Question for working instructors (parents must not read this)

A snowHead

Wayne, ps like your web site and really fancy going skiing in Italy / Sella Ronda /Dolomites again as it is so achingly beautiful!

We are a family of 5 - me Mrs Ed and boys nearly 9 (good skier going for gold) 6 (ok skier doing well ) and a baby/infant will be 2. Does your company provide what we need? Which is- other kids, ski school, lucnh for kids then crech for baby and kids club in th eevenings?

also great Italian food?

A snowHead

Upsell!

Good grief people...are you in a business or volunteer helpers in a scout group?

Tell the parents that privates are the way to go...and get the booking confirmed there and then with their credit card.

Little Jonny will improve, parents happy, you get commission and maybe a tip too.

All the rest is a wasted opportunity to upsell.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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In my second hand experience...not always, but quite often, and often enough to be worth a try.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

As a mum to a 7yr old boy who is short and very skinny for his age, we have always been honest about his skiing ability, and he has (touch wood) ended up in the correct group but on the first day when we turn up the instructor always give us that look of 'are you sure he can ski reds etc', as the other kids are huge and look about 4yrs older. This year in Val thorens I was surprised that not all kids get their 2star badge, and felt very sorry for those that didn't I just assumed you turned up and got the badge at the end of the week. I don't mind which ski group he is in I want him to have fun and enjoy it so that he conitinues to want to go skiing. Bring on 3star next year for him. I would not ask for him to be moved, as I trust the instructors judgement, and if the instructor said he needed to change I would assume this was for his benefit. So as a parent I would rather know what standard my kids are skiing at and also whether it is likely they will achieve the badge so that I can help manage expectations if needed

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I can see a progression through 'badges'/'levels' as a guide to what class a child should be in, but that is very difficult to reconcile when a child has been through a number of different ski schools all of whom are 'marking' to a system that is subtley different to each other. So far mine have been through 3 different ski schools. When I book them into a ski school now I have to make a judgement based on the levels described rather than what they 'qualified' for the last time. Sometimes the levels rise in huge jumps too. I have seen at least one which at the middle level mine can more than do, yet the level above would probably defeat them. Do you choose the level they are or the level you want them to work towards? It's not easy. Far better I think to make the closest guess you can and then to just accept where the instructor ends up putting them. This year I am solving the problem by booking them 4hrs with a private instructor shared between the two of them (2 x 2hr sessions), I just hope they appreciate the opportunity and are not too disappointed that they probably won't get a certificate at the end of it. However, my problem will then be compounded that with no certificate I will have even less idea of the level they have reached. It's not easy for parents let alone instructors.

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Megamum, that post made borderline zero sense. You put them in the group describing their ability as best you can. The instructors will evaluate and then put the kids in the group most beneficial to them. We don't care about arbitary numbers, they just help us keep classes of the same general ability. I have no idea how any other ski schools level system works, and don't really care what anyone I teach ranks in systems I don't know either.

Seriously, instructors generally get paid very little and get by on job satisfaction. Why would we not put kids in the groups that help them improve as much as possible, safely?

After all it is free

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I would say something like the following:

"Like most children, certainly most boys, your child likes to ski fast and is bored by anything else. But we are not aiming to just look after your child whilst he/she hurtles down the mountain an inch away from an accident. We are teaching technique, safety, different styles on different types of slopes, learning to look out for each other; a whole package of skills (you are doing all these things, aren’t you?). After mastering this, he/she should be able to tackle demanding slopes that, even though he/she might just be able to do now, but will be able to do them in safely, in style, and without bad habits that will hamper future progress. You don't learn to ski at full speed - going at full speed is what you can do when you have learnt properly.

Oh - and I checked - there's no room in the higher class anyway!

back on page 1l

[quote="Wayne"]The only problem I’ve ever had with giving out the awards at the end of the week was with one guy (adult) as I had given his wife 1 .

Did I misread this ? ..........

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I think you should check out the skiing level of the parents first, before accepting their judgment.

A snowHead

Wayne, Skiing snowplough the first days is normal and appropriate on gentle GREEN slopes only.
Using snowplough after 2 or 3 weeks skiing isn't fair, going down a blue or a red run using a huge snowplough is something horrible for the future.
It is much better to practice on very easy runs the first week or the first weeks because it is essential to turn with parallel skis the fastest you can except if you want to be a snowplough expert. Snowplough is enough for gentle slope but that's all ; it's enough to understand the different skills as balance, stance, stability, timing, coordination, pivoting and direction change, edging, pressure, weight transfer, ... but the quickest way to parallel turn is for me the best and the most important thing for a skier, kid or adult. And it is so easy to build with a complete beginner and so hard to change an old skier with so many bad habits like stance problems (leaning back, leaning into the turns) pivoting with hips or shoulders, ...
The parents are so proud to go down a red or a black run at the end of the first skiing week with their children but it is a disaster. Going down a run is not necessarily skiing! Patience please. Skiing an easy red run (or black in Canada) at the end of the first week is exceptional, about once every 5 or 10 years with adults only for a full time ski instructor.

A snowHead

Yes it's a holiday but also business, if there is another kid in the class who is clearly better than him then ask the parents if they want to put some money on a race off. Whatever you do you're going to pee the parenets off, might as well make some more money out of them. Wink

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

this one of those things that could run and run , however from my experience with our boy who is now 6
and who has been going sking with us from 9 months, i believe that the instructors seem to aways get aa good balance
most instructor also seem to appreciate the kids who wnat a bit more.
our boy is an average skier for his age , the Boring bits that he doesnt like are the waiting on the slopes to do something.
last year i mentioned this to the instructor who pointedly said "yes he does have a tendancy to go off down the slope when we wait too long"
and he said he would deal with it.

so the next day we collect our boy "how was your sking" - reply today we went all the way from the top to the bottom and
did not stop at all ( well some of us did but not me ) - it transpired that for one single run down they had gained an extra instructor
and the kids had been taken down for a complete run without stopping if they wanted or they stayed with the second instructor.

result - one exited child, no more "its boring" no more going off on his own.

so i would have to go with the line that the instructors, usually know what they are doing, and are very engaged with giving the
kids a good experience, whilst keeping it safe and FUN.

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I've dealt with it this year by ordering a private instructor for a couple of two hour sessions for my pair rather than formal everyday ski school lessons (Mine will be 11 and Cool

. I see the advantage in this also being the freedom to not be tied to being back at ski school every lunchtime so we might be able to go further afield as a family group on non-lesson days. It will be interesting to see the response from the kids - first time without group lessons. With a bit of luck the instructor will be able to quickly suss their ability and push them together further than they might do in a group whilst giving them a good time.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Wayne, If an instructor was to tell me that one of mine had skied away from a group I'd skin the child concerned alive!! They wouldn't do it twice!! The one thing I drum into mine is the importance of staying with their responsible adult and that the mountain can be a dangerous place - I think I would make it a request that, before you took little Johnny/Johnetta into a lesson, parents drummed this into offspring prior to letting them disappear.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

N.B. Parents, they might not always work, but there is a lot to be said for tucking a radio (walkie talkie!) in the kids pocket. I did lose sight of one of mine once, and it wasn't long before they had remembered they had it and had successfully used it. Very Happy

I dont disagree with you - but he did not get far , and he was 5 at the time, ski ing off from the group involved not much more tha
sking from the back to past the instructor anyhow.

we are not talking about big slopes here with groups of 4-6 year olds

a good takling too was all he needed.

and the instructor dealt with it anyhow so its no big deal

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I have this a lot in the UK and abroad, for sure. I tend to explain to the parents that as if little Johnny's in a group lesson, we have to work as a team and ski so that everyone in the group is safe. If that means that Johnny feels he's going a bit slow, then certainly a private lesson with an instructor could give him that leg up to get to the next level Happy

.

It's a useful exercise in demonstrating sometimes that the only way your kid/you is going to ski the speed/way/routes you want to ski in ski school is by having your own private instructor, otherwise, you get to do what's best for the whole group.

For older children and teenagers, I've often found that when it's couched in these terms, they love being part of a ski team,and we can do things like synchronised skiing, and races, paired skiing, etc which mean they get a broader ski experience too.

Help!!

Question for working instructors (parents must not read this)

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