the numerous Heffeweizen’s consumed the night before wore away quickly as nerves and excitement took over.

Around 20 people attended and the APSI way was very well received. I felt really proud and stoked that we have a simple and functional way of teaching telemark. It has sound biomechanical reasons as to why we ski the way we do and this was great as I could answer confidently every question people asked as to ‘why we do it that way’.

“Tele” Tom Gellie Telemark Technical Director’s Report Interski had its beginnings over 60 years ago in Zurs, Austria. The now worldwide congress brings together experts from over 30 nations to deal with opportunities and problems within the snowsports industry. I was lucky enough to be selected to represent the Australian Professional Snowsports Instructors at this great event.

I presented at the congress some ideas and ways in which we train instructors in telemark and then listened and discussed with other countries their methodology and technical approach.

I did not get the chance to attend every other nations clinics so I am going to give my impressions of the countries I thought had strong technique and teaching methodology and those that didn’t.

From my experience at Interski 2011 I believe that the APSI system has a very strong and functional approach to training instructors. I have gained some good ideas to take back and hopefully incorporate into our training but also have seen what I do not want to incorporate. The whole event was a great eye opener for a first timer to interski. I hope to leave you with a few things I learnt from my experience.

First of all Australia was the one of the first countries to present workshops in the week so pressure was on for us to deliver a good presentation. Keeping with the theme of the Alpine guys, I ran a workshop explaining our technical beliefs in telemark. This included our breakdown of the skiing skills, beliefs on how each skill is performed (eg we believe in rotary of the whole leg and a tall stance) and ways in which we train these skills.

A Helicopter flying up the valley

Germany and the US were probably the standouts in terms of having a modern approach to telemark and a good system to train instructors. Germany ski fairly similar to Australia in that they show good angulation, turning from the lower body, and aim for early edge in all their turns. When they did the night demos on the demo slope they skied fairly fast and showed good performance. I measured most of the countries on their ability to do a good dynamic short turn and the Germans

The performance clinic was used as one of the ways in which we train our instructors in understanding and performing the skills in skiing. This was received very 48

could see the steps taken to get to their goal. It was also up to the instructor as to what steps they would choose to take to get their student to improve.

do a pretty good short turn.

They have an excellent manual which I was lucky enough to be given by the demo team. It contains lots of great pictures, diagrams and I assume methodology. I just need a German translator to understand it..... I would like to incorporate some of their ideas in the manual into our manual. Our way of skiing and teaching was very well received by the Germans and I would like to keep good ties with their association for further learning.

The PSIA telemark skiers were all very strong skiers, especially off the groomed. All movements made by the skier were only just enough to achieve the desired result. Very efficient telemark skiing. None of them were on any sort of performance carve ski and this showed in their on hill demos. Mostly steered and low performance turns made. But I guess this ties into their theme of teaching to the tool on the persons feet. I would have liked to have seen them make some more dynamic turns as there short turns were fairly low performance. I have made some good contacts with the PSIA guys and been invited to some of their training days so I can only hope to gain more good information from them. I would like to incorporate some of their stepping stones approach into the APSI system.

The PSIA or United States demonstrators were very student focused in their teaching. Their theme for their workshops was ‘teaching to technology’. This was centered around the growth in fat skis and rocker technology. They believed that if a student turns up on fat skis then you shouldn’t try to teach them to carve or be criticising them that they need a narrower ski.

Still teach them how to edge better but not worry if the performance is not there. ‘Teach to the tool on their feet’.

They also focused a lot on the lead change in telemark and different ways in which you can make a lead change.

For example use a pulling back movement in the bumps or short turn, use a push pull in the powder, etc.

So what countries was I not very inspired by? Well, the Norwegians and Fins were probably the least forward moving nations. So far as the Finnish flyer for their workshops stating ‘telemark does not really have a technique, it is more about good times with friends and playing’. I attended their workshop and was hard pressed to find any real fundamental beliefs in the way they skied.

It was very vague and they used lots of partner skiing games that promoted worse skiing in my opinion. They were all aimed at beginner telemark skiers, however the tasks were quite difficult and were not given a clear reason as to how it was helping to improve our skiing.

I like their teaching methodology too. The PSIA uses a stepping stone diagram for teaching and improving students. For example, if you are trying to teach a student to make linked telemark turns there are several steps that you will visit no matter what the skill level.

Mandatory steps in the progression -then there will be other stepping stones along the way you can use dependant on skill level, terrain, desires of the student, equipment, etc.

The Norwegians promoted a lot of upper body and hip rotation to initiate a new turn. They talked about opening the door with the downhill hand to start. Their lead change was all about driving the rear foot forward.

No talk of diversity in the lead change like PSIA. This

I liked how the teaching progression was presented in a visual way so it could be easily remembered by the instructor and then made sense to the student as they

“Tele” Tom airing the expression session kicker

49

performed differs quite a lot from country to country. The British association (BASI) made a point of having both heels up off the binding at one point in the transition.

This is completely opposite to APSI as we promote having a stage where both feet must be completely flat on the binding as they pass each other. This is like a point of stability in the turn, a re-centering phase of the body over the centre of both feet. From this position you can make effective edging, rotary and pressure control movements.

became their downfall in the off piste as several of them fell over during the PSIA workshop.

The Swiss also teach upper body rotation. This is not just a telemark thing they teach it in, alpine too. In their progression they start with an extension turn initiated with a movement straight up, then progress to a rotation turn where you make no up, just twist your whole body in the new direction. They justify this by saying it is more natural and similar to the way we walk. Then they teach a flexion or retraction turn for racing and bump skiing.

When doing short turns the Swiss skiers have a very quick tempo but edge grip is a lot later in the turn and more like checked turns or linked hockey stops. They do it very well but not much early edge pressure. It is also worth noting that when they start skiing fast and more dynamic they counter their upper body and angulate which is strange considering they do the opposite at the start of the turn. I thought their overall skiing is very strong and they ski everywhere well. I just don’t know how they go getting beginner skiers with not much skiing ability up to that point. But Swiss people do grow up on snow so that could be a big difference.

Canadians also grow up on snow and most being exposed to snowsports from an early age. Their methodology and technique however is a little dated and lower on the performance scale. Their stance is quite long fore-aft and consequently quite low to the ground. The Canadian system (CANSI) is also not aligned with the alpine and snowboard side. I believe they are in the middle of talking more with the alpine side (CSIA) so they can share in their resources.

A Helicopter flying up the valley

Quite a few countries agreed with the heels up idea but when asked as to why they thought it was functional no one could give a good reason why.

• I learnt more from attending the alpine workshops than I did the telemark workshops. The two disciplines are closely related so why not use ideas, techniques and methodology. I really liked the canadian alpine workshop on ‘function equals form’. I would like to adapt some of this principle into telemark training in the APSI. Basically applying this theory for every type of situation and making the student more aware of what movements to make as opposed to how they should be looking on the skis.

This is one the great advantages to the APSI as our members can cross between disciplines a lot easier.

The terminology, phases of the turn, basic principles and biomechanics are all shared. It was interesting to note that not a lot of countries had this close association with alpine. In fact a lot of them were against any association with alpine skiing. A loss in my opinion.

New Zealand is in the midst of re-writing their manual so were keenly taking notes from every workshop. I wish them good luck as they were nice guys and really excited from all they had learnt and primed to get their new manual underway.

• If I was to attend Interski again I would like to run a workshop on high end telemark skiing - how to make more dynamic turns on and off the groomed.

Interski is an amazing event and offers unique opportunities for learning. It is one of the highlights of my career and I was very thankful to share the experience with a great team from Australia. Everybody on the demo squad was very supportive of each other and hung out as a team. I would like to thank everybody that supported us in getting to Interski 2011. This includes all the sponsors, the ASAA, sponsors such as Hestra, Karbon, Adventureline and the parents of the team. I know that the information and experience gained from Austria will be of benefit to you all.

To finish up here are my final thoughts from interski.

-High end dynamic skiing was not well represented.

There was not much talk about anything more than a basic carved turn. I was a little disappointed to see this.

It seems that no one is really trying to push telemark and make it a technical discipline. If Interski is about furthering snow sports then I think that there should be some push to show that you can ski a little more dynamic on telemark skis than most of the public is aware of.

-The lead change is big point of contention and how it is 50

New for 2011: Nordic

St Anton has some Nordic trails and despite Europe’s rain affected snow, these were generally in good to excellent condition. Use could also be made of small flat areas on the floor of the main valley close to the main demonstration slope.

Warren Feakes Noridc Technical Director’s Report As Nordic TD of the Australian Professional Ski Instructors Inc, I attended INTERSKI 2011 held in St Anton am Arlberg, Austria, between 14th and 22nd January 2011.

By far the major focus of INTERSKI is Alpine skiing and Snowboarding with a fairly major program on Telemark this year.

Check out the left leg!

As Telemark is a Nordic discipline, there were representatives from ‘known’ Nordic skiing countries who covered both cross country skiing and Telemark.

Norway Norway spoke of “Positive Practical Coaching” in terms of focussing on what students do well. APSI of course, might call this Student centred learning and we have tended to move on from this to Experience centered learning. On questioning their methodology however it was obvious they are really talking about a progression from the Student centered approach to the Experience centered model.

Many of the large presentations on skiing generally are applicable to Cross Country Ski Instruction as they covered not only the individual technical platforms but also the ‘philosophies’ of ski instruction. As well, it is notable that over the last 4 or 5 years, there has been a crystallisation of skill blocks so that they are generic enough to be applied to all skiing and riding snow disciplines.

“What we achieve is that the student has had a positive experience from the ski school and would like further instruction, whilst the student is aware of and has their own understanding of techniques: What this means is that students are able to teach themselves and obtain a faster development and better results. “

As well, there was an increased focus on coaching this INTERSKI and it appears the more progressive countries like Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Germany to name some, have a pathway to higher qualification levels with Coaching running either within or parallel to Ski Instruction with appropriate technical interlocks along the pathway.

Norway’s Workshop global Focus was as follows:

The USA and Germany in particular mentioned formally and informally, that unless sound foundations of ski skill building blocks are embedded in the skier early, the result will be a lesser athlete. This embedding of basics such as Body Position, Timing and development of Power/Propulsion is so much easier in the developing skier and so much harder in a so called “developed” skier who has bad habits because of poor instruction/ coaching during their early development.

•A ppropriate solutions with respect to terrain and conditions • Individual Dynamic position • Distinguishing between technique and style • Making the student aware of solutions and when and why they are appropriate.

The Norwegian theme for the Cross country Workshop was as follows:

Individual Workshops The daily format of INTERSKI is to have early morning 30 minute introductory classroom explanatory presentations then moving to the appropriate snow area for practical sessions under the country’s Demonstration Team members lasting up to four hours.

The Dynamics of skiing How can I go faster on skis through technical and tactical awareness? The key to going faster is to find out where it costs the least (in energy expenditure) to maintain higher 51

lower body in developing perfect timing.

cruising speed and how we work for greater propulsion for the same energy (expenditure).

More to follow on this one.

The question above represents the two principles, viz:

Germany

• WHERE: Holding higher speed in easier terrain.

The German (Deutscher Verband Furdas Skilehrwesen e.V.) conceptual workshop was the stand-out workshop as far as I was concerned. Based on the all-discipline key-note lecture “snowsport lessons with children and teenagers”, the workshop focus was ‘motion acquirement’

• HOW: Working where we are strong with a technique that provides a high speed.

Optimising the principles requires perfect timing yet the principles are universal and can be used on most physical and technical levels, from beginner to expert, with good results.

“How do children and teenagers learn” was the question and the demo team of a Doctor and Physiotherapist had provided ‘training aids’ by way of 14 children from a German ski club.

The technical structure of the workshop involved skiing exercises, in both classical and skating concentrating on self analysis of:

We (the attendees) were put to shame by the children in simple drills designed to stretch and test comfortable neural networks by taking you out of your comfort zone in responding to simple but mixed visual and auditory cues with common movements.

Frequency in double pole (classical and skating) and pole motion in Double Time (skating) Increased Frequency above where frequency is acting as a regulator (in my terminology – a gear within a gear)

We examined several drills with simple tools such as coloured cards and bean bags and established our dominant eye.

Being Centered by creating more force by working closer to the centre line of the body.

Maintain a High Position thereby allowing for a higher frequency to be generated from the core.

With my dominant eye covered with a black patch and two small bean bags, I found I could skate a full speed around a circle whilst juggling the two bags, as long as it was clockwise. Next season at Perisher will be devoted to mastering it with three bean bags - anticlockwise

Acceleration, where acceleration creates higher speeds in easier terrain. It is energy and a time saver.

USA The focus of the USA (PSIA and USSA Partnership) workshop was “Coaching Coaches and Kids.

The building blocks concept of Body Position (Stance), Timing and Power/Propulsion was explained and followed by several exercises and drills to show the result of combinations and permutations of timing and body position and resulting increases in power and propulsion.

There were Body Position Drills which emphasized an active body position. Contrast between flexion and extension and static (passive) body positioning was examined.

Switzerland The Swiss theme for the Cross country Workshop was as follows:

Timing drills consisted of simultaneous and sequential differentiation. The correct order to recruit muscle groups in the sequence was examined and discussed.

A concentration on TIMING seemed the major theme.

I am not quite sure that this was not overcomplicating something by producing bookmark style strike and pressure diagrams. These were great when I stopped to study them and scientifically very correct but addled my brain somewhat with their complexity.

Power/Propulsion was examined in the context of flexing, extending and weight transfer.

Ireland I attended an excellent presentation on ACL / MCL and Low Back injury prevention by Professor David Murrie of the Irish Demo team. David is a Professor of Sports Biomechanics and is well published in skiing literature (google him). I will expand on his presentation, with diagrams, later on our website. The injury prevention

I intend to gather more detail from the Swiss demonstrators on their analysis as, despite being something a ‘biomechanics graduate’ might be comfortable with, it represented another and unique way of examining the interaction between the upper and 52

The muscle spindles are involved in the stretch reflex and are triggered by rapid lengthening of the muscle as well as absolute length. At the end of the rapid eccentric contraction, the muscle has reached a great length at a high velocity. This may cause the muscle spindle to enact a powerful stretch reflex, further enhancing the power of the following concentric contraction. The muscle spindle’s sensitivity to velocity is another reason why the amortisation phase must be brief for a plyometric effect.

theme was really for Alpine technique but I could immediately see some cross flow to Cross Country.

Thats what having a Ski Racing, Sports Physio spouse has done to me!

He concentrated on Plyometric training involving and using plyometric movements to toughen tissues and train nerve cells to stimulate a specific pattern of muscle contraction so the muscle generates as strong a contraction as possible in the shortest amount of time.

A plyometric contraction involves first a rapid muscle lengthening movement (eccentric phase), followed by a short resting phase (amortization phase), then an explosive muscle shortening movement (concentric phase), which enables muscles to work together in doing the particular motion. He spoke of Plyometric training engagingthe myotatic reflex, which is the automatic contraction of muscles when their stretch sensory receptors are stimulated.

A longer term neurological component involves training the muscles to contract more quickly and powerfully by altering the timing and firing rates of the motor units.

During a normal contraction, motor units peak in a desynchronized fashion until tetany is reached. Plyometric training conditions the neurons to contract with a single powerful surge rather than several disorganized contractions. The result is a stronger, faster contraction allowing a heavy load (such as the body) to be moved quickly and forcefully.

His explanation of Muscular power and muscular strength being two different things was very clear.

Muscular strength refers to how much force can be applied . As per common knowledge, strength alone is not indicative of speed. Power refers to the combined factors of speed and strength (force). Performance in many sports is based on different types of power. The purpose of plyometrics is to emphasize speed- based power. In skiing, the ability of a muscle or muscle group to contract quickly goes a long way to protecting the vital ligamental structure in the knee. In Cross Country skiing, it has more universal benefits.

Finally, and to the groans of the multi-national crowd, he said, “.....and the best way to do these plyometric exercises is with your ski boots on!!!”

In Conclusion There is more to follow on INTERSKI. I have not gone into the Finnish workshop here. I await some documents to make sure I have it right, but I must say, my slope skills – alpine turns on racing skating skis – are improved after their practical sessions.

There has been a fantastic network of Nordic (XC and Tele) Trainers established as a result of St Anton and I have promulgated our Nordic Manual far and wide to the international network for constructive comment.

For a muscle to cause movement, it must shorten; this is known as a concentric contraction. There is a maximum amount of force with which a certain muscle can concentrically contract. However, if the muscle is lengthened while loaded (eccentric contraction) just prior to the contraction, it will produce greater force through the storage of elastic energy. This effect requires that the transition time between eccentric contraction and concentric contraction (amortisation phase) be very short. This energy dissipates rapidly, so the concentric contraction must rapidly follow the eccentric stretch. The process is frequently referred to as the “stretch shortening cycle”, and is one of the underlying mechanisms of plyometric training. Usually after plyometric exercise of the legs, the tendons stretch and the thighs and quadriceps feel tender. Rips can possibly occur when overworked.

I will be running practical workshops on what I have learnt at the beginning of season 2011 as well as expanding on the workshops at Trainers Coord 2011.

In addition to the elastic-recoil of the musculotendonous system there is a neurological component. The stretch shortening cycle affects the sensory response of the muscle spindles and golgi tendon organs (GTO). It is believed that during plyometric exercise, the excitatory threshold of the GTO’s is increased, making them less likely to send signals to limit force production when the muscle has increased tension. This facilitates greater contraction force than normal strength or power exercise, and thus greater training ability.

Now! Who didn’t enjoy INTERSKI 2011

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