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How to Teach Someone How to Ski?
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So I was hired as a ski coach at my local hill. I am a well experienced skier and have no worries while on the hill. The problem I am having is transferring my knowledge to kids and adults who have never strapped into a pair of skis before. If anyone who has taught or been in lessons in the past and has any tips or games to make the 2 hour lesson fun for them and give them the best chance of learning to ski would be great. (The hill has also given zero training in how to run these lessons and they are not given any poles.)
The lesson plan I have thought of to take up the two hour lesson time.
1. Go over parts of the skis.
2. How to clip in and out.
3. How to get up if/when they fall.
4. Pizza/ french fry.
5. Imagine holding a lunch tray in your hands with a glass of water on it and to balance the fake glass while turning down the hill.
Im not freaking out to much about giving the lesson, just any tips would be appreciated.
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you should bring them to the summit and push them downhill, they should learn
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You need to make it fun for them. If they enjoy it there more likely to come back and do it again and want to improve. You can spend loads of time just going through some drills;
kids - just make everything in to a game.. airplane turns, hands on knees, pretending to play basketball (dribbling across the slope and shooting to the outside on the turn), pouring teacup (similar to basketball; pretend to be a teapot and pour to the outside on turn), kids love games so simon says, heads shoulders knees and toes, traffic controller (ski backwards in front of them and signal them to start/stop/left/right etc)
adults - same sort of idea but more adult. try to get them centred and on the downhill leg. step turns, lifting inside leg, hook turns, falling leaf turns
adults understand more and usually want to know why they are doing the drills, whereas kids don't understand and just want to play about and have fun..
my gf is an instructor at Fernie so has lots of ideas if you want anything else..
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Where were you hired? You're not part of a ski school and don't have plans to get certified?
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I get so frustrated at some of the instructors at my hill because they are so ungodly boring. Like I would honestly fall asleep listening to them. So create a wacky personality and make it fun as fun as possible because then people will be engaged and as a result learn more.
As for the teaching part the only thing I would have to add to everyones else recommendations is make them aware of their edges and how a ski actually comes in contact with the snow. That seems like basic knowledge to us but for someone who has never skied before it can be confusing. Show them the edges and explaining their use and how they effect your skiing. Most know how to pizza and are aware that it makes them slow down many don't know why that is. Explain that to them and show them what edges are being used and in what way are they stopping or turning you. The same goes for other parts of the ski. Explain how camber and sidecut can create a turn or how rocker allows on to float. And try to explain it in a visual and fun way.
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Thanks for the advice so far and Holte, Im going to leave the hill anonymous only cause I dont want to make them look bad in any way
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In my experience i would say the best way to start is just let them slide around for a while at the base so they get a good of what it is like to have skis attached to their feet. From there they will understand pizza/french fry a little better because they have already gotten used to being clipped in without really doing much actual skiing. Also get to know the person a little so you can figure what type of learner they are and what approach to take.
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See if you can sit in on a first day lesson with 4 year olds. Even if you are teaching/coaching adults, treat them like 4 year olds. As mentioned above, make it fun. Lots of fun. Too much fun. When I was an instructor and started out teaching children, I learned that it doesn't really matter if they cant link a turn after a couple days on skis if they had a blast trying it. Making it fun and a little challenging will make people want to continue doing it. Having an instructor that gets disappointed and boring is super lame, and the likelihood of that person coming back to ski is very slim.
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Yeah building off everyone else... you need to realize these people have absolutely no idea what to do. Like I've had people with the boots on the wrong feet, trying to clip in to skis backwards, etc. I'm not saying to treat them like idiots, but you need to go over things that may seem like common sense to you.
With kids under 12-13, take the poles from them. Every time. They are just a distraction. Even take them from adults if the poles are getting in the way. You don't need them to learn to ski. I won't give them back until they can solidly go up the lift and link wedge turns from top to bottom.
Kids in lessons just want to have fun. It may seem counter-intuitive to the purpose of a lesson, but I would rather have a lesson with a kid where he only learns to make a wedge but had a great time than a kid that can link wedge turns but didn't have fun. Lessons should be all about fun and safety.
The lessons at my mountain are 1 to 1 1/2 hours but I can PM you our lesson progression layout if you want. I've got a whole bunch of tricks and methods to get people from point zero to linking wedge turns
Teaching lessons are easy once you get a topic progression down and it gets much easier with time. Just have fun with the people in your lesson and don't get bogged down and discouraged on struggling students. Everybody struggles in the beginning and learns at their own pace
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