Lots Happened

Apr 7, 2011

A lot has happened over the winter. I’ve completed my final day of commitment to ski school and there are three days remaining in Monarch’s season. I’ve got lots of pictures, lots of names of students, lots of experiences. I’m sorry I have not kept up with this blog. Seems once I start getting busy…

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Fun With Gunnar

Dec 6, 2010

Got to ski with one of my favorite students, Gunnar, yesterday. As far as his technique goes we’re working on getting him to use his legs more to initiate and steer his turns. He has a tendency to swing his shoulders to get his skis to start turning and so he ends up using primarily…

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A-Framing

Dec 2, 2010

I’ve been told recently that I am “a-framing” in my skiing. At first I thought that it’s still early season and I happen to be unnecessarily outside ski dominant. I blame it on old learned habits where I am pressure biased, counter rotated, and predominately skiing one leg at a time. Or you could simply…

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Content is Still King

Dec 2, 2010

A HubSpot article I read in my Google Reader, but lost the citation to, said, “. . . it is critical to provide news, information and thought-leadership content in a format that allows for maximum consumption and engagement from prospects, leads and customers.” That quote wanted me to make a poster out of it and put…

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Cassandra

Dec 1, 2010

Cassandra “Cassy” M. is a really great student that I get to be with for at least 5 three hour lessons, hopefully more. Her dad requested me for all the lessons, which makes it all even more special. Our first was on the 27th. She’s 9, from Denver. She and her family stay in Buena…

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Christine, Heidi

Dec 1, 2010

Christine B. is a nurse in Colorado Springs. She signed up for a Level 1 Group lesson on Nov. 27th. Heidi is a new instructor at Monarch this year and was allowed (asked) to “shadow” this lesson. The lesson began at 9 am and was scheduled to last 1 hour and 45 minutes. Christine is…

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My First Official Guest of the Year

Nov 27, 2010

Monarch Mountain opened yesterday. The snow is a little thin but in pretty good shape. Had my first student of this season yesterday in a private lesson. Melissa P. is a student in Ft Collins. She’s from Pueblo, Colorado. She very excited to get going on her brand new ski, boots, and poles that she…

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Attended PSIA Fall Training

Nov 24, 2010

Had the opportunity to attend PSIA-RM-AASI Fall Training in Breckenridge last week. Clinics I attended on day one: Movement Analysis Applications, Area Representative lunch (sort of), Coaching Exam Maneuvers, 2010-2011 Exam Process clinics. Day two clinics I attended: Personal Riding Improvement in the morning, Progression Building in the afternoon. All in all it involved a lot…

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Two Fundamental Models to Teaching Well

Nov 15, 2010

Two models found in PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors Association) Rocky Mountain Division, are the Teaching Model and the Guest Centered Teaching (GCT) Concept. These should be ingrained in every instructor in all they do. They should be second nature to how they conduct snowsports instruction. Overlayed on the graphic example of the GCT model below is…

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Monarch Ski & Ride School’s Guest Survey

Nov 15, 2010

Here is another way to rate an instructor. This document is handed to all guests that sign up for a ski/ride booking at Monarch Mountain. It asks the guests to rate their satisfaction with our school and their instructor on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 meaning strongly agree)to statements. Here are the statements:…

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How To Rate A Ski Instructor

Nov 10, 2010

PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors Association) has established standards for ski instructors in the industry. There are currently three levels of ski instructor certification in the U.S. At cert exams, a system of scoring three specific skill categories is used by examiners to ultimately determine if a candidate has reached the level of standards (actual current Level III Scorecard here).…

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New Business Card

Nov 10, 2010

Just got my new cards from VistaPrint. Not quite sure what I think about ’em yet. Even though I designed it myself, I have to see what people’s reaction to them is. I think they may be too “busy” or too hard to read. I was vasilating between blue or black background. Black would have…

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