It may seem silly to think that improving your teaching skills with children can help you to become a better skier/rider, instructor/coach, individual/citizen, supervisor/staff member. You may have heard an instructor or two say, “I’d much rather teach adults.” Our personalities and world views are pretty much formed by the time we’re 10 years old. Deep inside every adult there’s a 10 year old hiding out. Knowing that can make your job of turning a group of adults into life long skiers or providing the very best possible experience for your guests much, much easier. Most of our guests come to our mountain to have fun. They want to enjoy themselves. There is no better way to appeal to those motivations than by appealing to their inner child, even as you respect them as adults.

We have 13 instructors signed up for our upcoming Children’s Specialist 1 exam on February 26 and 27! That means we’ll have two examiners and there’s room for three more people. It’s very encouraging to see such a high level of participation from our ski and ride school. Perhaps it’s because CS1 is a prerequisite for Alpine Level II certification, but actually it’s a great opportunity to explore human development, improve your skills and just generally be better. The event description says, “Topics include exercises to develop skills, movement analysis, and usage of the C.A.P. model for our younger students. Participants will receive a certificate upon successful completion of this event to recognize knowledge, skill, and expertise,” but I can almost guarantee you’ll come out of this event as a much more enlightened, rounded, and better teacher of all ages.