Inter Ski 2011 en Web

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INTERSKI 2011J A N U A R Y 1 5 - 2 2 , 2 0 1 1S t . A N t o N , A U S t R i A

C AS MA C-i S


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W t s t cp.With this phrase, our delegation set out on our trip to St. Anton

as the representatives of snowboard teaching in Canada and, by extension, a system that is

widely regarded as the best in the game.

ForewordMESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

This is no small ac-

colade. The pressure

to perform at a high

level, both on snow

and in presentation,

place our delegates in

a situation much like candidates on course at

any level of our system. This, coupled with the

fact that you, our members, would want to see

an exceptional Return on Investment, placed a

great deal of pressure on our team.

Our hope is that you see the value in our efforts.

Interski is an opportunity. In a broader sense,

CASI sees this forum as a chance to draw at-

tention to our methods and the high caliber of

the people we certify and train. You. Our feel-

ing is that if all the nations of the world know

what we are about, and that the membership, by

extension, be held in high regard. This is most

applicable to you, as a teacher, when you travel

abroad, working in the industry as you go. Tra-

ditionally, membership in ISIA, the InternationalSki Instructors Association, meant that Level 4s

would have a leg up when applying for work

overseas. This organization, however, seems to

have its issues.

ISIA was originally started to create a system

under which there would be automatic recogni-

tion of levels of certication from one member

to the next. For example, a Level 4 CASI would

be seen in Australia as holding their highest level

and, therefore, not need additional training. Thisseems logical, but what occurred to us i s that the

process of securing a job overseas is largely one

on one and very personal.

What does a person do, then, if they want to

have a high degree of choice in the international

snowboard teaching eld? If you look at the

French model, their idea of a snowsports in-

structor would seem to be very different from

ours. At the highest end, an instructor should

not only be able to teach a variety of snow slid-

ing methods, including skiing and telemark / XC,

but also have elements of guiding experience, as

well as the more back ofce skill sets, like the

kind youd need to run a snow school. Typically,

a candidate would spend years acquiring this sin-

gle certication through their university.

This is really no different than here in Canada,

or anywhere else. If one wants to be unquestion-

ably In demand, one has to have the talents

needed in all facets of a schools operation; on

snow and off. CASIs highest level members

have worked for years to get where they are.

When one applies for a job overseas, it is on

merit, or the qualications they possess. For the

most part, those qualications are exclusively in

snowboard teaching and, possibly, snow school

supervision.

Imagine if a member took this skill set and ex-

panded on it. How employable would you be

if you were not only a ski and snowboard in-

structor, but also had a RAC, or recreational

Avalanche Course? How about those skills along

with a certicate from Selkirk College in Ski

Area Management? Take this a step further and

work towards an ACMG and an MBA. I know

this sounds far-fetched and requiring a great deal

of time to accomplish, but this is the path to

writing your own ticket. This course of action

is also more in line with the course requirements

in countries like France.

As I said, getting hired for a job is a one on one

process. An ISIA membership might help, but at

the end of the day, its YOU theyre hiring. The

deeper your expertise is, the more hirable you

are. Starting with a CASI certication is a great

start and the material we have come back with

will make our courses even better. The real chal-

lenge to those of you who see this as a career,

and it can be a very rewarding one, is to identify

the parts of the industry that both interest you

and that are in demand, and build your resume.

We hope you enjoy, and benet from, the mate-

rial we have come back with. The true Student

of the Sport will absorb this material and ev-

erything else that comes their way, with a mind

towards building their skills.

Just as it takes years to become a great rider, so

too does it take an equal, or greater amount of

time, to become a Guru, and Gurus are always

in demand!

Additionally, I would like to personally thank the

members of the Team and Delegation for theirhard work and dedication to CASI and the event.

Especially Dan Genge, our Executive Director

and Dad for the journey, who kept everyone

on track and Jeff Chandler, our Technical Direc-

tor who is responsible for compiling everything

you see here and steer ing the CASI ship, from a

technical perspective. It is these two who on a

day-to-day basis make us the well-respected or-

ganization we are.

Rob Stevens, President


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The Canadian SnowboardDelegation

*TEC: Technc & Eductn Cmmttee

2

Rob Steens,

PresdentDan Genge,

Execute DrectrJeff Chandler,

Ntn TechncCrdntr

Andy Maclean,

TEC RepDae Balne,

TEC RepMike Bray,

TEC Rep

Aleander Brr,TEC Rep

Jeremy Shield,TEC Rep

Lc Belanger,TEC Rep

Ykiko Kawada,Senr Eutr

Walter Trab,Senr Eutr


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The rst Interski

took place in 1951

and skiing had

already been arond

for thosands of

years. Snowboard-ing is not an old

sport. To s, the

people inoled in

the sport on a daily

basis, this is easy

to forget. Back in

99 when I attended

Interski in Beitos-

tolen, Norway I was

reminded of this ery

qickly. While snow-

boarding was ery

mch a ibrant and

iable part of the

indstry at most re-

sorts, the global ski

indstry still wasnt

sre we were in it for

the long hal. I gotthe impression that

snowboarding was

in the same boat

as tbing and snow

bikes, in the eyes of

the establishment.

Norway 99 was only snowboardings sec-

ond trip to Interski. Our rst appearance was

in Japan 95 but only on the demo slope and

only with the ski demo teams. There were no

snowboard-only demos or workshops. I didnt

go to Interski 95 in Japan but I was regaled

with stories of exotic riding techniques offered

by national ski instructor certication bodies

from countries all over the world. Most of the

countries sent their instructors in hard boots

and carving boards. The equipment must have

looked enough like ski gear that the skiers didnt

feel too nervous. In 1995 CASI was a newlyformed snowboard instruction and certication

body under the Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance

so we t in just ne. Two riders, one from the

east and one from west, represented Canadian

Snowboarding in hard boots and ski suits. In

1995 CASIs highest level of certication was

Level 2. Our beginner turn started with pressure

the front foot to get the board into the fall line

then a sweep of the back foot while pivoting on

the front foot.

It was Norway 99 that snowboardings featured

at Interski. Many people in CASI felt that just by

virtue of the events name maybe we shouldnt

attend. It was felt maybe Inter-ride of Intershred

should be developed for snowboarding. There

wasnt a snowboard specic assembly at Interski

99 so an unofcial meeting was called and the

group decided that a snowboard needed better

representation at the next Interski.

In 99 the Swiss, and most other European

countries, used systems based almost entirely

on hard boots and carving boards. The host

Norwegians had super chill we just-go-ride-and-

experience-the-mountain approach that was ap-

plied to snowboarding, alpine and telemark ski-

ing alike, more of a reection of a snow culture.

I remember the Finns being crazy and cool and

throwing the best party and being amazed thatmany Dutch start their skiing and snowboarding

experience on plastic conveyers.

During the closing ceremonies all the snowboarders did a run down the

demo slope together. I recently found a video of that run online. Snow-

boarder Instructors from all over the world riding down the hill with The

Prodigys Firestarter from my Big Shiny Tunes CD blasting from the sound-

system.

One thing was very clear at Interski 99, almost every country had devel-

oped their nations program in near isolation. While there were some com-

monalities between some countries, for the most part we rode and taught

very differently. CASIs highest level of certication was Level 3 and we had

freestyle and race coaching programs. Our Beginner turn consisted of

extension and upper body rotation. So Exotic!

I was lucky again to attend Interski 03 in Crans Montana, Switzerland.

Lots had changed in the world of snowboard instruction. Where the hell

were all of the hard boots and how did the Swiss get so cool? It seems

that they had undergone a metamorphosis in just 4 years. They showed-

up at Interski with an interactive manual on DVD and a program heavy

with ollies, straight airs and spins. We were all impressed and jealous! The

Dutch were using something called Magic sticks as a means of aiding

balance and reducing falls during a beginner lesson. This time Norway led

us on an imaginary safari on imaginary motorcycles where we saw griz-

zlies, llamas and moose. Imaginative as usual! The Dutch brought a small

rotating slope to Switzerland. In a country with little snow and fewer hillsyou either learned at an indoor slope or on one these rotating carpets. We

all gave it a try. I fell the rst time, held onto the safety bar for dear life and

melted my uniform pants into my knee. I spent the rest of the week with

white hole in my red pants and a weeping blister on my knee.

There were issues with schedule for the snowboard specic events. The

park was on the other side of the resort, snowboard demos scheduled

during workshops and so on. Snowboarders got together and decided

things would be different at the next Interski.

For me the most interesting change from 99 to 03 was how each country

taught beginners. When we all got together to compare notes it was

discovered that most countries had similar methods to get beginners

started. Our beginner progression had pretty much remained the same. I

remember that all of us Canadians felt that the manuals we passed around

in 1999 might have helped shape this new world order. It was also clear

that how we all rode was much more similar than back in 99. Sure we all

explained it differently but it looked almost the same on snow...except the

French. I cant remember exactly what it was but it wasuhunique. *It

should be noted that the French seem ne now.

The value of Interski was clear to me after Switzerland 03. The exchange

of ideas and information had an effect on pretty much every country

involved including Canada.

Trpt b:a Mc

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Interski 2007 was in Pyong Chang, Soth

Korea. I didnt go but after chatting with the Jeff

it this sounds like the best Interski to date. The

Koreans, renowned for their organization skills,

provided snowboarding with a great forum. On-

snow sessions, workshops and demos were

scheduled with no conicts. The venue was

easy to negotiate the venue and the freestyle

terrain was impressive. The Dutch promoted the

introduction of freestyle manoeuvres at the early

stages of learning. Much like the Swiss had in

03. There was no report on Norways presenta-

tion but Im sure it was unique.

Based on the reports provided by Jeff Chan-

dler and Dan Genge, Interski 07 seemed to be

about renement. There seemed to be a more

universal style of riding. The teaching and peda-

gogy, while using different terms, had similar

goals and outcomes. As with other Interskis,

CASI presentations and workshops were stand-

ing room only.

I dont know how it happened but I was hon-oured to attend Interski again this year. I was

keen to see the renement and new acronyms

the world of snowboard instruction would pro-

vide to address the challenges of a sport that is

no longer experiencing the exponential growth

of the past.

There were some of the old challenges like over-

lapping workshops. The awesome park was a

mountain away from the demo slope. The jumpsbuilt by the demo slope were challenging to

say the least. To remedy these issues, snow-

boarders had an impromptu meeting to discuss

making improvement for the next Interski.

Two of the workshops I attended really stood

out but for very different reasons. I had a little

taste of the American Association of Snowboard

Instructors (pronounced aussie not assie)

adaptive program while working as a selec-

tor for their demo team in 08. The number of

injured young men and women returning from

war zones overseas is staggering. This in turn is

driving the growth of adaptive snowboarding in the

U.S. The fact is that adaptive ski devices that have

been rened and used for years would probably be

easier for both the instructor and the student. The

US presenter, Scott, agreed that in many cases

this true but these people want to snowboard. To

me this underlines how mature weve become as

a sport. What large and permanent part of snow

culture we are.

The second was the stand out workshop was pre-

sented by the Czech Republic. Right from the start

it was clear that this workshop would be memo-

rable. Our presenter was wearing older equipment

with angles that were anything but current. Both

front and back bindings were around 30 degrees

angled forward. As we moved through the progres-

sion I started to see some familiar stuff. Pressure

on the front foot sweep of the back, counter rota-

tion. This looked a lot like CASI material from the

old days! Tom from the U.S. wondered if we were

being punked and we all starting looking around

for cameras. As it turned out, this guy was not a

member of the Czech Interski team but an ex-racer

who had been teaching this methodology for many

years at his own school. He had not attended any

of the other workshops during the week because

he was condent his methods work. This was a

great example of what can happen when ideas are

developed in a vacuum. Sure it works but without

the introduction of new concepts and ideas there

is no progression.

When you review the demo videos its clear that

there is a global riding style emerging. Check out

the workshop reports and decide whether a global

snowboard school is emerging. The World Asso-

ciation of Snowboard Instructors was discussed at

Interski 11. In the end this didnt prove a popular

concept. Every country develops its programs and

systems based on their specic needs. Every four

years WASI exists for a week at Interski. This is

how we make sure were on the right track and do-

ing the best job possible for our clients, membersand sport. Its where we get our global update.

THE WORLD ASSOCIATION OF

SNOWBOARD INSTRuCTORS WAS

DISCuSSED AT INTERSKI 11. IN

THE END THIS DIDNT PROvE

A POPuLAR CONCEPT. EvERYCOuNTRY DEvELOPS ITS PRO-

GRAMS AND SYSTEMS BASED ON

THEIR SPECIFIC NEEDS.

EvERY FOuR YEARS WASIExISTS

FOR A WEEK AT INTERSKI. THIS IS

HOW WE MAKE SuRE WERE ON

THE RIGHT TRACK ANDDOING THE BEST JOB POSSIBLE

FOR OuR CLIENTS, MEMBERS

AND SPORT. ITS WHERE WE GET

OuR GLOBAL uPDATE.

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Their system, as they told us, is a med-

ley of all different techniques from

around the world gathered over the

years. They put a strong accent on the

fact that Australia is not known for

their snow but more for their beaches,

and their goal is to take active Austra-

lians and bring them into snow sports.

They mentioned the ght to keep

Australian boarders from heading to

closer more desirable destinations

over their own (IE: New Zealand and

Japan). Their content is based mainly

on the Australian environment: mostly

a desert with some snow and only 5

major areas in the whole country. They

mentioned the really short season and

the lack of snow in general.

The APSI has just over 1000 snow-

board members; quite small compared

to CASI, who has 10,000 active mem-

bers and close to 35,000 total certied

since 1994. Their association is gov-

erned by skiers and includes a snow-

board division, like most countries.

The aPSi SkillS ConCePT

The APSI has four major skills: Stance,

Edging, Rotary, Pressure, and their

fth skill is what they call blend-

ing - the action of blending two or

more skills together to achieve the

wanted outcome. The number of skills

www.ps.t.Australia

WORKSHOP REPORT:

rpt B: lcB

blending and what percentage of each skill involved is out-

come dependant. I quite like the idea of skil l blending; the

reality is that we are always blending the skills in any type of

terrain, especially in Freestyle terrain. They do not mention

any components to the skills neither do they break it down

in any similar way. We did not touch on the teaching side of

things at all.

The CerTifiCaTion levelS 1 Through 4

The on-snow portion consisted of a brief overview of each

level and the tasks to be achieved by the candidates. Some-

thing important to note is that they have a very maneuver

based evaluation system; huge focus on what the turn should

look like and not so much on specic body mechanics.Level 1: The key maneuver for this level is a very low per-

formance sliding turn on green runs, or easy blue. Medium

sized, strong anticipated (or open) position on the board (pro-

moting the centre of the board at all times), and some rotary

movements (steering). This would be similar to our interme-

diate sliding turns but on easier terrain.

Level 2: The expected maneuvers here are medium sized slid-

ing turns on a blue slope, and switch turns on a green slope(Level 1 turns riding switch). Thats when the skill blending

starts happening (Stance and Rotary mainly)

Level 3:The terrain gets steeper and we start talking about

carved turns as well as sliding turns. Short sliding turns on a

black pitch, and Level 2 turns riding switch, up un-weighted.

No real details on the HOW of those maneuvers in our ses-

sion also all on groomed runs, no varied terrain riding men-

tioned at any point, which is conducive with the idea of their

system being built with Australian terrain in mind.

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Level 4:We briey touched on that but

it includes the following: short down

un-weighed turns on a black groom-er (they evaluate down un weighting

as a task not as a tactic like we do),

switch level 3 turns on a blue/black,

and freestyle maneuvers (halfpipe rid-

ing, switch airs, board slide on a basic

rail feature and 360s both ways). The

level 4 also has a GS Race component,

on hard boots OR soft boots set ups,

candidates choice (they mentioned the

lack of availability of the hard boot

equipment and how it is not where the

industry is heading as a motivation for

this change). This last bit was interest-

ing as CASI is in the process of dealing

with similar issues. We did some tac-

tics such as heel-to-heel turns and toe-

to-toe turns to nish it off as a little

friendly contest (no Canadians won

the big prize a Freestyle Max doll).

AustraliaGreat emphasis on stance and binding angles and the

resultant application of pressure onto the toe and heel

edges. The presenter displayed diagramatically on

snow how pressure narrows and widens on toe and

heel sides based on binding angles.

The presenter noted that open (duck ) stance is better suited for

freestyle and freeriding as opposed to carving or fall line riding.

The presenter noted that bending of ankles on toe side does not

necessarily create more edge; he suggested greater emphasis on

knees and hips (larger joints) as opposed to ankles (smaller joints)

for this purpose. It was suggested that to get effective edge, the

rider should bend the front ankle and knee and move the hips

forward on toe side and move pressure toward the back foot on

heelside; so as to apply greater pressure toward the tail of the

board to compensate for insufcient pressure on tail of the board,

which may result from an open ( duck) stance.

The presenter emphasized effective use of switch riding at all lev-

els to make students more aware of body position and various

pressures.

There was a suggestion that slight foreword rotation of the upper

body (fall line anticipated stance) allows for best over all riding

especially at a more advanced level. Specic exercise used for

this was to ride both switch and regular with lead hand behind

lead hip.

Australia recognizes four basic skills: Stance & Balance, Pivoting/

Steering, Edging and Pressure Control. Our skill of Timing & Co-

ordination is not considered as a separate physical skill but merely

the application and combining of the other four physical skills. Ex-

planation was that rhythm is neither a physical nor a riding skill.

Our session was divided into four levels of riding equivalent to

our and their levels of certication, and dealt with application of

rpt B:Wt Tb

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the course skills to the Levels of riding as

follows:

Leel 1: Main focal point Stance & Bal-ance

Leel 2: Additional emphasis on pressure

and edge to control radius of turns ; turn

radius and corridor gets narrower.

Leel 3: Emphasis on more exaggerat-

ed edge; carving, and application of it in

steeper terrain and narrower corridor.

Leel 4: Variation of movement and pres-sure from vertical to lateral; dynamic or

down un-weighted riding in expert terrain.

Leel 4 Eercises used:

Dynamic riding (switch and regular)

Toe-to-Toe turns

Heel-to-Heel turns

Heel-to-Heel turns while looking uphill

at all times

riding STandardS level 1-4

Skills Concept: Four major skills

1: Stance: Lots of anticipation, lots of upper-lower bodyseparation

2: Edge:Ankle open to regulate edge control

3: Rotation: Core rotation w/ lower body rotation. Similar

to our CASI

4: Pressure: Down movement to working edge increase

pressure. Up movement release pressure

Down Un-Weight: they call as retraction/extension They started their workshop introducing various stance options such as free-

style oriented duck stance vs. freeride oriented positive stance. In both stances,

still there was a separation between upper and lower body: typical Aussie stance

that I am familiar with, because I have lots of APSI certied instructors as my

co-workers. In my opinion that upper body position restricts efciency in body

movements, though that is what they promote.

rpt B:

y kw

riding CoMPeTenCieS : level 1 - 4

They put emphasis on their riding

competency as more of a task and

maneuver base. Lots of vertical move-

ment is involved (almost too much

and too un-natural at some point? IE:

sudden bouncy up movement looked

a waste of effort for the performance

level of their turns). On heel side, ex-

ion is happening a lot with hip joint -breaking at the waist. On toe side, up-

per body is inclined and relaxed ankle

to achieve edge control. Perhaps those

body positions are related to their edge

concept open ankle.

Level 1: Very basic up un-weighted

sliding turns on green /easy blue

slopes. Centered position is mentionedall the time and medium size turns.

Level 2: Up un-weighted sliding turns

on intermediate terrain (blue slopes

groomed). Similar to our level 1 stan-

dard type of turns.

Switch riding is also introduced. Basic

turns on green.

Level 3: Up un-weighted sliding turns:

shorter radius, faster & more dynamic

(fore & aft )on steeper terrain.Intro to down un-weight concept in

order to ride bumps.

Carving turns : up un-weight (dont re-

member which type of slope).

Level 4: Step up from level 3 perfor-

mance in all maneuvers (turns in both

normal and switch)

Freestyle & Carving (w/race board).

7

Australia


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Strong emphasis on short radius down un-weighted turns on black slope (groomed). This is their task to meet the stan-

dard. Actually they call down un-weighting retraction/extension.

From their pressure concept theres no way to un-weight with down movement. Also some of their demo turns looked abit heavy on front foot, especially Level 4 short radius up un-weight turns. It may be due to their upper-body open stance,

but I may be wrong

At last, we did a few tactics like toe-to-toe, heel-to-heel for incorporating freestyle taste to freeriding, and then show off

time started! Heel-to-heel turns while completely looking up hill all the way. We Canadians did not win the contest.

Aussies had a lot of turn up for their workshop. There were only three presenters and each one had a big group, though

they really nailed their presentation and the choice of terrain made workshop run so awless.

riding CoMPeTenCieS for The 4 levelS

Indoor Workshop:The indoor session stressed the fact that

their environment is unique. Due to this environment their

resources are limited so they have taken info and knowledge

from around the world and adapted it to suit their situation

and needs. The snowboard association is a part of the ski

association so the snowboard portion was lightly blended

into the appropriate portions of the ski presentation.

The outdoor workshop portion of the Aussie presentation

was to show us the riding expectations and standards for

their 4 levels of certications. It was a very methodical ses-

sion. Hayden showed a demo away from us, we rode past

him, he rode to us to give two angles. There was no men-

tion of any teaching methodology on snow.

There are 4 skills in the Aussie system. Stance, Edging, Ro-

tary and Pressure. The combination of any or all of theseskills they call blending (much like our T&C but I dont

know that to say blending would cover order of skill per

say?) Shouldve asked!!

level 1

Skill goals Stance

Terrain Green (demonstrated on blue-black run)

Thoughts Stance is separated upper to lower body, shoul-

ders facing forward. Anticipation is not a movement or

rotation of any part of the body but rather a stationary po-

sition of the upper body.

rpt B:M B

8

Australia


11/44

level 2

Skill goals Blending of Stance, Rotary and Pressure Con-

trol. Switch riding is be comparable to level 1 regular riding.

Terrain Blue (demonstrated on mellow blue).

Thoughts Similar in standard to CASI except the upper

body anticipation.

level 3

Skill goals Introduction to Steering (not sure if they con-

sider steering to be a skill or an outcome). Switch riding is

between level 1 and level to regular riding.

Terrain Blue-Black (demonstrated on blue run for regular

and switch) No reference to any terrain adaptation.

Thoughts The goal seems to be to meet a specic style in

riding on groomed terrain. Focus is on maneuvers rather

than skills.

level 4

Skill goals Anything, Anywhere, Anytime. Switch riding is

comparable to the Level 2 regular riding.

Maneuver goals Down-unweighted turns down black

pitch. Toe to toe, heel to heel performed quickly down

black pitch

Terrain - Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

overall iMPreSSion

The session was very simple and showcased the riding style for the

4 levels. The higher levels are very maneuver based rather than skill

based. Maneuvers such as short radius turns completely down-

unweighted with the upper body facing down the hill. I tried to cre-

ate conversation about alignment of the body for effective exion of

the lower body after almost eating it while twisted and hitting a lump

in the snow. I had difculty riding to the standard with my body in

the Aussie anticipated position as well as just riding in a completely

down-unweighted position for the short radius turns as it rid me of

the ability to stay in a mobile centered stance. I felt very committed

to one extreme and at a limitation of where my body was to adapt

and adjust. Freeride to freestyle maneuvers seem quite similar to our

system at all levels.

The deMo SloP e aT

oPening CereMonieS

9

Australia


12/44

12

Through all The sessions i parTicipaTed in, whaT i found The mosT inTeresTing was The facT ThaT no maT-

Ter The counTry, or The language, The challenges we all face in Teaching s nowboarding are very s imi-

lar. being able To share our ideas wiTh l ike-minded snow pros was boTh inspiring and encouraging. iT s

noT ThaT we are going To Take These ideas and sysTems and f iT Them inTo our own, buT raTher They have

inspired us To develop our own sysTem in way we may have noT ThoughT before.

Jeremy Shield, DElEgaTioN MEMbER

10


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CroatiaWORKSHOP REPORT:

SeSSion TheMe:

well, brace your-

selves for This one!

skiers Teaching

beginner snow-

boarders!

The Maniplator

: One who pup-

peteers, controls a

marionette, and his

puppet!!

Being both a ski and snowboard instruc-

tor, I was extremely fascinated by the idea

of this workshop. Skiers Teaching Begin-

ner Snowboarders! The rst question I

found myself asking waswhy?! The only

practical answers I could think of were; a)teaching a family that would like to stick as

a group with one instructor but has skiers

and snowboarders in it. b) There are no

snowboard instructors available and the

only remaining choice is a ski instructor. c)

There is a disability with the student that

would require some additional mobility and

potentially that of a skier. These would all

be legitimate reasons to potentially use a

skier, wouldnt they?

With great anticipation our group reached

its destination atop the Rendl peak on a

gentle sloping green run. Our ski instruc-

tor leader introduced the session theme

and quickly called out for a volunteer par-

ticipant. I eagerly jumped at the opportu-

nity. Before becoming a mock student I

wanted to keep a clear and positive mind-

set to the concept. I posed the question

to our session leader of whether this is a

potential way to teach if necessary or the

way snowboarders should be taught, to

which I was given the response this is

just a way that snowboarders could be

taught. My mind is open and Im ready to

be impressed.

As I sat on the ground, two poles slid un-

der my arms and poked into the snow next

to my thighs. I was asked to push myself

up using them, the idea being he could lever-

age me up as well. The poles exed 45 de-

grees, were ready to snap and I wasnt even

close to getting off the ground. He quickly

re-planted his poles upright so they wouldntbreak, leaving me to try to stand up with my

hands behind me gripping on to two slippery

up-righted polesnot easy! (Limitation #1: I

hazard most beginners would struggle with

this)

Once I was more or less upright, I was to hold

the baskets of the poles that poked through

my armpits and lock my armpits down over

the poles as well. The ski instructor stood

behind me holding his end of the poles in a

similar fashion creating what they called the

4-point hold. This process would eventu-

ally evolve to a 3-point hold, 2-point hold,

etc. In this position I did gain a fair bit of sup-

port but I also have motor skills and natural

snowboard movements occurring in my low-

er body unlike most beginners. We started

into a pendulum type movement at which

point I began experimenting as if I were a typ-

ical student, shifting my weight over the nose

of the board. The poles immediately started

nudging me with a few comments of come

on, move over shouting the instructor from

behind. In all fairness, Im not a small guy but

you cant lift someone up and over back to

centered on the board and if you try to pushthem directly across the board is going to

kick out. (Limitation #2: Anyone of any mod-

erate size could be quite unmanageable).

Reported by:

Mike Bray

11

11


14/44

After the rst 10 minutes I wasnt feeling convinced and to be honest I was feeling a little

knocked around by the poles under my armpits. I decided to surrender my student status

to some other keen people in the group of whom experimented in similar ways and found

the same awkwardness. The session continued and the assisted pendulum eventually

moved into an assisted turn with the poles rmly gripped until nally a loose gripped pole

helped guide through the turn. This is the point where the students are rst given the free-dom to experiment without assistance. At this point our session moved inside and I was

unable to follow all of the additional conversations.

Croatia

Overall, I did get some great value from the

concept of the pole positions for assist-

ing students if necessary, but most in our

group chatted about some fundamental

aws with the entire process as a whole.

Before I list some more of the obvious limi-tations to the use of the poles I would like

to make the following comments. With

slightly longer poles, a boarder could do

everything the skier did, and then some,

but also have the ability to demonstrate

when necessaryand would be a boarder

working with a boarderawesome con-

cept!!

One of the guys in this session with me had

facilitated a great session the day before

on adaptive snowboarding. We discussed

the use of some kind of modied poles to

achieve a similar result to the Croatians for

adaptive students but he did stress that

one of their aims is to use as little assis-

tance gear as possible and only when nec-

essary, to allow the students the freedom

to ride more freely.

(Limitation #3: Someone who catches on

and is turning in 15 minutes that is in a 2hr

lesson.)

(Limitation #4: Can only take one student

at a time.)

(Limitation #5: Inability to demonstrate any-

thing.)

(Limitation #6: Theres too many limitations

for this to be the norm teaching tactic.)

In talking to another participant at the end

of the indoor I learned that the session

leader had spoken to them and stressed

the fact that he believes this is the best

and safest way to teach all beginner snow-

boarders.

My Thoughts: Some good concepts could

come out of it but the lesson was uncom-

fortable, patronizing and an unrealistic so-

lution to a different problemnot enough

snowboard instructors in Croatia. This is

going to further drive the sport and the

snowboard instructors there in the wrongdirectioninto marionettestoo bad.

12


15/44

15

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13

oPening CereMonieS


16/44

I cant believe how tense I am! This is a crazy! Calm down man! I tell myself,Youve trained for this! as I recall the one jetlag-clouded training run on thissteep, icy slope this afternoon.

I go over my

run in my head.

Right...left...right...left...right...left.

Im ready! I look

around at my Ca-

nadian alpine and

Nordic brothers

and sisters who

are preparing for

their run. Teams in bright coloured suits

representing countries all over the world

are doing the same. President Stevens is

beside me. Were joking with each other

but were both nervous as hell! Well I am

anyway. Over to the west the sun is setting

behind the mountains. Two helicopters

rise from the village below and slowly y

towards us at the top of the demo slope

where they hover for a few moments.The lights of the demo slope are on and

bright. I can vaguely make out the beat of

the music and the announcer in stadium

below. Hes hyping the crowd as the

countries beginning with A drop one at

a time. As the Bs start to line up a ask

of some sort of hard liquor is passed

around. I take a little pull as the C coun-

tries are marshalled into the start.

Canada! shouts the starter. We all take our

places at the top of the slope, our eyes focus

on the thousands of people in the stadium

below then on the telemarker thatll drop

his arm to start our run. The arm drops and

so do we! Left-right-left-right-left-right, all

the way down. Get to the bottom. Wave

to the cheering crowd. Find the rest of the

Canadian Team. A big round of high ves

and bum slaps! Wow! Someone hands me a

beer. What an awesome feeling!

We spend the rest of the opening ceremonies watching countries from D to U ripping down the demo

pitch with close-ups displayed on the giant screen at the bottom of the slope. The crowd cheers every team

loudly. The atmosphere is truly electric. No matter what anyone says, a solid run of left and right is the

most important thing in the world when youre standing at the top of that pitch.

Ive been to Interski three times and its been the same every time. We all agree that a steep, water-injected

pitch isnt the place to showcase snowboarding. Its about the workshops. Syncro just isnt snowboarding

but every time we get to the top at that demo slope things change. Just looking into the eyes of Rob, Jeff,

Jeremy, Dave, Mike, Luke and Yuki on the top of that pitch, its clear they feel same way. At that moment,

this run of left and right is the most important thing in your life, period. After all, when you riding down that

pitch youre representing every member of CASI. Hell, youre representing Canada!

Snowboarding at Interski has denitely evolved. The workshops are amazing. And its a great honour having

the opportunity to exchange ideas, gather information and present CASIs technical models. No matter howmuch things change and evolve, the steep icy demo slope will always be there. A few runs of left and right

to a euro beat in front of thousands of people seems a small price to pay for the honour of being part of

such an amazing and worthwhile event!

rt :

a m

14


17/44

SeSSion TiTle: Terrain BaSed TeaChing

WORKSHOP REPORT:

finland

For their basic skills model they use Balance,

Rotation, Edging, Pressure Control and Timing &

Coordination.

Edging, Pressure Control, and Timing & Co-

ordination are very similar to what CASI uses.

A difference comes with their foundation skill:

Balance. On a snowboard, they are saying that

the stance is set by the bindings and that all

the movements made over the board are done

to make adjustments to the riders balance (not

their stance). The other difference is in what

we would call Pivoting /Steering. The actions

are nearly the same: twisting knee, ankle, and

foot for lower body movements; and, twisting

the core for upper body movements. Finlands

organization talks about the combination of up-

per body and lower body rotation to get certain

outcomes. For example, on a steep pitch to do

a short radius turn there is equal rotational effort

from upper body and lower body, in contrast on

a mellower slope to carve large open turns therider would use mostly lower body rotation to

get the result they are after.

What I really like is the simplistic approach. It

seems to make verbalizing physical movements

quite clear.

The on snow session I attended was presented

by Jussi Rasanen who is an F.N.A.S.I trainer

and has a Masters in Sport Sciences. The idea

was to highlight how using the right terrain and

putting the student in the right situation could

allow them to progress at their own rate. If done

properly it was said that the student was able to

progress faster than through conventional teach-

ing methods.

The rst thing Jussi did was lay out half a dozen

pylons, creating a corridor at the top and fanning

them out at the bottom. The track is set, let the

learning begin. With very few words from our

instructor, the group starts to slide through the

pylons. It didnt take long for Jussi to start moving

the pylons and creating challenges or goals. Ok

slide down to the green pylon and then hop over

to the red one, he instructed. By changing the

track and adjusting our goals he was getting us to

make different movements, all focusing on creat-

ing balance on our boards. To give feedback, he

would create a challenge to x a problem, instead

of giving verbal feedback. For example, if I were

standing too static on my board he would create

a situation where I would have to duck under a

bamboo then hop over a pylon, thus forcing me

(the student) to make the required movements to

improve.

Reprted by:

Jeremy Shed

15


18/44

The theory behind this

style of teaching is

that, actions speak

louder than words,something we are

familiar with (in our,

telling doesnt ensure

learning). However,

they are taking it to

the next level. The

input and feedback a

student gets from their

own body can be more

accurate and direct

than having some-

one tell them verbally

what went wrong and

what to do next time.

It is like skipping the

middle man, hence

making the learning

process swifter for

most students. Whena couple of us in the

session asked about

how it would work with

less active or timid

students Jussi simply

answered, the instruc-

tor is responsible to

gauge the students

and take the appropri-

ate steps for them. In

his trials, this system

has worked for all

types of students and

learning styles.

The

theorybehindthisstyle ofteach-ing isthat,ac-tionsspeaklouder

thanwords,some-thingwe are

familiarwith.

FiNlaND The KEY to this systemof teaching is the

instructor being able to

analyze their studentsperformance and

create the new tasks

with the appropriate

increases in difculty. If

the student is pushed

in the wrong direc-

tion, or if the difculty

increases too quickly,

then there is a good

chance for this system

to backre. The

benet would be that

in a group situation

everyone could be

using the same area/

track and be learn-

ing at their own pace

and on very different

skills while still beinga part of the group.

This could be great for

class management if

executed properly.

Jussi was very clear

that this works with all

levels if just a couple of

things are set up prop-

erly. First, the environ-ment must be safe and

conducive to learning,

the terrain must match

the students ability,

and the instructor must

be able to view the

trials. Second, basic

skills must be learned

or modied. Third, asthe student progresses

the instructor must be

creating appropriate

progression for the

student to follow to

reach the set out goals

for the session.

I think that the mes-

sage being sent outis a good one. If the

student is placed in

the right situation by

the instructor than the

learning curve can be

much steeper.

16


19/44

Germanys indoor workshop was very well structured and well presented. They

explained what would be presented in the on snow workshop, and also ex-

plained their new project, the Check Your Risk (CYR) program.

GermanyWorkShoP rePorT:

Guideline of on snow workshops:

Snow sport lessons with childrenand teenagers ( alpine and snow-

board)

Skier safety training (alpine)

Perfect skiing on slope (alpine)

German technical snowboard

concept

Technical ability for experts andhigh level kids (telemark)

1. Snowsport lessons with teenagers

and children

The structure:

Course Level : beginner, carved

turns, different carved turns, per-

fect turns

Course target

Course content

Course environment

Tasks

Skill Categories : freestyle & alpine

skiing, turns through gates, all ter-

rain riding, safe & fair

The focus is learning effect throughexperiences

I actually did not attend this on snow

workshop and I regretted my choice of

going to technical workshop.

I heard after that they showed some

interesting approaches for teaching chil-dren mixed between traditional progres-

sion and some play (use of games and

some basic freestyle maneuvers). They

believe that modern snowboarding is

not all about perfect turns. From the

early stage, they want to promote vari-

ous type of snowboarding.

2. Check Your Risk (CYR) Project :

Risk awareness for young freeriders

This project started after the avalanche fa-

tality of 2 young freeriders in Allgau Alps

in 2005. The aim is to prevent accidents

by providing proper knowledge about

avalanches and to enhance awareness of

avalanche risks. Target group is young

freeriders going off-piste (in Europe, off

piste runs are often not controlled thor-oughly like North America, even if it is

inside ski area boundaries). This program

is offered to local schools as a part of the

school curriculum and certied trainers

(not a normal school teacher) will give this

lecture. In two years, over 22,000 students

completed this program.

Main focus of CYR

Education with video footage (ava-

lanche action, story from people

who got caught in avalanche)

Reported By:Yukiko Kawada

17


20/44

Show and give proper knowledge about avalanche

Safety awareness

Method of CYR Awareness training

Trainers are actually experienced backcountry riders

and very knowledgeable (teenagers will believe in what

trainers will present)

Learn with head (think), heart (feel) and hand (do)

Student centered approach.

Levels of CYR Basic Level 1

Workshop Level 1.5

Academy Level 2

Basic

90 min classroom lesson

Information with video: testimony by people who

have experienced avalanche Group work to build team spirit

Experimental learning: info about snowcard, holding

breath as if you are caught in avalanche, slip block to

simulate avalanche slide.

Workshop

Half day including Basic (level 1)

Experiment with avalanche safety equipments (trans-

ceiver, shovel, probes)

Awareness of group dynamics

Academy

Full day including workshop (level 1.5)

Training with avalanche safety equipments

How to read avalanche report/forecast

Use of snowcardI nd this project is interesting and big step up to encour-

age young freeskiers to get involved. In Western Canada

where I am based, the accessible backcountry terrain is

very attractive for everyone even for local teenagers. In

Canada, the CAC(Canadian Avalanche Center) offers similar

type of training program : AST level 1, though these are

designed for adults.

It will be interesting if we can start a similar type of educa-

tional session for teenagers who live in mountain communi-

ties in Canada.

gerMan TeChniCal SnoWBoard ConCePT

(indoor & on-SnoW WorkShoP)

There are a few different concepts in German snowboarding tech-niques.

1 : Disciplines

Four main ones are Piste, Racing, Freeride, Freestyle then di-

vided to Turns, Carve, GS racing, SBX, Bumps, Powder, Air/Jump,

Pipe, Rail, Flat ground tricks.

All of those disciplines are part of snowboarding.

2 : Biomechanical Concepts

Basic possibilities of movement

Edging (lateral)

Distribution of pressure (fore & aft)

Flexion & extension (vertical)

Rotation (directional/ rotational)

Range of movement

Timing : when? duration?

Amplitude : how big?

Direction : where to?

Dynamic : intensity

Their philosophy of snowboarding is:

1. Body position

2. Focus on ankle and knee movement

3. Execution / Motion

Germany

18


21/44

All those concepts

above are laid out

clearly, though I

got an impression

that they got some

ideas from differentsources and have

not yet rened the

information and put

together to make

their own version.

Basic information

and ideas were

there but it was not

quite developed yetto show us what it

means exactly.

The German on-hill

workshop was

presented by Timm

and Valentin. Timm

is a snowboard-

cross coach, Valen-

tin is young but very

strong rider. They

were amazingly

friendly and had a

great warm up /

icebreaker to start

the session.

They explained that

they have madesome changes over

the past three years

(after attending

Germany

the last Interski in

Korea) and are still

developing in clari-

fying a few areas.

Also both Timm and

Vale are not fromsame federation

(according to them

there are a few

federations existing

in Germany).

Main change is:

they eliminated

upper-body focus in

turns and now fo-

cus on feet & knee

involved turns. Just

like any other fed-

erations are going

for that direction.

Their concept

promotes move-

ments and posi-tions. Depends

on terrain, snow

conditions, and

disciplines, either

focus on move-

ments or focus on

position or both,

whatever is suitable

for students to getthe performance.

It is explained that

at lower level neu-

tral body position is

recommended, but

to introduce begin-

ners to turning, they

rst use pedaling asa tool. If it works its

good. If not, they

come up with other

solution such as in-

volving rotation with

core or eventually

use of upper-body.

It depends on stu-

dents competencylevel.

All the movements

come from bottom

up in their concept.

Focusing on small

joint movements

rst and avoid big

body movements.

Riding position and

movements are

also determined

by terrain, speed,

type of disciplines

(turns, bumps,

powder, freestyle,

SBX etc) they

decide what kind ofposition and move-

ments will suit to be

most efcient.

Again they talk a lot about efciency in position and movements in any kind of riding

style/snow conditions, though it is not explained enough for us to visualize what will

be the ideal performance.

Having seen their demo team riding and attended some workshops with Germans

together, I was impressed by their technical skill. That was why I decided to attend

their workshops. It was interesting to see their approach dividing snowboarding into

disciplines, not turns. Skills are presented as biomechanical movements. Terrain and

type of discipline decide what type of turns, movements and performance level to

achieve. Very performance oriented goals. I wanted to see more the process how

to achieve these goals in details. Though I had fun riding with German speedy boys.

19


22/44

alexander Burr, JereMy Shield,

Mike Bray, yukiko kaWada

i believe ThaT The value of inTerski is noTas much abouT whaT deTails we learned

from whaT counTry, buT in The possibiliTies

ThaT we were exposed To and The i nTeresT-

ing TangenTs ThaT our ThoughTs Take when

Thinking abouT Teaching snowboarding in

canada. i canT say ThaT any one counTry

has The besT sysTem, Technique or

meThodology, buT iT was apparenT ThaT everyonewas passionaTely moving Towards engaging a

larger audience, and growing The sporT of snow-

boarding. i believe ThaT The nexT few years will

be an exciTing Time for casi, wiTh The inTegraTion

of ThoughTs and concepTs from inTerski 2011,

ThaT will conTinue To refine our approach To The

sporT.

DavE balNE, delegaTion member

Mike Bray, roB STevenS,

andy MaClean

20

Gww


23/44

The on snow workshop for BASI was quite short and focused on the idea of being stacked over the board. My

presenter (who rode with no high-backs on his bindings), took us through some very basic tactics in hopes to get the

group to feel what its like to be stacked. We did some hopping between turns, jumps from the uphill edge to the

downhill edge, hockey stop hops, etc

Along those lines we also did an alignment exercise, trying to stay aligned through the turns (no upper body move-ments or anticipation) looking up the hill on our toeside turn to help achieve the stacking. The reasoning behind

it was to be at the best place (the very centre of the board) you can be on the board to be ready for any terrain or

maneuver at any time. This session left me on my appetitebut on the upside it gave us some time to shred for the

last hour and a half of the planned workshop and I got my best turns of the trip!

Thanks UK!!!

GreatBritain(BAS

I)

Reprted by:luc bener

ww.basi.org.u

k

The British Session was dedicated almost

exclusively to Stance & Balance for every

level of riding. There was nothing revolu-

tionary about it, but merely emphasis on

upright, aligned, quiet upper body for all

levels of riding. This session did not seem

to generate much enthusiasm or ques-

tions from the participants.

In the middle of this session the BASI

conductor and some of the representa-

tives of other countries : Finland, USA

and Korea, being cognizant of my CASI

Orange, expressed regrets of not having

had an opportunity to attend one of the

Canadian sessions due to conicts, and

were anxious to learn how CASI teaches

snowboarding. I was requested to explain

and familiarize them with our teaching

methodology. Having had considerable

experience in teaching the QuickRide

method in Canada, I took great pride in

honoring their request and in a somewhat

abbreviated manner took them through

the QuickRide progression. Judging by the

response they appreciated it.

I couldnt help but note that the BASI

session was very cut and dry, and runningout of steam, and my interlude may have

been a way of revitalizing the session. The

group seemed to gel and at the end of the

session the BASI conductor, apparently

quite familiar with St. Anton, took us to

the steep and deep. When we got to the

top there was hardly any visibility and we

all know what that spells on a snowboard.

Thats when regrettably the premise of

the BASI session IE: quiet, relaxed and

aligned upper body, went up in smoke

in short order. It appeared as if more of

us were practicing the sliding phase ofthe Quick Ride progression as evident by

the various planes of balance exercises

, on display as we all switched to survival

mode, while riding down a very steep sec-

tion of breakable crust covered with a foot

of fresh virgin powder. Well...I guess even

the best of us are still human. But all is

well that ends well and fun was had by all!

Reprted by:Wter Tru

BASIs indoor

workshop started

with the history

of the organiza-

tion: how it grew

recently in a

fast pace, and

achieved interna-

tional recognition

of their levels.

Level 3 BASI is

ISIA status.

Then we moved on to the brief introduc-

tion of on hill workshop

Snowboard presenter was Ben (Techni-

cal Director), he explained that BASI

snowboard tries to achieve synergetic

strength = dynamic stability as their

goal of performance. This has ve major

components

1. Mobility /exibility

2. Strength

3. Coordination

4. Balance

5. Fitness

He told us that he would go through all

those on hill workshop. In the end, I did

not go to BASI on hill workshop, instead

I went to Czech republic on hill workshopthat was very interesting and unforget-

table experience!

Reprted by:

Yukk Kwd

andy MaClean & yukiko k aWada 21

The neTherlandSWorkshop Report


24/44

The TEAConcept of Teaching

Try

Exercise

Apply

Not dissimilar from our SAFE approach and our Whole-Part-Whole teaching method-

ology. Great emphasis on student trial followed by specic skill designed exercises.

p p

rt b:

wt T

Session Title:The TEA Concept

The Dutch had a big crew of alpine, nordic

skiers, and riders in St. Anton. Although

the Dutch use a variety of teaching ap-

proaches, the structure that they presented

was the TEA concept (Try Exercise Ap-

ply). To me, it seemed like a combination

of components that are in the CASI teach-

ing pyramid, namely theme, Whole-Part-Whole and Building Block.

I needed to keep reminding myself as the

information was presented that there is little

to no snow in the Netherlands and most

people learn on outdoor dry slopes, indoor

dry slopes (only a few) or indoor revolving

slopes (most common). In these environ-

ments, most lessons are private, or semi

private and last from 20 to 60 minutes. The

presenters acknowledged that they train

skiers and riders so that they can go on va-

cation to the mountains and have fun (sort

of like Ontario!).

During the session, Pascale, the Dutch

presenter, explained that almost anything

could be a theme, but didnt really explain

how you arrive at that choice as the in-structor. Where or when you analyze per-

formance was not touched upon. In fact,

we did not touch on the elements of their

rt b:

d b

www.snowpros.nl / www.dtchinterski.nl

technical model at all. For the session,

Pascal chose to use exion and extension

as the theme. As an exercise, we tried to

ride with stiff legs, then loose legs over

varied terrain to see which we preferred.

Then we tried to apply what we learned to

the next part of the run.

I feel like the TEA concept is valid, but did

little to develop our process or bring anynew material to the table for CASI.

22


25/44

SESSION THEME: OvERvIEW OF 3 LEvELS OF CERTIFICATION &

INTRODuCTION OF THE TEA CONCEPT

The indoor presentation gave insight to the outdoor workshop and an explana-

tion of what they call Plan Alpine 2018 in which they hope to do the following:

A multi-year policy plan for Alpine, Half

Pipe and Big Air. Participation in LG FIS

world cup as well as the Swatch TTR World

Tour, manage all level games including talent games and scouting, recreation vs.

competitive, scouting and talent games, create opportunities.

The neTherlandS

rt b:

m b,

They also gave an overview for a

teaching children workshop that I didnot attend on snow. They broke down

the left and right side of the brain to

relate to children. The left side of the

brain is the logical and rational side of

the brain whereas the right side of our

brain is sensing and feeling. We need

to focus on this right side of the brain

for more sensing to work effectively

with children. They discussed the

power of self-discovery to create

motivation, self-condence and move-

ment over sensing. The breakdown

was to use sensing games to come into

a sensing focus, creating sensing goals

through sensing drills. We cannot turn

the thinking side of our brain off so

we need to be more aware of activat-

ing our sensory side.

The Netherlands started their on-

snow workshop with a run through of

their certication levels.

They have a truly unique environment

for snowboarding and skiing with

I believe over 50+ (dont quote me

but the gure was at least that high!!)

resorts ranging from Snow Indoor

slopes to Dry Indoor and Outdoor

slopes.

They have uniquely designed their instructor levels to correspond with their cli-entele base. The level 1 focuses on teaching in these unique environments. The

level 2 and newly added level 3 have more of a traditional focus and they use the

European Alps to facilitate these courses.

The session then moved into its focus of the TEA Concept; a teaching concept

with the acronym representing Try, Exercise and Apply. This concept sounds

much the same as our Whole-Part-Whole method of teaching and is introduced

on their level 2 course. Stress was put on lots of riding and focusing on the

theme but not individual faults.Try - much like our whole - a student is observed. They briey described 7

things to look for in a rider. 1) Body weight on 2 feet 2) Bent knees and ankles

3) Hips and knees between toes 4) Standing tall (not dead straight) 5) Arms just

above the board 6) On steeps keep hips stacked over board (projection) 7) Eyes

(looking up)

A theme is assumed before observation...try to ride with your knees bent. Give

them the feeling they should have. The goal is to allow the students to try but

also to know what they are developing and why thing are developing it.

Exercise -Assuming the students typically do not perform the task to perfec-

tion, now they exercise the skill. An example was given of doing some whole

turns and movements (whole)then did some static movements (part) made

some corrections then put it back into whole movements.

Apply - It became unclear at this point of when the apply was happening as we

continued to riding with small hand positioning exercises etc. The idea is to take

the feelings or movements and apply them back into freeriding.

Nothing new to apply to our system but always good to see another angle or

focus to remind us of things we might sometimes neglect.

TEA:TryExercise

Apply

23


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MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM INTERSKI 2011 IN ST. ANTON AuSTRIA

By Dan Genge and Walter Traub

Interski School and les Deux VieuxThe Week of January 14th to January 22nd 2011, was a

most memorable week for two old CASI Evaluators,

amidst the ambience of the XIX Interski Congress,

held in the charming town of St. Anton Austria. Inter-

ski is the forum in which the greatest talents in snow-

sports from around the globe display their skiing/rid-

ing and teaching techniques to the rest of the world.

It takes place every four years in a country selected at

the end of each Interski event by the members of the

Interski Presidium .

Dan Genge, the Executive Director of CASI, was part of

the Canadian contingent for this years Interski. This was

Dans fourth Interski and each of them was better then the

previous. Walter Traub, a senior evaluator with CASI nally

fullled his wish to on his own accompany the Canadian

delegation and gain insight and experience into how the

rest of the world approaches the tech-

nical and teaching aspects of the sport

of snowboarding. The two of us (Les

Deux Vieux) form the backdrop for

the Interski School experience, which

we now wish to share with you.

Austria was a great host and expanded

a lot of money and effort to make the

delegates and competitors feel wel-

come and enjoy their Interski experi-

ence. As a gesture of giving something

back to the host country, the Interski

organizing committee created a con-

cept of an international snow school,

the Interski School. The Interski

School was designed to each day pro-24


27/44

vide full day of instruction to high

school children from neighboring Aus-

trian towns. To fulll this dream expe-

rience (as described by some of these

children) the organizers requested each

country to select 2 of their representa-

tives to form the Interski School. The

children arrived each day by trains and

buses at 9:00 a.m. and left at 5:00 p.m.

There were about 70-80 children every

day, arriving with their skis and snow-

boards, looking forward to the oppor-tunity to ski and ride with the best in

the world. We met them at the bottom

of the Galzig Bahn, which is the larg-

est gondola lift located in the centre of

town. The children ranged in age from

12 18 and were divided into groups

of 6 9 per group. They were accom-

panied by 3 4 teachers. Although theprimary purpose of the Interski School

was recreational in nature, the experi-

ence also served as a means for the chil-

dren to practice conversational English,

something they all study in the Austrian

schools on a regular basis. We were

therefore requested to speak English

with the children as much as possible to

facilitate enhancement of their English

language skills.

Our task, as the Interski Ski School, was

to give them a day they would never

forget!

Canada was requested to provide two

snowboard instructors for the Tuesday

portion of the Interski School. We felthonored that CASI, due to our reputa-

tion abroad, was specically selected

for snowboard instruction. Early in

the week, while the rest of the team

was training for the shows, i.e. the

on-hill presentations of synchronized

skiing and snowboarding, that each

country presents in the evenings ,Walter

and Dan were requested to attend the

Interski Ski School meeting on behalf

of Canada to obtain all the informa-

tion and instructions for this event.

We provided this information to our

Coach, CASIs Technical Directorand Team Organizer, Jeff Chandler

and presumed that our task was com-

plete and that two of our TEC/Demo

Members would represent Canada on

the Interski School.

As it turned out however, workshop

schedules and great demand for our Ca-

nadian instructional talent in sessions,precluded our TEC/Demo Members

from being available for this task. As

a result, lucky for Dan and Walter, we

were asked to be the Canadian repre-

sentation on the Interski School and to

teach a group of children for the whole

day on a mountain we barely knew!

Needless to say, notwithstanding ourmaturity and condent natures, we

were a little apprehensive about what

was about to happen.

When we arrived at the storage locker

to pick up our boots and boards on

Tuesday morning we asked the atten-

dants about our task for the day and

as to what we could expect in termsof the riding ability of the children we

were about to teach. The attendant re-

Our task

was

to give

them aday they

wouldnever

forget!

25


28/44

plied that children up to 3 years of age would most likely

be beginners, but over 3 they all know how to ski or snow-

board here in Austria! Wow!

So with that in mind, we arrived at the meeting place and

collected our delightful group of 14, ranging in ages from

15 to 18 years, a mixture of good looking and well be-

haved boys and girls. The rst thing we asked them was to

rate their own riding ability, and of course they all declared

themselves to be either intermediate or advanced riders.

No beginners? we asked. Silence was the only reply to

that question. So we loaded the

group on the tram and headed for

the top.

When we disembarked at the top

we did a few warm up exercises

to get them limbered up, then we

walked over to the edge of the slope

and buckled in. Walter led the way

down a red, intermediate slope,

stopped 100 yards down and signaled

for everyone to come to him one at

a time. The children proceeded to

follow Walter down the slope nicely.

That is, all but three of them, who at

best could barely only side-slip! The

slope ahead was intermediate but it

culminated at another chairlift that

only took us higher up the mountain to an area, which un-beknownst to us, could only be accessed through a narrow

black run. Dan signaled to Walter to take the eleven, who

could ride and stayed back in a desperate attempt to get

the remaining three back down the mountain safely. So,

that is how our adventure began!

Two hours and gallons of perspiration later Dan had the

three weak riders side-slip, pendulum, power pendulum,

and reverse f.l.e.c. their way down the mountain.

Dan played the role of a man for all seasons by playing

parent, instructor and mechanic. He got on his knees to

move bindings and change stance settings in the middle of

a black run, all in an effort to allow the children to have

the necessary control to get down safely. To Dans credit

and through his dedication, by the time the three children

reached the easier runs, two of them were actually linking

some turns. Armed with this encouragement Dan took

his lack-luster three pack back to the top of the Galzig

Bahn gondola for lunch and to meet Walter and the rest of

the group.

After lunch we took a group picture.

In the afternoon we swapped groups and Dan got achance to ride most of the mountain with the more ad-

vanced group. He, Dan, being younger and braver of the

two of us, even took them into the park and showed them

how to ride a at and kinked box, which they all success-

fully achieved.

Walter in turn now had the pleasure of instructing the

more challenged threesome. The conditions got worse as

the day progressed and the children got tired. This made

Walters task even more challenging. He resorted to various

games and competitions to challenge and distract the chil-

26


29/44

dren from the scary conditions and from thinking too much about what was under their feet. These included; side slip

races , who can go the slowest on the steep pitches and the fastest on the gradual ones?; how many turns can one make

within a certain distance?; how steep can you make a power pendulum! ; how low can you ride?; Simon Says and

other games. Before they knew it, we were down at the bottom of the mountain and two of them, the girls, were turn-ing comfortably both ways and loving it. The boy was even happier. He mastered the power pendulum on the steeper

sections and straight running in at terrain and was convinced that he was turning all the way down the mountain.

Good for him, for after all he could

hardly sideslip just that very morning.

Most importantly we all arrived in one

piece back at the Galzig Bahn gondola

by 3:30 p.m. with smiles and greatmemories. That is when we heard the

accolades from the children, that this

was a dream experience.

We met with some of the other classes

and gave out CASI Interski pins, stick-

ers, etc. We even had enough pins for

every child who participated that day!

Now it was time to say goodbye andhugs were had by all.

One thing for sure the children would

be guaranteed to sleep well that night

starting as soon as they got on the

train or bus. We were also certain that

they would dream only in English.

So there! Mission accomplished! Yea

Canada! Eh!.

As for us, Les Deux Vieux, we too

were bushed to say the least and if not

for Dans snoring we too would have

slept soundly.

When we had a moment alone Walter

related that he was asked by the class

if all Canadian Instructors were as old

as us, to which he replied, Only the

good ones. Because if youre not good

you dont last this long and after all

it takes many years to get this good.

The children laughed heartily, Walter

said, and this bit of Canadian humour

made them feel even more at ease.

All in all it was a great experience bothfor the children as well as us, but it

also brought to mind that we should

not take certain things for granted.

So, this experience should serve as a

reminder to us all to;

1) know the mountain before taking a

group to the top;

2) never believe what a student may

tell you about his/her riding ability,

do a ride-off rst, even if you have to

walk up the out-run of a slope to nd

out their ability level.

3) Never share a room with anyone

without bringing a good set of ear

plugs, just in case they dont realize

that they snore;

Regrettably in this case we were not

only misled by the children and their

teachers as to ability levels, but were

no were close to a beginner slope to

test their abilities.

As to the snoring, well, frankly Walter

never asked.Would we do it again? In a heartbeat!

It was a great experience! We took

pride in representing our country andwearing the CASI uniform. We werehonoured to have the opportunity toteach foreign teens how to ride, whilesharing with them our passion for the

sport. Hopefully we can do it againin 2015, in Argentina, where the nextInterski will be held.

A big Thank You to Jeff Chandlerand all members of the CanadianCASI Demo Team and to the Interskifor giving us the opportunity to ex-perience this event rst hand and we

look forward to sharing on snow with

all of you the knowledge that we havegained through this experience.

Yours, forever young, Les Deux Vieux

Dan and Walter

27


30/44

30

NorwayWWW.SnoWSPorTSnorWay.no

SeSSion TiTle: ConSTanT MoTion

Norways Interski delegation consisted of three disciplines (Alpine, Tele,

Nordic) and as such I only attended the indoor presentation. Interest-

ingly, snowboarding is a fourth discipline, but it was not represented in

any of their material or presentations. Based on how Alpine, Tele and

Nordic all shared nearly identical technical platforms and terminology, I

have assumed that their snowboarding system follow suits. The follow-

ing material is excerpted from the pamphlet that they distributed during

the short lecture.

The theme of their on-snow presentations consisted of these main

points.

Skiing is all about being in constant motion.

The workshops will focus on building a movement-related good

platform for creating dynamics. This is done in Alpine and Tele

by focusing on awareness and self-experience through the use of

contrasting exercises.

Teaching is based on PPC (Positive Practical Coaching)

[Find] Appropriate solutions with respect of terrain and solutions

Individual, dynamic position

Distinguish between technique and style

Make the student aware of solution and when and where they are

appropriate.

Their system consists of 4 levels (unsure if all apply to snowboarding

also)

Leel 1 Ski Instrctor: 7 day course

Leel 2 Ski Instrctor: (prerequisite 50 hrs practice) 7 day course

Leel 3 Ski National Teacher: (prerequisite 200 hrs practice) 14 day

course

Leel 4 International Ski Teacher: (Prereq. 200 hrs and Level 2 in 2nd

discipline) 18 Day course

The technical platform of their alpine skiing: Create and optimize the

dynamics of our skiing. We look at the importance of proper motion at

the right time when skiing.

Reprted by:De bne

The Basis of the Technical:

Basic Principles Balance/Dynamic Posi-

tion/Edge Regulation/Torsion and Rotation

Regulation/Power Control/Timing

Individual Custom:

Taking account of Body Build/Physical/

Mental/Conditions

Distinguish between style and technique:

Mental/Physical/Technical/Who you copy

Appropriate movement in relation to ter-

rain.

Positie Practical Coaching:

The teaching method that focus on what to do

(positive), values that focuses on students

having a good experience. This means that

teaching focuses on what students do well.

What we will achieve is that the student has

had a positive experience from the ski school

and would like further instruction, while the

student is aware of and has had their own un-

derstanding of techniques: What this means is

that students are able to teach themselves and

obtain a faster development and better results.

Additional key points/considerations include:

Positive mindset/Body language, Inclu-

sion, Engagement

Playfulness, Safeness, Time for trying,

Insight, Self-experience, High activity

Sending/Receiving on different channels,

Empathy, One at a time, Positive/Con-

structive Feedback

I believe there are a couple notable points that

CASI can consider from the Norwegians. The

rst thing that stood out for me was the

organization of their

levels system with pre-

requisite practice hours

between each level. I

wonder what implica-

tions a more stringent

requirement on practice

teaching would have oncourse success, and

teaching in our country

(especially moving from

level 2 to 3 and 4)?

The second insight that

I gained was how they

approach the teaching;

specically the empha-

sis put into individual-

izing/customizing the

technique for the student

and the current condi-

tions/terrain. Although

I think that we address

this at our higher levels

in CASI, and now too

with the QuickRide, I

believe there is room for

a greater integration of

these concepts within

our course and written

content. The who do

you copy concept is in-

triguing, since we cannot

expect every person to

ride the same way, but

at times I think we get

caught up in this think-

ing, and expect everyone

to look the same when

we ride.

28


31/44

31

( S )WWW NzSIA ORG


32/44

The New Zealand folks put on a good

workshop they were good present-ers with lots of experience. I found

many similarities in their material as to

how they introduce people to snow-

boarding, and how they progress them

through their system. The big differ-

ence is how they run their courses,

how long the courses are, and what

the candidates are evaluated on. NZhas experienced a consistent growth

in snow sports over the last few years;

lots of investments from resort own-

ers, big international events, popular

training ground for North Hemisphere

ski and snowboard teams. 38% of

their total snow sport visits (200,000

total) are snowboarders, an exceptional

ratio compared to the rest of the

world. The popular trends for pro-

gramming are the following; privates,

high performance programs, freestyle

lessons and kids specic programs, all

of the above mentioned being more

than just your generic group lessons.

They attribute this trend to the public

wanting more for their buck in todays

tough economic times.

New Zealand Level System

NZ has a total of four levels, which

was a big change for them in the last

four years - they used to have two

stages only, and the tasks for each were

quite extensive. Now they have Level1, 2 and 3 and their Level 4 is the

Trainers cert. They label their levels as

such:

New Zealand (NZSIA)WWW.NzSIA.ORG

Reprted by:luc bener

Level 1 is the Fundamentals

Level 2 is Exploration

Level 3 is Performance

The trainers cert is very similar to the Level 3 with added terrain difculty

(steeper/more challenging) and the introduction of pedagogy. Their skills

are Balance, Edge, Pressure, Steer. Balance being the foundation of them

all and always present in the riding, and blends with the other three skills as

needed (depending on the wanted outcome). All of the skills combined equals

performance.The evaluation of the candidates on course is very much task or maneuver

oriented, and not so much based on body movements or body mechanics.

l 1: fmts

The material included is very similar

to ours. It promotes an aligned and

centered stance right from the start

and promotes lower body steering

right from the rst turn (the basic

skidded turn). They do not promote

any kind of front foot pivot for the

rst turn. Board performance is low.

l 2: ept

The NZ Level 2 introduces a pro-

gression to carve turns; developing

a strong edge; slowly increasing the

tilt (edge angle) to start feeling the

edge grab more and more. The part that I found the most interesting in the

Level 2 is the promoted awareness that as you build up the tilt the sidecut

plays a larger part in the steering; therefore the candidate should adjust the

amount of steering as the edge angle increases. More tilt = less steering move-

ments.

l 3: Pmc

We really start to crank the speed up at this point as we are looking for moredynamic movements on more challenging terrain.

30

Carving, freeride and freestyle are all Tc Ts Ct (l 4):

New Zealand (NZSIA)


33/44

Carving, freeride and freestyle are all

incorporated in this level; including

down un-weighted turns (a task in their

system, and not just a tactic like we use

now

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