 Poster: A snowHead
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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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docsquid, congratulations 
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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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docsquid, congratulations. Who was the Trainer?
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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 wrote: |
| docsquid, congratulations. Who was the Trainer? |
Hi Rob - It was Andy Jerram - really nice, supportive bloke and very helpful in all aspects of the course. Gave us all lots to think about and we all improved a lot over the course of the week. Who would have thought a week in a big fridge could be so much fun.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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docsquid, yes, he's a very nice chap. A good Trainer to have.
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Well done - sounds interesting, any links to reading up on cost/pre-reqs/time needed to do such a course???
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docsquid, Well Done !
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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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| docsquid wrote: |
| I think I might have a small tot ............. |
Didn't know you were Austrian.
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Congrats, BTW
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| kitenski wrote: |
| Well done - sounds interesting, any links to reading up on cost/pre-reqs/time needed to do such a course??? |
Info here. Cost this season was £360.
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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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docsquid, Well done you. Let me know when you are thinking of booking your level 2. I am still interested in doing mine but don't want to go alone.
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You know it makes sense.
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Fantastic news! hope to get there sometime this summer - will give you a call and see if you're about.
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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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docsquid, Well done to you, it's always a good thing to learn something new and succeed - why not have a big tot tonight?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Well donedocsquid!
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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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Wow! Thank you all for your support.
As it happens, I had a bit of a struggle to complete the course. I started feeling really sick on the Wednesday and by Thursday had gone down with a horrible flu-like thing. By Friday I couldn't stop coughing, and my breathing had gone really downhill, such that I couldn't even walk to the travelator without gasping (I've got cystic fibrosis, so a chest cold is bad news). I knew I had to pull my short turns up to standard today, so just went and had a go...and did it!
Kitty, I'm going to have another winter of instruction from various folks, hopefully 4 or 5 weeks of it, and then see whether to book a Level 2 course next Spring. Andy thought I needed the extra time and I think I do too. I can do some of the work needed at the Snowdome (the central theme stuff can be done there as well as anywhere), but will need to do a lot of mountain time too.
Butterfly, it would be great to see you there again - just give me a shout. Even if I'm working in the gym, we could meet up for coffee/lunch.
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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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docsquid, Well done, great achievement.
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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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docsquid, nice one, great feeling isnt it... have some fun and get teaching to see how much your really are into it...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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docsquid, well done and congratulations. I remembered from the other thread that you were going to Tamworth for your L1 this week and I did wonder how you got on.
P.S How come you already had done the First Aid course and the Child Protection module? Did you do those a few months ago before taking this course and can you do the Child Protection module prior to taking the Level 1 course then? Obviously you can as you have done it! 
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docsquid, Well done
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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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docsquid, well done from me, too.
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docsquid, you are an inspiration! Well done
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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docsquid, fantastic - congratulations!
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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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VolklAttivaS5, I have the First Aid qualification as a requirement of being a personal trainer, so I have the full four-day First Aid at Work qualification from St John's Ambulance. It isn't a ski specific one, but all that BASI require is at least a two-day course. This is because the FAW qualification requires a two-day refresher every three years, so allows people to get by with just the refresher, not doing the whole course again.
I did the Child Protection module in January because I had a couple of personal training clients who wanted me to train them and their teenage children, or bring older children to my nordic walking classes. I knew I had to do it for BASI so I got the SportsCoach UK web site details from the BASI web site, and then booked a local course through them. The SportsCoach UK courses are run in lots of local venues, and cover generic issues of child protection in relation to sports coaching, not just ski-specific, but they are accepted by BASI, and cover the same material.
I really love teaching - I taught all my professional life, and now teach aerobics and personal training. I loved doing the teaching element of the course, and got very high marks, but then again, I'm used to doing it in other contexts, it was just applying it to skiing that I had to learn. I think it will be a real buzz seeing people start off enjoying the sport that I love.
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docsquid, great to see that you can hopefully combine two things that you love, teaching and skiing, normally this is not the case for many people. Being paid to do what we love to do seems the way to go .
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You know it makes sense.
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docsquid, I make no apologies for repeating something I've already posted (when I first looked at the website which you used to have in your sig) but your achievements are truly humbling. Mucho respect.
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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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docsquid, well done you, a fantastic achievement!
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Poster: A snowHead
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docsquid, Well done you!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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docsquid, excellent, thanks for the info.
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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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docsquid, could I ask some things about the course itself please? Were you assessed continuously throughout the week or just on the last day? Pardon my ignorance here but what sort of things did you have to perform/demonstrate in order to pass? What sort of things did the people do or not do for them to fail?
Thanks
P.S Hope your chest is better now.
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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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VolklAttivaS5, we were continually assessed, but we had some more formal assessment sessions with videos. Assessment was based around two main areas - the teaching skills bit and the skiing skills and personal performance bit.
We were assessed teaching the BASI central theme (introductory activities, straight running (including posture), plough, plough turns, plough parallel, basic parallel). Both our own performance of these elements and our teaching skills were assessed on these by planning and delivering a lesson to the rest of the class. We were also assessed on piste long turns (i.e. carving skills) and piste short (i.e. short turns with rotation of skis), on technical knowledge and on ability to analyse and modify our own performance. We did a bit of freestyle on snowblades but that wasn't assessed, at least I don't think it was - I think it was a bit of fun after we used snowblades to help people carving. I was chuffed to bits to crack 360's on snow in both directions (clockwise and anti-clockwise), and carving backwards (as opposed to snowploughing). We were also assessed on sideslipping, diagonal sideslipping/falling leaf and traversing as part of overall performance, but not as separate elements. Sideslipping races are fun, if prone to end in falls 
We were all given our results separately, but I know of two people who failed. One chap was using old fashioned ski technique and didn't managed to get his knees/feet far enough apart during the week. The other chap who failed was a decent freestyler, but didn't seem to get it together regarding posture or piste ski technique during the week and seemed to fall over rather a lot, for a trainee instructor. However I didn't get to talk to him after the results to see if that was his reason for failing.
AFAIK, nobody failed the teaching bit, it was the technical skiing that let people down. I'd also say that unless you learned to ski in the last few years, it isn't worth practising the snowplough and plough parallel stuff before the course, as it is all different now. I had to learn it all again from scratch and I only learned 4 years ago! It is easier to learn it all from scratch than correct a set movement pattern that isn't current practice, IMO.
I didn't think I'd pulled my short turns up to standard, but evidently I had. I was not transferring edge simultaneously on all turns on the video and worked really hard on this on the last day, and obviously improved enough. I need a LOT of practice for Level 2 though, as you have to attain higher marks and under more demanding conditions and be able to do things more consistently.
Re the chest - off to the hospital tomorrow for some IV antibiotics, I'm afraid 
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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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docsquid, what marks did you have to get to pass L1? Just curious as i did it back in days of traineed instructor, when it wasn't assessed.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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beanie1, we had to get at least a 3, preferably 4 out of 6. I got a variety of marks from 3 to 6, with a 3 for short turns and 6 for all the teaching elements.
For L2, I believe it is 5's across the board for central theme stuff, and 3 or 4 for bumps, off piste and freestyle, but somebody will probably correct me on that.
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docsquid, oooh brilliant thanks for all that info and taking the time to type it!
Sounds like you did really well. I know you live in Tamworth and so therefore doing the course at the Snowdome would have been the most sensible option for you, was the Snowdome plenty of terrain/room for you to do it all in? Obviously it was since you've done it! I see they do do a L1 course in Hintertux where it would be on a "proper" mountain as it were, well glacier, but obviously there are more travel/accomodation costs involved with that. Do you think doing the L1 at a snowdome is plenty good enough instead of going abroad to do it?
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docsquid, i can't remember! i think it may have been minimum 4 for personal performance as you say. i don't think freestyle is assessed though? It got removed from the syllabus after an accident!
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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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VolklAttivaS5, i think if you intend to do your L2 then it'd be more beneficial to do your L1 in the mountains.
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VolklAttivaS5, I would like to do L2 and obviously would have to do this in the mountains, with a lot of instruction from BASI trainers before the actual course, if I can sort that out. However, I'd already invested heavily in skiing and teaching this season, so doing L1 at home seemed sensible, as there were no travel costs involved.
You don't do bumps or off piste for L1, and the snowdome seemed suitable to cover everything, plus it is the environment where you'll be qualified to teach at L1. It's more about learning to do things and demonstrate things a particular way, and you can do that indoors. We spend most of our teaching practice time in the little diddy academy fridge anyway, which was freezing cold and only about 25 metres long, but enough to get to plough parallel with 2 or 3 turns. The slope was practically empty most days apart from the trainee ski instructors and trainee board instructors, and Mr DS who turned up one afternoon to give me moral support (or get in the way, depending on how you look at it!).
I'd say if dosh is limited, then go for indoors. You're welcome to stop over with us if doing the Tamworth course.
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FAQ
