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Private lessons for kids

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi all, I'm thinking of getting my age 9 son some private lessons on my next ski trip (a week in Saas Fee at Easter)

Usually I'd book 6 half day group lessons for him but we are going Tuesday to Tuesday so the days don't fit well

For budget reasons I can't stretch to 6 private lessons so I was thinking of 2 or possibly 3 private lessons.

Does anyone have any advice on how best to structure it? i.e when in the week to have the lessons. Is one at the start and near the end a good plan? Should he start on the second day to get his ski legs back? That kind of thing.

Also should I join the lessons at all? I was thinking of dropping in near the end to chat through his progress with his teacher and get some pointers on what he should be practicing, is this overkill?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I'd book them in a block, Jnr will probably get more out of having the continuity of lesson with the instructor. I'd front-load them into your trip too so he can get that confidence boost for the rest of the week.

Any good instructor should be happy to go over what they've done in their session and what they would plan to do next so you can practice with him and plan for the next session.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
When ours were that age, we booked them in a block - my 2 older kids were a similar standard, so both went with the Instructor.

I would give a day at the start (for getting ski legs) and a day at the end (for skiing together) without an Instructor. Then book 3 days together, depending on your plans ie. Coincide with any lessons you might have.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Thanks both good advice.

I think I'll give him an easy day to begin and start the lessons on the second day. The reason is that we are arriving very late on the day before so he's likely to be very tired on the first day. Plus there's a certain amount of faffing about with gear on the first morning that will only be more stressful if I need to get him to a lesson on time.

The likelihood is he'll be finished by lunchtime on the first day and ready for a morning lesson the next day.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Henwc, Most of mine are booked for the first 3 mornings of their week. This gives Mum and Dad a bit of peace and quiet and allows me to deliver some consistent and progressive training. A good instructor will hand them back to you with some advice and tips for the afternoon to practice further. At Easter make sure your lessons are from 9am when the snow will be better, don't get fobbed off with an afternoon session.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
@Henwc, concur with the above advice. My experience in Saas-Fee is that Zenit and the Eskimos ski schools are a little more flexible than the Swiss Ski School in terms of days and times to suit the customer. Both of them have several native English speakers which can be a good thing for younger skiers.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Henwc, When I was a pretty awful skier, I subscribed to this "take a day to get your ski legs" theory. Now that I am an instructor I do not at all subscribe to it. And interestingly neither do my kids. Ski from the start as you mean to go on. First day, first run, every time, lift the inside ski off the snow with only the tip touching. Make sure you ar properly balanced and your weight suitable forward. Don't avoid steeper slopes as you can get away with bad habits to a greater extent on the bunny slopes.

For lessons - the sooner in your holiday you take them the more likely that any bad habits are addressed quickly. Snd the more time for consolidation. Frankly I will make a better assessment from a "good" skier skiing "badly" (worse than their best) than a "bad" skier who is skiing "well" (at their best). If that makes sense.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
zikomo wrote:
@Henwc, When I was a pretty awful skier, I subscribed to this "take a day to get your ski legs" theory. Now that I am an instructor I do not at all subscribe to it. And interestingly neither do my kids. Ski from the start as you mean to go on. First day, first run, every time, lift the inside ski off the snow with only the tip touching. Make sure you ar properly balanced and your weight suitable forward. Don't avoid steeper slopes as you can get away with bad habits to a greater extent on the bunny slopes.

For lessons - the sooner in your holiday you take them the more likely that any bad habits are addressed quickly. Snd the more time for consolidation. Frankly I will make a better assessment from a "good" skier skiing "badly" (worse than their best) than a "bad" skier who is skiing "well" (at their best). If that makes sense.

I agree with almost all of your advice on here - but I don't agree with this, at least as far as I'm concerned.

If you spend a lot of weeks on snow, then yes, what you say makes sense......but if you haven't skied for a year, maybe 2 years (or even 3 years, like it was for me after Covid), - even if you do sensible drills to ease back into skiing, it still takes a while to get the confidence and timing back. I personally get more out of a lesson when this confidence and timing has returned, rather than spend half the lesson getting to this point. I ski much better on Day 2 and better again on Day 3.

I like an Instructor to assess my skiing, when my skiing is at the level it should be - which is not on the first half day.....however, it is possible that what I have found works for me, may not be universally applicable.


Last edited by After all it is free Go on u know u want to! on Wed 8-03-23 12:29; edited 1 time in total
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Quote:

I think I'll give him an easy day to begin and start the lessons on the second day. The reason is that we are arriving very late on the day before so he's likely to be very tired on the first day. Plus there's a certain amount of faffing about with gear on the first morning that will only be more stressful if I need to get him to a lesson on time.

Agree with that. Let him get his bearings, and his breath back. If his boots or any other aspect of his gear aren't right at first, you've time to rectify it, with no rush or panic.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@Old Fartbag, Well we can't agree on everything!

I can see how parts of what I said might seem counter-intuitive. But the aspect of assessing a skier I stand by. To be honest I will normally have a very good idea of your standard just watching you put skis on/standing with skis on/poling to the lift. And seeing you at your best is not necessarily the best way to drive improvement. It is the little habits we all fall back into when things are not going perfectly that can be very telling, and those often show when we have been off the snow for a while.

To some extent it depends on the goal but if it is overall performance improvement I would opt for lessons right off the bat. If the goal is more specific - i.e. pushing yourself to see if you can do a certain thing - then you might well more easily achieve that with coaching when you are skiing at your best. There may be a risk, however, that it is hard to repeat that specific performance goal in all future circumstances which can be frustrating (as you know it is possible for you to do it!).

I remember one of the kids instructors when they were young seeing me skiing past on day 1. She caught up to me at the lift and challenged why I was skiing so slowly with a bit of backseat. My explanation of "it's the first day, it's not that natural for me, so I'm easing back into it" was turned into a lesson for the kids (and me!) on why it is important to ski properly ALL the time.

Where I do sort of agree with you and @pam w, is with younger kids, where the whole getting ready and dealing with kit on the first morning can be exhausting. First day can be tough on them!
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Can't pass any real opinion an this other than my own experience with junior (many years ago). We initially started him in group lessons for the first two or three years, he didn't like them and watching him just snaking down a hill following an instructor 8 kids in front of him and another 4 behind didn't seem as if he was getting anything out of it except cold. We changed this to one on one lessons on alternate days. It cost about the same but the improvement in his skiing was massive. As a bonus there was no scrabbling about first thing to get him to the nursery slopes or the mad dash back to meet him and we were able to ski the whole day with him on the days of no instruction. It didn't take too long before we stopped lessons altogether and just enjoyed skiing as a family.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Thanks all strong cases have been made for private lessons, I'll get some booked.

@zikomo, I personally agree with starting as you mean to go on and I apply it to myself already in that I spend the first day focussing on skiing as technically well as I can. I draw the distinction between skiing well and skiing fast/hard though. I usually keep the speed down for the first day and stay off terrain that will push me into bad habits. For this trip my son will be so tired from the later arrival on the first day that I'm not going to put him into lessons then. If he's grumpy and tired he'll be less likely to form a positive relationship with his instructor. I see this as quite a big deal and it's a bit unfair on the instructor to put them in that situation.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@zikomo, You make a decent case - and as an Instructor, it adds validity to your argument.

On the other hand, I'm not an Expert at very much, but I am qualified to talk about what suits me. Over the years, I have tried Lessons from day 1, from day 2 and even day 3. I would usually have taken 3 half days - and tried various combinations, from every other day, to taking them in a block.

However, we are looking at this from opposite ends of the Telescope. You are coming at this with an "Instructor's Eye". I am coming at this as a punter, who is shelling out somewhere between €150 - €250 for the half day. I definitely do not feel I get the same from a lesson, as when I have got a day under my belt. An Instructor will get my skiing in gear more quickly, but there is still that time where I am getting used to things.

I have been doing this long enough (and am sad enough to take notes from every lesson I have had, over the last 30 years), so have an idea what my faults are and thus like time to iron out my kinks before being assessed (which makes me self conscious enough, without adding to it).

For example, this year, as I hadn't been on snow for 3 years, I was over doing everything - so ended up making easier runs harder work than they should be - especially when moguls had started to appear. But as the feeling and timing came back, I started to back off a bit and everything started clicking into place. This is something that I know I can get wrong at the start, so if I had been taking lessons - which I wasn't, as money is much tighter than it used to be - I would much rather have started when I was skiing more like I was at the end of the previous holiday in Feb 2020....there will still be plenty of faults for an Instructor to get their teeth into. Skullie
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Old Fartbag, It's not that I really disagree with you to be honest, it is just one perspective I am giving as you say through a particular lens.

I would definitely say that tiredness is not a good place to start from for anyone, and would be good reason to skip lessons on the first day. This is especially true for younger children (first morning clothing and kit faff) but often also true for teenagers (their sleep cycle not optimal). And as I said, I think it also very much depends on the goal. Private lessons are indeed an expense and it makes sense to try and maximise the return!

I know, for instance, that my eldest will be a bag of spanners on our on a first day fishing. He is an expert spey-caster and now working on instructor exams. But as we will be up very early for a long drive the first day he will be absolutely useless. As always. There would be absolutely no point in a coach working with him on that day, and I would not wish it on the coach!
ski holidays
 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Read Steve Angus , 22nd Feb "Burning money and super glue"
Sums up nicely, issues with youngsters who aren't ready to take tuition.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Rogerdodger wrote:
Read Steve Angus , 22nd Feb "Burning money and super glue"
Sums up nicely, issues with youngsters who aren't ready to take tuition.


Thanks!! This is on the thread I write on daily... "The view from Val d'Isere..... and the Espace Killy"
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Thanks all, I have booked some morning private lessons starting on the second skiing day.
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