A day of ski lessons from the instructor's point of view. Japan edition

So many people get ski lessons all over the world, many people dream of being a seasonaire as a ski instructor. We are seen by many as the God’s of the mountain, the athletes, the teachers, the carers, but also as the party animals and the reckless. People return year after year for lessons to improve confidence, learn new skills, and explore the mountain safely, or just to have some fun on the mountain with new and existing friends. As much as a lesson is about learning how to be a better skier, it’s also about that long lunch in a ski hut and the après afterwards, which usually involves an invitation to your wonderful instructor. So is being a ski instructor all it’s cracked up to be? Do we have as much fun as our clients think we do? From teaching a three year old who doesn’t speak your language and has never seen snow, teaching rich people who demand more than they’re capable of, teenagers who’d rather be on their phones, and building confidence in harsh conditions, is it all fun and games?

I’ll start off by telling you about one of my private lessons while I was in Niseko. It was my first day of proper lessons at the start of the season, trying to find my feet or should I say skis again. The day started off with a loooong line up waiting for work in the feeeezing cold and eventually getting a lesson with a lovely smiley chinese woman we will call Michelle. It started really well since I was told she was fairly new to the sport and wanted help getting better at turning so that she could ski down the run from the chairlift without help. This is the most common goal of my students throughout the season. However many days or weeks they’d skied previously, everyone wants to be able to go up the chairlift and ski confidently to the bottom with as much parallel skiing as possible or as I like to call it ‘looking stylee’, and since they’re on their holidays and not wanting to win the next Olympics it’s ok to readjust goals to be more practical.

The lesson started really well since Michelle could already stop by herself and could turn on the magic carpet slope confidently. In a very short space of time I was able to suggest picking up the speed one last time before we brace the chairlift run. Little did I know that she was going to be absolutely petrified when we got to the top and she saw that it was a little bit steeper. Professionally speaking easy wedge turns should have been fine down this run but she really struggled. A lesson in confidence and doing what you already feel good doing in a new environment can be terrifying. This as a huge reminder that skiing is just as much in your head as it is being able to do the movements correctly

So with a few words of encouragement and reassuring that she had the skills necessary to ski down with me, Michelle made her best wedge and surprised herself getting down the first section with ease. Thank God! Us instructors live in fear of students saying they’ll call it a day after we’ve taken the next step in terrain or conditions. The downside to lessons like this is that it takes a little longer to turn that new confidence into new skill competence and often the next time they return to the slopes they’ll need to rebuild that confidence all over again which for us can be pretty draining.

A popular question us instructors often get asked is whether we prefer confident gung-ho students who lack the know-how, or those who are more timid but eager to soak in every single word. The answer? Everyone is different and the more wonderful students are those who are able to communicate if they’re enjoying it and what they are afraid of. For me this is because I can correct technique that I can see but I cant read minds for fears and insecurities and they’re the biggest obstacles of all.

In the afternoon I had a completely different lesson in store for me, a two hour private with a 3-year old little girlwho didn’t really speak any Englishat all and had never seen snow. Not my first rodeo teaching little children how to ski, but language barriers can be really tricky for ski instructors who haven’t got a few different tricks up their sleeves to get kids laughing and enjoying the snow. After all, the goal of this lesson would be to keep that smile and make sure mummy and daddy see it at the end of the lesson, ideally with heir skis still on their feet!

This little girl was an absolute angel, the snow fascinated her, wanting to make snowballs, snow angels and draw in the snow. Little children can often be quite scared of the hill,the speed and the unknown of it all, so rolling around on the flat before rolling down the hill is great fun for the both of us. There is so much pressure in lessons to get children on skis as soon as they arrive to the lesson but these kids need to have the base confidencesliding down the slope before they’re going to enjoy having heavy equipment on their feet. Managing parents’ expectations of the lesson and their child’s progress is one of the biggest challenges I face as an instructor as some can be more understanding than others. This issue is definitely less pertinent in New Zealand because of the sporty, outside culture the kids are brought up in over here compared to parts of Asia (the home of most of my students in Japan.). When it comes to how much learning there should be in a lesson I agree fully with the NZSIA who say that lessons should be fun safe learning in that order. After all if you’re sliding down the mountain on your skis or snowboard with a smile, then you’ve learned so much more than you thought.

The best and worst of teen lessons.

In my experiences the chances are that teens are super excited about the prospects of skiing on holiday and just want to go everywhere fasterand faster, getting all the thrills. But occasionally I’ll get a less interested or more timid teen who would rather be on their phone or looking around the shops in town. We are ski instructors right? Not day-care, not an adventure camp and certainly not the cure to your bored or boring teenagers but that will never stop me from having fun on a great snow day! I may not get on with these guys that well but it’s great knowing that by the end of the lesson they will have given it a good go and had a laugh along the way, after all its not just skiing that I like to talk about. I’ve heard stories of first crushes, first dates, failed exams and looming proms and since it wasn’t that long ago since I went through all that, its awesome to be a sort of ‘life mentor’ for some of these kids.

The perks of being a private sector instructor in Japan.

It is exactly how you’d expect; rich people who want to learn to ski. They want the best instructor out there, they expect experience, skill, and a wealth of knowledge. The don’t expect a newly qualified 25 year old psychology graduate, and it can sometimes be really easy to feel intimidated by these strong-headed characters. With the alternative being a group of six scared skiers who don't listen to yo

u and fly down the hill out of control despite your instructions, it can also be a taste of the high life; being treated to fancy restaurant lunches, VIP champagne après and laid back lesson styles make private lessons a backwards luxury.

From timid adults to teeny first timers to tricky teens, everyday we see someone who presents a new challenge for us. Unlike school teachers we don’t get to plan the lesson the night before knowing the current level and progress of our students, everything is semi-planned within the first few minutes of talking to our students.

Then of course there is the weather to contend with, it’s there, we can’t control it and it can be ferocious sometimes. I’ve had students be absolutely amazed by the wintery experience but I’ve also had students let their fear of it get the better of them and that can be really tough. I r

emember one student in Japan that had learned to ski confidently in wedge parallel and wanted to brave the gondola run which is great, but when we got to the top, visibility was very poor. Afraid to move even the smallest of distances at first, my student took her time following closely behind me, converted straight back to her old ways and we worked really hard together to keep up the progress in the newly challenging conditions. Supporting people through this and getting them to a point where they enjoy the run down no matter th

e conditions is truly humbling and honestly really helps my own confidence too, nobody likes a scared instructor right?!

All of these challenges are what makes everyday as exciting as the next and are all part of why I love my job so much. Plus, with so many different people, changeable weather, varying skills in lessons and the occasional generous student, us instructors come home with some of the best stories, so stay tuned for more in depth stories from this New Zealand season!

The Ski Nomad