 Poster: A snowHead
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skisimon,
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From the CSCF side of the fence, the route from 'trained' to 'certified' is the completion of a work-book like task (which essentially takes about a season). This can be signed off by a coach who is not necesaarily CSCF qualified, as long as they are of appropriate equivalence and have been 'trained' in the requirements of the work-book.
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That's good to know, I should be able to do it then. If only CSCF / BASI (don't know who to blame) would register me and send me the details so I can get started!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The course is now essentially over, having covered all the necessary issues regarding coaching. However, today we turned it up a notch and skied GS as opposed to slalom.
Day 5 of 6
We did a fairly long warm up, wanting to get really balanced for the ensuing training. Using brushes, Chris set up a GS course down a not inconsiderble red run. I darted into it part way through the warm up and couldn't hold on beyond four gates. After finishing my warm up I skied the whole thing top to bottom - this demonstrated to me how much difference a good warm-up can make.
On longer radius skies it was interesting to see people who were carving superbly on slalom skis suddenly start steering and not having the patience (balls) to wait for the edge to grip.
Most of this morning session was focused on tactics (with very little technical pointers). We tried skiing different lines, seeing how different the high and low ones were to use, and how much speed is lost in different phases of the turn using these lines. Then we focused on getting a good line, split virtually 50/50 above and below the gate - removing the need to ski across the course at any point owing to a nice diagonal line. We also looked for a good visual indicator of this line - the skis facing virtually down the fall-line as you ski past the gate. To help improve our line, Chris added brushes just above and below the gates to indicate where the best line was. Using these certainly helped some of the group.
Today we did more runs with video, but watched our runs whilst out on the hill before our next attempt.
After lunch we kept it short, due to deteriorating snow and did a couple of runs. I coached my session and apparantly did very well (I suppose all that leadership training with the RN had to come into play at some time!  ). My short session was focused on improving the group's feel for carving on GS skis, especially on steeper terrain, as a few of the group lost their edging ability in the gates when they hit the main pitch.
Then we entered cool down!
In the afternoon session we did a fairly in-depth look at tuning skis and had an introduction to freestyle by the freestyle course conductor, who will be spending tomorrow afternoon with us.
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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skisimon, sounds really excellent - as I expected when you said Chris Hillier was running it (as I said earlier, our head coach reckons he's really inspirational). A few comments on your day 4 & 5 write ups. Re warming up in the course: generally not a good idea. First off, if it's actually a race course, it's a huge no no - as you'll get disqualified. You're not actually allowed even to shadow the course (i.e. ski the pattern of the course just alongside it) prior to the race itself. If it's just a training course, there's no practical problem on dry, but it's very bad etiquette to go onto the course before being instructed to do so by the coach (I got a roasting for this the first time I went on a snow training course), with the practical reason on snow that ruts can build up very quickly, so uncontrolled skiing through the course will wear it out way earlier than the coach would have planned.
Good points about warm-up style prior to a race - you need to do something that will approximate the type of turn you will be making during the race itself - and that's something I've not always been particularly good at myself. Working out how to get into the 'gates groove' is not something that's particularly obvious to beginner racers, so as a coach that's an important part of the training you need to be able to impart to your students. Personally I find it almost impossible to ski in the way I would through gates without them actually being there - I can never replicate the feeling of having that constraint on vertical drop.
Adding brushes to a course are a fantastic training tool. You can use them as you described above to help prevent overturning, and in a slalom course they're often used just above the gate to get you to set up early for the turn. You can also use them as indicators for where to start turning, or finish turns - to stop you holding on to the turn too long. One of the best sessions we had last summer/autumn was when we were doing exercises on getting the turn finished in time. Set a reasonably regular, not too wide slalom course. Put a brush directly below each gate, say 2-3m downhill, so you can see it when you've past the gate. You have to turn above the brush, and finish the turn and be into the transition by the time you cross the line between the gate and the brush. Really concentrates your mind on getting early on the gates, and getting a lot of the turn done before you get to the gate.
After this week, it would be very interesting to hear your thoughts (and also any you may have picked up from your co-trainees) on the differences between running "coaching" and "instructing" sessions, and how you set yourself up to approach them differently.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Okay, at Barcelona airport now. Will write up the last day of the course when I get home.
Regarding the jumping into the course, we were told to. It was just a training tool for us, and Chris said to just start using it when we felt we were warmed up - which I found was not as soon as I had thought! I hadn't planned to use the course as part of the warm-up (as you say, no-no), but had planned on getting stuck into the main part of the session, which I then decided I wasn't ready for so jumped back out. So, don't read it as a race course/race day, but just as some gate training tools.
Ah ha, could give you plenty on the differences, some of the regular instructors kept getting reminded not to instruct. 
PS. I passed! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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skisimon, congratulations. Sounds like you had a great week.
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skisimon, Congratulations, excellent thread.
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Thank you both. It was a fantastic week, and the best thing was I was skiing much better by day 6 than I was on day 1. I suppose that's likely to happen when you spend a week with a World Cup coach (not often you can do that for £320).
I'd certainly recommend the course to anyone. Particularly the one in Soldeu which is run over 6 instead of 3 days.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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skisimon, Off topic I know, but what was the transfer like from Barca to Soldeu ? I very nearly booked myself onto one of the other courses running this week but decided against it, but will likely as not will do it next season.
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skisimon, Congratulations!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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skisimon, well done sounded a great course but i am still a little mystified about the 6 versus 3 days... is this a new cscf course?
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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.
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skimottaret, No, it's an extended CSCF L1 only available in Andorra, designed mainly for the Euros (Brits) who may not be skiing/training all season, so much more opportunity to train and improve during the course, and can also include a little snowpark work.
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Very well done skisimon.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks guys. veeeight's explained it pretty much. I think (from what a couple of guys on the course were saying), the fact that it is an extended course is of some value in Andorra (much like they are now running the extended CSIA L2/L3 to meet the requirement for the number of training days for the Andorran authorities).
david@mediacopy, the transfer was excellent. Booked through Novatel (link from the Instructor Academy website). Was going to fly to Toulouse but there were only a couple of transfers and they didn't line up with the flights. There were quite regular transfers from Barcalona (about every 1.5 - 2 hours). You get a coach through to Andorra la Vella then everyone splits into midi-coach type things so that you head straight off to your destination rather than doing the grand tour of Andorra. Hassle/pain free and quite quick too (about three hours, was expecting closer to four). They also dropped everyone off at their hotels (rather than just at the Naudi like it says on the web-site), great if you were lugging as much kit as I was...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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skisimon, Cheers 
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Poster: A snowHead
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skisimon, muchos congrats
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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Dypcdiver, ta.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks again guys.
Dypcdiver, was good meeting you, if I recall correctly though, you actually bought me more drinks during the time I was over there. 
Just remembered that I didn't do the last days write up:
Day 6 of 6
With the course content truly covered, and the conductor crocked, we had a slightly different day.
The course conductor for the freestyle instructors' course took us for a warm up, looking at the ways that those in the park warm up, and how elements of their warm up is hugely beneficial for those warming up for a race training session. We did buttering, ducky turns, telemark turns on alpine gear (I got a bit of praise from the conductor, although I was honest enough to admit that I'd been telemarking just a couple of weeks before) and considered hugely exaggerated movements as a warm up tool.
Then we did some more GS type gates with brushes. I did the day on slalom skis to force me to be more smooth in my motions (forcing it on a GS course with R10 skis would have shot me back up the hill...) It was also interesting to 'feel' the difference and adjust my skiing for the equipment and turn shape - something Chris wanted us to experiment with given the length of the course.
In the afternoon we acted as guinea pigs for those on the snowpark course. They taught us about jumps and we gave the jumps a go. We got to consider how the park can be used for racing athletes (i.e. preparing those moving into SG/DH for jumps) and they got a real practical group to teach.
And that was about it.
Boy it was hot though in the afternoon, hiking up the hill in the park to do each jump.  It was good fun though, and when I 'popped' a little too much off a jump and realised how high I'd gone I did bottle one of the landings... 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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skisimon, forgot to say well done for passing!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Rossfra8, cheers. Likewise for your successful winter!
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skisimon, Congratulations on passing and great report! 
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FAQ
