2019 Snowpro

Snow

• Special Issue

Interski

Pamporovo Bulgaria • Reflections From

Australian Demo Team •

Training Tips Mindset

•

2019 in Review

December2019edition

Australian Professional Snowsport Instructors

President’s NOTE Ant Hill

Success in Japan, Bulgaria & at Home.

December 2019

The APSI has had an outstanding 2019. The year started in Japan with continued participation in courses and exams in Niseko, Hakuba and Moyko.

The relationships with these resorts are pivotal in assisting to offer our members access to courses and exams during the summer months. The APSI is continuing to look for further opportunities for members during this time in Europe and North America. One of the key reasons the APSI is able to establish a presence outside of the southern hemisphere winter is our continued success at Interski. Our presence in Japan also enabled the Demonstration Team to conduct its first overseas training camp prior to heading to Interski.

Interski is an event I encourage every member to attend. All members are welcome to attend as an APSI supporter with the same access to on snow workshops, indoor lectures and other team events.

The knowledge learnt during Interski is unrivalled and can expand your own skills and ability. A developing concept from Interski is for an Asia Pacific conference with the focus on employment and skill progression between Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan and China. I encourage you to read all the teams reports both within this SnowPro and on the APSI’s website.

I would like to thank the team for their contributions over the past three years and especially this year in presenting the APSI to the world yet again.

With the previous years record snowfall this year had

high expectations, and we delivered yet again with participation and trainer promotions increasing in all disciplines. Nordic had the most percentage growth with an increase of 74% in participation. I would like to thank the Technical Directors for all their contributions this year. The APSI is continuing to look at more benefits for members, one concept is the introduction of specific skills camps. This year a race camp and free skiing camp was offered to members. These products will continue and we thank all the snow resorts for their assistance.

The APSI is in transition and is evolving to be more representative of the membership. Over the past months there is a level of excitement amongst members and staff that the APSI is moving forward. A key change is the new constitution which allows more ordinary members to be on the Board rather than staff positions. The process of election will be distributed to all members in the coming weeks. If you have a passion for snowsports and snowsports instruction I encourage you to be involved with APSI. On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Richard Hocking, Suzanna Brown, Tiffany Ingle and each Technical Director for their resilient contributions throughout the whole year. It is this team that has worked tirelessly to offer exceptional APSI products and continued growth of the APSI.

apsi snowpro

Australian Demo Team at the Interski congress in Pamporovo, Bulgaria 2019

II

CONTENTS New APSI Constitution................................................ 2

Japan.............................................................30

APSI 2019 Notes......................................................... 3

Netherlands...................................................31

Treasurer’s Report....................................................... 4

Canada..........................................................32

Sodergren Scholarship............................................... 5

USA................................................................34

InterSki......................................................................... 6

Joe Hession Keynote Lecture.......................37

Pamporovo Bulgaria........................................ 9

Levi 2023.......................................................39

InterSki Experience........................................ 12

Training Tips..............................................................40

Australian Presentations & Workshops......... 18

Technical Reports......................................................48

Country by Country........................................ 22

Alpine.............................................................48

Poland............................................................ 22

Snowboard....................................................50

Germany........................................................ 23

Telemark........................................................52

Czech Republic............................................. 24

Adaptive.........................................................53

Slovenia.......................................................... 25

Nordic............................................................54

Switzerland.................................................... 26

2019 Exam Results...................................................56

Austria............................................................ 28

Head Pro Deals.........................................................62

Sponsors...................................................................64

New Zealand................................................. 29

Cover Photo from PSIA-AASI of our supporter Jarrah Obrien waving the flag at the opening ceremony

December 2019

December 2019 EDITION

KEY DATES 2019/2020 Discounted 2020 Memberships: Now– 31 December 2019 Office Closed: 21 December 2019 - 5 January 2020 (Merry Christmas!)

Japan Courses: From 3 February 2020 Japan Exams: From 24 February 2020 Sodergren Scholarship Applications: Now - 30 April 2020 Rookie Trainer Selection: 2 June 2020 @ Perisher Annual General Meeting: 3 June 2020

apsi snowpro

Demo Team Applications Due: 1 May 2020

Trainer’s Coordination: 4 June 2020 @ Perisher Keep an eye on the website for exact dates or any changes! apsi.net.au/store/calendar 1

The current Constitution lists around 10 aims, many operational tasks for the office staff.

The APSI needs your vote to make important changes to our Constitution.

- Alpine Technical Director

Aims Quality snow-sportAims instruction. >> New APSI Constitution

The proposed Constitution reduces the aims to 4 focused on the APSI’s core business –

- Snowboard Technical Director The current Constitution lists around 10 aims, many operational tasks for the office staff. - ASAA Rep The proposed Constitution reduces the aims to 4 focused on the APSI’s core business – - Nordic Technical Director

Quality snow-sport instruction.

-Telemark Technical Director

x3

- Adaptive Technical Director - General Manager

Richard Hocking

Board Composition

Board Composition

- Ordinary Mem

Under the current Constitution most Board members are APSI staff. This structure excludes many members and creates serious conflicts of interest such as staff decide their own pay rate and

members don’t get a say. The proposed Constitution means better Ordinary Member representation on the Board.

- General Mana

- Skimembers School Representative Now Proposed Under the current Constitution most Board are APSI staff. This structure excludes many

- Technical Dire

- Resort Representative Only staff can fill 6 out 10 voting

Six out of 7 voting positions are Representativ members and creates serious conflicts of interest such as staff decide their own pay rate and Richie explains open to ordinary members though

positions and may hold as many as

Board Composition

staff can hold 3 of these positions, members don’t get a say. The proposed Constitution means better Ordinary Member representation on the Board.

8 positions so staff get 80%

or 43% of the votes.

of the votes.

Ordinary Member

Now

APSI Staff - President

2019 was a season of change for Only staff can 6 out 10 the APSI, butfillI hope forvoting all the members looked like business positions anditmay hold as many as as usual.

Now

External Stakeholders

Proposed

Non-Voting Staff - President - Vice President

- Treasurer

- Treasurer

Complaints & Grievances Six out of 7 voting positions are - ASAA Rep

- Alpine Technical Director

- Snowboard Technical Director

>>members though -Telemark Technical Director open to ordinary - Nordic Technical Director

Proposed staff can hold 3 of these positions,

x3

- Adaptive Technical Director - General Manager

8 positions so staff get 80%

- Ordinary Member

Andy Rae (General Manager for 16 years) - General Manager - Ski School Representative or 43% of the votes. - Technical Director of the votes. and Lexi (Administration for 8 years) moved - Resort Representative Representative Constitution The proposed Under the current Constitution most on for greener pastures and I want to thank them both for their years of dedicated service authority to the new Complai Board members are APSI staff. The Ordinary Member APSI Staff External Stakeholders Non-Voting Staff to the APSI. I also want to thank our Member Grievance Management p proposed Constitution will mean - President Services Officer Tiffany Ingle and the Technical - President Directors for stepping better up and Ordinary taking on extra - Vice President TheProposed policy is a living docum Member representaNow - Treasurer responsibilities this season.

- Treasurer

December 2019

>> & Grievances Complaints

which canConstitution be continuously re The proposed gives

tion on the Board, reduce Under conflicts the current Constitution most

We have a new Snowboard Technical Director Board members are APSI staff. The Alpine Technical Director of interest in decision-making, and proposed Constitution will mean in Kylie Dwyer who has been an exemplary better Ordinary Member representaSnowboard Director addition to both -the Board ofTechnical Directors allow for moreand diversity andtionaongreatthe Board, reduce conflicts - Nordic Technical Director Snowboarding this season. of interest in decision-making, and

>>

er skill set.

-Telemark Technical Director

authority to the new Complaints and

>>

to reflect best practice

Grievance Management policy.

- ASAA Rep

The policy is a living document

which can be continuously reviewed to reflect best practice.

allow for more diversity and a great-

The biggest change to happen this season er skill set.

Director was the adoption- Adaptive of a newTechnical constitution which - Ordinary Member - General Manager has bought in 4 significant changes. The board was mainly composed of positions for staff members. To better represent the membership The current Constitution does not allow electronic voting. The proposed constitution will allow members to vote on - General Manager issues at an Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting using modern technology. This gives members the new board will have three positions - Ski School Representative who can’t attend meetings greater opportunity to participateDirector in decision making.

- Technical exclusively for members. Details on how to - Resort Representative The Constitution constitution will allow membe Representative apply for the board will current be released soon. does not allow electronic voting. The proposed

x3

Electronic Voting

Electronic Voting

apsi snowpro

Special General Meetings

The constitution hasissues been amended to be best Meeting or Special General Meeting using modern technology. This give at an Annual General practice for managing workplace complaints Membership has grown significantly. To make sure it isn’t too difficult for members to call a Special General who can’t attend meetings greater opportunity to participate in decision making. and grievances. A petition of less members is Meeting the number of signatures required has been reduced from Ordinary Member APSI Staff External Stakeholders Non-Voting Staff now required to call a Special General Meeting 10% (about 140 members) 5% (about 70 members). to make it easier for the membership to be involved in their APSI.

Call for Special General Meeting

Complaints & Grievances Special General Meeting Now Proposed

The APSI may now take advantage of electronic voting for General Meetings to make it easier for the membership to be involved in important decisions.

>>

Membership has grown significantly. To make sure it isn’t too difficult for members to call a Spec 2

The proposed Constitution gives from Under the current Constitution most Meeting the number of signatures required has been reduced A quorum for a special meeting has been raised from

Board members are APSI staff. The

authority to the new Complaints 15 30 and

APSI 2019 NOTES

mber

Richard Jameson

nager

ector

ve

Farewells, Exciting Reboots & International Exchange at Interski

On a management front, the APSI board continues to seek ways to better service our members with educational offerings, better communication strategies and overall a more efficient structure for the association to continue to stay at the cutting edge of industries worldwide. With the recent changes to the APSI constitution, board of management structure and some long standing staff members moving on to other roles in the industry, n gives we really find ourselves in a time of change. I’d like ints and to again acknowledge and thank Andy and Lexi for their years of dedicated service to the APSI. Although policy. their presence will be missed their contributions will continue to last well into the future. ument

s

and association as a whole and I can re-assure all e. of our members that there are many dedicated and passionate individuals who picked up the reigns and got us through this bumpy season of change.

There’s some really positive work being done behind the scenes on many tangible projects both in the technical team and management team which will have a compounding result in the years ahead. I would really like to commend our new office team this year of Richard Hocking, Tiff Ingle and Suzanna Brown for doing an amazing job with very little time bers to voteand on guidance in the transition. It was a pleasure to

work through this time of change with you and look forward to growing things in the years ahead.

It was not only a huge year for us on a domestic front but some goals were also being kicked internationally with our certification products for members in the international schools of Japan and with the National Demo Team preparing, training and attending the Interski congress in Pamporovo, Bulgaria. If you haven’t had a chance follow some of the team’s reports online, I hope you find this special “Interski” edition of the Snowpro thought provoking.

December 2019

eviewed It’s an exciting time to re-boot for the APSI team

Farewell to APSI staff members Andrew Rae and Alexia Colville and welcome to our new member services administrator Tiff Ingle.

Challenging our ideals and evolving as snow sport professionals is something we are proud of in the APSI and I’m happy to report this is still alive and well in our association today.

apsi snowpro

ves members

gs

cial General

Australian Demo Team and APSI Supporters at the Interski congress in Pamporovo, Bulgaria

3

Treasurer’s Report Deborah Meehan

Because we have years like this year Changes put in place to benefit members as well as office and training staff are not without their costs. In addition to the unforeseen farewells of core office staff have also necessitated adjustments to this years budget allocations. The APSI will make a paper loss this year due spending of previous years savings, which is accounted for as a cost this year. The board will continue to actively manage the changes to return the organisation to the surplus we have enjoyed for the last decade.

December 2019

The board has continued to delay any price increases for the last five years whilst introducing the following innovations: • Each snow-sport discipline allocated some of the APSI’s net profit for discretionary spending.

• A fairer method of calculating the funds that go to Interski.

• Trainer and office staff wages increases to reflect increases in the cost of living as well as the ever• • • •

growing workload.

Employment of a part-time administrative assistant APSI financials/bookkeeping moved to Xero.

Trainer meals paid as allowances rather than by reimbursement.

Design of an APSI Awards program to recognise members and trainers for their achievements.

The 2019 payroll bill increased due to a planned raise of trainer wages and changes to how meal allowances are paid. Accommodation rates for travelling trainers continues to increase and has added significantly to operating costs this winter.

Interski also cost more than anticipated.

The departure of our long-serving General Manager and Member Services officer also incurred unexpected extra costs. As required by legislation the APSI paid departing staff the balance of their annual and long service. Payroll has been outsourced adding to this years expense.

On a brighter note, income from APSI operations in Japan has made a large contribution to net profit over the last decade. Although we can expect this income to drop in 2020, our japan endeavours continue to be a buffer during a year of flux.

This is why the APSI maintain a surplus in the bank, for years like this.

apsi snowpro

Income - $7380 Operations $444K wages $144K course costs $12K rent $11K bank charges $16K insurance

Other Expenses $28K app & website $26K manuals $73K interski $10K SnowPro $11K investigation, promotion Loss (unaudited) = $81000

4

SODERGREN SCHOLARSHIP THE APSI OFFERS A SCHOLARSHIP TO RECOGNISE THE FUTURE TOP SNOWSPORTS INSTRUCTORS WITHIN OUR RESORTS. In 1997, the APSI Board of Management established the Sodergren Scholarships in memory of Mike and Mim Sodergren, senior APSI trainers/examiners who where tragically lost in the Thredbo landslide.

SCHOLARSHIPS ARE OFFERED FOR THE FOLLOWING DISCIPLINES:

• Alpine • Snowboard • Other (Nordic, Telemark, Adaptive)

Once again, we received many outstanding applications for the 2019 scholarships.

However, congratulations must be given to this year’s recipients:

Alpine: Jessica Haslau Snowboard: Sam Hamilton

December 2019

Scholarship recipients have all their course and exam fees covered by APSI for a season.

Applications for next year’s Sodergren Scholarships are open until 30 April 2020. Check out the website for more info or to apply!

Note from the Drummer Dr V That’s what I like to call the graphics dude in the design buis. Here is a sneaky note (see if anyone notices) to say how much I enjoyed laying out the narrative of your year. The APSI members look like a diverse and immersive community that are

embracing their dynamic and fluid cross disciplinary appeal and international out reach. Athletic, joyous and keeping the winter wonderland alive.

apsi snowpro

apsi.net.au/members/sodergren-scholarship

Merry festivities and whishing Huey bring you lots of snow!

5

Interski December 2019

apsi snowpro 6

Ant Hill

Interski showcases the world’s best snowsports instructors from all snowsports areas across the globe.

Interski participation is like Christmas for snowsports instructors. I have been very fortunate to represent Australia in Korea, Austria, Argentina and most recently in Bulgaria. Interski was first held in 1951 in Zurs, Austria and in my experience has only continued to grow in participation and more importantly the quality and quantity of information shared by each country. To provide some insight I have shared some moments of each Interski to entice you to be with the Team in Levi 2023.

Korea - Yongpyong This was Australia’s biggest team sent to an Interski yet and everything was classically Korean. Sleeping on wooden floors, weird dried fish everywhere and late night ten pin bowling. Crazy but in all the good ways. Looking back the best thing about this Interski was that all the events: the snow; presentations and lectures were accessed on foot, in one village which allowed a lot of organic bonding and no need for transport – a huge plus given the amount of events that are on during the week. The highlight was seeing the Koreans in full flight with

over 40 demonstrators and an amazing night show.

Austria – St. Anton The famous St. Anton. Still one village approach, however events were slightly more spread out and much longer on snow workshops (4 hour clinics) which limited the amount you could see.

The atmosphere and night shows were amazing.

We also had a growing number of supporters at this Interski and it was great to get a few more cheers after our demonstration runs. A personal highlight was skiing the slalom hill that I had once raced a long time ago which was the demonstration hill. Given the lecture facilities within St. Anton a number of keynote lectures provided wider industry insights. A consistent theme was the focus on the guest and guest experience. I attend the majority of the Scandinavian countries which also had a large emphasis on what the APSI would call “soft focus” aspects of snowsports. Korea was an eye opener and my experience with Austria and particularly the soft focus aspects that I learnt from other countries, assisted my teaching and approach to guests.

Bulgaria - Pamporovo From the most southern tip of the world to Eastern Europe. Bulgaria was back to a somewhat normal set up, short clinics, short ride to the hill and central village for lectures. One of the highlights was meeting a number of the other nations Presidents as I attended more of the

December 2019 Interski Pamporovo 2019 voting for Levi

larger general industry focused events. This included meeting with the Asian and New Zealand Presidents discussing a potential biannual wider industry focused congress potentially in Japan.

In April 2020 Japan will host the Associations in what is being labelled “Asia Pacific Snow Summit”, this is a first step to collaborative approach between the nations Associations.

apsi snowpro

Argentina – Ushuaia The end of the world… what an experience… this was a challenge however Australia was coming off an impressive showing in Austria with strong on snow and off snow presentations so it felt like we were a target country to learn from. We had our largest on snow workshop attendance and continued to move up the so called ranks. Whilst the event is not a competition, benchmarking does seem to take place. There was a lot of travelling both to and from and during the event, yet the experience and vastness of the wilderness is not going to be on your doorstep. Again our supporter number grew and most took the time to travel before and after the event seeing the sights of South America.

Interski is for any snowsports enthusiasts and I can’t wait for the next one. More information about Levi 2023 can be found on our website.

7

Dare To Be Different A balance of function, design and performance makes finding a Karbon garment to compliment an active lifestyle the obvious choice.

PROUD SUPPLIERS TO THE APSI 2019 INTERSKI TEAM

The international snow sport instructing world comes together at the Interski congress held once every 4 years and Pamporovo ski resort in southern Bulgaria was our host this March. Hopefully you were able to follow the team through some of our social channels during the event and get the opportunity to catch up on what was learnt through various articles on the APSI website and here in this edition of the Snowpro. It’s immensely important to our Australian industry to remain involved at Interski, not only to share with the world our beliefs and methodologies but also to harness new thoughts, innovations and

The kangaroo flag soars to indicate the start of the APSI on snow clinics at the base of the Snezhanka tower trends happening across the globe. The knowledge gained has a profound effect on keeping our industry relevant with the ultimate beneficiaries being our resort guests out there sliding down the Aussie mountains.

I would like to take this moment to thank the whole APSI Demo Team for their dedication to this cause.

It takes a lot of motivation and volunteer hours to commit to this 4 year term and without a doubt they all represented themselves, our association and the entire country well.

apsi snowpro

Interski Pamporovo Bulgaria Interski, 17-22 March 2019 Pamporovo Bulgaria.

Richard Jameson

Our teams took an overarching theme of “Training Versatile Instructors the Australian way�.

9

Richard Hocking

December 2019

An amazing culture on display for the world snowsports community.

What a blast!

One of the most enjoyable parts of this Interski was going to Bulgaria, a country I don’t think I would have visited otherwise. I went to Interski knowing almost nothing about Bulgaria and I was surprised about how many layers the country has. Bulgaria has so much history, beautiful nature and an outlook on life which is entirely different to the one we have in Australia.

I had never really considered how many great Empires have ruled Bulgaria, the Greeks, Romans and Ottomans have all left evidence of their history here.

apsi snowpro

The countryside, forests and mountains really are beautiful with deep gorges and big mountains to be seen from the Capital Sophia. The food is old school European, like the food served in ‘Continental’ restaurants of 80’s Australia, but really really good.

10

What I enjoyed most about Bulgaria was their outlook on life and the sense of adventure it lent to the trip. Coming from Australia where we have so many rules it was refreshing to spend some time in a country where on the surface there are apparently no rules. Road rules are disregarded by drivers and pedestrians alike, the lifties don’t care when five racer brats squeeze onto a quad chair, and you can still buy straight pseudoephedrine over the counter. Home made rakia (fruit brandy) is for

sale everywhere without excise being paid or health oversight. Money is laundered out in the open by half building hotels scattered around Pamporovo, never to be finished. Pet dogs are allowed to wander free like Australia in the 80s and shots are served in chipped glasses.

The organisers put on a great show. There was a great vibe during the opening parade with people dressed in the traditional mythical costumes a highlight. We missed the opening stage show waiting to make our first demo run, but some of us got an extra close look at the daytime fireworks when they went off 10m away from the team at the top of the demo run. Of course mixing with so many people from around the work is great, with bold old and new friends. A personal highlight was my failed selfie with ex World Cup Racer Fanny Chmelar. The closing ceremony was an even better show, and the German telemarkers finishing with the Tele-Penguin.

I really enjoyed all the above but one of the biggest reasons I enjoyed Bulgaria and Pamporovo was our team guide Elka Vasileva. Elka made sure we were where we needed to be when we needed to be there.

She helped me find some terrible off piste snow to show off the versatility of Australian Telemark and allowed the whole team to get the job of being at interski done. The whole team owes Elka a debt of gratitude.

If I ever get the opportunity to go to Bulgaria again I’m going to jump all over it.

11

apsi snowpro

Demo Team

Australian’s Interski Preparation & Performance

then we broke into our disciplines to start getting ideas together.

For those that are interested in trying out for the 2020-2023 Demo Team, and for anyone that wants an insight into our training and preparation leading into our performance at Interski Bulgaria 2019.

Richo (Alpine Team Coach) started by reviewing our emailed feedback from over summer, asking us what we thought good performance skiing was, and what elements we liked in each other’s skiing. We came up with some common words ‘dynamic’, ‘smooth’ and ‘powerful’.

apsi snowpro

Please also see the video of our Demo runs at https://youtu.be/jIMwDwN7p2M 2016 - Demo Team Tryouts The display of skiing and presenting talent shown by so many APSI members at the tryouts was very inspiring. It is encouraging to see what a strong and passionate group we have.

After the skiing and on-snow presentations finished we had impromptu indoor presentations. Pulling a question out of the hat, we had two minutes to prepare, and then present in front of the room of around 60+ on the topic. What an experience.

2017 - Initial Training in Falls Creek the team got together in Falls Creek during the winter for our first full team training.

As Manager and Head Coach, Andy Rae started the first day’s meeting with all disciplines together, and

12

Tom Langtry

The Australian Alpine Team doing us all proud in Pamporovo, Bulgaria

Then on Scott’s run we skied a variety of skiing tasks.

The weather was tough, with sleet, strong winds and low visibility. Perfect APSI training weather. Richo had a few lines of blue dye marked down the run and we did medium turns between two, and short turns between another two. The focus was on the external outcome of skiing dynamically between the lines rather than the picture. We were only able to get about two turns on video before we disappeared into the fog and rain.

2017 - Planning our On-Snow Presentations Andy got all disciplines together to discuss what we would like to present on-snow. Formulating a concept from the strengths of the APSI and points of difference

to achieve. We decided it was better to do simple routines that look good with a higher chance of getting it right, than more complex routines that are more likely to have mistakes.

2018 - Practicing our Demo Runs Once we figured out our 4 different routines it was time to practice.

Quite hilarious at first, and anyone that’s done formation skiing before will know what I’m talking about. Even though we’re all good skiers, there were many a wrong turns, miscounts and what probably looked like some group free skiing. First quote of the day was from Chris Allen “Let’s just adjust on the fly.”

After failing dismally on the first few attempts, we got together at the bottom of the slope. With skis off we stood and walked through the routine in our boots.

We did it a few times till we got it right. Then on skis again, it worked much better.

We then worked on our set-up and spacing. Starting in a straight line with two pole-lengths distance apart, then measure out sideways with ski lengths until we were in position. For our routine starting in a straight line, Michaela Patton was at the rear and would get us all straight, sighting down past me the lead skier, to our fall-line at the bottom of the slope. Once we had all this set, we began to get a feel for the rhythm, speed and amount of deflection. Chris was on a roll with the quotes, and so on one formation he was leading: “So are we stopping on ‘One’ or stopping on ‘Stop’?”

2019 - So how was our performance at Interski?

The snow conditions for our demo runs were very

1. The opening ceremony was super soft and choppy.

2. The night show was even softer and choppier.

3. Our performance day was very firm/icy with bumpy grooming lines.

So overall, we performed our runs well. We had a few mistakes but recovered well. We had some good comments from other teams about our skiing and formations.

What were the highlights of our demo runs? For me it was lining up at the start, with other nations at the top. The feeling of electricity (and nerves) in the air, and the noise from the crowd reaching up to us from the bottom of the slope.

It was also the second run, our night show, where we did the double-headed snake. It was high speed down the steep top section of the run, skiing as tight behind each other as we could, and bouncing across the very choppy short turn tracks of all the other teams that had gone down the middle. Not often feeling in control or on the outside ski but we managed to hold it together and ski well.

On-Snow Presentations At Interski We presented in pairs, with Chris & I, and Richo & Michaela running our ‘Versatility in Teaching’ clinics. Then Paul & Nick, and Ant & Shauna ran ‘Versatility in Skiing’. We had a very good turn out from other countries, with between 20 and 40 at each of our groups. This was very encouraging, as it is an indication that other countries are interested in Australian snowsports training, and that our on-snow performance and marketing material had all done their job.

By chance all four Aussie groups happened to go down the same first run, and so our class handling was put to the test! Our ‘Versatility in Teaching’ included talking about our New Fundamental Mechanics (NFM), and how we use this as the base for teaching our guests new turn types. We look at numerous different ways to teach the NFM to suit the snow conditions, terrain and abilities of our guests, promoting variety and creativity in our instructors.

For each example, we presented 2 ways one steep and the other on flat terrain. Then in pairs we asked participants to show each other how they would teach that same mechanic in their home country.

December 2019

2017 - Planning our Demo Runs As an Alpine group we looked at video of demo teams at previous Interski events. We talked about which elements of the different runs we liked, and why. We decided that simple counts (the no. of short/mediums before a change) with crossing diamond and snake formations looked the best, while also being easier

challenging. We had three performance times:

apsi snowpro

to other countries. Key ideas where that we train well-rounded instructors with a balance of good ski technique and strong teaching methodology. This then lead to the term ‘Versatile’ instructors. Leading to our two final on-snow presentation topics – how we train our instructors in ‘Versatility in Teaching’ & ‘Versatility in Skiing’: We have a strong framework for our system (New Fundamental Mechanics & 9 Essentials for teaching) and (the 4 Skills & Performance Model for skiing). Then we promote our instructors to use versatility and creativity in their lessons while using the framework as a base.

The highlight was undoubtedly getting a round of applause for a demo of a snowplough wedeln into a basic short turn. It definitely wasn’t that good.

13

Atmosphere & Rapport Paul Lorenz

apsi snowpro

December 2019

Observations From My 3rd INTERSKI Attendance

14

Each INTERSKI congress has had a unique and interesting dynamic between countries. The first INTERSKI that I attended was hosted by St. Anton, one of the more iconic Austrian resorts and very close to St. Christoph, the home of ski instruction.

This in itself was a humbling experience. The level of skiing was incredibly high and everyone was there to prove to the world that they were the best - a little scary to a “newby” like myself.

My second INTERSKI, held in Ushuaia, Argentina the dynamic was a little less intimidating than St. Anton. The venues were hard to find, the schedule was incredibly tight and the length of on-snow clinics (4hours – 1 per day) meant it wasn’t possible to attend all of the countries originally intended. Team members from all countries were very fatigued and came together to vent frustration about the difficulties. It seemed less about sharing and more about just being on time to get through the content.

In contrast, this INTERSKI 2019, felt the most conducive to the sharing of information. When standing at the top of the demo slope at the opening ceremony it was clear that teams were there to make new friends and share as much as possible. It was a flurry of different coloured uniforms all mixed together with no separation between teams...with the

exception of Austria. They stood in a circle with their backs facing outward talking amongst themselves.

This attitude was quickly noted by everyone and I think the fact that Italy and France did not attend this Interski (who can also come across rather insular) helped contribute to the sharing and breaking down of barriers between countries. This initial opening ceremony really set the tone for the week and facilitated a strong camaraderie between teams. The collaborative environment was very much felt in the following days during the on-snow workshops. There seemed to be fewer instances of presenters being challenged in comparison with previous congresses.

Technical Observation I have always felt that the major difference between countries has been the way they transition between turns and Pamporovo was no different. The more traditional countries (mostly European) are all about heavy up and forward movements during the transition/edge change. The newer or more progressive countries (USA, Canada, Australia, Korea, Japan, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand etc.) are using transitions to meet a specific objective. In some cases this would be considered a lower, more compact transition with a direct travel of the Centre of Mass across the skis when the ski performance is greater. These contrasting transition types seem to separate many countries and are often the basis of disagreements when sharing technical ideas. That said, I was very impressed to hear that

Images top to bottom: • Bulgarian demo team preparing for night show • Our friends the demo team San Marino • Paul Lorenz with one of the Korean Demo team coach.

The level of skiing at the 2nd INTERSKI while less mind blowing, my goal was to dig deeper on how other countries privatised and communicated the technical information when teaching guests. New ideas, concepts, progressions, tactics and exercises were all very inspiring to me. “WHY” the country was presenting these as a means to improve skiing developed my teaching and training incredibly.

I had no specific objective for my 3rd INTERSKI 2019 in Pamporovo Bulgaria and was open minded about what I might learn - in itself the biggest “take away” for me. The event facilitated my improvement in translating what was being delivered (however weird or wacky it seemed) into words and concepts that we use in Australia. Finding similarities helped me understand where the presenter was coming from and allowed me to be far more open to what was being presented. I actively learned more from each

country by objectively determine how these different methods could benefit our organisation, even if it seemed to contradict our beliefs. Broadening our understanding of methods are usually the catalyst for improvement if one is open enough to differences.

Another major takeaway for me was the motivation and interest from several major countries (USA and Switzerland) to work out how to capture the market of skiers that don’t want lessons. It seems that this market consists of mainly adult, higher level skiers.

USA has always adapted very well to new trends and changes. In one key note lecture, Joe Hession, Terrain Based Learning guru, shared his research into current learning trends - see page 37 All in all I feel this INTERSKI 2019 experience was the most educational for me. Perhaps as my 3rd congress gave me the ability to look at the content more objectively without being overwhelmed. Maybe due to the organisation and operational efficiency.

Ultimately I encourage any snowsports enthusiast to attend an INTERSKI congress whether on a team or not. All attendees have access to all of the events just like a regular team member! My Mum and Dad came along and had a blast (and it wasn’t their first). Levi INTERSKI in 2023 will be one not to miss and I hope to see you there!

apsi snowpro

Personal Takeaway While the congresses will always differ, I feel that we as individuals change in what we expect, how we receive information and our purpose for attending. My first INTERSKI opened a door to a level of skiing that was new to me. I was in awe of the skiing and my goal was to learn as much about detailed technical concepts from the top skiing nations.

December 2019

Austria, while still promoting an up and forward transition, did focus less on the up, and more on the forward direction towards the inside of the next turn as their performance increases. This small change in description was my first glimpse of one of the skiing ‘super powers’ being open to technical evolution, which was great to see.

15

Go to Interski Interski is an incredible week of meeting the best snowsports instructors in the world.

Bulgaria was the first conference I attended, and I took a few gems away. A few months after the conference I can see the incredible impact it has had on my career, my understanding of my profession and the amount of useful knowledge gained. The utility of the week cannot be understated.

Such utility came from a clinic attended on the first day of the conference by the BASI Alpine team.

Mark, the presenter, proposed the idea that there are more relevant things to consider while assessing and training instructors than just focussing on the “hard skills.” Mark was referring to what we in the APSI would call our “Soft focus”, that is, psychological, physical, equipment and terrain

Adam Rigby of a freestyle interwoven beginner progression.

Immediately, this concept seemed strange. The clinic introduced freestyle straight away through one-foot straight glides, both in switch and regular, switch J turns and sliding 180s. The idea was that the feeling of riding southpaw would help to create a more versatile rider even if the initial progression was more difficult. This concept was initially a hard one to swallow, teaching advanced concepts to riders that were so new to the sport. However, the concept challenged me, got me thinking: Is our beginner progression really the most effective and fool-proof way to create a strong rider? These ideas are important to have running through your mind, especially if you have been teaching for a long time.

Constant consideration and evolution are the life of the snowsports industry. New ideas are presented every day during the week, some of them don’t stick

apsi snowpro

‘We would love to see you at the next Interski event, location: Levi, Finland 2023’ factors. We discussed at length some of these areas of development and how something as simple an error in equipment maintenance or set-up can have a large hindrance on someone’s ability to perform the skills. This presentation was a big eye opener to me as a trainer and examiner because I had to consider the biggest “soft focus” areas that my knowledge may be lacking in. Do I have enough of an understanding around physical attributes and their affect on the skills? Do I truly understand the impact that fear and inhibition play on a rider? These introspective thoughts were the most important part of this clinic and since then I have been working hard to develop my knowledge in some of these blind spots. That’s where Interski really has utility, it exposes the blind spots in your knowledge, and helps you think in a different way.

The Bulgarian team showed us a different way to teach new riders. They introduced the concept

16

Snowboard Demo team members Kylie & Adam during their on snow workshop ‘Creating versatility in instructors and Riders but some of them will go on to become the bread and butter future progressions. Young ideas can only be implemented when they are heard.

As a young person at Interski there is no limit to

you love snowsports, innovation and seeing what the world is doing, I would recommend putting this event in your calendar. There is no greater place

Our supporters in Bulgaria were the backbone of our team, go to Interski! .

Free to Lurk I would rate it as one of my all-time best life experiences.

I was extremely grateful and honoured to represent APSI Telemark at Interski Pamporovo.

It all started skiing down a very firm Scott’s run at Falls Creek back in 2016 during the selection process. Thankfully, I could tip it and grip it enough at the required level and performance to be able to become a team member and participate it some very memorable runs on the demo slope at Pamporovo!

Preparation for the event over the last few years had been great with the various team training and Spring Sessions. The Japan training really helped with last minute preparation and team bonding.

After all that preparation it was finally time to attend Interski. Arriving at Pamporovo was where it all finally became very real. I was very proud and inspired seeing all these great Telemarkers from all around the world. Our first day was spent getting familiar with the terrain and practicing on the demo slope. It was probably the steepest groomed run I had ever skied, and my jetlagged legs were shaking at the top! Luckily the nerves got better after a few runs!

The opening ceremony and demo run by all the nations was fantastic to be a part of and had me

Ben Jackson

See the Lurk or Alpenstock in the Germany report on p.23 pumped for a great week. During the week I was able to attend many on snow and indoor workshops from Austria, Poland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and the USA. Even better was presenting Australia’s clinic and lecture. It was so great presenting to the world about the versatility of the Australian Telemark Movement and Performance Model. Watching and performing in the Night Shows through the week was a huge highlight as well.

Some of the best times were the apres socials and Tele get-togethers. It was great to be able to chat to other Telemark instructors, network and make some great friends. Amazingly most of them teach other disciplines like us in Australia and are concerned that more needs to be done to make telemarking more popular as a fun snowsport. On the last day during some free time all the telemarkers got together for a ski to do some technical comparison videos. I was paired up with Andreas from Austria and had a great afternoon ripping around doing our best short and medium turns.

December 2019

You too can attend Interski, anyone can attend! If

to test your knowledge and discuss new concepts with the best of the best. If you want to create better instructors and see what the world is doing, go to Interski! If you are not a representative on the next Australian Demo Team, you can attend Interski as a supporter of the team. You will attend all the onsnow workshops and indoor presentations from any country you wish to see, you will attend all the social functions, key note lectures and you will be side by side with the Australian Team throughout the entire event!

apsi snowpro

the knowledge you can take away. Having been in the industry for only 7 years Interski wasn’t just presenting Australia’s ideas and perspective, it was learning from other countries and being challenged on what I think is relevant. Each day was a constant reminder that I don’t know it all, there is an incredible amount to learn and there are endless ideas to take away.

Thanks to our members, supporters and sponsors that helped us over the last four years. Cheers to Graham Hammond, Tom Gellie, Richard Hocking, Andy Rae and Bruce Easton for mentoring and guiding me over the last decade and getting me to Interski! Looking forward to Levi in 2023!

17

Sharing Process apsi snowpro

December 2019

how we develop versatile instructors and skiers The Alpine team delivered 2 on-snow presentations and 1 indoor lecture about how we develop versatile instructors and skiers by adapting to all the variables we face in such a unique snow sports environment and industry. The content was well received by the other nations and carried out with impeccable professionalism you would expect from our D-team members. If you would like to read more on what the team delivered to the world you can find all resources on our APSI site at: www.apsi.net.au/demo_team/interski_2019/alpine I always get asked when visiting the resorts after such a monumental event, “what changes do you think we will make/implement after attending”. It’s always difficult to say, as rather than just adopting what we saw, the most profound changes come from digesting this information and coming up with the way “WE” want to do things moving forward. It therefore can be more of a subtle evolution over time on how we want to adapt our already strong systems/process’s to take on board the elements we think could complement them. What we can tell you is that discussions through the season and at national team training included a focus on some of the following: Switzerland was a team all of our alpine members looked at for a balanced outcome of great strength/

18

Richard JameSon performance with free movements that flowed really well. The skiing was a great combination of performance and natural movement.

Team USA and the breaking out of people skills as a pillar of great instructing. Ultimately defining one element that can and should be trained and is arguably the most important component a guest is looking for when skiing with an instructor.

Japans programs to foster involvement at higher level lessons and how Australia might be able to work more closely together on a national program that could foster this participation in the resorts.

How do we make snowsports addictive to capture our first time guests turning them into lifelong snow enthusiasts? Through a combination of different types of fun, easy, hard, people and social.

The presenters from both the US and British ski association teamed up on day one to showcase how they base their Adaptive systems from a solid base of Alpine and Snowboarding skills. This focus on fundamentals proved to be a common and continuing theme for a lot of Adaptive presentations over the week, with both New Zealand and Canada, as well as my own on snow workshop bringing in lots

of ideas and concepts from mainstream instruction and how they relate to the adaptive discipline.

Ski Inclusion is a British based ski travel company that provides services to be people with disabilities to travel to resorts all around Europe. They came to Interski with 4 students of mixed abilities. I spend a little time with each of their guides and students between workshop events to get to know their systems and join in on the fun. It was great to see a company similar in many ways to Disabled Wintersport Australia getting out there among the mountains in Bulgaria and having an absolute ball!

PSIA-AASI/BASI collaborative workshop in action

The Bulgarian Demo team as the host, was by far the largest team at Interski and included a young sit skier named Vlady. While he was still an beginner/ intermediate sit skier, he clearly has potential and his passion for the sport was clear. I was able to spend a little bit of time with him and his coaches working on a synchro pass that he later put into action at the closing ceremony to raucous support from the large crowd. See adaptive reports on Poland p.22, Netherlands p.31 & Canada p.32 I gave two presentations at Interski, one indoor lecture and an on snow workshop. For the on snow workshop I utilised a sit ski from Disabled Wintersport Australia to demonstrate how the Australian fundamentals of Stance, Rotatory, Edging

December 2019

There was amazing representation of Adaptive trainers at the 2019 Interski congress in Bulgaria.

Speaking with other nations Demo team members who had been to several Interski’s for adaptive, they roundly said that this year representation was by far the biggest and best ever for the adaptive sector. As it was my first time at the congress I was so excited to meet, and ski with the other delegation countries and share what adaptive snowsports has to offer in Australia.

The ‘International Adaptive Multi-Sport Demo Team’ pose for a photo after the APSI on snow workshop at Interski 2019 Bulgaria.

apsi snowpro

Melting Pot A Collaborative Adaptive Melting-Pot

Tom Hodges

19

Overall Interski in Bulgaria from the Adaptive point of view was an amazing melting pot of different nations and associations ideas on snowsports, students and instructing tactics. It was humbling to see so many amazing coaches, instructors, trainers, demonstrators, and athletes all working toward a common goal of the betterment of adaptive snowsports. While words and phases differed between countries, there were vastly more similarities than differences in philosophies and methodology for teaching adaptive students.

And with the strongest adaptive representation ever at Interski the future looks bright for Adaptive Snowsports here in Australia and all over the world.

Versatile Movement

Richard Hocking

December 2019

and Pressure control relate to the seated adaptive skier. I also spoke on our performance system and how we strive to achieve constant control through varied terrain with 3 ideal performances, Steered, Carved and Pure Carved turns. For the indoor lecture I introduced Adaptive snowsports in Australia and spoke to the philosophy of APSI adaptive snowsports being 1, Snowsports are for everybody.

2, Focus on a persons Abilities and their Goals. And 3, to Promote Independence. I introduced the group to the APSI 9 lessons essentials and dived deeper into how we can best identify a students goal and plan for a successful adaptive lesson. Finishing with an overview of the APSI app.

Australian Telemark is fairly unique in how it utilises a telemark movement, rather than a lead change.

apsi snowpro

Exploring how we adapt the telemark movement to differing conditions, terrain and turn performances was a perfect fit for the Demo Team theme of ‘Versatility’ for the on snow Presentation.

The workshop began by defining the different ways we can make the telemark movement and how those changes impact on the skiers balance, steering, edging and pressure control. We then explored why we think certain changes in the telemark movement are a good way to ski in different situations.

We started with the basic telemark turn which uses a slow movement and a taller style to take advantage of leg turning mechanics when we don’t need much stability. Then we explored carving and pure carving

20

where the movement became faster and pressure moved to the front ski for better edging and more stability.

Finally we moved off piste where I was thankful for the local knowledge of the Team’s Bulgarian minder Elka Vasileva who helped me find some classic terrible Australian snow. It was sticky, rotten boot deep snow, with the added variable of tree moss which was very sticky. We skied this with a quick movement, low style and as much weight as possible on the back ski for stability.

You can see a video of the workshop by Canadian Demo Team Member Yas Kawasaki https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcsD0bZaIoI&t=2s

Interski 2019 Pamporovo presented a series of firsts.

My first time representing the APSI as one of the Nordic delegates on the Australian Demo Team. I was super excited and honoured to be chosen to represent APSI Nordic, along with Zac Zaharias, and I found the experience to be more than I had expected. To be able to ski, mingle and have in depth discussions centred around technical and teaching theories with the Worlds’ best Trainers was an uplifting and motivating experience.

It was the first time that APSI Nordic had participated in the Closing Demonstration Show! Participating in a short Syncro during the Closing night’s Show was an absolute buzz!

Our On-snow Workshop was on Approaches of Teaching Basic Skate. Zac and I presented two approaches (1) The Push-Train and (2) Half- Skate/ Marathon Skate. We had an open discussion with the participants about what they thought of the drill and their experience doing them. We received great feedback on improvements and other drills countries use.

The Push Train drill for correct V position and edging: The Czech delegate suggested we use poles to increase the distance between the two skiers, so the pusher doesn’t stand on the “train’s” skis. The USA use a similar drill but they pull a skier along using poles. This also reinforces edging to push-off to be able to pull someone along.

facing down, representing the base of our ski, was better for this.

Cossack: the Canadian participant suggested that we add a hand-clap at the same time as the heel click to teach correct rhythm and timing. He also suggested we click in-step of the push-off leg to the heel of the gliding leg to teach forward body position. I added that here the instructor should watch carefully that the Guest still steps forward into the glide.

Smurf Lines drawn in dilute blue food colouring on snow: We had some great suggestions here for this drill. Canada suggested we draw two parallel lines about 2m wide and the skier must glide to each line.

The USA suggested the same two parallel lines but the skier must glide to the opposite line and cross it.

These are similar to a drill the APSI Nordic already employs, where you glide from one side of the groomed trail to the other. These drills develop longer glide.

December 2019

First time the APSI had two Nordic delegates participating in an Interski

Jane Scheer

These were all great suggestions and variations on Zac & Jane all geared up to attend the Nordic clinics by Swiss Snowdemo Team and Demo Team Norway on a sunny day at Pamporovo

apsi snowpro

Push Train

Speed Skater low stance,compression, power, flat ski: the Swiss suggested to use the swinging arms with flat hands facing up to reinforce a flat ski. Whilst the Hungarian contingent, suggested flat hands

21

our drills which we can utilise during future training and refresher sessions.

See the Country by Country reports on the following

pages for the summaries of the best lectures and workshops that the Nordic delegates from the USA and Europe presented, and what I took away with me to share with you.

Country

by Country S

nowsports

December 2019

extracting the best information possible Nick Rankin Interski 2019 in Pamporovo Bulgaria was an exciting and full on experience.

We were there to find out how we can provide better snowsports instruction in Australia by extracting the best information possible from the resources which all of the other nations had to present.

It was exciting in that it was a festival of snowsports instruction, with some of the best skiers from all over the world attending. It was hard not to get caught up in the excitement!

apsi snowpro

It was full on in that at the end of the day, we were there to work amongst all of that excitement, with extremely long days and an exhausting amount of information to take in.

The experience from Interski has provided me a with deeper insight into the wider industry, how we can improve as instructors, and most importantly how we can provide a better guest experience. Better guest experience leads to return guests resulting in continued growth of the industry. The passion for promoting our sport and increasing the demographic of who participate in it was impressive.

It is a great reminder that as much as we love snowsports, if we are not giving great experiences to our guests then we will not be able to do what we love doing .

22

Poland

A

daptive

Feedback in Motion

Tom Hodges The team from Poland introduced a few different techniques to help students feel feedback from their skiing while in motion. These included the use of long elastic bands in various configurations as well as custom made hand held short poles, made from old racing gates cut down to approximately 50cm with tennis balls at ether end. They had lots of games and drills to help the student gain information on their technique without verbal cues from the instructor. The indoor lecture titled, ‘Skiing in the Silent Zone’ was focused on teaching Deaf students.

The presenter had coached the Polish Deaflympics team and spoke at length about the challenges and strategies for teach hearing impaired skiers.

T

Germany

elemark

the Alpenstock - A multipurpose methodical and marketing tool.

Ben Jackson Generally, most telemarkers have a great interest in the sport’s history. Germany presented the Alpenstock or lurk as a tool for telemark skiing. The Alpenstock can be marketed to get back into the sport’s roots and to use it to improve technical skills.

They really sold this to get people more interested in telemark and a fun way to ski.

high level which is not surprising given their links to Tele world cup. They adapted well to all conditions and create amazing angles! It was fun to present their ideas at trainers’ coordination and spring sessions with great results from our members with their own skiing. Many members of the public were interested in what we were doing, so we were clearly marketing Tele!

So get out there and start Alpenstocking!!

The clinic focused on how the Alpenstock can be used for beginners, intermediate and advanced skiers.

Beginners A great tool for instructors to use to aid balance and trust in the guests. You can coach guests while you both hold the Alpenstock. Use the Alpenstock to aid in core stability, stance and a quiet upper body.

Intermediates Using the Alpenstock to balance on the inside of turn to promote inclination and balance on the outside of the turn to promote angulation.

This was a fun clinic that most were very interested in. There was great discussion and idea exchange between countries on how they use the Alpenstock.

The Germans are very strong skiers and ski at a very

Using the Lurk in the Australian Progression Richard Hocking We have begun using the Lurk (or Alpenstock) when training beginner telemark instructors and have had great success. Skiing side by side whilst the trainer and the candidate holds the lurk has sped up learning how to make the movement while running and the Lurk is a fantastic balance aid up to advanced level. The third point of contact with the snow helps beginner and intermediate telemarkers maintain rear ski pressure and seems to accelerate learning.

apsi snowpro

Advanced Using the Alpenstock for timing coordination and in pairs or groups for fun.

We’re so impressed, the Lurk is going to be introduced into the Level 2 course in Niseko this March.

23

ski ALWAYS.” In Off-set skate there is a big V angle and therefore a big shoulder rotation. Eyes watch in the direction of gliding ski.

Weight Shift in CT Martina emphasised to step over the front of the foot as the foot swings forward and the weight of the foot is on the first third of the foot, during the gliding phase. Then the kick is with the whole foot with the ankle flexed or “working”.

Czech Republic

N

ordic

Jane Scheer

Movement Rhythm Martina suggests rhythm may be the most important part of all movements. She stressed the movement should be smooth and natural. When the movement is missing the rhythm, there will be a mistake in the movement.

Indoor Lecture by Martina Chrastkova, PhD. This was

Technique Training Martina talked about technique

December 2019

How to Practise the Cross-Country Skiing Technique and to Train the Cross-Country Skiing Performance.

a technical presentation of the mechanics underlying Classic (CT) and Skate technique (ST). Comparisons were made between the two styles. Martina showed how similar the body angles during the kick phase were and illustrated the angles of the lower legs are the same as and parallel to the angles of the upper body. She stressed the important closed or “sharp” angle at the ankle, as well as the knee. If there’s a sharp angle at the knee only the centre of gravity (COG) will be too far back. If sharp angle is in knee and ankle, then the knee is over toe and bottom over heel.

Kick is an extension of all 3 joints of the leg, like a spring.

Skating “It seems easier than CT- the feeling of skiing comes despite a bad technique before weight shifting versus CT.”

Czech Kick Illustration

apsi snowpro

Shoulder Rotation “The axis of the arm is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the gliding

24

Arms Swing Flex elbow gently with elbows “locked” in the angle and the arms’ movement comes out from the shoulders. The wrists lead the angle of the poles for the pole plant.

Ankle is working

training without skis. It is easier for the Guest to balance because there is no glide and easy for the Instructor to correct the position. She showed an example of Hill-bounding for ST (Dry-land training).

General Skiing Training Balance exercises such as skiing on 1 ski, direction changing, slaloms, downhill skiing on XC skis. Dry-land training exercises suggested were: vertical changing of COG position using: squats, jumps, telemark position (1-leg squats).

Something that I already do with my Masters and Interschools groups, and could relate to, was the emphasis on how important freeride and “adventure skiing” (eg. Spring Off-piste skiing) is. Also jumps over a bump and games, such as “Ice-Man” or as I know it, Stuck in the Mud, soccer, handball and hockey etc.

Off-season Training methods include XC skiing, roller-skiing, running, biking (road and MTB), swimming, games, strength training. Training should be from general to specific; from slow to fast, that is, from endurance to speed and high intensity. And Martina also emphasised “Regeneration” or rest.

She quoted: “Everybody can train a lot, but only the Masters are able to rest.”

From this presentation, I now have some clear visuals in my head of the angles to be achieved in the kick in both CT and ST, the ankle and knee angles and the shoulder rotation in Off-set skate.

The Dry-land training content has also got me thinking about adding a chapter on this in our Technical Manual.

Czech Republic showing off their custom made ski prosthetics

A

daptive

Tom Hodges The team from the Czech Republic included 3 athletes with lower leg amputations that skied on specialist prosthetics. Their two presentations started indoors, with a detailed explanation of how they have developed a teaching system and methodology that utilises 3 key players; the student, a professional prosthetics technician and the instructor. The following day we set out on snow to see these theories in action and watch the demonstration athletes ski.

N

ordic

Teaching Classic Technique

Jane Scheer The On-snow Workshop by Martina Chrastkova, PhD ran through the exercises/drills to teach Classic technique (CT). Martina started with static drills of diagonal stride without skis or poles and then progressed to with skis and poles. She manually corrected our static technique. Then we progressed to Double Pole and Diagonal Stride. All of these drills were performed on a slight downhill because beginner Classic skiers are not able to get grip.

The afternoon workshop consisted of several games to play such as “Ice-Man” and “Tree, Rock & Log”.

I could see a place for demonstrating static drills in our Instructors’ courses and I will use more static drills when teaching CT (as I already use them when teaching ST) as well. Static drills could also be added to our manual.

T

Slovenia elemark

Surviving on the Edge

Richard Hocking Surviving on the Edge Slovenia is one of the big four Telemark racing nations along with Switzerland, France and Norway.

This racing heritage was put front and centre in their workshop on the Slovenian Technique.

The Slovenians emphasised weight on the front ski, a quick lead change, some counter, an active crossover and angulation. We used some racer style drills with the newest one to me being twirling our poles out in front of ourselves while skiing.

The Slovenians also included an extra step between learning a static telemark stance and a running telemark stance of taking such a high traverse that the student needs to push across the slope.

apsi snowpro

While they were all at different stages of learning the sport, and each with a different level of limb use, they all were extremely impressive skiers and their specialised prosthetics were put though their paces.

December 2019

Prosthetic Technician, Student & Instructor

The Slovenians didn’t cover any tactics for skiing bumps or off piste.Since has a lot of groomers and not much off piste skiing their technique seems just right for them.

25

Instruction Method” which you can find on page 58 of the Snowboard Teaching Manual.

S

Switzerland

nowboard

Stop thinking – Start Learning how to individualise teaching Kylie Dwyer Switzerland’s on-snow workshop and indoor lecture focused on their approach to teaching as ensuring lessons are personalised and individualised to the

apsi snowpro

December 2019

student;

26

In the vlog, you will see how the Swiss Team begin their on-snow session using an “Open Learning Pathway”, similar to that of the “Whole Instruction Method” in the APSI models; before moving into a “Structured Learning Pathway”, similar to that of the “Part Instruction Method” in the APSI models. The Open Learning Pathway will be very beneficial for those students who are visual learners as it shows them the “target form” immediately. This method also works well for those students who may need to be challenged, for example, you will be able to give them a “target form” to attempt and learn while other students are still learning previous skills. The

Structured Learning Pathway may work well for “Personalised instruction oriented toward individual those students who like to think or feel what they are needs has a great value for learning and piece it together guests and lets them make on the Swiss workshop.

See my vlog more rapid learning progress, This vlog is a narration of the Swiss into steps. In most cases, as well as take home lasting Demo Team’s on-snow workshop as instructors, we will use a experiences.” (from the Swiss and will model how the theories and combination of these methods to Snowsports handout, Interski methods explored in this article can suit each student.

2019). be applied by an instructor to any Snowsports lesson.

Model 2: Principal of variation Here I will focus on two of the By varying the practice of a skill model’s presented and compare https://youtu.be/KPHB6JSgG50 or movement, our students will them to our APSI system. My have the perception that they vlog post shows how the Swiss are always practicing something Team put these theories and new. Variations ensure students methods into practice during remain interested and challenged their on-snow workshop. in what they are learning as Model 1: Learning pathways the goal of the instructor is to and methods personalise the variation to suit There are different learning each student. In the vlog, you will pathways an instructor can use see an example of each of these when teaching a student skills or movements “target variations applied. Knowing which type of variation form”. Some students will need to learn via the students respond to best allows the instructor to “Partial Method”, whereby the instructor will build a create individualised learning. In the APSI system, we progression step by step beginning from the basics can parallel these Variations to using a combination of that skill. Some students will learn best via an of our “Learning Styles”, “Teaching Styles” and “open learning pathway”, whereby the skill may be Teaching Tactics” of which all can be found from demonstrated first, then learnt and mastered through page 53 of the Snowboard Teaching Manual. problem solving and experimentation. By knowing Both workshops showed models for achieving this our students and which method they will respond to personalised approach to teaching. and how to put a best, the instructor is able to create individualised variation on a task. So that the perception of what our learning. We can parallel these learning pathways students are learning is different but in fact they are to the APSI’s “Whole Instruction Method” and “Part still working on the same skill.

Thank you for reading and see you on the snow!

Jane Scheer The indoor lecture by Michael Brugger & Marcel Homberger outlined the Swiss Ski Schools’ project, “Experience-Oriented Hospitality”. This project was launched in the Spring of 2017. The aim is to improve the Guests’ snow-sports experience by creating “Magic Moments” for the Guests, so they will return to the ski-school for another lesson.

A “Magic Moment” is an experience that is unexpected and creates a “Wow” effect. These experiences involve several of the Guests’ senses.

They can happen anywhere along the chain of experiences, not just in the lesson. It can occur during the initial gaining of awareness of ski lesson products, to: in the booking office/at the time of booking, at the meeting place, during the lesson, during any supporting programmes/special events or afterwards during the follow-up/customer care/ complaint management. An example in the Nordic realm might be: after teaching ski-technique fundamentals, taking the Guest for a ski-tour and enjoying a sit with a view and a snack. I already incorporate such activities into my longer lessons but it reinforces how important an experience could be to create lasting memories for the Guest, which may encourage the Guest to return for another lesson.

I found this an interesting perspective on what we teach our Instructors, within the APSI’s Professional Skills manual. I like the term “Magic Moments”, as I think it is easy to remember. This terminology could be used in our training too.

Teaching in Connection with Experience-Oriented Hospitality The on-snow Workshop by Jurg Marugg introduced the above-mentioned concept of ExperienceOriented Hospitality utilising the teaching of Double pole technique. It asked the question of the Instructor: In which areas can I improve my teaching to give Guests a lasting experience? The 4 areas identified where improvements can be made and which are important to produce a good lesson, were: 1. External environment- sunny, windy, snow conditions etc. Eg. If it’s snowing, make sure Guests stay warm by keeping them moving (obvious? Yes, but sometimes we forget when planning a lesson).

2. Setting “S.M.A.R.T” targets- that are achievable for the Guests.

4. Group Management- social interaction, working alone/in pairs/in a group as a whole.

Useful concepts that will lead to a more successful lesson with the Guest returning for another lesson.

I will also think more about varying the same drill, so that Guests don’t repeat the same drill twice.

With variations, the same fundamental movements can be practised without the risk of boredom.

T

elemark

A Typology

Ben Jackson “People have a deep-rooted motivation that make them practice a sport, so the experience that underlies and encompasses the activity itself is important. What is your motivation? What type of telemarker are you?”

The Swiss created a survey for the telemarkers that attended Interski. They are using the results to define the types of telemarkers, how to structure teaching experiences to the different types of telemarker, and what are the main techniques and styles different telemarkers aspire to. The main reasoning behind this is to give guests an experience rather than a series of drills or exercises.

The clinic identified 4 general types of telemarker 1. The old traditionalist that likes skiing with the lurk/Alpenstock 2. The young hipster types.

3. The freeride/park skier 4. The Racer/competition type.

By tailoring the lesson to the different telemark types, students get a much more guest centred and individual experience that is much more likely to get guests coming and returning to lessons. The clinic was very enjoyable and helped me get a few more ideas on making lessons for fun for the types I don’t have much experience in. They really got us moving and skiing a lot.

The Swiss are very strong playful skiers that ski with a lot of inclination and performance which really impressed me.

December 2019

Experience-Oriented Hospitality in Swiss Ski Schools

3. Planned tasks- appropriate drills/exercises; never do the same drill twice, always vary it slightly.

apsi snowpro

N

ordic

27

A

lpine

On Snow – Ski teaching concept

Ant Hill I have been fortunate to attend a number of Austrian technical workshops at Interski and their presentation in Bulgaria was a real highlight again.

The Austrian Ski Progression has four levels:

Green > Blue > Red > Black

T

Austria

Within the Red level, there are two key performances:

elemark

1. Basic Steered Parallel (APSI steering)

Cross Functional Engagement

2. Dynamic Steered Parallel (APSI carving)

Richard Hocking

Their workshop focused on the second, including an insight into their short and long radius turns. By way of comparison I have bracketed APSI terms that are similar to some of the Austrian concepts.

The Austrians were great skiers with a strong on piste focus to their skiing. Telemark Austria were committed to representing Austrian Telemarking, firstly but convincing ÖSSV to let them attend and also by paying their own way individually.

apsi snowpro

December 2019

I’m not sure what Cross Functional Engagement means, but the workshop was on developing new telemarkers from skiers in race programs and had developed an interesting progression:

28

• Make short radius parallel turns on telemark equipment.

• Practice quickly raising both heels by pulling the feet back under the body.

• Make short radius parallel turns with the same heel raising motion for a moment in the transition.

• Progress until the student can keep both heels up for half the turn • Only raise the inside heel to start making telemark turns with a quick movement.

• Pressure inside to with some hip counter.

• Start the turn on the front ski and finish on the back to help teach for aft movement when paralleling See CANSI Demo Team Member, Yas Kawasaki’s video of the Austrian on snow workshop https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=CKDRy7hKhk I still haven’t had a chance to try this progression out on an accomplished alpine skier who hasn’t tried telemarking before.

If you want to be a guinea pig get in touch!

Dynamic Steered Parallel – Short Radius • Rhythmical transferring of the edges results in dynamic steered parallel skiing with a short radius • Active weighting, turning and edging • Faster tempo, increased steering pressure, dynamic movement and precision in steering. (carving) Short Radius Exercises: 1. Dynamic steered parallel with long radius shortening the radius - skiing in track, then alone (funnel) 2. One-and-a-half turn (? turn) 3. Linked short radius, find the rhythm with a pole plant 4. Vary radius, speed and terrain 5. Use formation skiing to assist rhythm: ski in pairs (ski next to each other, one behind the other in partner's track, shadowing), ski as a group holding the same rhythm

Austria OnSnow Telemark Workshop. Photo - Gregory Dixon

Within the Austrian terminology there are some terms that can get lost in translation however there are some parallels between our systems. For example the focus on Dynamic Steering at the Red Level is similar to focusing on carving within the APSI. It was evident from the provided material and the content presented at Interski, that Austria recognise and are placing emphasis on the majority of their guests striving for the Red Level tasks. This shift from focusing on the Black Level and pursuit of performance to one focused on an elegant modern style of skiing was a realistic take on the riding of guests within our resorts today.

Put simply the hero short turn run on blue to black terrain seems to be something the majority strive for as this terrain is often the first skied and most frequented.

Austria along with the Swiss was in my top two countries at this Interski.

elemark

The Four Cs Richard Hocking The Kiwi’s presented a learning framework rather than on skiing technique. They call their framework the “Four Cs’: Concentration, Confidence, Control and Commitment.

1st C, help your guest concentrate when they first learn a new skill. Anything new is difficult so the Kiwi’s use another framework called ‘Stationary, Situational, Simple’. The APSI generally uses this framework in our progressions,where we introduce a new skill without gliding, then choose the appropriate terrain and offer the guest only the information they need to complete the new task, but I like the clarity and simplicity of this framework.. The skiing task was kept simple and we were only asked to focus on the skier in front. Then we were asked to mix it up a bit and the lead skier was switched to change the speed and turn shape of the group.

December 2019

Long Radius Exercises: 1. Review steered parallel skiing - basic level - long radius, increase tempo 2. Approach in a parallel position - higher centred position - fan progression to the fall-line improve edge grip. (fan progression) 3. One-and-a-half turn (? Turn) 4. Linked dynamic steered parallel skiing, complete steering to control speed 5. Vary terrain, radius and speed

T

New Zealand

2nd C, a guest needs confidence, which can be built by increasing the guests skills and knowledge in tandem with their arousal level. The skiing task was made more difficult by playing chinese whispers while following each others tracks.

3rd C, guests also need to learn control, to become more precise and determined in their movements.

The skiing task was made more difficult again by playing chinese whispers while skiing as close together as possible and in each others tracks.

4th C, the Kiwi framework ends with commitment.

As instructors we need to find ways to motivate our guests to keep trying despite small gains or even small steps back in their skiing. This idea was not as well fleshed out, but I agree with its importance.

apsi snowpro

Dynamic Steered Parallel – Long Radius • Basis for sporty, confident skiing • Steering over the edges and side cut through the entire turn via steering pressure and angulation, result in skiers experiencing a dynamic movement.

• The dynamic movement results from the steering pressure built up through edging angulation Alpine Basic Position, as well as an appropriate forward, upward and inward movement in the new turn (skiing into a BP).

• This modern, elegant method of changing direction whilst skiing is the goal for many guests”

These ideas were tied together on snow in a really interesting way. We skied in each others tracks in groups of four attempting more difficult tasks as we progressed through the four Cs. Austrian Alpiner - Photo from PSIA-AASI

29

that we use when building a certain type of turn. The ski performance they aspire to in this turn is pure carving or two lines with speed control.

• Ankle joint and hip position • Rolling in the initiation • Maximum bending of ski in apex • Release

A

Japan

lpine

Short turn evolution

December 2019

Chris Allen Japan was a must-see country at Interski, with large numbers showing up to their on-snow presentations.

My interest in Japan comes from running APSI courses and exams in Japan, as well as a connection with many members working in Japanese ski resorts. My biggest motivation was wanting to ski with Takao Maruyama, a phenomenal skier who is somewhat of a rockstar in Japan due to his success in the Japanese technical championships.

Right from the beginning of this presentation Takao made mention of the Technical Championships in Japan run by Ski Association Japan (SAJ is the national body that runs the technical championships). He said their high-end technique has evolved over the years by competitors pushing the limits of high-end skiing at these events.

Short turn evolution developed at the technical championship makes its way to the national demo team which falls under the SAJ and their Ski Instructor Association (SIA).

There are four points Takao highlighted to get the ‘high technique’ of pure carving the short turn. You could draw a similarity to our belief in new mechanics

apsi snowpro

Japan’s High Technique

30

Takao showed how the ankle and the hip worked together to get the early rolling of the ski and pointed out that the skis should not swing or pivot, but instead the hip combined with the flexed ankle position is used to roll the ski onto the edge. It is important to point out that the pelvis is inside the turn above the fall line and the pelvis stays square to the skis and is not a rotary force.

I found this hip movement interesting, as it looked like the pelvis was rotating. Having the ankle and the pelvis move together is how they achieve the pure carved ski above the fall line. This connection is very important to achieve maximum edge angle.

Takao said it was crucial for the hip to stop following the skis in the apex “will allow you to capture the energy from the ski”. Bending the ski through the apex, loads the ski with energy and this is achieved because of high edge angle and pressure.

The last point is the release. Takao highlighted that collapsing with the feet and legs too early through the release is not desirable as the energy will be lost.

Instead they resist the energy pushing against them, so the ski stays in contact with the snow. Sending the skis across the slope helps control speed as well Takao Demonstrating

Takao Maruyama with Paul Lorenz as giving a solid platform to move off, enabling them to roll the new outside ski early. Compared to other countries like Switzerland and Austria who use a lot of muscle to power the ski to where they want it to go, the Japanese use the energy from the ski to get the same result.

Japan Teaching Workshop Richard Jameson One of the more different and thought provoking on-snow clinics I attended at this Interski was the teaching workshop by the Japanese Team. The premise was that they are having to teach many first time guests at the resorts who do not speak Japanese. In particular the Tawanese and mainland Chinese market who are taking snow holidays to Japan and wanting to learn how to ski. With this in mind, they are developing a method for teaching a beginner student without having to speak the same language. It involved a series of carpets and visual aids including blue dye to help facilitate the skills a first time student requires to get moving in a safe environment.

To check out some video from this clinic and the ideas on progression steps and teaching aids used head to the following link on the APSI website: https://www.apsi.net.au/demo-team/interski-2019/ alpine

Sit-Snowboard

Tom Hodges The Dutch demo team presented their sitsnowboard, a highlight for many at Interski. The new equipment mounted to a regular snowboard supported the uses legs and waist, while providing handles which controlled torsional flex of the snowboard. This enabled the user to be seated, and ride sideways as a sit-snowboarder.

The equipment is aimed at paraplegic students with some core, good coordination and mobile upper bodies. It is totally unlike any other adaptive equipment available on the market and opens a new discipline to the adaptive world. The presenter allowed everybody to give the sit-snowboard a try, with help from everyone in the group. There were many counties in attendance with a huge host of Snowboard Demo team members, including Australia and New Zealand.

Some managed a few independent linked turns, others didn’t. While the Dutch presenter made it look all too easy with smooth symmetrical linked turns in the slushy Bulgaria snow.

Gina reports having over 70 students try the sitsnowboard, most gaining independence after only a few lessons.

Gina from the Dutch Demo Team giving the New-Zealand demo member a lesson in sitsnowboarding

Japan’s teaching clinic using carpets to cross language barriers

A

daptive

December 2019

Not that long ago it appeared to be a system that was going for a look without the emphasis on ski performance, but now is a complete package that would be a great influence on anyone looking to take their short turns to the next level.

Netherlands

apsi snowpro

Overall, the Japanese presented a very methodical approach to high performance short turns, it is clear that the Japanese are evolving their technique.

31

1. Decision making method (while teaching) In this method it is important to create a learning contract with two-way communication. We should get to know our students. Who are they? Why are they here? Do they have any injuries you might need to take into consideration? You are then able to plan a lesson based around this information. It’s all about engaging with your student so they feel comfortable to learn.

A

daptive

December 2019

Student Identification Tactics

Tom Hodges The Canadian team hosted a great workshop on student identification tactics, getting everybody engaged in role play and assessment. They outlined their Ask-Observe-Test methodology and explained how it has been beneficial to their instructors in real world teaching. While in the indoor lecture, as well as a general overview of their adaptive system.

The Canadians presented ideas for understanding anxiety in student, especially those with cognitive impairments. They have worked with a group called Canucks Autism Network to build a 6 step plan for working through a students anxiety.

This was; Observe, Stop, Assist self regulation, Evaluate, Validate, Plan.

A

lpine

Student Centred Teaching Method

Shauna Rigby

apsi snowpro

I was lucky enough to participate in one of Canada's on-snow workshops led by Tracey Fraser. This workshop focused on student-centred method of teaching. Boken down into the following 4 elements.

32

2. Choosing the situation. When you, as the instructor, choose the situation you are using the environment to the best of your ability to aid your student’s learning. For example, if your student finds it difficult to ski in low light conditions perhaps get them to ski right behind you or next to the tree line on the run. Maybe they want to get better at skiing bumps, would you take them into the iciest moguls on the mountain to practice? The environment we choose for our guests is critical in aiding their learning.

3. Skiing objective (a part of reflective learning) This refers to what our guests want to achieve in the lesson. Reflective learning is a great way to think about what the skiing objective might be for a specific task. For example, Tracey gave us a task of making rhythmical short turns. She asked us to reflect on what our skiing objective might be while making these short turns. Do we want to go faster, slower or maybe just maintain our speed?

Do we struggle to grip the snow? What about our pressure control through the slushy conditions, will it be even or will it be hit and miss? These questions gave our group its skiing objectives. Once the task was completed Tracey made sure she define the outcome. Once you know the desired outcome, you can start to give a motor pattern to your student. This is a part of the turn we look at and a movement in that part of the turn we want to develop to help our students’ skiing objective.

Tracey Demonstrating the Canadian Student-Centred Methods

Canada

i) Retention of women in the sport. Tracey has helped form a ‘Women In Skiing’ committee with the aim of engaging more women to stay in the sport, whether they’re ski instructors or skiers in the public.

To help retain women in the industry, the committee firstly needed to ask each other a few questions: • Do women think differently to men and do we, as instructors, need to cater for that?

• Are women built differently to men and does this need to be taken into consideration?

The answers are yes and no. It’s impossible to classify all women into one group because we’re simply not the same. With this in mind the committee came up with a two-part module: Psychological and Biomechanical considerations in skiing. Rather than putting women in a separate skiing category to men, they decided to group everyone together. We all think differently to each other and everyone is built in their own unique way. ii) Psychological and Biomechanical considerations in skiing. In ski lessons, the psychological mindset can refer to the ‘get goers’ and the ‘planners’. Some people like to try things first and discuss the aim of the task afterwards, while others like to hear more information about the task before giving it a go. This can also change depending on how comfortable the group is or how many runs they’ve skied together during the day. Tracey introduced this concept by giving us the option to try a task or stay with her to

Biomechanically, we are all built differently. This means the way we move will differ. It’s important to stop trying to make all our guests look alike but rather look at what happens with their ski on the snow and make sure that every skier has the best alignment for the most efficient skiing possible.

Women have a natural Q-angle which means we can balance differently to men. Women are also 6-10 times more likely to have an ACL injury then men.

We must place our guests in the strongest stance possible to help with their movements into the right technique. iii) The difference between engaging with kids versus seniors. What exactly is it about teaching a child that is so different to teaching an adult? What do you have to do or how do you have to think differently to engage with a child? Firstly we need to 'talk less and ski more'. Kids are here to have fun, therefore we need to be fun! Tuning into your inner child, changing your tone of voice and body language to suit the age you're interacting with.

Even though we are teaching and having fun, we still need to implement a decision-making process and create a safe environment in which our students can learn. To determine a skiing objective for kids, the motor pattern development needs to be appropriate for the specific age group.

Alternately, what considerations are needed for teaching older groups? Do they have any injuries, eyesight or hearing issues? The risk of injury is higher and a senior's motor pattern development must take ability, strength and coordination into consideration, as well as teaching correct technique, to ensure the students get the most out of their lesson.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tracey's on-snow workshop for Canada. It was really interesting to think in depth about what we do as instructors to provide the ultimate lesson based around our guests' age, ability, build and mindset.

December 2019

Tracey also touched on three extra points

learn more. The task was to make turns and pick up one ski. A few of us jumped in straight away with a variety of interpretations. Some were doing white pass turns, others were simply skiing on one ski the whole way down. As a whole, most of the group stayed to get a better understanding of the task.

It was an interesting way to split our group and it definitely was not divided by gender!

apsi snowpro

4. Technique (correct movements made while skiing) Part of this reflective learning philosophy is to give our students the appropriate drills/exercises/ tasks to really reinforce the motor pattern. This allows your student to know when they’re doing it correctly or when they’re not. However, it’s important to give your student cues, to help them understand what feeling is right or wrong. For example, if you’re trying to get your student to try an edge roll, let them know when they’re doing it correctly they will maintain their speed. If their skis don’t have enough edge their speed will decrease.

Remember, it's up to us to set our students up for success in order for them to ski well, ski all day long and end the day with a smile!

33

N

ordic

Learning Connection Framework & Agility Drills Jane Scheer

USA

T

elemark

Skiing Fundamentals

Ben Jackson The Americans Telemark Skiing Fundamentals. are broken up into skills similar to ours, with emphasis placed on blending the skills to create a high level of performance and using the lead change to connect all the skills.

Lead Change: Control the size, intensity and timing of the lead change.

December 2019

Rotational Control: Control the turning of the skis with rotation of the feet and legs in conjunction with discipline in the upper body.

Edge Control: Control edge angles through a combination of inclination and angulation.

Pressure Control: Control the fore/after relationship of the centre of mass to the base of support to manage pressure along the length of the skis. Controlling the lateral relationship of the COM to the BOS to manage pressure from ski to ski. Regulate the amount of pressure created through ski/snow interaction.

The Americans showed great versatility in their skiing and both indoor and on snow presentations were done well. They were strong all mountain skiers and showed great skiing in the variable conditions throughout the week.

apsi snowpro

Their teaching is very student centred with diverse technique for different situations and performances.

34

US Team member Grant Bishop - Photo from PSIA-AASI

The Indoor Lecture by David Lawrence & Greg Rhodes explained the PSIA-AASI’s framework for great teaching called “The Learning Connection”, depicted in the diagram below. This was first introduced in Ushuaia and they have been using this framework in the four years since. As shown in the diagram below, it depicts the student in the centre of a triangle composed of 3 corner triangles (in red).

Illustrating that the student, their needs and goals are the central focus for determining the lesson plan. The 3 red corner triangles denote Technical Skills, People Skills and Teaching Skills. Meaning a blend of these 3 types of skills are utilised by the instructor during the lesson. The outer light blue circle represents the instructors’ decisions and behaviour which influence and impact upon the lesson and it’s outcomes.

From this lecture and the discussions with all the Nordic delegates during the week, snow-sports instruction and indeed all teaching, is not about being a “good instructor” but being an instructor who can provide effective and enjoyable lessons, by blending teaching, technical and people skills. An instructor needs to be proficient in all of these three areas.

With this in mind, I will be asking myself and my future trainees to think about which of these three areas they are good at and which one might they need to improve.

Cross Country Skiing Fundamentals & Motor Learning The On-Snow Workshop by Emily Lovett, David Lawrence & Greg Rhodes presented a series of agility drills and applied this to their Learning Connection Framework in order to demonstrate how to teach some fundamental cross country skills. They introduced two concepts: 1. Closed environment the area where the drills are located, marked by cones. This provides a safe and secure environment for people to learn new skills.

2. Open environment beyond each end of their closed environment, they marked a section of about three times the distance of the closed environment, where the Guest could ski freely experimenting and applying the new skill learnt.

In between the different drills we had the opportunity to ski beyond the closed environment out to the far cones of the open environment to test how our weight transfer transferred to the skating technique.

I thought this was a fun way to introduce basic skills to the beginner skier and also to warm-up intermediate skiers. It provided variation of drills, encouraged the Guests to use other senses (having eyes closed) to reinforce the skill of weight transfer. It also facilitated group interaction.

The closed and open environments were a great concept. I could see this being useful when you have a group of slightly varying abilities where you can keep the nervous Guests in the closed environment while being able to encourage the Guests with better abilities to ski in the open environment and to experiment with their newly acquired skills. It also addresses the needs of the experiential learner.

A

lpine

technical, teaching and people.

Ant Hill Based on the Learning Connections framework (see diagram below) the US on-snow workshop focused on two overlaying concepts of: 1. Applying a Teaching/Learning Cycle to create an experiential learning environment 2. How instructors’ decisions and behaviours help to facilitate learning.

The workshop placed participants in groups of 4 with a short term goal of working on each other’s skiing and a longer term goal of skiing in a formation.

We first skied as group following each other whilst viewed from the clinicians (Assess Students).

Given we were at Interski the goal was to ski in a formation (Determine Goals and Plan Experiences).

The clinicians then set different tasks over different terrain, changing the skier at the front within each group (Create Experiences for Learning). The clinics help by asking questions of each participant and thereby facilitating conversations with the goal that we would each learn from each other. They also asked more target questions with the long term goal of skiing in a formation, for example, the first run we discussed if we saw a different turn shape between each other? What movements may we need to change so we are able to ski in a formation? Then on the chairlift we discussed what we each saw in each other’s skiing and continued the discussion (and thereby learning) from the feedback of the clinicians (Guide Practice).

December 2019

The agility drills utilised were common basic skills of side-stepping which teaches weight transfer and a method of moving on the skis. At a cone in the middle of the closed environment, we had to utilise edge-push off to change direction of the side-step.

We then progressed to faster side stepping and then also to side-stepping with our eyes closed. This was to increase the difficulty, increase the enjoyment and prevent boredom. The eyes closed drill allowed us to use other senses of balance and feel to improve our weight transfer over the centre of mass over the skis.

We then progressed to doing a slalom around cones and then slalom races to increase the enjoyment and group social interaction.

“The Learning Connection” Diagram is PSIA-AASI’s teaching and learning framework. It applies across the disciplines as referred to in each of these articles

Teaching Skills summarised from the mock teaching scenario: • Create an environment that promotes exploration, experimentation, and play while pursuing desired outcomes.

• Collaborate on short-term objectives and longterm goals.

• Facilitate the learner’s ability to recognize, reflect upon, and assess experiences and sensations.

• Manage terrain selection, pacing, information, and activities.

• Reinforce effort and learning, and adapt the learning environment to accommodate the changing needs of the learner.

apsi snowpro

The Teaching/Learning cycle is similar to the APSIs 9 lesson essentials, particularly the cyclical nature of:

35

Manage emotional and physical risk within the learning environment.

student, in any turn shape, at any speed and on any terrain with any intention.

There are a number of similarities again with the bolded words and the APSIs teaching philosophies.

Another participant questioned why stance was

I would like to thank Dusty and Eric for a great clinic. The key takeaway for me was the focus on facilitating the learning using a number of skills rather than forcing the learning in an environment that was overly controlled.

A

lpine

Insight into PSIA: Technical Skills

Michaela Patton In the afternoon of the final day of Interski 2019 in Bulgaria, I was fortunate enough to attend the Professional Skiers’ Association of America’s (PSIA) presentation on Technical Skills. The workshop was run by Brenna Kelleher and Heidi Ettlinger, and we were also joined by their team captain and coach, Michael Rogan.

December 2019

The PSIA has three areas of instructor development based on the diagram above: People Skills: The way we teach people, not skiing. People skills encompass anything related to emotional intelligence, relationship building and ultimately how an instructor connects with a student or students.

Teaching Skills: How an instructor nurtures a learning environment to connect the student to a learning segment.

Technical Skills: The fundamentals and constants that govern the way we ski and teach skiing.

People and Teaching Skills are the same across all of the disciplines, including skiing, snowboarding, telemark nordic and adaptive instructing, whereas each discipline has their own set of Technical Skills.

apsi snowpro

Alpine Technical Skills are made up of two components: 1. Three constants or skills: • Rotational control • Edge control • Pressure control The PSIA trains these as a customisable technique that can suit any given student or situation.

When I asked if these skills relate to a movement analysis system, the presenters responded that they were never designed to qualify or judge movements, but they were originally a set of constants that could be performed on any equipment, in any style, by any

36

absent from these skills. The response was that the PSIA does not believe that balance isn’t a skill, because it is not related to how they manipulate their skis, but rather is considered a source or an outcome. For example, “if I am balanced, I can do this well”, or, “if I can do this well, I have a good chance at being in balance”.

2. Five Fundamentals: • Control the relationship of the centre of mass to the base of support to direct pressure along the length of the skis • Control pressure from ski to ski and direct pressure towards the outside ski • Control edge angles through a combination of inclination and angulation • Control the skis’ rotation with leg rotation, separate from the upper body • Regulate the magnitude of pressure created through ski/snow interaction.

These fundamentals are principles, movements or concepts that the PSIA believes to be true for all great skiing, no matter if you are referring to carving, big mountain, freestyle, technical skiing, children, etc.

In the on-snow presentation, Brenna and Heidi revealed these fundamentals by running us through a series of exercises and drills, asking us what we believed the tasks were trying to achieve. For example, a group of us did Whitepass Turns, and some shared that it helped us to incline and then angulate at the end of the turn. Some said it helped them with pressure control, while others said it assisted with the crossover.

Brenna and Heidi then started to reveal these fundamentals, and how a single task can be used to assist a skier with a number of these underlying principles. Ultimately, in the PSIA’s system, no matter what technique they are teaching in the lesson, it always has to come back to one of these fundamentals, and the exercises are the teaching tool that allows us to achieve them.

Using the example of synchronised skiing, which is a very big part of a team’s Interski journey, the presenters said that they don’t talk about a certain technique or performance when they synchro. Why? “Because we don’t have a technique. We have fundamentals and we have skills. So we couldn’t say

‘let’s do our race turn’, so we decided what sort of outcome we wanted, and how we would apply the different fundamentals to come up with an outcome in order to create a technique for ourselves for that specific time.”

If I were to summarise the Technical Skills of the APSI, I would say that we are focused primarily on implementing four skills, and blending them to create five performances. In order to teach these skills and performances, we ground our lessons in the New Fundamental Mechanics that are necessary to perform a new turn type or performance.

After the PSIA’s presentation, I began to wonder what our fundamentals would look like if we had overarching statements that governed Australian ski technique. If I had to state what we as the APSI believes are the core technical values that can be seen across all of our turn types in our desired performances, I would include: • Balance on or against the outside ski • Using active or passive leg turning to guide the ski on an arc • Edging the ski progressively throughout the turn • An active and proportional movement to cross over the ski at the end of the turn.

The difficulty here is that we are involved in performing and teaching such a technical sport, so in some ways simplifying it into just a few short

sentences can downplay all of the components that make up good skiing.

However, I really do like the idea of every one of our members being able to answer the question, “What do we, the APSI, believe is good skiing?”.

M

ulti-Disciplinary

Joe Hession Keynote Lecture

Growing Snow-sports in a Changing Market The keynote speaker on the first day of the congress was the American Joe Hession, CEO of Snow Operating, a company which looks at how to better the guest snow sports experience within snow resorts. His keynote lecture presented some ideas to address the declining numbers of new Guests in Snow-sports schools world-wide in a changing snow-sports market.

Nick Rankin - Alpine perspective This presentation emphasised that the Snowsports industry isn’t retaining those guests who don’t have a lesson because they want to experiment and just give things a go, but after they do this they hit a road block in their progress and don’t return.

December 2019

So why have fundamentals and not a technique?

1. To create a “home base” for all PSIA techniques This accounts for the wide variety of mountains in the USA, the size of the mountains, how much grooming/off-piste/bumps at each resort, snow coverage, snow quality, what the guests are like, what they want to learn, equipment, etc.

2. Balance the dichotomy of flexibility and clarity Clarity for a consistent message among instructors, the perception of expertise and a definitive answer to the question, “what is good skiing?”.

Flexibility for a willingness to adapt for the future, to students and to environmental factors.

3. To position the PSIA for changes in the future of snowsports

US Alpine Team members - Photo from PSIA-AASI

Hession explained the different types of fun: Easy Fun – no skills needed and anyone can do it Hard Fun – becomes a life style and is addictive People Fun – includes social interaction Serious Fun – fun which is life changing Skiers and snowboarders need to experience all of these types of fun. There needs to be a balance of easy and hard fun so that there is challenge, but the challenge is not impossible.

Hession implements free terrain based learning with instructors working on the terrain who give free tips to help balance out easy and hard fun, resulting in retaining the people who just ‘want to give it a go’.

apsi snowpro

Instead of looking at the synchro result as “you were doing a carve turn and I was doing a pure carve turn, so we were out of sync”, the team looks at the way in they applied the fundamentals and then adjusts these so that their turn shape, speed and performance matches one another.

As an instructor or trainer, we can’t just create a park for terrain based learning can we? So how can we use what Hession presented?

37

This winter, I have tried to use different teaching styles, whether it be in teaching or training, more than ever. Rather than getting into a routine of teaching only with command and task styles, I have been working with problem solving, guided discovery and reciprocal learning far more. Allowing the type of guest who doesn’t really want a lesson, to be able to move freely and experiment. They don’t want to stand there and be spoken to for the duration of the lesson or just be told what to do.

When I ski around all of the resorts in Australia, it is common to see people in lessons who are not moving. We can all fall into this trap some times.

We need to get our guests or candidates moving as much as possible no matter what level they are at.

Then easy fun can be incorporated at any level very simply. This is sometimes what is lacking in lessons.

If the easy fun is missing, the initial enjoyment and interests is not present in our sessions. Imagine a group of first timers standing stationary for twenty minutes. They miss out on the easy fun decreasing their desire to learn.

Skiing is hard fun. It is a challenge which we are all addicted to. We however are equipped for the challenges and setbacks. Our guests sometimes are not equipped and need the easy fun to get going.

Their needs to be a cycle of easy and hard fun, to get the participants moving, and then throw in a challenge, and then back to something simple.

apsi snowpro

I have found using different teaching styles to be my implementable version of Hession’s terrain based learning parks. It gives the guest or candidate a chance to experiment, which can be easy fun, and then just like in Hession’s parks, the instructor or trainer is there to help out when the task becomes challenging (hard fun).

38

The type of guest that Hession was talking about really fits the profile of Australian guests – people who want to get moving and just give it a go. I have found this to be very successful at all levels, not just higher levels where many can associate problem solving, guided discovery and reciprocal learning.

We all are trained to understand how the different teaching styles work and what the benefits of each are, but putting them into practice will benefit our guests and help to retain our guests through a better learning experience.

I believe it also gives us as instructors and trainers a more rewarding and developmental experience ourselves.

Paul Lorenz - Alpine perspective Joe talked about us being in a “Google How-To” era where people are less likely to seek formal tuition and resort to google searching YouTube videos. They have been experimenting with free video “how-to’s” scattered around the resort. They are displayed on screens in rental shops, booking offices, and also through QR codes found on the mountain linked to the resort APP. The US Demo team have prepared how-to video guides that are free to resort guests.

The thought behind this was that despite these guests not booking ski school, they are spending big on accommodation, restaurants, ski hire etc. and why not make these guests’ experience as positive as possible?

What was also discovered was that while these free video “how-to’s” were available, lesson sales increased due to this type of guest engaging with the lesson experience through the videos and realising how much their was to learn and improve.

Nordic Perspective - Jane Scheer As Nick outlined above, Joe introduced the concept of “easy fun” and “hard fun”, where easy fun is an activity that requires no skill such as, tubing. While Hard Fun is all the snow-sports such as, skiing, snow-boarding, Nordic skiing etc. which all require many skills. He explained that what the Snow-sports instructor should do is turn the snow-sports’ lesson into Easy fun first, so that the Guests can progress to Hard fun. He illustrated that movement equals fun, by having the audience stand up and watch a video while he played very loud music. Then he asked the audience, which one of your neighbours had the most fun while watching? And of course, we all pointed to the one who was dancing to the music.

Movement=fun!

He also talked about improving the overall experience for the Guests. He suggested perhaps the experience of riding the lifts could be improved.

To explain this further he gave the example of Disney Land where there are long queues. The queues wind through areas where the customers are entertained while waiting in the queue.

He also introduced his “Ice-cream Theory” where different flavours represent the different types of lessons people choose. Vanilla flavour represents the group lesson; strawberry is the individual lesson; and chocolate is the “do not want a lesson”. His message here was that we need to let Guests be

I liked the concept of ensuring that instructors provide Guests with “easy fun” and slowly progress to “hard fun” to ensure the Guests have a great and memorable experience and return for more lessons.

The simple idea that movement=fun is also a good concept for instructors to keep in the back of their minds to minimise the amount of talking they do during a lesson.

And I think the concept of the Terrain Based Learning and the self-guided lessons are an interesting idea and one we may see in our resorts in the future.

It has reinforced my own wishes to have a semipermanent Cross Country Skier-X type course at the Perisher XC trails or similar Terrain Based Learning Stations.

Looking Forward to Levi 2023 Richard Jameson As the information and work done from the 20162019 team settles we look forward to the evolution and changes ahead that will ultimately sink into our association over the coming years. If you have ever considered going to Interski as an APSI member I would highly recommend you to think about attending the next congress in Levi Finland in 2023. It will for sure be one of the highlights of your snow sports career as it has been for many of our supporters over the years. A big thank you to all those who were a part of our Bulgarian journey this year, it was great to have you all there as part of the Aussie Team.

Get Involved and Help Shape the Future For those wishing to help shape the future of the APSI and the way we do things by being a member of the APSI National Demonstration Team, the 20202023 teams will be selected next Australian winter.

All information regarding the selection criteria, teams function and member attributes will be advertised to all members in the new year, 2020.

apsi snowpro

able to choose any of these flavours or experiences.

For those that do not want a lesson he suggested Terrain Based and Self-guided Learning. He talked about the Terrain Based learning stations that he has designed and built in his Company’s own resort which have Self-guided learning tools. These are a series of differing terrains such as, rolling bumps which can teach people how to speed up and slow down. There are large signs which explain what the objective of each of the areas are, and the signs have QR codes which people can scan with their mobile phones to access a video or further explanations of the mechanics that are being taught at each of the areas.

Good luck and feel free to drop us a line if you would like to know more.

39

Training Tips

Processing feedback to create meaningful results Scott Birrell Feedback is the information received about the performance of a skill. Feedback can be external, from an outside source, or internal, from an individual’s sensory system. This sounds simple.

Yet it is a constant challenge to use feedback to fuel insight and growth for ourselves and our students.

This article explores simple strategies to help you receive and process feedback, leading to better outcomes for your own training and lessons for your students.

Getting started A great starting point for any training session or lesson is to share current goals and any feedback you have received related to these goals. Having a two-way discussion allows the trainer and trainee (or instructor and student) to understand a suitable starting point, formulate a plan, and work together effectively. Discuss what is working and what needs clarification.

December 2019

Once a skill or task is performed, you will receive feedback either externally, internally, or both. Here are a few options for processing that feedback: Apply If you understand the feedback received, start by applying it. Often we want to understand the big picture, but by applying the feedback first we can gather additional useful feedback through our senses, or by achieving success or failure.

apsi snowpro

Ignore We swim in an ocean of feedback.

Sometimes it is too much and we are better off focusing on the one thing that is helping us, rather than adding further distractions. As the saying goes, by chasing two rabbits you catch none.

Ignoring feedback just prior attempting an exam is one example- it may be best to stick with what you know, then revisit the new feedback when you have more time to process it.

40

Ignoring or excluding feedback in your lessons is equally important. What you don’t say is often more important than what you do say. Picking the one piece of feedback which will deliver the greatest result enables your student to understand and apply, without getting lost in too many pieces of information.

Photo by James Crompton

Seek clarification If you don’t understand something, ask for clarification. Often you know what your trainer said, but you really want to know what they meant.

The same applies in lessons with your students.

Explain your interpretation of what was said, ask for a different analogy or cue- anything to help achieve two-way understanding.

receiving and processing feedback well is not always easy. The good news is that it can be developed with practice. Start by being deliberate- set clear goals and communicate clearly. Work to develop your internal feedback mechanisms, and make a conscious decision whether to apply, ignore, or clarify the external feedback you are receiving.

Bringing feedback together to create meaningful results. The goal of feedback is to improve understanding, performance, or ideally both. We want feedback to be positive, simple and accurate

A well-timed, relevant piece of feedback can provide the light-bulb moments that make instructing and training such a rewarding experience for everyone involved.

to have the greatest effect. However, delivering,

Level 4 Alpine Exam - Photo by James Crompton

Being able to feel what our skis are doing under our feet and the input we are having on the ski is incredibly important in performing and progressing.

We see the effects of not being able to feel what we are doing in most of the lessons we teach. This can range from guests not being able to recognise how much they are flexing particular joints, or struggling to feel which ski they are balanced on throughout a turn. For guest and instructor, the result of not being able to recognise feelings results in a reliance on others for verbal feedback, post-skiing visual analysis and an inability to self-regulate movements whilst skiing. However, even if you are not a tactile learner, you can still improve your ability to recognise and translate feelings.

To help yourself more accurately understand movements you first need to slow down and begin to recognise feelings. It is incredibly difficult to pinpoint how various movements feel when we are thinking about too many things. For example, have a go at figuring out where you are balanced on your foot in a basic parallel turn, then a basic christie and even a snowplough stop. Slow down as much as you need in order to be able to focus on a feeling.

Once you begin to recognise feelings it is important that you find out if you are accurately translating them. For example, it is not uncommon for a guest to say they feel they are balancing on their whole foot, only for them to later recognise that they are actually much further back than first thought. You can ask your trainer to help confirm or translate feelings or get someone to film you and do this yourself.

After you begin to both recognise and accurately translate these feelings it is time to experiment with various interpretations of movements. For example, for some people the feeling of an active cross over can feel as if they are moving down the hill and away from their feet while for others it can feel as if they are moving across the hill and over their feet. Whilst both of these are an accurate translation of a movement, they are both a very different interpretation of a feeling.

Overall, teaching yourself to become a better tactile skier will fistly, greatly improve your all-round skiing.

Secondly, it will give you the ability to help your students to more accurately understand what they are doing and thirdly it will give you the ability to better explain movements to different people.

apsi snowpro

Jack Percy

December 2019

Becoming a Tactile Learner and the Importance of Feeling

41

Paul Lorenz at the September 2018 Demo Team Training - Photo by James Crompton

Self-Awareness in Skill Acquisition

apsi snowpro

December 2019

James Crompton

42

Australian winters are short and structuring our training time is crucial to results. We’re trained to recognise our guest’s stages of learning, but how often do we apply it to ourselves?

Ask yourself, “In which phase of skill acquisition am I right now?” and let the answer guide your training…

“I don’t understand” - Cognitive Phase You need to know what it is that you’re trying to do, why and how to do it. Some of these may help you: • Verbal explanations • Written explanations • Drawings/diagrams • Demonstrations • Sensations or feelings It’s quite likely that you’ll need some external input - whether that’s from a trainer, book, video or colleague. Once you have that, experiment, try different ranges, rates and timings of the movements you’re trying to learn. Be open to making mistakes.

“I know what I need to do, I just struggle to do it” Associative Phase Once we understand, we need time to practice. Repetition of the correct movement patterns will lead to consistency, whilst variety helps avoid boredom.

Feedback helps us know when we’re doing things correctly and may come from: • Trainers • Video analysis • Tracks in the snow • Sounds that our equipment makes • Feelings in muscles or against our equipment As we move through this phase of learning we should try to move from extrinsic sources of feedback to intrinsic ones, to take more responsibility and ownership of our performance, to move towards self-coaching.

“I can do it all the time, with consistency” Autonomous Phase If you can do it automatically and without thinking about it, you’ve now acquired the skill. Awesome! But development doesn’t end there. Now it’s time to increase the challenge, develop creativity and flair: • Go faster, steeper • Change the line, rhythm, speed or terrain You have the extra capacity to think about other things, so adjust the task to challenge your ability to adapt. Blend the skills differently to change the outcome.

Be aware of where you are in these phases and what you need - it will help you decide where and how to spend your training time.

References / Further Reading: APSI Inc 2017, Alpine Teaching Manual - Chapters 2.4.1-2.4.7, Contact & Clarendon Printing, Sydney, AU. Fitts, P.M., & Posner, M.I. 1967. Human Performance, Brooks/Cole, Oxford, UK.

Trust yourself and the process Interpreting your Feedback This is important to your ongoing development. Stay positive and don’t be afraid to keep asking for clarification and examples.

Understanding needs to come before applying; don’t forget this important step. Change in your movement doesn’t always come quickly, so be patient and ensure you take time understanding and practicing your feedback to reach your desired performance.

Focus on yourself, not others Focusing on yourself ties in closely with having confidence in your existing skills. Others have their focus, and you have yours. If your feedback is different from others that doesn’t mean it’s a negative thing. Take your peers’ comments about your skiing lightly, and don’t let any jokes within your training group effect your performance, development or confidence.

However, also be careful not to turn into a tip junkie.

Don’t fall into the trap of wanting tips from your trainer all the time. This can hinder your ability to fully take control of your learning. A huge part of interpreting feedback is being able to spend time assessing your own ski performance.

Most importantly, in the lead up to exams, ensure you know what your focus is for particular tasks and components. There are many tasks within each component, and everyone goes about performing these differently. Keep your composure and don’t let yourself get distracted by what others are doing.

Have faith in your training; ski and teach honestly, in the long term it’s better for development.

It’s easy to allow yourself to become self-conscious of your skiing, especially in an environment where your peers, trainers and management can frequently assess your skiing. Try to remember we all started somewhere and the best way forward is to keep challenging yourself and to trust you can develop your existing set of skills.

Whether it’s Stance, Rotary, Edging or Pressure control, everyone focuses on something to try to blend the skills for their desired performance. Turn those judging stares as you are skiing next to a chairlift into motivation to show everyone what you are working on. Later on, you might even be able to ask how you went.

Don’t talk yourself out of the process The APSI has one of the most affordable and quality driven ski association in the world. If you’re passionate about improving your skiing participating in any course or exams is a fantastic opportunity to challenge yourself and receive feedback from the best in the industry.

If you’re hesitating to participate in the next step of training due to finance, self-confidence, motivation or any other reason, don’t forget that regardless of your results every attempt and effort is seen as professional development in the eyes of our industry and many others.

When weighing up your choice, whether to challenge yourself to participate in courses and exams or not, ask yourself what you really have to benefit from delaying your growth.

apsi snowpro

Have Self-Confidence in your existing skills and ability to ski

December 2019

Sam Smith Roberson

Rookie Trainer Bobby Kelly - Photo by James Crompton

43

for the injured skier or snowboarder Michaela Patton On August 22, I was injured while training on a Trainer Development Day at Falls Creek. I ruptured my ACL and dislocated my kneecap, and have spent the past eight weeks rehabilitating for my surgery.

It’s been a long wait between my injury and the upcoming surgery, but staying active has definitely helped me during this time, and I am looking forward to getting on the road to recovery.

For anyone who has ever been injured, there are a number of factors that affect the way people recover from injury – physical, mental, emotional, social and financial, just to name a few. While I could spend a long time covering all facets of recovery from injury, this article just focuses on training, and tips to continue staying active while injured.

apsi snowpro

December 2019

I want to point out that every injury scenario is different, so what has worked for me in my situation may not be suitable for you. Be sure to check with your doctor, surgeon or physio before starting any form of physical activity while injured.

44

Do as the medics say There’s a reason why people take ski lessons from you – because you are more knowledgeable and experienced than your average skier, and most of you would expect clients to follow your advice. Now put the shoe on the other foot, and when a medical professional gives you advice, appreciate that they will know more than you about their area of expertise! Following the guidelines of your medical team will mean you know exactly what to do and what not to do, so that you are training safely and avoiding further injury.

Consult a personal trainer I’ve been creating my own fitness regime for a while now, having a fair bit of experience in the gym and a Cert III in Fitness under my belt. So while I was able to create a training routine to perform at home, going to the gym was also incredibly helpful. But if you don’t have a good understanding of what kind of training routine you need, a few PT sessions will definitely help. For me, working with a trainer meant that he could assist me with retrieving and returning the heavier weights that I wasn’t able to lift on my feet, and he also had a few extra ideas to keep my workouts creative and safe. Having an appointment with the trainer once or twice a week also gave me a sense of purpose and

Working on straightening the injured leg with resistance

motivation to be somewhere at a certain time, which is a big help if you’re off work and missing your routine.

Don’t neglect your physio Sometimes when you’re given the all-clear to start doing other training, you tend to neglect the fundamental exercises that the physio has prescribed to prepare for or recover from surgery. I found I was far more motivated to be at the gym doing bench presses and seated rows, because my upper body was uninjured and I was able to train like I normally would. Practising bending and straightening my leg like I was instructed to do by the physio, however, was frustrating and painful.

Something I’ve learned is that it’s much easier to skip working on something that reminds you just how injured you are. Give yourself a hall pass every now and again, but remember that regaining functional movement is far more important than training the uninjured parts of your body.

Set yourself goals and guidelines I aimed to workout 5 times per week, which was attainable and a good way of making it part of my routine. Having single days off meant that I didn’t get in the habit of being sedentary, but I didn’t beat myself up for missing a day here or there. I used an app called “Strong” which let me create and save routines, record my workouts and keep track of my sets and reps. I made sure that each session was 45-60 minutes long, so downloading hour-long podcasts was really helpful to pass the time when fast beats weren’t exactly fitting the speed of my workout! And of course I needed to follow the guidelines set out to me my the physio. For

Enlightenment Crossing Over to the Dark Side ^ Jarrah Obrien For the duration of my snowsports life, I’ve always been a skier - from a long line of skiers. I tried snowboarding a couple of times but it didn’t seem logical for me to learn when I could go everywhere on the mountain more easily on skis.

Respect your body The fatigue that I have experienced over the past eight weeks has been overwhelming. For someone who very rarely takes naps, I found myself exhausted and needing to rest most afternoons. I’ve definitely learned to listen to my body, and made sure I took appropriate rest days and didn’t overload my body. I never thought that walking 400m to the shops and back for the first time with a walking stick and not crutches would lead to my knee’s most painful night. You’ve got to accept that there’s a new normal, and that overdoing it can be just as detrimental as doing nothing at all.

So while I haven’t turned off the step counter on my watch altogether, I now rejoice at a 3,000 step day! As I become more mobile in the lead-up to my surgery, I’m practising walking with no brace, starting to do more strength sessions with the physio, and am icing my knee every day.

I want to wish all the best to our members for the northern hemisphere winter or the Australian summer - enjoy the change of scenery and a bit of a break.

Do your best to stay injury-free, but if things do go wrong, stay active within your limits and on track to a safe and speedy recovery!

When I received my certificate on day four, I started to process what I had learned. Not only did I feel I would actually enjoy teaching someone to snowboard for the first time, but I realised I had learned a skill that could also help me improve my skiing!

In order to maintain balance on the heel edge of a snowboard, one must lift the balls of the feet, contracting the muscles in the ankle (dorsi-flexion).

Sustaining this flexion for more than a few seconds caused my shins and ankles to ache, suggesting I don’t use those muscles very much! This got me thinking – How am I flexing my ankles when I’m skiing?

Getting back on my skis the next day, starting to play around with the movements, I discovered I had mostly been relying on good body alignment over my foot in order to maintain front boot cuff pressure to bend the boot. By adding active flexion of my ankle, as I had done on the board, I was able to more easily maintain an effective stance and better balance on my skis! This ankle flex seems obvious, but I hadn’t quite figured it out, until I learned some of the basic movements of snowboarding!

So next time you catch yourself thinking your preferred way of sliding is the best and only way, consider taking the challenge and you might be surprised at the benefits of crossing over.

December 2019

example, I wasn’t allowed to use any weights while standing, but it was okay to do them seated so long as someone else helped out carrying them. I used resistance bands for any at-home workouts, and had a few thicknesses of these to try and increase the difficulty of each of the exercises. If you’re anything like me, giving yourself goals and parameters will make you more likely to keep up your fitness while keeping workouts safe and efficient.

apsi snowpro

Upper body and back exercise - Bent over high pull

The last couple of years, I seem to have reached a point where I’m more interested in branching out into other methods of sliding around on snow, partly to understand how to teach skiing more effectively. I started with adaptive last season, then in June this year I decided to challenge myself with a Snowboard Level 1 course. My initial motivation largely hinged on gaining a pay rise from my northern hemisphere employer for being dual cert. But from day two of the course, that thought moved to the back of my head, as I started to thoroughly enjoy learning to snowboard better. Having strapped a board to my feet less than a dozen times before, I found the tasks a real challenge, and my body was sore.

45

On patience.

Tom Hodges Its something I hear all the time from onlookers to many of my adaptive lessons. An assumption made about teaching students use specialist equipment to overcome some physical or intellectual hurdle. But I also hear it from parents and friends of mainstream students in general. I can hear it coming from the first syllable. I actively have to restrain myself from an exaggerated eye roll. Yep, here it comes..…

Them: “You must have soooo much patience!”

Me: “haha, yes thanks, I love my job”

December 2019

Internal monologue: “ARGGGHHH, WHY DO PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY THIS!” Truth is, yes ok, I probably have some patience. And yes, working in the adaptive snowsports industry does build both empathy and resilience. But honestly, patience is not part of my personal 9 lesson essentials, its not a tool I rely on and you shouldn’t either.

apsi snowpro

The funny thing is my student almost never comment on my levels of patience. They see that we are a team, both working to achieve common a goal.

They understand that I am as invested as they are in their development and if some marks are deducted, because it means I’m failing them as must as they are failing me. After which, we can move on together knowing to avoid mistakes of the past.

To me, the patience problem is easily broken with one key ideal. Relationships. The relationship between you and your guest is key. If we can build an honest, open and truthful relationship with your guests then we can build goals together, we can plan out a progression, understand what challenges to reach for, we understand what level of risk we hare

‘Patience is not part of my personal 9 lesson essentials, its not a tool I rely on and you shouldn’t either’ To me, the most valuable thing about having patience is knowing that when I start to use that as a tool, its a cue to me that my lesson is running off the rails. It means something is going wrong, I

46

track quickly. Because honestly my patience reserves aren’t that large, and of course no-bodies patience is endless.

happy to be exposed to. We can be understanding when small things go wrong and we can plan to avoid further sticky situations. Though strong relationships we build understanding and empathy

‘its a cue... it means something is going wrong, I have set my student up to fail and now instead of frustration, I reach into my bag of tricks and dig out some patience’ have set my student up to fail and now instead of frustration, I reach into my bag of tricks and dig out some patience. It might also mean that I’m dealing with boredom, which again is a terrible sign that my lesson is failing. Hopefully it was a small speed bump, not a total de-rail and my lesson is back on

and a shared new set of values. With this in our back pocket together boredom and frustrations should melt away and... ...our reserves of patience can be used elsewhere: Like when trying to buy a quick lunch in a busy resort centre on a weekend in school holidays….. ARGH!!! Now THAT required a great deal of patience!!!

MINDSET is everything Emma Christansen

Fixed Mindset?

Belief that intelligence and talent are fixed traits.

“I already know how to make a short turn.

Practice won’t make it any better.”

Characteristics: Avoids challenges, gives up easily, sees effort as temporary, gets frustrated and ignores feedback and correction, feels threatened by others’ success.

A Growth mindset is extremely important for effective training. This mindset will encourage a hardworking, open minded Snowsports instructor who is coachable and will be able to reach their full potential.

We are all human and at times a fixed mindset will happen and if it does, here are a few points to think about, that really relate to us in our Snowsports training.

Embrace your imperfections. If you hide from your weaknesses, you will never be able to overcome them.

Try different learning styles and tactics. Everyone is different, what works for your training buddies may not necessarily work for you. There’s no learning style that fits everyone. Get to know yourself and what styles suit you.

Replace the word failing with the word learning.

When falling short of a component or you haven’t quite achieved your goal. You have been through such a process of learning to where you are now.

Don’t forget this.

Be realistic about time and effort. Learning doesn’t

Growth Mindset?

Belief that intelligence and talent are changeable traits.

“Anyone can be good at short turns. Skill comes from practice.”

Characteristics: Embraces challenges, pushes through setbacks, believes effort is most important, takes on feedback and correction, is inspired and learns by others’ success.

happen with the click of your fingers. It takes time.

So, don’t expect to master every concept, exercise or movement in one session.

Value the process over the end result. Try to enjoy the process of training and learning even if at times it takes longer than anticipated.

Photo by James Crompton

December 2019

A mindset refers to whether you believe qualities such as intelligence and talent are fixed or changeable traits. Mindsets are broken down into 2 main categories: Growth and Fixed.

These will help if you feel like you are stuck in a fixed mindset:

Although everyone is different, and each person will take an individual path during their instructing career.

A growth mindset will encourage the best learning environment throughout and steer you in the right direction, whatever you choose that to be.

apsi snowpro

Something extremely important to facilitate productive training that is often overlooked or even forgotten is a candidate’s mindset. Being in the right head space and having the right mentality is extremely important for someone to progress, make changes and eventually achieve their goals.

47

Technical Reports December 2019

ALPINE Richard Jameson

2019 will certainly go down in the books as a successful year not without its challenges faced along the way.

apsi snowpro

APSI Alpine had one of its largest participation rates on record and the highest exam attendance we have seen across all of our certification levels this decade.

It’s fantastic to see that our APSI members and colleagues are finding such value in the certification courses and exams to drive this volume. Attributed I’m sure in part to having access to ski and train with our extremely talented staff who are working for the APSI out in the mountains. Some of our alpine trainers not only spent a chunk of their time running alpine products this season but also taking part in some multi-skilling by participated in other discipline courses themselves. Likewise for us, we all found such great value in being a participant during the level 1 and 2 courses with our colleagues from the various disciplines APSI has under our one banner.

48

Photo by James Crompton

There have been some changes on a management front, which I have outlined on page 3

December 2019

See if you can spot some of our Alpine trainers in these pics for Snowboard, Nordic and Adaptive level 1’s.

A Mt. Buller Level 1 course candidate delivers a great snowplough demonstration during a practice teaching session at one of our many level 1 courses that happens across the country each year.

The participation at all levels this year was inspirational to see. Falls Creek turned on some great weather for the Level 3 VIC state exam this season.

I hope you have enjoyed this Interski special issue there have been many great experiences included from the alpine team in this edition and I have added my thoughts on pages 9, 18, 31 and 39 It’s been a privilege to help guide our APSI alpine products again this season and watching the talent pool grow within our organisation both in the

Alpine trainer Scott Birrell takes a level 3 pre-course through a teaching segment on jumping and basic tricks. certification courses and through our staff trainer ranks is definitely a highlight for me. With the skills and knowledge continually being passed on and built on, the APSI and Australian ski teaching in general looks strong for many years to come.

Good luck to those of you heading overseas this northern winter to continue the journey and I hope to see all of you back safely in the Aussie mountains next year.

apsi snowpro

Level 4 candidate Chris Wright lays them over during the level 4 GS Speed Test.

49

SNOWBAORD Kylie Dwyer

more about Interski2019 on the APSI website at https://www.apsi.net.au/interski19.

apsi snowpro

December 2019

I would like to share my great pride to be able to represent the APSI and the membership as the new Snowboard Technical Director. I have been in the Snowsports Industry for 22 years, a certified instructor for 18 years and an APSI examiner for 14 years. This season my focus was ensuring courses and exams continued to run smoothly. I was able to find out where strengths and opportunities lie for snowboard. I am looking forward to working with the talented Snowboarding trainers, and other teams in the APSI.

50

In training team news, we welcomed three new Snowboard Trainers to the APSI this year, Scott Cairney, Sarah Beynsberger and Matt Dannenberg.

Congratulations and thank you for your hard work and enthusiasm this season.

Snowfall came late this season but the resorts did a fantastic job snowmaking, which was needed for some of the early Level One courses. Snow conditions in September were great which allowed us to conduct some late season Level One courses and exams successfully.

Adam Federico, Oscar Alston, Adam Rigby and I, represented Australia at and during the lead up to Interski 2019 which was held in Pamporovo, Bulgaria.

We had the opportunity to showcase Australian Snowboarding to the world and during the weeklong event we attended of on-snow workshops, indoor presentations, networked, and shared ideas.

Our presentations were well received and we’re working to integrate what we learnt into the Australian System.Remember, you too can attend the next Interski in Levi, Finland, as an official supporter! This means you can attend all workshops, presentations, shows, networking and social events. You can read

We had excellent participation in courses and exams this year. We had a 51% increase in participation at Level One, 100% increase in participation at Level Two and a 67% increase in participation at Level Four. The Resit Exams at Hotham with pass rates being well above national averages for all levels.

The first staff Level One exam at Mt Baw Baw was held this year with 8 successful candidates. Thank you Mt. Baw Baw for hosting this event. Perisher hosted the largest in APSI snowboarding to date with 43 participants, thank you to Perisher for accommodating us.

Thredbo was the best performing resort in the Level 2 exam with 83% of their candidates passing. If you would like to attend a Level Two course and for any reason cannot make the dates your resort has set, please reach out to us and we can see how we may assist you in attending a course. I would like to congratulate James LaSalle from Mt. Buller, Chris Bush from Hotham and Damien James from Thredbo for attaining their Level 4 qualification!

The Snowboard Team have several projects in the works. The ideas that are developing are exciting and I look forward to working with this team in creating and updating our educational material that will serve all our members. We have advanced on the content in the APSI App, so watch for updates regarding that as well.

To all our members who participated in a course or exam this year, thank you! As always in any career, there may be speed bumps on your journey as you move through your career as a Snowsports Instructor, whether this be in your teaching goals, personal riding goals, certification goals or perhaps what you wish to provide to your customers or how you strive to succeed in regards to your job. Remember, we are a close community in the Snowsports Industry and even closer in the

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

Images:

December 2019

5.

• 1,2 & 7: 2019 Spring Sessions • 3: Freestyle fun at the Level 3 course in Mt. Buller.

• 4: Trainer Jon Steel with his (and Kylie Dwyer) groups, August Level 1, Hotham • 5: Jasmina, Heidi, Stephanie and Geoff from Mt. Buller at the Level 3 exam - Photo by Rusty Lin

Snowboard world. There is much support, talent and experience among all our members, whether actively working in the industry or not, and that support is always there for you, through your trainers and other APSI staff, to tap into whenever needed.

Director would not have run so smoothly. I would also like to thank Andy Rae, Alexia Colville, Jason Clauscen and Tim Stuart for all you have done for the APSI in previous years and for your constant openness in giving support.

I would like to formally thank Richard Jameson, Adam Federico, Richard Hocking, Tiffany Ingle, Suzanna Brown, all the Snowsports School Directors, APSI Resort Representatives and resort Training

I hope you have enjoyed this Interski edition. The snowboard team have been working on collating the information gained from this event and will be distributing it via the APSI website in addition to our articles on pages 16 & 26

apsi snowpro

• 6. Trainer Damien James with his group, September Level 1, Perisher

Managers. Without you all my season as Technical

51

TELEMARK Richard Hocking

festival is a personal focus for next season.

December 2019

2019 was another great season with plenty of snow and for a change some sunny weather. Telemark had another great season plenty of courses running and a record number of both Level 2 candidates in both courses and attempting exams. My goal of a trainer in each resort continues to progress and the Telemark Demo Team has continued to engage the broader skiing community.

Course attendance grew by 5% with 45 candidates attempting courses. There were three level 1 courses, three level 2 courses and the new Nordic Backcountry course outlined below. The big growth in 2018 was the number of candidates taking exams with 15 candidates attaining their Level 2 certification, up 100% on last year. Congratulations to you all.

APSI Telemark was also at the BC Festival at Mt Hotham. I would like to thank Mt Hotham for allowing me to run a day of workshops raising money for the Interski Team. I had planned on taking out three sessions of 8 people, but extra people kept turning up and in the end there were 32 participants instead of my planned 24. There is a genuine appetite for telemark training and events in the community and organising something in NSW to compliment the BC

apsi snowpro

Impromptu waxing

52

A trial Nordic Backcountry Ski Instructor Course designed to train military trainers for their Cold Weather Unit was a success. The course is aimed at efficient Backcountry Travel in heavy touring or light telemark equipment and involves a day of Nordic techniques, a day of alpine techniques and a day of telemark techniques with a final assessment day.

The course was designed as a feeder course and 4 candidates went onto attaining their Telemark Level 2 as well last season. Zac describes the opportunities to grow this course in his Nordic Report See our report on page 23 about the Lurk or as the Germans call it Alpenstock and details on how we are now using it in our Telemark Progression

Level 2 course in Neseko Congratulations Keith and Rohan

ADAPTIVE Tom Hodges

The feedback on in house training from candidates was overwhelmingly positive. The passion and commitment of the Adaptive training team is only matched by their skill in the field. We have excellent trainers across the country and I am proud to work with such talented and experienced colleagues.

With this team the APSI was able to hold more NTC training days across more resorts allowing already certified instructors to renew or refresh their training to continue there education in the industry. It was

great to see people open and excited to continue their learning.

As always, the nothing is 100% perfect, and there are areas for improvement. It was disappointing to see some resorts not able to find adequate training hours to complete training and qualify for the exams.

Likewise the reach of our training staff fell short to find gaps in the calendar to reach every resort.

The seasons get busier and busier and often times instructors have to prioritise work over training, or a day-off over work, travel for Interschools or diversifying to a second discipline. The challenges for training career instructors are many to be sure, and getting in those hours of adaptive training cant always be top of the list, but I assure you that if you can build a strong training group, and dedicate the time to your education, the benefits will be many.

December 2019

APSI Adaptive had another fantastic year in 2019.

First and foremost, congratulations to the 19 new Adaptive instructors who achieved the Adaptive certification this season! Everyone who sat exams, regardless of outcome should be extremely proud of their achievements. The exam process can highlight areas where people feel strong, but also shines a light on areas where they might a little extra training. This is part of a process of learning that for some may take seasons. Certainly everyone came away from the exam days both proud of what they achieved on the day, but also picking up tips and tricks to throw in to their teaching toolbox.

To this end, the APSI is always trying to offer training opportunities to its members to better their teaching skill and broaden their industry knowledge and experience. To this the Adaptive team is looking at new approaches for the 2020 season and changes are in the works.

apsi snowpro

So keep an eye out for more info, have an amazing summer wherever it takes you and get excited for another amazing season in 2020!

Thredbo adaptive NTC day

Falls Creek, Perisher & Hotham 2019 Adaptive exams

53

NORDIC Zac Zaharias

of skiing skill and who can progress to teaching skating technique which is first offered on the Level 2 course. The curriculum was refined after the initial trial conducted at Mt Buller in 2018 and will now be incorporated into the Nordic Redbook.

December 2019

2019 was a very successful year for Nordic, with a 74 % increase in course participants from 2018.

Of particular note was the running of a Level 1 Course at Lake Mountain from 30-31 May with 8 participants. This is the first time APSI has run a course specifically for Lake Mountain Ski School and with snow making facilities now installed at Lake Mountain this will enable training and professional development to occur prior to the season start each year.

A combined Level 1 and 2 course was conducted at Mt Hotham from 23-26 September with many Hotham Alpine and Snowboard Instructors taking the opportunity to become qualified in another discipline. With the Lake Mountain Course in May and the Hotham course late September, Nordic was able to boast the first and last APSI courses for the Australian winter.

Unfortunately, courses scheduled for Falls Creek were not conducted due to low numbers. However, the disappointing numbers at Falls Creek were offset by growth at Mt Hotham and Lake Mountain.

apsi snowpro

Total participation on courses in 2019 is shown below: • • • •

43 Level 1, 15 Level 2, 1 Level 3, and 2 Level 4 (continuing)

Combined Level 1 and 2 Course Curriculum The combined Level 1 and 2 course at Mt Hotham was the second time this product was offered. It is tailored towards candidates who have a higher level

54

Trial Nordic Back Country Ski Instructor Course Telemark, with Nordic trainer support conducted a trial Level 1 nordic backcountry Instructors course tailored to a military audience (badged as Military Telemark Instructors). Based on some initial market analysis, a hybrid course covering nordic and telemark skills could appeal to the outdoor education and backcountry sector using telemark and/or alpine touring equipment. I would appreciate feedback from APSI Instructors who are employed in the outdoor education sector to gain an understanding of what could be included in the curriculum and what the trade-off would be. For example, if participants used telemark skis, how would we be able to effectively teach diagonal stride?

Recalls and Instructor Professional Development Two “free” recalls run as professional development days were run at Perisher and Dinner Plain. Both were successful and well received. This product will continue to be offered to all ski schools and regions in 2020.

Framework for Nordic progression There has been some discussion amongst Nordic trainers about the need to develop a different framework for Nordic instruction. Currently our manual describes the Nordic progression in terms of a logical sequence of building blocks or skill clusters, taught from basic to more advanced. While this approach is effective and is a simple (and traditional) way to provide both the instructor and learner a logical pathway for skill development, it has some limitations. For example, we are seeing more and more skiers coming into Nordic from alpine skiing

Images Top to Bottom: • Road Closed - Lake Mountain 30 May Level 1 Nordic • Kerrie Raymond demonstrating classic - Lake Mountain Level 1 • It’s Snowing!

Warm up games - Level 1 Lake Mountain

As well, out nordic progression is somewhat linear, and by definition it constrains our thinking. The more we look at both classical and skating technique while there are obvious differences (ie grip zone versus glide) there are also many similarities. An alternate framework is to look at foundation skills that such as stance, rotary, edging, pressure, timing and rhythm.

Such a framework enables us to teach and conduct more effective movement analysis that can be agnostic of technique (e.g. stance is fundamentally the same for both techniques). This framework is more prevalent in alpine and telemark and there is merit in adding this framework to our Nordic manual.

Richard Hocking, a Level 4 nordic candidate and Noel Mungovan will be taking a closer look at this framework over the summer and I also welcome your input.

Re-write of the Nordic Manual Sections 1, 2 and Level 1 and 2 Workbooks I have received considerable feedback on the strength and limitations of our Manual and Workbooks. I have taken this on-board and a big job will be to rewrite these in time for the 2020 winter season. In time, I would like to have the Level 1 and 2 Workbooks available on-line in a simplified, easier to answer format which will make it quicker to work through and easier for the Trainer to mark. The timely completion of workbooks has been a perennial problem for Nordic courses.

INTERSKI Jane Scheer and I attended Interski team in Pamporovo Bulgaria from 17-22 Mar 2019. Much was learned at Interski with some of the key learnings having already been incorporated into our courses.

Further work will be done over the summer to revise the Nordic skills and Teaching theory Manuals.

Enjoy your summer. I will be Nordic racing in Japan and Europe for 5 weeks. I look forward to working closely with you in the 2020 ski season.

apsi snowpro

and who do not want to do classical skiing. This can be challenging trying to determine a realistic pathway for progressing into skating. Do you encourage them to do classical first? Where do you start your first skating lesson?

December 2019

• Level 1 Perisher

55

2019 results a warm welcome to:

LEVEL 4 ALPINE

December 2019

Stuart Mclean Sam Smith Roberson

Thomas Ward Dizzi Stern

Jamie Stevens Tom Gilmour

Jessica Haslau Lisa Mccomb

SNOWBOARD James La Salle Chris Bush

Damien James

TELEMARK Diana Rivera Garcia

Chris Lewczynski

LEVEL 3

apsi snowpro

ALPINE Timothy Brown Chloe Gerasimou Christopher Harris Eliza Larard Stephanie Morgan Jack Rogers Eric Spargo Michael Teakle Juliane Garland Kathryn Keane

Nikita Mcbryde Thomas Mcgilp Atsunori Okahashi Kailey Young Joseph King Harinat Siriwan Gregory Bird Zhaokun Chang Kaela Glasbrenner Elsa Roberts

Amy Stirling Phoebe Stuart Anoop Tanda Rebecca Viney Lauren Wakefield Jo Dee Yeoh Michael Carroll Thomas Cherny Matilda Coates Tyson Fitzgerald

Melissa Ford Amy Ireland Ryan Kerr Gabrielle Lacaze Chia Chen Li Jonathan Minto David Odonnell Nicole Parks Abbey Stewart Sam Taylor

SNOWBOARD Rex Gillian James Grebert Joshua Burrough

56

Matt Davey Cameron Hardy Lewis Kostjasyn

Joey Orme Diana Rivera Garcia

LEVEL 2 ALPINE Dylan White Natalia Velo Danielle Steer Kieran Brown Rudker Elliot Erik Flekander Jamie Harris Nick Lamb Jiakai Le Blair Mclean Rory Power Lauren Wakefield Kevin Adcock Laine Glasson Amy Griffiths Graeme Lee Thomas Lo Calum Murdoch Zoe Romero Adelaide Thompson Laura Anderson Alexander Clark Matthew Hallen

Catherine Heathcote-Smith Philippa Hehir Daniela Heller Shih Hsuan Huang Emma Hubball Jimmy Kuo Dane Martin Endres Louis Mcgowan-Brown Karni Miller Polly Moloney Charles Osmond Ben Peterson Tsung-An Shen Henry Sheppard Lachlan Short Siena Stockdale Harrison Unsworth Georgia Von Einem Manon Webber Dylan Lewin-Vanyi Alexandre Pascoe Isabeau Adamek Francesca Baird

Genevieve Baird Alexandria Corso Joe Draper Alex Jereb Cameron Lawrence Yu Dan (Doris) Leung Cloudia Lewis Sophie Mcwilliam-Kerry Bridget Moore Charlotte Prichard Jen Xinyu Qin Jack Reid John Russell Charlie Sheppard Miriam Stewart Ethan Topalovic Margaret Traill Charlotte Trent Adam Van Zuylen Kwan To Wong

SNOWBOARD Daniel Atherton Ebony Axford Elijah Canning Maxence Chiappini Larissa Davies Jason De Jonge Daniel Langford Sharni Lock James Long Cajun Magennis

Callum Anton Alvaro Enriquez Zengming Huang Benjamin Johnston Anastasia Perceval Jen Xinyu Qin Kerri-Anne Regan Edward Tickner Kai Wang Vittawat Fuangsakorn

Jacob Guirguis Jack Harrison Dewansh Basnet Kin Yan Chow Ariane Compagnin Jon Heddou Katja Kurten Oliver Murphy Jacob Wright

December 2019

Ella Belfanti William Bottrell George Carrie Madeline Carroll Lanhowe Chen Connor Evans John Forrest Lucien Garner Davis Alex Greene Annemarie Guhl Caitlin Halsted Benjamin Keys Rohan Knox Adam Lowe Laura Lund Melanja Mattig Ted O’connell Emma Pham Sara Pierce Enric Pintado Julia Schwarcz Francesca Smee Lani Trevena

TELEMARK Eureka Hak Wing Woo Dan Towers Jack Parkinson Nicholas Sweeney Darren Pope

Dean Lester Keith Jeffers Rohan Warnock

Photo by James Crompton

apsi snowpro

Sophie Studd Chao Wang Danielle Brooke Michael Burghart Thomas Bentzon

57

LEVEL 1

apsi snowpro

December 2019

ALPINE

58

Laura Anderson Ruby Belfanti Tom Clegg Eden Constantine Nadia Edwards Jeremy Flanagan Richard Green Damien Guichard Matthew Hallen Chiara Hill Shih Hsuan Huang Harrison Jones Emelia Lithgow Sharni Lock Randy Renardi Madja Dane Martin Endres Karni Miller Ema Newton Ben Peterson Andrew Rushton Ella Simson Samanta Torchio Kahra Trower Harrison Unsworth Andrew Archibald Lachie Beckett Rachel Coutin Fatima Ellis Estrada Carlos Garcia Lachlan Green Cloudia Lewis Lara May Louis Mcgowan-Brown Georgia Elizabeth Milford Polly Moloney Glenn Porter Sarah Shannon Julian Armstrong Angelique Atkinson Angus Backwell Amberley Bartle Elliot Blundell Phillip Burns Sam Calvert-Jones Lily Harrison Chloe Kfouri Ed Mackinnon Katherine May Charlie Mckay Lachlan Morley Jessica Roberts Alex Shergold Ayden Silva Siena Stockdale Cheryl Wilby Charlotte Williams Harriet Wise

Oscar Bracken Chloe Davey Amelia Evans Elise Kenny Sadie Michell Ella Sayers Nadia Scorgie Daniel Smith Matthew Sprague Nikolas Sugden Marcus Antippa Phillip Antippa Madelyn Bennett Margaux Bonnet Alistair Brown Keeley Flynn Bella Green Simon Hills Tracey Huntley Xuelin Li Emilia Palka Viktoria Palka Rebecca Ryan Ella Sheppard Hamish Young Nicholas Allan Eve Claydon Kiana Townsend Angela Van Dyk Daniel Bogle Sam Chadwick Isaac Chase Matthew Dawson Matthew Duncan Maddison Eickenloff Joseph Hadassin Lily Josephine Howell Carter Nicklin Jane Perrett Marcus Podgornik Margaret Scott Robbie Zeilic Sally Carlin Reanna Craig Mark Doran Jacob Fanning Lisa Ingegneri Kellie Meehan Bridget Moore Jack Reid Rebecca Titterton Sam Casalaz Jake Cudworth Billie Deschamps Nina Fischer Jacob Garthon Tom Hartley

Olivia Harwood Lauren Hasse Daniela Heller Alexandra Henry Chin Ming Hoon Kara Horsfield Madisson Kerr Ryan Lelliott Rhiannon Morgan Charlotte Nelson William Newby Nathan Organ Timothy Pace James Prichard Zoe Pritchett Rhianna Schutz Santhi Scott Miriam Stewart Ethan Topalovic Holly Wilson Hayden Armstrong Ellie-Mae Broomhead Sasha Crothers Georgie Dole Lipo Dunlop Jordan Fuller Henry Gleeson Kiara Goldsmith Angus Jones Tom Lempriere Milly Mccarthy Hamish Nicol Joe Nossal Accalia Paine Harry Thom Mitch Watkins Alice West Ethan Yap Eloise Browne Allegra De Gleria Clark Leo Flaherty Jonathon Leggo Daisy Pilking Tom Pilkington Tali Walker Natalie Alafaci Gian Luca Cesamolo Stefano Cesamolo Jack Clarke John Hung Joshua Merchant Elliot Young Megan Holding Jasmin Kemper Max Model Grace Parker Sophie Randall

Adam Scott Louise Scott-Wilson Melanie Judd Nathan O’brien Henry Page Cooper Pennell Thomas Pennell Jonathan Rose Noah Savarirayan Christopher Carter Jackie Coppin Stuart Greenlees Braden Mcgrath Michaela Mcgrath Lori Nelson Marni Shaw Andrew Baird Francesca Blundell Ignacio Borque Georgia Brown Chia-Chun Chuang Katie Fawcett Hanlon Jemima Gee Audrey Gray Danielle Green Jasper Harris Thijs Jaarsma Nina Kanat Harriet Koch Michael Lehmann Cooper Logan Natasha Logan Tarek Nahas Ash Spencer Kahra Trower Kaitlyn Ward Yinyin Wu Yunxin Xiao Alex Benson John Coghlan Sienna Davies Samuel Flood Richie Jenkins Liam Johnston Tamasin Jonker Erin Keogh Maisie Phillips Jessica Roach Edward Tickner Chi-Che Tsai Michael Winram Nicholas Archibald Rhianna Burke Chun Ho Victor Chan Hung-Chun Chiu Max Clark Ishaan Dasgupta

Photo by James Crompton Saskia Fawcett Jack Fitzpatrick Mason French Laurance Garner Jon Heddou Art Hodder Imogen Hosie Pei-Wen Hsieh Chris (Chun Yen) Hsu Sarah Hunter Ignacio Iglesias Thea Johnson

Michael Kasumagic Kaichi Lee Xuelin Li Yan Li Hsinlei Lien Sam Lowbridge Sophie Marriott Jack Morrow Francisco Agustin Pagano Christen Richardson Wenyu Shih Sarah Stevenson

Sean Sunley Archibald Sweeney Zoe Taylor Rani Thomas Dakotah Tosh Joseph Tregilgas Lai Ping Tsui Dylan Vorreiter Anna Waters Ethan Wilson Braiden Zappia Anette Du Plessis

Jacqueline Kohn Alicia Little Shuangyi Tao Nathan Wells James Colak Mason Dodds James Mckay Craig Richards Pharlane Teautama Damon White

Kitti Sattathara Bartholomew Stolarek Sirinit Wijaithum Daniel Yang Karleen Findlay Bevy John Jackson Piper Adam Scott Sarah Joyce Reyne Perry Zachary Skinner Toa Steiner Bryce Thompson Kiana Townsend Charlotte Trent Timothy Trent Michael Woolley Bill Bolte Huon Brosnan Indiana Castro Marley Castro Jacob Gelly Richard May Seth O’halloran Scott Richardson Campbell Shepherd Meagan Wagner Luke Wilson Aquino Calma Hua Du Tim Goerner Bo-Cong Huang Sheng Yuan Lai Wei-Cheng Liau Anna Luong Su-Man Pai Drew Powell Jack Ritchard Yi-Yuan Su Nick Wills

Ruijing Zhu Hugh Bullock Declan Butler Chun Ying Ho Man Chun June Ho Lisa Ingegneri Kylie Lovegrove Bradley Lyons Katrina Miller-Little Thomas Parsons Brendan Ring Virginia Ring Hon Chiu Tang Blake Witham Shuang Wu Braiden Zappia Dave Boyle Anthony Brooks Stephen Dela Merced Scott Eastburn Morgan Klasén Zechen Li Tianqi Liu Fabio Lucato Amy Ohehir Liyuan Peng Stuart Primrose Holly Sullivan-Novello Justin Torpy Josephine Wruck Yohan Yue Joshua Agnew Nakai Booth-Hargreaves Lucas Canavan Hsin Chieh Chen Shin Chen Fengjen Chueh Chad Cornick Lucinda Cveticanin Andy Deans

Alison Howes Wei_Chun Hsiao Aimei Hsin Shih Ju Hsu Ting-Wei Hsu Po Hsiang Huang Garrick Hughes-Sparrow Blake Jenkins Sebastian Jones Tingyun (Janel) Kuo Weiting Lee Sung -Heng (Prosy) Liao Yingchen Liu Andrew Meads Yiwen Shao Yuanzhang Song Hsiu-Ping Tang Alex Tilley Hannah Torres Zulueta Charles Van Vliet Lachlan Wegener James Whatman Ehlana Wright Chien-Hui Wu Shiyang Yu Jing Tian Zhang Zhe Zhang Polin Chou Adrian Clarkson Jac Eaton Sam French Jonathan Howe Stephanie Ireland Jordan Knight Neil Navarro Aaron Carpenter Ryan Kerr Paul Lorenz Sam Taylor

apsi snowpro

Lachlan Ferguson Lisa Gale Ryan Jones Joshua Mahoney Jo Dee Yeoh Kevin Archbold Matthew Bolton Connor Hookway Kyle Lamprey Jarrah O’brien Bree Saul James Brodie Peter Brose Grace Burgess Kevin Tien Dinh Max Forbes Rowan Jones Peisha Liang Brett Meehan Christina Taylor Sam Chi-Chen Tsai Prue Tysoe Xin Yuan Maxence Chiappini Rachel Coutin Ella Gould Cain Halpern-Hodge Daniel Langford Alison Lewis Calum Murdoch Michaela Patton Tsung-An Shen Jordan Wong Jacob Garthon Benjamin Johnston Cooper Born Taratip Chantawat Madelane Cowan Ruby Ritchie-Bonifazi Vishnu Saralertsophon

December 2019

SNOWBOARD

59

LEVEL 1 cont.

TELEMARK Filip Likar Attila Kovacs Sean Mcgrath Adam Steer Richard Snowdon Susan Donoghoe

Angela Pope Adrian Laing Graham Hills Alexandra Wilson Violeta Lasalvia David Suarez Fusalba

Patrick Poelsma Tetje Wassenaar Sophie Studd Mark Watson Michael Burghart Enrique De La Sierra

Alexander Jak Jo Dee Yeoh Michael Holland Lani Trevena

NORDIC Kahra Trower Matthew Guggisberg Emma Christiansen Jon Steel Nicola Smith Phoebe Stuart Richard Jameson Rachel Mckay

Sam Bylett Renee Connor Hannah Price Peter Lambert Rohan Essex Maria Mccrohon Murray Alleway Filip Likar

Kathy Ismail Trevor Paul Charmaine Beggs Kim Raymond Alex Turner Michael Yarovoy Katherine Du Guesclin

Ben Peterson Meghan Welch Benje Munce Xiao Tong Lin Catherine Gliddon Niall Bluer

Kwan To Wong Holly Wilson Ross Saunders Amy Griffiths Mary Grace Stocker

Toscha Stopar James Long Kristopher Wheatley Jarrah O’brien Jeremy O’sullivan Malin Colliander Michael Forrest Hamish Greenwood

apsi snowpro

December 2019

ADAPTIVE

60

Calum Murdoch Pier-Olivier Desmarais Louis Mcgowan-Brown Polly Moloney Isaac Howard Daniel Langford

Samanta Torchio Kate Austin Emma Christiansen Laura Anderson Ryan Carter Damien Guichard

Freezing Adaptive Examiners Tom Hodges and Ursina Kradolfer

THE BACK COUNTRY & ADVENTURE SPECIALISTS

ALPINE TOURING TELEMARK X COUNTRY SKI HIRE & RETAIL

2 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS ON Snow @ Perisher opposite the XC trail head NPWS Building, Perisher Valley P / 02 6457 5966 E / perisher@wildernesssports.com.au

Shop 1B Nuggets Crossing JINDABYNE NSW 2627 P/ 02 6456 2966 E / jindabyne@wildernesssports.com.au

WWW.WILDERNESSSPORTS.COM.AU @wildernesssports

/OZwildernesssports

20/21 RACE

RETAIL RACING

Model

Sizes

Binding

Sidecut

Radius

Pro Price

125-68 -109

R@165=12.2m

$1149

PERFORMANCE RACING

WC Rebels eSL RP Evo 14

150 / 155 / 160 / 165 / 170

FF14 FF11

$1049

20/21 RACE

RETAIL RACING 20/21 RACE

RETAIL WC Rebels eSPEEDRACING RP Evo 14

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

165 / 170 / 175 / 180 / 185

FF14

119-68-99

R@180=18.8

121

$1149

FF11

$1049

20/21 PERFORMANCE SUPERSHAPE

WC Rebels eRACE RP Evo 14

160 / 165 / 170 / 175 / 180

FF14

122-68-102

R@170=15.7m

$1149

FF11

$1049

20/21 PERFORMANCE SUPERSHAPE

SUPERSHAPE Supershape e.Titan

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

R@170=14.1m

121

156 /163 / 170 / 177/ 184

PRX12

133-84-115

Supershape e.Rally

156 / 163 / 170 / 177

PRX12

132-78-114

R@170=14m

$969

Supershape e.Magnum

149 / 156 / 163 / 170 / 177

PRX12

129-72-111

R@170=13.1m

$969

156 / 163 / 170

PRX12

129-66-107

R@170=12.1m

$969

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

121

$969

20/21 PERFORMANCE SUPERSHAPE

20/21 PERFORMANCE SUPERSHAPE

Supershape e.Original

Please see your on mountain representative or contact your on mountain retailer for any requirements.

Alternatively orders can be emailed through to rosbert@rosbert.com.au.

Model 20/21 FREERIDE KORE

Sizes

Binding

Sidecut

Radius

Pro Price W/Binding Ski Only

BIG MOUNTAIN Kore 99

162 / 171 / 180 / 189

ATTACK 13

134 - 99- 120

R@170=17m

$959

$809

Kore 93

153 / 162 / 171./.180 / 189

ATTACK 13

133-93-115

R@180=16.4m

$959

$809

20/21 FREERIDE 20/21 FREERIDE

KORE W KORE

Kore 87

241

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

153 / 162 / 171./.180 / 189

ATTACK 11

127-87-112

R@180=16m

$929

$809

133 - 93- 115

R@180=16.4m

$959

$809

WOMENS Kore 93 W

153 / 162 / 171

ATTACK 12

20/21 FREERIDE 20/21 WOMEN JOY

KORE W

241

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

Kore 87 W

153 / 162 / 171

Super Joy SLR

143/148/153/158/163/168

ATTACK 11

125-85-112

JOY 11 SLR 129 / 75 / 108

R@171=14m

$929

R@163=12.2m

$839

Full range of boots also available

$809

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

242

241

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

Your Mountain Contact Details: MT BULLER Your Locker Room Rep is: Geoff Walker 0448 791 591 geoff@snowpro.com.au

FALLS CREEK Your Locker Room Rep is: Michaela Patton 0423 877 748 michaela.j.patton@gmail.com

HOTHAM Your Locker Room Rep is: Sean McCarron 0468 846 638 globalwinterman@hotmail.com

THREDBO Your Locker Room Rep is: Ryan Kerr 0430 338 032 ryanjkerr123@gmail.com

Your Pro Deal Store is: Pension Grimus 224 Breathtaker Road Mt Buller, Victoria, 3723

Your Pro Deal Store is: Central Snowsports Slalom Street, Lot 7 Falls Creek, Victoria, 3699

Your Pro Deal Store is: Zirky’s Sports Store Great Alpine Road Hotham Heights, Victoria, 3741

PERISHER Your Locker Room Rep is: Nichole Masland 0424 485 693 nicholemasland@gmail.com

ALPINE DESIGN OVERVIEW 20/21 | 2019-04-30 | V24

Orders can be placed and collected at our resort retailers or through your locker room rep. Mounting, pre-tuning and other services can be arranged directly through the retailer

HEAD WINTER SPORTS TASKFORCE 2020/2021

242

Your Thredbo/Perisher Pro Deal Store is: Harro’s Snowsports, Lake Crackenback Resort, Alpine Way, Jindabyne, NSW, 2627

PRO DEALS Pricing courtesy of: Rosbert International, 53 Latitude Blvd, Thomastown, Victoria, 3074 Phone: (03) 9095 7711 | Email: rosbert@rosbert.com.au Please contact us for any special pricing & availability on any gear outside this offer.

APSI PARTNERS:

DEMO TEAM MAJOR SPONSORS

APPROVED SNOWSPORTS SCHOOLS

AFFILIATED PROGRAMS