INTERSKI CONGRESS 2015 (EN) by CASI-ACMS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword: A Thank You.............................................. 1

Snowboard Ladies of Interski.................................... 14

The Canadian Snowboard Delegation........................ 2

Workshop Reports: Austria........................................ 16

It’s All About the Destination...................................... 4

Workshop Reports: New Zealand............................... 18

Easing Back Into the Groove.....................................5

Workshop Report: Italy.............................................. 23

Getting Back To It...................................................... 6

Workshop Report: Great Britain................................. 24

Synchro...The Pro’s and Con’s................................... 8

Workshop Report: Finland......................................... 26

Opening Ceremonies! ..............................................10

The Value of Interski................................................. 28

Workshop Reports: U.S.A.......................................... 12

Words From the Team............................................... 34

John Smits, en route to Farrellones, Chile

Foreword:

A THANK YOU... Depsite it’s name, Interski is a gathering of snow sports professionals with the shared passion of teaching skiing and snowboarding. When it comes to the tangible benefits that CASI receives from attending Interski, rather than pointing to a specific tactic, drill, or teaching technique I would argue that the benefits are in the intangibles. Interski Argentina provided us with the venue to share, exchange, and check-in with ourselves; asking ourselves whether our techniques and methodologies stand up in comparison with those of the other snowboarding nations. Without this opportunity, we’d simply be working in a vacuum. With the insights gained, we’ll work to continue to improve our own programs and ensure that CASI members are well-represented on the world stage. A lot has changed since Interski 2011 in Austria. CASI courses now run in many countries outside of Canada, thanks largely to our continued presence at the Interski events over the years, which has helped create the favourable reputaion that our members now enjoy internationally. On behalf of the team, I would personally like to thank our colleagues from the CSIA and CANSI; our team supporters (Burton Canada, Anon Optics, AndWhat Apparel & Smith Optics); and all of the over 8,000 CASI members for supporting our efforts in Argentina - you were represented well by a group of true professionals committed to their craft.

Jeff Chandler

National Technical Coordinator *Note: Much of this report has been adapted from our blog, which was updated daily from Interski 2015. For enhanced content, check it out at: interski.casi-acms.com

THE CANADIAN SNOWBOARD DELEGATION and TECHNICAL & EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE (TEC)

JEFF CHANDLER

National Technical Coordinator

LUC BELANGER Technical Assistant Blue Mountain, ON

PAUL HOWARD

TEC Representative (BC) Whistler, BC

MELLEN GORMAN TEC Representative Big White, BC

JOHN SMITS

TEC Representative (AB-MN-SK) Lake Louise, AB

Supported by...

SIMON HOLDEN

TEC Representative (ON) Glen Eden, ON

ALEX BURR (CHEWY) TEC Representative (QC-ATL) Tremblant, QC

Au gu st 31, 20 15

SIMON HOLDEN

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DESTINATION! It’s been an incredibly long journey to get here. . . and I’m not just talking about the last 24 hours! The thought of representing Canada at the Interski Congress has been a dream of mine for over 20 years now and while I can’t claim that everything I’ve done in that time has led me to this day it has certainly shaped many of my decisions and influenced my direction in the snow sports industry. And we’re not quite there yet! The next three days will be spent at El Colorado in Chile putting the finishing polish on our presentations and perfecting (hopefully!) our demo routines. While performing a “synchronised” run on a perfectly groomed slope is not necessarily the way we would chose to profile Canadian snowboarding at its best, this is the forum in which we are forced to perform so we will endeavour to perform at our best and do all CASI-ACMS members proud. We are confident that the Canadian technique is one of the strongest in the world and our goal is to showcase that to the rest of the delegations. We will also be working with our peers from the CSIA and CANSI to coordinate our run in the opening ceremony. All together we are 23, and the experience, knowledge, and talent amongst the whole team is truly awe-inspiring. It is a phenomenal opportunity to ride with the best instructors in the world and learn about their latest technical and methodological developments and we are honoured to be here on behalf of every member of CASI-ACMS. All of the years of dreaming, scheming, training and learning will be put to the test in the next two weeks. Stay tuned for updates from our adventures and look forward to new and exciting information in our courses in the years to come.

Sunset in Farellones, Chile

SE PT EM BE R 2, 20 15

Easing Back in to the Groove It’s not every year that my season starts on September 1st but every season always starts with a specific focus. We’ve spent the last two days re-familiarising ourselves with sliding sideways on snow and getting accustomed to riding in formation again, but through all of this I’ve been maintaining a clear technical focus for myself. The start of every season is a great time to lay the foundation for positive change in your riding. Avoid the temptation to charge out of the gates and recreate the performance you had at the end of the previous season. Reduce the speed and terrain difficulty and focus on setting good habits for the rest of your season. I always focus on putting myself in a strong and stable position over the board which will allow my smaller joints to fine tune the board on the snow. Putting my upper body in the right position through precise movements (strength) allows my lower body to be more relaxed and adapt more easily to the terrain, snow underfoot and grip available (flow). Snowboarding is a ridiculous amount of fun and it can be easy to get carried away in those first few days but do yourself a favour and ease in to the season with a specific focus.

El Colorado, Chile

The thought of representing Canada at the Interski Congress has been a dream of mine for over 20 years. 5

SE PT EM BE R 2, 20 15

PAUL HOWARD

GETTING BACK TO IT Day 2 is complete and it’s feeling great to have had some time back on the board. I think that’s the key value to this pre-Interski training camp in El Colorado, Chile, is simply for us all to get our boards, bodies, minds and technique up to scratch before “The Big Show”! With that in mind I thought I’d focus some of my posts over the next couple of weeks around the idea of giving you guys some useful ideas/tips/techniques or strategies to directly help your riding. Within this, I’ll be taking a look at the other instructor systems around the world and seeing how their methodologies relate to CASI’s and hopefully from there, finding some new/different ways to help your upcoming season! As we’ve been getting back on the snow ourselves over the last couple of days, this seems like a great place to start: tips for a more successful, fun start to your season.

EQUIPMENT

It was cool to see how the group were dealing with this yesterday. Some were playing with boots, some their bindings and some were just getting comfortable again overall. Some key things to think about are setting up the equipment based on how your body and riding will be working at the start of the season, compared to the end of last season. Perhaps less forward lean or loser laces for the first day. Boots will be stiff and speeds will generally be lower so you won’t need the same amount of performance. Perhaps a slightly narrower stance to promote movement and strain the muscles less. Again, just ideas to perhaps help you approach the start of the season.

Team Canada

MIND

We’ve mostly tried to be patient the last couple of days and focus on some smooth, clean riding first, before going for some performance. BE PATIENT! Focus on taking the time to create those easy, flowy, fun feelings in your riding before you worry about riding hard or fast. A few of us found ourselves getting a little frustrated the last couple of days when we were working on performance before we had any real mileage under our belt. This approach will give you the stoke sooner and get your mind in a good place to be excited for the season ahead… starting off on a positive note is always good!

BODIES

Eat well, sleep and stretch. It isn’t rocket science. Let your body warm up gradually and look after it after you’ve been riding. We’ve all been riding bikes, running, rowing or landscaping all summer, so it’s great to see this team in good shape and ready to roll… some solid riding is coming out of these guys already and I’m pumped to see us all represent CASI in the coming days.

SE PT EM BE R 3, 20 15

PAUL HOWARD

SYNCHRO...THE PRO’S AND CON’S

In case you guys weren’t aware, an integral and valuable part of Interski is the demo runs each country performs to showcase their techniques, talents and methodologies. For the skiers, this has been a long standing tradition in the form of synchro (or close proximity skiing) runs on steep, often icy pitches. Given their equipment and the symmetrical nature of their sport, this synchro is a great medium through which to train and showcase different skills. For snowboarders, this is generally not the case. I’ll be the first to admit that the last reason I started snowboarding is to do synchro, and the thought of doing it at all still doesn’t get me super stoked! BUT, we are at Interski and this is the hand we’ve been dealt with so I kind of see it like a fancy dress party… and we really don’t want to be that one guy who shows up not dressed up and only looking all the more lame for it! With this in mind, our Interski Team wants to represent CASI as best as we can and doing a solid demo run is a big part of showing not just our skills and methodologies to the other countries, but also our professionalism and adaptability to any challenges we face as snowboarders, and as an organization. Having now wrapped up our three day training camp in Chile, here are some useful insights into how you guys could use synchro in your own riding/staff training/lessons to have a bit of fun and discover some cool things in your riding, you may not otherwise. 1. LOOKING & FLOWING: Learning to ride while only looking at someone else’s board (especially for their edge change) helps you stop over analyzing your own movements and “plans”, and forces you to simply ride in a loose, reactionary state.. taking you from an “internal” state to an “external” one. Too often as instructors we get too technical and try to “plan” every move we make to the detriment to our overall flow. Synchro

I’LL BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT THAT THE LAST REASON I STARTED SNOWBOARDING IS TO DO SYNCHRO, AND THE THOUGHT OF DOING IT AT ALL STILL DOESN’T GET ME SUPER STOKED! is a great tool to forget about your “plans” and what you want to do, and instead forces you to let go and simply react to your environment. 2. TIMING: Man, there’s nothing like trying to maintain the exact same rhythm with another rider to help you refine your skills. It’s kind of like “Top Gun Turns”, only taken to another level. Timing is also a great way to focus on the outcomes or feelings (fluid/smooth/fast riding/ round turns/etc.) in your riding, rather than the technical skills underneath. 3. PERFORMANCE: What is this? It means a lot of different things to different people and in different conditions. When you’re on a steep, icy slope, trying to dig the edges in, or trying to push on and bend the board, just don’t work. De-tuning the edges, keeping the board sliding and the turns round is key. In other words, to show smooth, fluid riding, less is more. Hammering out a bunch of short turns super close to another rider teaches you that whatever you do, don’t fall over or it’s not going to end well! Learning to back off the edges and find that balance is key and the whole team have found that working on synchro, regardless of our own real opinions on it, has been a great way to get our riding up to scratch quickly and efficiently.

SE PT EM BE R 5, 20 15

OPENING CEREMONIES! Today was the start of the 2015 interski congress. Team Canada spent the first hour doing a few practice runs for our opening ceremony demo and then took some time to explore Cerro Castor. I always find it really cool to have boarders, skiers and telemark working together and stand (or slide) united in front of the rest of the world. CANSI (tele) led the charge with CASI right behind and two lines of skiers on either side; each group with a different formation. After watching the video and watching the other countries I feel we demonstrated some great snowboarding. The excitement level was high and sharing this moment with snow sport professionals from all over the planet is pretty special. The highlights for me was the Swiss, the Kiwis and above all the Argentinians on home soil put on a great show. We are all proud to be Canadian today and to represent the members at this amazing gathering of snow sliding lovers. 10

LUC BELANGER

Wo rk sh op re po rt s: U.S .A.

JEFF CHANDLER

U.S.A. : PSIA-AASI I had the chance to sit in on a presentation from the United States. The focus of the lecture was on their teaching model as it relates to the student centered approach. Their instructor developmental model revolves around the three essential skills of a good instructor: 1.

Technical skills (how well you snowboard)

Teaching skills (how well you relay the technical goals of the lesson)

People skills (how well you relate to and engage your students in the lesson)

The concept here is that depending on the student, instructor and lesson goal(s), trainers can develop any of these three areas. For example, an instructor with excellent people skills and great riding skills may just need improvement in their ability to communicate or teach more effectively.

From my perspective, the addition of people skills is an interesting addition to the teaching and riding skills that we currently do a good job of developing in Canada. The challenge that the presenters identified is the struggle to teach people skills to someone when they are lacking. Teaching someone to ride better or teach more effectively is one thing; but teaching them to have more personality, compassion, energy or empathy is another thing.

U.S.A. - PEOPLE SKILLS The Americans put on a real good indoor and on-snow session for the snowboarders at this Interski. All the boarders on the team are very experienced instructors and coaches and it showed in great presentations.

The Learning Connection

LUC BELANGER

The student centered learning environment is split 3 ways; Technical Skills, Teaching Skills and the People Skills. The PSIA (ski), AASI (snowboard) and the adaptive branch of the PSIA teamed up and presented one each; the snowboard crew focused on the People Skills.

The Personal Connection Ask yourself the following question: Do we teach snowboarding to people? Or do we teach people to snowboard? That question made me dive in my memories of many lessons I’ve thought in the past, especially the ones that did not go so well. The idea is laid out in 4 simple steps.

1: READ: It all starts with the first eye contact; reading the body language, looking at the gear, the look on their face. You can really tell the student’s state of mind (happy, scared, apprehensive) simply by looking at them.

2: THE WELCOME: How will you engage your students right away? What will be your first question to them? Too often it is “what level are you?” How about trying to find out something about them and establish a personal connection that you can build on throughout the lesson.

3: ENGAGE: The craziest statistic that was talked about is that generation Z (2005 and forward) have a documented attention span of 10

seconds or less - essentially the same as a gold fish! Aside from being a VERY scary thought, that statistic is something to remember when we formulate a plan to keep the students consistently engaged throughout the lesson. How do you keep them engaged one might ask? Questions, feedback, continue building the connection you made during your WELCOME. How does this work for a really busy place such a Blue Mountain where we put through 1000 beginners on a busy day using the station teaching approach? That was my first question for Chris Hargraves who facilitated the indoor portion of this concept. Can we use terrain assisted learning to keep them engaged? Is it enough? We both agreed that it is a step in the right direction. Having rollers, spines, mini pipes and brushes will help keep them engaged in the LEARNING CONNECTION.

4: ASSESS: How is the lesson going? Are the students progressing? Are they enjoying themselves? You may have to go back to any or all of the previous 3 steps to ensure you are making progress. This is easily compared to the CASI Training Cycle; only in this case it is applied to a different realm of the snowboard lesson. Overall I REALLY like the idea of the 3 realm applied in this LEARNING CONNECTION; Technical, Teaching and People skills and it will be interesting how we can draw from this and incorporate it into our future course material.

Se pt em be r 7, 20 15

SNOWBOARD LADIES OF Today we started the on-snow workshops getting together as a snowboard group: about 50 total, and five other chiquitas.

MELLEN GORMAN

After meet & greet, some discussions of our systems, levels and general shredding; I noticed what the girls were riding (mostly because there was another Burton Talent Scout just like mine). So I started asking:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why are you riding what you ride?â&#x20AC;?

INTERSKI

Here is Eriika Wathen, from the Finland Team. She’s riding a handmade Green Lab board from Japan. Hybrid rocker/ camber, and quite long: 160cm. Perfect for Japan powder; and she does admit it’s not great for the firm base here. What got me is the story of her snowboard. She went to ride in Japan for her honeymoon; and she & her husband bought this board together for her. She said, even if she gets a new snowboard, she’ll keep this one for its incredible sentimental value.

I’M STILL HANGING ON TO SEVERAL SPECIAL BOARDS: FOR THE MEMORIES AND MOMENTS THAT HAVE SOAKED INTO THEIR FIBREGLASS & WOOD. HOW ABOUT YOU? 15

Wo rk sh op re po rt s: AU ST RIA

JEFF CHANDLER

INSIGHT FOR OUTPUT The Austrian ski instructors delivered an excellent lecture today regarding improving feedback to students to help improve their skiing (or snowboarding) skills. The challenges that they identified with the “traditional” methods of giving feedback revolve around the ideas that students often rely on feedback to give them direction as to what to do next, and often feedback is misinterpreted due to communication breakdown. The W.I.R. structure attempts to deal with these problems by allowing instructors and students to come up with feedback that is internal to the student and experience-based, allowing students to know what is happening, and when, so that they can do what they want.

“When I know what I’m doing, I can do what I want” The W.I.R. model stands for:

Watching Students and instructors must be on the same “channel” when it comes to analyzing performance. In this stage, the instructor asks the student to perform a series of maneuvres (such as turns left and right) and then they develop a focus on specific body parts, as well as a type of scale to refer to (i.e.: weight forward is +5, back is -5, and centred is 0. Once the students and the instructors are talking on the same channel, communication is improved.

Inside View After performing the turns or maneuver that is being developed, ask students to identify what a certain body part is doing, and where it falls on the scale. It’s important at this stage that the instructor and student are talking about the same body part! For example, often the instructor may be concerned with the knees, but the student is concentrating on the shoulders…this isn’t valuable.

Reflection The instructor offers his/her view or opinion of what is happening, in relation to the student’s. It’s important to remember here that instructors watching often see different things than students feel.

Austria’s indoor lecture addressed a problem that we have all experienced with our students; that they can only learn when they are with us. While this dependence may seem like a good thing for business it turns out that it’s not and it is actually doing a disservice to our students. To help develop the ability for students to self assess they introduced the W (watching) I (inside view) R (reflection) approach, which is similar to the new CSIA Experiential Education approach. Watching: This step involves creating awareness in the students of specific body parts and tasks they have to perform. The instructor aims to create a common scale of performance between instructors and students.

SIMON HOLDEN

BEWARE THE FEEDBACK JUNKIE!

Inside View: This is the critical step in the process and involves developing student awareness of how their body is moving and how these movements influence their outcomes. This is the time to use the scale established in the Watching phase to help the student have a better understanding of how their body is moving. Reflection: In this last step we must ensure that the perspective is the same for the instructor and student. Once we have achieved this common perspective then a student can know what they are doing and they then know what they can change. A key component of this step is the use of questions by the instructor to guide learning and ensure understanding. One tactic that can be used by the instructor is to give an observation exercise without pre-judging their movement. Simply ask your student to observe something in their riding, similar to our guided discovery approach. Success in this teaching approach relies on the instructor being able to work WITH the student as opposed to dictating to the student, as is often the case. The Austrians have noted that this can be difficult for some instructors as it requires that they relinquish their position of power over the student and allow the lesson to be a more collaborative effort. Even if you don’t go to these lengths it is worth considering in your lessons this winter whether you are creating students who need feedback after every run or are you creating students who can self assess and guide their own progress. If you notice that your students are becoming feedback junkies then try employing some of these approaches to break the cycle! 17

al an d Wo rk sh op re po rt s: Ne w Ze

SIMON HOLDEN

SAFETY, FUN & ACHIEVEMENT The New Zealand Philosophy The New Zealand skiers and Snowboarders presented together during the indoor session and shared their new teaching philosophy. They’ve tweaked the classic Safety, Fun and Learning model that we all know to focus on Safety, Fun and Achievement. When all three of these components are present in a lesson the result is a student who feels the “stoke”. “Stoke” should be ultimate goal since students who are stoked will stick with the sport and take more lessons!

Instructors are encouraged to adjust the ratio between the three components based on the needs of the student. A tentative beginner for example may experience the “Stoke” with a greater focus on safety while a charger who wants to ride the trees may get the “Stoke” through a greater focus on fun and achievement. All three components must feature in every lesson but the ratios can always be adjusted, and must be adjusted to the individual needs of the students in order for them to feel the “Stoke”! This approach places greater emphasis on the student’s emotions and less on the technical outcome of the lesson, the learning component from safety, fun and learning. Since achievement can be more broadly defined it opens up the opportunities for instructors to tweak their lessons to cater more directly to getting their students stoked and excited about coming back.

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

Canada is one of the few nations (perhaps only) in attendance at Interski that has completely separate organisations for the various snow sports disciplines. This set up has some benefits but also some drawbacks. Seeing presentations from both the Swiss and New Zealanders on their nation wide progress report cards that integrate both skiing and boarding made me wonder if Canadian resorts could benefit from the same approach. CASI’s Mission Statement is “To promote the sport of snowboarding, snowboard instruction and the profession of snowboard teaching in Canada by training and certifying snowboard instructors to ensure that a national standard of safe and efficient snowboard instruction is maintained.” but ultimately, as a profession we need to be supporting the resorts that we all work at because without them there wouldn’t be much need for instructors. Both the Swiss and the Kiwis have shown that a national program for both skiing and boarding that the resorts can use with their clients has helped to improve engagement of students and drives return business. Both of these are critical to the success of resorts.

what the next steps are. Switzerland is currently experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals who are seeking to pursue a career in snowsports and they are hoping to reverse this trend by building awareness and excitement about the opportunities available. In Canada we have two well developed programs through CASI and the CSIA but they are not integrated and neither have a national presence so resorts are often reluctant to use them. I see an opportunity to market lessons through a strong, integrated, and national approach. The sheer size of our country poses some challenges for sure but I’m sure these can be overcome with some creative planning and if the program is well designed and compelling for resorts then the uptake will be improved.

For more information you can check out the following links: http://https://www.snowsports.co.nz/fundamentals/tell-me-about-fundamentals/ http://www.snowsports.ch

Both nations have developed a central database where all of the information can be tracked, students can log in and create an account to track their achievements, and receive promotions and awards along the way. The Swiss have taken it one step further by blending their progression with their instructor certification to help generate interest in getting certified by showing students

SIMON HOLDEN

Achievement & Learning JOHN SMITS

As Simon mentioned, the Kiwi’s have tweaked the safety, fun and learning philosophy to place the emphasis on achievement in place of learning. The basic idea is that achievements are usually more rewarding than the learning process itself. I was present for the on snow portion of their presentation and I’ll give you a run down of how it was delivered and what I’ve interpreted... To start, we warmed up with a game of “jib” using flat ground tricks. For those unfamiliar with the game, players take turns setting a trick for the other person to try. If the other participant is unsuccessful they get a letter. Once you’ve spelt “jib” with three strikes you are out. Next we moved onto a progression based lesson to hopefully get us spinning front 3’s off the toes. After that we rode some pow in the trees trying to follow as closely as possible to our partners. Then we briefly discussed the three C’s. Comfort + Confidence = Commitment! Simple concept that goes a long way to helping us set up a performance environment for our students or athletes. Using these basic lesson portions, the Kiwi session leaders guided us through some discussion on the difference between the two and the balance of achievement vs learning. From these discussions here are my main take away points. 1. Goals must be somewhat challenging to achieve to make them rewarding. Too easy and there’s no sense of achievement, too challenging and you might not reach it (not the end of the world though, some failure is good). 2. Learning is a process, achievements are a result. The instructor’s job is to break the goal down into more manageable chunks and help celebrate success along the way. We try to teach so students to learn and understand, although the result is what they really remember and it’s what motivates them to return. 3. Students must have some control over their goals and the environment for optimal performance. Students must feel relatively safe(comfortable) and confident to give it their all. Some encouragement or modification will be required to get the students to commit to whatever they may be trying. Giving the students some control here will help them buy into the game plan. Chur bro!

COMFORT + CONFIDENCE = COMMITMENT!

Luc Belanger, Paul Howard & Jeff Chandler - Cerro Castor, Argentina

“the instructor is trained to get out of the way of THE student’s learning” 22

Wo rk sh op re po rt s: Ita ly

Sitting in on Italy’s presentation provided some interesting food for thought… The Italian teaching manual underwent an overhaul in the last couple of years, and one of the major concepts that they are working with is the idea of building on the basic movement patterns that each of us has had from childhood, and adapting those to snowboarding….things like grabbing, throwing, squatting, jumping, climbing.

JEFF CHANDLER

ITALY: BASIC FORMS

The Italians have identified 6 basic movements that influence snowboarding: • Walking (skating) • Sliding (shuffling) • Jumping (taking off) • Rotating / Pivoting • Grabbing (as in doing a grab, or even picking up and carrying the board) • Pressing (as in pressuring one foot or the other, or two feet together) By using these six movements, beginners can begin to experiment with various snowboard skills from day 1. For example, the instructor might ask the student to move from point A to B with both feet strapped in to the board (on flat terrain) by hopping laterally; using a combination of jumping/hopping and edging skills. Or, they may combine pressing with jumping to do an ollie or nollie. The key is that the technical points of the ollie or nollie are not explained – it’s the outcome or the task that is important. Instructors are very focused on successful execution of the task, and the mechanics behind it are less important. In this way, the instructor is trained to essentially get out of the way of student’s learning, and allow them to use the movements or methods that come most naturally to them. For example; in developing the pendulum/traverse, our session leader identified three different methods for getting the board to move across the slope: rotation, counter-rotation or torsionally deforming the board to reduce the edge angle on the downhill end. In this system, it’s not important which method the student uses, as long as they achieve the traverse. The CASI concept of “no right’s or wrong’s; only consequences” definitely applies here. The other interesting concept that came out of the presentation is that by relying on student’s ingrained basic movement patterns, we can eliminate the idea that beginners have no idea what to do when it comes to snowboarding. If we relate the movements that we make daily to learning to snowboard, the whole process becomes less daunting. The instructor can begin the teaching process by simply building on the skills that the student already possesses.

Br ita in Wo rk sh op re po rt s: Gr ea t

TIED – BASI’s take on Kolb’s Learning Model A common theme we’ve seen in some of the on-snow workshops and indoor lectures this week, has been the basic message of allowing students more control over their learning process, through trying things first and figuring out the “how” more organically, based on what they are feeling and how they are progressing. Kolb’s Experiential Learning model seems to be the “flavor of the month”, having been referenced many times this week and summarizes the process into four stages; Concrete experience Reflective observation Abstract conceptualization Active experimentation

PAUL HOWARD

Taking the same technical concepts but changing the language, BASI’s “TIED” Model is a great example of how to apply scientific models effectively by adapting them to better suit their specific purposes – which in this case is teaching skiing or snowboarding and training instructors. Using a simple example, I’ll quickly take you through how the TIED model works.

TASK The first essential ingredient to a lesson is proper goal setting – in other words, define a task that the student wants to and can learn. It could be how to straight run, a beginner turn or how to carve. In this case, our task will be to try and move your two index fingers in circles, opposite to each other and in opposite directions. Try doing that…

INFORMATION What happened? Was it easy/hard/did you complete the task? This stage is simply assessing and not trying to come up with any solutions or suggestions. Simply assessing. Most likely, you found it difficult.

EVALUATE

Why? Why was it challenging? Is the task too difficult? Is it a new task? Does it need to be broken down into smaller steps? Can the environment be made easier?

DEVELOPMENT

Now the instructor can decide how to proceed? Do we need to change the task? Can we use an exercise to help? Is their a technical component we can focus on? Try moving one finger around in a circle slowly, before adding in the opposite hand. Or you can try moving them in ovals instead of circles, or perhaps trying 1/4 of the circle at a time. This TIED Model is supposed to be used in conjunction with current teaching models like the Training Wheel, the PPTTEE performance factors, and so on. Digest this for a while and take a look at the pic for a little closer look.

24 2

“A common theme we’ve seen in some of the on-snow workshops and indoor lectures this week, has been the basic message of allowing students more control over their learning process, through trying things first and figuring out the “how” more organically, based on what they are feeling and how they are progressing.”

25 3

Wo rk sh op re po rt s: Fin la nd

Intrinsic Motivation & Experiential Learning... Two peas in a pod.

During the on-snow and indoor lectures at Interski, a core theme I noticed seemed to be more and more about teachers (be it instructors, coaches or instructor-trainers) trying to find a better balance between when to direct the student in their learning, and when to “back off” and allow the student to practice and “discover” the skills or movements on their own. Each country had their own way of presenting and training instructors to use this philosophy, but the commonalities were there.

PAUL HOWARD

When you think about it, this is most likely a question you ask yourself during every lesson you teach. Shall I let them try again, or shall I give them some feedback now? Should I explain things in more details, or should I change the terrain? Should I do both? Do they need more feedback or more riding time? It’s definitely a balance that can be easy or hard to find, depending on the student, situation, terrain and what they are trying to learn. In this blog article, I wanted to take a closer look at Experiential learning and how it can be closely linked to Intrinsic Motivation (IM)… which the guys from Finland did a great workshop on. Intrinsic Motivation is basically having a student want to learn what they are trying… and not simply doing it because the instructor/parent/coach has told them to. This component or “philosophy” to learning is very important. Creating an environment that supports IM is critical for fun, efficient learning and generating return clients. If students can be stoked on learning something themselves and stoked because of their achievement (rather than stoked because the instructor is stoked they learned it!), then IM is happening.

Think about it… any good lesson you’ve ever done, was most likely because the student was truly invested in what they were learning and they were genuinely stoked because they were proud of them self, and

not just because they made the instructor happy. So how does IM relate to Experiential Learning? Control. If a student feels like they’ve had the opportunity to learn in their own time, and has been able to figure out at least parts of the “puzzle” independently, then the reward is all the most sweeter. A student who is constantly being told what to do, doesn’t have the opportunity to ever “discover” something for themselves, and ultimately on completion of the goal may feel it is simply a result of following directions, rather than a true accomplishment on their part. In a lesson with multiple goals, this can lead to a frustrated, apathetic student who feels they are simply following orders from a “lecturer”, rather than being “guided” through a process with a friendly snowboard “coach”. We often see this with new and experienced instructors a like… where they seem to forget the most important part of the training cycle, practice; and instead seem to continuously “teach” the student with constant explanations, drills and/or feedback. Long story short… a good instructor is one who is just as good at figuring out when to speak and what to say, as well as when not to speak and what not to say. Like anything, there is a time and a place and a need to find the right balance. Too much direction (constant info from instructor to student) can reduce IM, but not enough (the instructor is leaving students to discover, without any guiding) will also lead to a frustrated student. Either way, I hope that by labelling this student investment/ motivation in their learning as “Intrinsic Motivation” and discussing how Guided Discovery can help in achieving this, maybe you’ll find a better balance in the next lesson you teach.

Se pt em be r 7, 20 15

THE VALUE OF INTERSKI... People often ask about the true value in coming to Interski… is it really worth it? How relevant is it to snowboarders? Can we recoup the costs in worthwhile information that will help develop and grow CASI in the future? Do we need to send so many people? These are good questions, but to truly understand the value of Interski, I thought I would highlight a couple of initial findings that will hopefully help you guys, our members, understand just how valuable CASI’s attendance at Interski truly is.

CONFIRMATION We often talk about “bringing information back” as part of our role at Interski in helping develop CASI’s programs and initiatives. While this is true, there is also immense value in going to a world stage like this to simply compare our ideas and systems to theirs; to see if what we are doing is as relevant or strong as we think it is. Without comparing what we are doing in the flesh to other industry leaders, how do we really know if what we are doing is any good? Thus, a key factor to coming to Interski is to therefore gain a frame of reference every four years to which we can “grade” ourselves against and then report back accordingly.

PAUL HOWARD

SHARING OF INFORMATION – THE BIG PICTURE The true value in Interski isn’t just about what it can do for CASI, but also what the event enables all the snowboarding bodies to do together, by sharing their information. Ultimately, a rising tide raises all ships, and by everyone coming together we all get to benefit from seeing each others materials and this helps develop everyone’s teaching and riding philosophies, around the world. Interski is the one and only international platform of it’s kind through which we can do this, so CASI’s attendance as a world leader in snowboard teaching and instructor training is important not just for CASI, but for the wider, international snowboard community, as a whole.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT Seeing another nation doing similar things to us and having success with it, helps reinforce the decisions we’ve made and the goals and plans we’ve set are the right ones. Hearing another nation face the same issues and challenges, and how they are dealing with it, helps guide CASI with our approach based on their their level of success. Finding new ideas or different ways of explaining familiar or new concepts helps generate our “think tank” in finding new/different ways to improve our techniques, teaching models and instructor courses. However it happens, there is simply a ton of opportunities (which are easier for us to take advantage of, the more of us that are here) for us to further validate what we are already doing, to help the industry at large, and to help develop our own programs. 28

Jeff Chandler (CASI) & Fernando Pomar (AADIDES)

SEEING ANOTHER

NATION DOING SIMILAR THINGS TO US AND

HAVING SUCCESS WITH IT, HELPS REINFORCE THE DECISIONS WE’VE MADE AND THE GOALS AND PLANS WE’VE SET ARE THE RIGHT ONES.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to the CSIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Warren Jobbit, our delegation leader. Warren worked to create a positive atmosphere that allowed CASI, CANSI, and the CSIA to work together as one Team Canada at Interski 2015.

Thank you, Warren! 31

#INTERSHRED

Wo rd s fr om th e te am ... SIMON HOLDEN

“Interski to me is an essential opportunity to represent Canada on the world stage. To ensure that we are not operating in isolation, that we are not developing technique and teaching methodologies without the benefit of measuring ourselves against our peers in other nations. There are many great minds amongst our sister organisations around the world and to operate without the benefit of these amazing resources leaves us vulnerable to not providing the absolute best product we can to our members, the students we teach, and the resorts we support. Also, because of the fairly unique situation in Canada, of our snowpsorts organizations not being united under one organization, it is also as an important opportunity to build understanding and cooperation amongst our various governing bodies.”

LUC BELANGER “Interski to me is the unique chance to represent my country on the world

stage; it is and always will be an honour to wear your flag. What I bring back from this experience is an increased passion for the profession of snowboard instructing. Rubbing elbows with the best from around the world and feeding off their enthusiasm was a really great opportunity for CASI to « see where we stand » and where we need to aim moving forward; nothing compares to actually participating in workshops and the spontaneous discussions on the chairlift. Interski is an Alpine Skiing driven event (they created it…) and with every congress and as our sport and profession matures, we see a positive progression of the status of snowboarding within the Interski organization. I believe the sport of Snowboarding is in a good place right now in Canada and every single member of CASI played a role in getting it to where it is today… at the forefront of snowboard instructing.”

PAUL HOWARD “Interski proved to be a very valuable experience for all of us on the CASI TEC.

For me, it was most interesting to see how the team responded to the events that week as they ran and participated in workshops, when to lectures and met so many experienced, like minded people. The discussions that took place and the exchanging of ideas and methodologies, left the CASI team with not only some great ideas for moving forward, but also a very valuable reference point when it comes to assessing our progress, and how we “stand up” to the other top training programs out there. Similarly, spending the trip alongside our friends and colleagues in the CSIA and CANSI, provided a unique opportunity for CASI to work more closely with our Canadian counterparts. It was genuinely awesome to see how everyone got on so well, the mutual respect everyone had for each others styles and strengths, not only within each organization but also between the different disciplines of ski, snowboard and nordic.”

MELLEN GORMAN

“Interski is a well-respected institution among skiing nations, and in Argentina it felt that snowboarding nations also were as professional and as prepared as our two-planked counterparts: proudly presenting material indoor and on-snow. The training camps leading up to Interski also provided valuable opportunities for the TEC members to focus internally & discuss the state of our teaching, training and certification models. Having the unique opportunity for the entire TEC to spend time on snow together fueled the reflection process to ensure that we felt confident that, indeed, we had a cohesive message to present on the world stage at Interski. On the Women in Snowsports angle, there were excellent opportunities to network with the small number of women spearheading efforts within snowboarding, alpine and nordic disciplines. I was able to share information formally and informally, both at the conference and afterward electronically. I left Argentina more confident than ever in the material we’re developing for the new manual, with the feeling that CASI is on the leading edge of programming in this area.”

JOHN SMITS

”It was an honour to be a part of the amazing team of skiers and snowboarders representing Canada at Interski. The love of sliding on snow and teaching others is what united all of us from around the globe. The diverse group of passionate instructors that gathered to share knowledge and good times leaves me stoked for the future of our industry. “

ALEX BURR “Interski is a meeting of the minds. A chance every four year for the snow blessed

nations of the world to talk shop and try to better our common realities. CASIs participation is essential to our long term goals of growing the profession of snowboard instruction within Canada and maintaining our progressive iterations in both our riding techniques and pedagogical approaches. The fruit of this labor can be seen by the growing number of foreign courses opportunities around the world and the number of foreigners coming to Canada to participate in our courses. Both locals, transients and tourists reap the benefits of keen, competent instructors. With “retention” the theme of this Interski Congress, in hindsight we should try and apply it not only to the classic second or third lessons offered to newbies on the bunny slope but also to our instructor, rental, and resort staff. Retaining experienced, passionate ambassadors of our sport will be a fundamental building block of our future growth. Promoting outdoor wintertime physical activity thru recreational snowboarding is what we do and its becoming easier and easier thanks in part to our continued Interski participation.”

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THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS TEAM SUPPORTERS...

Design & Layout Jeff Chandler Photographs & Article Contributions Luc Belanger Mellen Gorman Paul Howard Simon Holden John Smits Jeff Chandler Alexandre Burr