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Why join PSIA?



 
 
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  #21  
Old April 22nd 07, 02:06 PM posted to rec.skiing.alpine
Mary Malmros
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Posts: 53
Default Why join PSIA?

Ron Capik wrote in
:

Mary Malmros wrote:

The advantage, from my perspective, is that now that I'm certified, I
get higher priority for the advanced classes (and since I'm teaching
kids and not adults, there's a much better than average chance on any
given day that there will be multiple advanced classes, and that I
can go somewhere other than the bunny hill).

As far as the quality of the instruction and whatnot, it depends a
whole lotsa. Our local PSIA guys are good and they're not a bunch of
theory weenies, so when you take a clinic with them, you actually do
learn something.


Seems I've earned that high priority without certification. I've
even gotten advanced assignments ahead of some full time
instructors. I was also assigned private lessons my first season
teaching.


Being in New Jersey probably explains a lot of that. You're probably
not competing with that many instructors who know their ass from their
elbow, probably -- no offense, but Jersey isn't a big magnet that would
draw a lot of would-be instructors from elsewhere. Where I work, we've
typically got a batch of internationals every year with certs, and some
full-timers, and full-timers and folks with certs get priority. The
other thing is that we do a lot of volume, which means we always have at
least one advanced group. Having a cert means you're not going to be
dealing with never-evers every single weekend. Getting privates is not
a priority thing for us -- if you're free (don't have a group), and the
guy who does privates is around, he's gonna grab you and put you to
work. Again, higher volume.

Best class I got was from a high school bus trip. I got the expert
kids, with a waver allowing them on the blacks. [mountain policy,
no blacks for school groups without special permission.]


We don't need permission for that. We can't take 'em in the park or the
trees, though.

Seems I'm still not quite sold.


Seems to me that no one's trying to sell you -- no one here, at least.
One thing to consider, though, is what your opportunities are to improve
your own skiing. Our in-house trainers are as good as any PSIA trainers
(they usually _are_ PSIA trainers or whatnot), and they do training all
the time that doesn't cost us anything -- or if I want a tune-up on
something, I just ask my boss to take a run, since he's about the best
instructor I've ever met. But at a smaller area, you're a lot less
likely to have an in-house training system that guarantees there will
this kind of training available every week for free.
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  #22  
Old April 23rd 07, 04:54 PM posted to rec.skiing.alpine
snoig
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Posts: 232
Default Why join PSIA?

On Apr 22, 8:06 am, Mary Malmros wrote:
Being in New Jersey probably explains a lot of that. You're probably
not competing with that many instructors who know their ass from their
elbow, probably -- no offense, but Jersey isn't a big magnet that would
draw a lot of would-be instructors from elsewhere.


Having been an instructor in New Jersey for a few years (many years
ago) I'd have to say that you're way off base here Mary. I taught at
both Hidden Valley and what is now Mountain Creek and I think the
quality of teaching for green level skiers was much better than what
we get in Breckenridge.

In NJ, most of the instructors I knew had day jobs and taught at
night. The reason they did it was for the free ski pass and because
they really enjoyed teaching. Even though it was NJ, they were all
very good skiers as well as good instructors. Many of them were
people I knew from the high school racing circuit so most had been
skiing for a long time.

Here in Breckenridge, we get a lot of first time instructors who are
not great skiers but they are good enough to teach first timers. It's
hard for the ski schools here to find competent lower level
instructors because they just don't pay enough for instructors to live
here. Most of the long term upper level instructors have business
where they can make enough money over the summer so they don't need to
worry about income for the winter. On the other hand, the lower level
instructors all work here for a season or two and move on or find a
night winter job so they can actually ski during the day.

In other words, in NJ you were much more likely to be taught your
first time out by someone who had quite a few years teaching
experience under their belt. In Colorado, you are much more likely to
be taught the first time by someone who is in their first year
teaching and will probably not be back the next year.

snoig

 




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