 Poster: A snowHead
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Well, not quite a ski school review and not really skiing, but as a few snowHeads will be doing this course at some point in the future I thought a review might be of interest.
The Common Theory course is one of several compulsory modules that make up BASI's ISIA qualification. As the title suggests it is a theoretical course which deals with a number of topics related to skiing and how you teach it. I'd not really heard any good things about the course, with it being variously described as boring, tedious and irrelevant by friends who had already done it. BASI recommend that this is the first ISIA module that is taken as it provides an introduction to some things which you will be doing later on, but most ISIA candidates seem to leave this module until last. As I had a bit of spare time I thought I'd get it out of the way, so it is the first ISIA module I signed up for. By coincidence skimottaret got a last minute booking to do the course.
The course is run at Glenmore Lodge, an outdoor education centre near Aviemore. It's possible to book accommodation at the Lodge or make your own arrangements - I booked a self-catering place in Aviemore, and my girlfriend joined me for the week so we made a bit of a holiday out of it. The presenters for the course all seemed very high quality:
Dave Renouf, BASI Operations Director: Psychological aspects of snowsport performance
Roy Henderson, BASI Trainer: Transceiver work and ropework
Nick Etheridge, BASI Trainer: Navigation skills
Gil Stevenson, UK Strength & Conditioning Association: Strength and conditioning for speed
Dougie Bryce, Sport Scotland: Coaching & the law, Coaching children and young people
Adam Park-Elliot, UK Sports Massage Association: Injury prevention and management
Marion Neil, Sport Scotland: Safeguarding children
Although the course content could have been delivered in a really dull manner, with endless note taking in the classroom, I thought that each of the presenters did a very good job of keeping the sessions active and interactive. In the psychology session on day 1, for example, we did some work on relaxation and on using mental imagery to achieve tasks, both of which were done 'live' rather than as a powerpoint presentations:
This set the tone for the rest of the week, with several other sessions including physical activities such as warm-up exercises and dynamic/static stretching. In fact, one of the criticisms I had was that the pre-course material didn't make this clear and it would have been better to dress in gym wear rather than casual clothes for some of the sessions.
Day 2 was an outdoor day, with transceiver, ropework and navigation skills. We were lucky with the weather, and nothing too strenuous was expected in terms of how far we traipsed from the Lodge. The skills were pitched at in introductory level as the course is designed as a foundation for further work in the ISIA qualification - this might explain the negative response from some people who have mostly completed their ISIA as it would simply be duplicating what they had already done. It was useful to get an idea of what sort of performance would be required at ISIA and at ISTD qualifications (eg at ISIA find one transceiver buried in a rucksack at 1m depth within 4 minutes; at ISTD find two transceivers within 8 minutes).
Day 3 was spent in the gym, with a strength and conditioning session run by a charismatic guy who persuaded most people in my group of the importance of weight lifting to develop high performance skiing (especially the demands made by something like the Eurotest). Most of the day was spent on developing technique for free lifting weights. The final part of the day was devoted to plyometric exercises and speed-strength work. This was all completely new to me, and although it was a tiring day I really enjoyed it.
Day 4 looked like it might be a bit tedious, looking at the role of the coach in relation to the law, then the role of the coach in working with children and young people. Fortunately the presenter kept the day very interactive, with lots of group discussions and some physical activity based around the importance of warm-ups when dealing with kids (not sure I'll ever be able to walk like a walrus without breaking my wrists!).
Day 5 started well, with a session on injury prevention, including a discussion on how to prevent injury for ourselves as well as clients we were teaching. The morning finished with an excellent set of dynamic and static stretching exercises (to illustrate the importance of warm-ups and increasing suppleness). The afternoon was the least satisfactory session of the whole week, with a rather chaotic discussion on safeguarding children. I've only recently done BASI's child protection course and this session didn't add anything to that. It didn't help that this was the final session of the week, was rather difficult to illustrate with practical activities and everyone was itching to get away to catch trains and planes.
Overall the Common Theory module was much better than I thought it would be, although I didn't have very high expectations. The quality of the presenters and the supporting material they provided was very high. Just about all of the sessions were very enjoyable, and I learnt a fair number of new things which will be useful as I progress through the ISIA. I was also impressed with the facilities at Glenmore Lodge, and was very happy to be in Aviemore enjoying some lovely weather, especially when the rest of the UK seemed to be suffering from non-stop rain. There was enough free time to do some sightseeing and enjoy some great views of the Cairngorms.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nice report Rob, cheers for sharing
Two questions
1. Did you get some ski touring in ? 
2. Did he recommend specific weights for skiing, and what did they recommend for speed-strength work?
regards,
Greg
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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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kitenski, alas, no touring! There really wasn't much snow remaining as far as I could see. I did get to drive up to the Cairngorm funicular, which I suspect is the closest I'll get to Scottish skiing.
For speed-strength work he recommended plyometric exercises such as jumps, bounds, and things like medicine ball exercises. We were each given a useful book titled "Strength and conditioning for games players" by Clive Brewer, published by Sports Coach UK. It has lots of examples of al sorts of strength and conditioning work.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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rob@rar, Great report and good summary of what we did. I enjoyed it more than i thought i would but you definately did the right thing by taking it first as advertised I would add a few things for readers that i personally found particularily good...
As loads of people had already done ISIA modules such as the Mountain Safety and child protection modules they made the sessions more advanced for those that had previous courses under their belts. For instance our group had done the MS and so we breezed through the basics and did some preparation for learning rope work that is required on the European Mountain Safety module which is part of ISTD training as well as multiple transceiver searches.
The strength & conditioning theory and practical session in the gym was a real eye opener. The role that strength training plays in performance at the Eurotest level is not to be underestimated and could be a reason why Brits do poorly at the Eurotest. We had a WC level snowboarder, an Italian Maestro with a eurotest pass and a few professional sportsmen who were head and shoulders stronger than the rest of the group.
The conditioning trainer had us practice lots of weight training drills relevent to skiing and he focused on a few as "benchmarks". THe back squat is used by ski teams world wide and his view was that a reasonable level of fitness was the ability to perform 5 deep squats at your body weight as a good base level of ski fitness for instructors, 1.5 times for competition/eurotest and 2x for Euro test openers/elite athletes. His view if you are competing against these people in the Eurotest you are at a severe disadvantage if you are not nearly as strong as them.
Strenght training is crucial at an early stage of training and should be a precursor to plyometrics, resistance training and speed work. Not something i had considered previously and have focused on flexibility and cardio.Stamina is obviously very important but again his view was strength will help create stamina. another "test" was how many times you can jump up onto a bench and over to the other side and back again. 90 in 90 seconds is top class...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Whats a back squat?
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| kitenski wrote: |
| Whats a back squat? |
The weightlifting bar is on your shoulders behind your head. From a standing position flex down deeply so the hips are below the level of the knees and the thighs drop below horizontal. Then stand up.
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rob@rar, I remember that day. Best summed up as 'The answer is squats, what's the question ?'
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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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ski,  Yup, that's the day!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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the weights dude in glenmore is on the Brit bobsled team and trains the Brit ski teams too i think
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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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rob@rar, skimottaret, good report. I'm still gonna leave it til last though! Wish it could be done over weekends rather than taking a weekend off work.
skimottaret, have you sent off for a language workbook yet? I have an exemption but can't remember where i put my French A level certificate  Moved house numerous times since then... I's only £30 or so i think so i might as well just do the workbook - i'm hoping they're not too hard!
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beanie1, I looked at it...very easy.
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You know it makes sense.
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beanie1, i have and will be simple if you have a french A level but may be useful to do to learn some ski related phrases.. FYI dave R. said as of October the test will be oral, so you may want to sort it out beforehand, not that you will have trouble with it but as the oral exams will be new i am sure they will be frought with hassle and delay....
THe course listing will be on the BASI website within a week or so..
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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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skimottaret, thanks. I expect the exemption would still count post Oct (no way it would be as hard as Al level oral!) but I'd rather get it done now just in case they change the rules as they tend to do...
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Poster: A snowHead
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beanie1, yeah i would just bang it out and not have any hassle....
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FAQ
A mate who did his CT last year and then got his 2 tech last month said he did 4 months of squats etc and it really made a difference for him during the two weeks.
