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#21
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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
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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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