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What makes a great ski & snowboard instructor?
With the winter season creeping upon us, I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. If you didn’t already know, I’m a qualified, practicing ski instructor. I am always looking for ways to be better, to help my students improve quicker, and to get students interested in having more lessons with me. I just want to be the best! Don’t we all?
This article is of course for those of you who are as ski mad as me (if that’s even possible), who want to become a ski instructor, or you are already one but share the same desire to be better. Or perhaps you’re interested in learning how to ski and you’re looking for some tips on how to choose your instructor, and where to find the best instructor.
Did you know?
90% of skiers do not even know that they can select or specifically ask for an instructor. We go to a ski resort ask for lessons and wait for THAT great ski instructor. It seems to be a hit or miss affair. It does not have to be. Some instructors are great with children. Some are great with groups, while others are master at picking that element of the skiing process which creates the weakest link.
Well, I’ve thought long and hard about it and I’ve come up with 14 factors that I think make a great ski & snowboard instructor.
Contents:
1. A great smile.
I had a grumpy instructor once when I was learning as a kid and I hated it! He was clearly having a rough day and he didn’t bother to hide it or soak up the stoke from my brother and I, so I ended up having a fairly timid, slightly miserable day. I knew they weren’t all like that so I asked to change groups in the afternoon and my day went from a 7 (I was skiing, so it was always going to be higher than average) to a 10, because I wanted to be my instructor; he was the coolest dude on the mountain in my eyes. In reality, he could have been any other instructor with a smile and an interest in my passion for the sport. So there you go. Smile. You’re beautiful.
2. Passion for the sport
An instructor has to be passionate about their sport. It’s their job to show you just how awesome it is! When you talk passionately about skiing during your lesson, this will rub off on your group. They will see it in your mentality, and they will believe in you. They will trust you. They will want to improve. You may just end up bumping into a past student in the locker room one day!
3. Knowledge
Your instructor doesn’t need to be the fountain of knowledge for everything, but they do need to be able to guide you through a tailored progression, and they must be able to answer all of your questions in a way that you can understand. I also think that great instructors can entertain you with a few fun/ helpful facts.
4.Teach without teaching. Learn without learning.
In my opinion this is probably the most important aspect of being a great teacher. NOBODY signs up for a ski lesson to pass a test at the end of the day, or receive a certificate or medal (although it’s really cool when you do receive one). People pay for lessons to have more fun while being safe and supported!
I have always thought that the best ski lessons I have ever had have been the ones where I didn’t realize how much I’d learned and progressed until I told my parents all about it at lunch! At the time I wasn’t thinking about my skis becoming more parallel or having more rhythm and flow. Instead I was focused on the aim of the game we were playing which helped me to achieve these things! Both adults and children learn better when being entertained. If you want to be a great instructor you’ve got to think about fun ways to learn tricky things and if you’re looking for an instructor, get to know them!
5. A fun-loving personality
Don’t be too serious! This goes hand in hand with what I said above about learning without learning. People will always learn better when they are having fun. Keeping your lessons light hearted and lively is a great trait of all good ski instructors. Everybody is different, meaning every person has a different idea of fun. This is another example where your adaptability can come into play. Fun can mean playing silly games with your group of kids. Fun can also mean setting up a competition with your group of adults. Every lesson can be just as entertaining in many different ways – it’s your job as an instructor to figure out how. The more enjoyment your group has, the more engaged they will be and the more they will learn.
6. Is a better skier a better instructor?
The answer is a foggy grey colour. Of course you don’t need to be the next Winter olympic gold medalist to be an outstanding instructor, especially if you’re teaching the lower levels. But you do need to have more than a basic understanding of the sport and technique. Ski instructors train rigorously and undergo some intense physical coaching and exams in order to receive their qualifications. In order to be a great instructor you have to remember this information consistently and be able to share it with your students in a fun and comprehensible manner. It is also really important to stay up to date!
I have been taught by some inspirational skiers who spent a lot of the lesson showing off their skills, making me increasingly envious of their skills but not actually influencing my skills or confidence in my own skiing. I have also been taught by instructors who don’t have the best technique themselves compared to some of the ‘ski gods’ on the hill, but they were fun, patient and took the time to make sure I understood exactly what they were teaching and helped me to understand when I was doing it right. I learned so much more and I had just as much fun.
Therefore, the best instructor is someone whose skills are significantly higher than that of their students’, playful enough to inspire but caring enough to influence the way you learn how to ski.
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7. Safety is key
The mountain can be a pretty dangerous, unpredictable place. This can be very daunting when you’re learning new things, regardless of your level. I believe therefore, that a great ski or snowboard instructor is one who not only keeps you physically safe, but also makes you feel comfortable, safe, and confident to try new things.
Many of my students come to a lesson with a fear they know they need to overcome before they can progress. If they are pushed too hard, this won’t happen. Top tip: When deciding which slope to use with your group, you should always make your decision based on the ability of the worst skier. Once you have found the best slope to use, you will be able apply separate tasks to individual group members if necessary. No matter how basic the terrain is; there is always an aspect of everybody’s skiing that they need to improve, your job is to tailor the lesson to each skier so that everyone is suitably challenged.
8. Great listener
Just like any teacher. It is imperative that snowsports instructors are great listeners. It encourages meaningful and enriching conversation, it enhances the learning process and it makes you a better person!
Being social will get you a long way. I have met some incredible people as an instructor and if I only spoke about myself and skiing throughout the lesson, I’d be very bored for one, and two, my students wouldn't want to come back because it would be clear that I hadn’t taken the time to make them feel valued in my lesson. Everyone likes to talk about themselves, so give them a chance!
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9. Be adaptable. Tailor your lesson to each individual.
To be a great ski instructor you have to be able to master multi-tasking like no other. Unlike when teaching English, when I teach people how to ski, not only do I have a main group lesson plan in my head, (that I made up quickly once I’d assessed everyone’s ability) but I also have individual lesson plans for each and every one of my students’s as we all learn differently. Our bodies are different and we struggle with different things. Be a clown, a magician, a wizard, a God, too far? Some days I feel like my brain has turned into a huge algorithmic map.
Not only are the people different in ski lessons, the terrain, the weather, and group dynamics also come into play, requiring you to be able to think fast, and adapt your original plans many many times throughout the lesson. Like I said, instructors are awesome right?!
10. Organise your time
Being a great ski instructor isn’t just about being successful with students. That’s the main part yes, but it’s also about being a great employee. If you want your ski school to approve of you, you will need to show great organisational skills. From meeting your group on time to dropping them off at the end of the lesson, you always need to make sure you adhere well to the set schedule. This will also show your students that you’re professional and trustworthy.
Getting your group back to base on time can be a bit tricky sometimes. There are quite a few things that can trip you up such as the weather, skiing ability, accidents, and lift operation delays. If something happens on your last run back you may be late! Having a good knowledge of your ski resort also has a huge part to play in your organizational success, if you go the wrong way you may well be late too! It’s always good to leave extra time so that you can wrap up the lesson and talk about future learning plans or cool down stretches with your students.
11. Organise your group.
This is something I urge all new instructors to try to focus on when they first start out. It can be the make or break of your lesson. You DO NOT want a student going missing because you didn’t have a foolproof system of making sure you have everyone with you every time you stop. Nor do you want extra people in your group, or students who never get a chance to ski behind you and therefore stay at the back without improving much since they may not be able to hear or see you as well as the others. It is vital to get good at this to keep everyone safe.
12. Organise your lesson
A great instructor sequences instruction during a lesson so that the student reaches a specific goal by the end. It starts with watching the student ski at the beginning, evaluating what might be possible to learn given the parameters of the lesson, and developing a sequence in their head which leads the student to that goal. Take things ONE STEP at a time until the student "gets it," before moving onto the next thing in the sequence. A great instructor is flexible with this plan, and changes tactics in the moment according to what is working with each individual, even in a group lesson. (Some instructors just teach a bunch of drills unrelated to each other, moving from one to the next to fill up the instructional time until the lesson is over, this is NOT what you want to be doing.
13. Stamina and energy
Have you ever skied all day from first tracks lifts to last night ski lifts? I have. Many times. Were you tired? Did you rest the next day? I was, but I did it all again the next day because guess what…. It’s awesome. Ok, but on a serious note, ski and snowboard instructors have to have the physical stamina to ski all day (including hiking up the hill to help students, lifting them up when they can’t get up by themselves (mainly kids haha!), and the mental strength to cope with demanding and difficult students.
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14. If you haven’t guessed it already, a great instructor is a confident instructor.
Confidence is key. If you would like your students to believe in what you’re saying, you need to say it like you have no doubts!
Ski instructors are quite well known for being a bit cocky (to say the least) and it’s not always a bad thing in our industry. You train hard to arrive in your jobs. You have passed your exams, and have proven yourself. You have earned the right to tell everyone what you can do, so that they can do it too! When you project confidence you will always be able to win people over. Get people to believe in your methods and you will usually succeed in improving the skiing of your group.
One way to feel confident instructing is to stay up to date with teaching methods and gain as much knowledge as possible. They also say that with experience, comes knowledge, it just takes time.
So there you have it, 13 elements of being a great ski or snowboard instructor. Smile. Be happy. Hit the books, rip the slopes, listen like a God and entertain like a clown, and then some.
JUST BE BETTER.
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The SkiNomad
