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kids, kids, kids, continued
Thanks to One of Our Partners
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ften, we see the names of PSIA-E partners in publication, but if we don’t have direct contact, or use their services, we may not fully understand or appreciate their value to our organization. That said, I would like to tell you about John Jacobs from Reliable Racing and the commitment his company has made to PSIA-E. Not only does John’s company support the race program, but John has very generously supplied the ACE team with a bag of race materials ranging from brush gates to stubbies to be used at Children’s Educational events throughout the winter season. On behalf of the ACE Team and the Eastern Children’s Committee, I would like to express our thanks to John Jacobs and Reliable Racing for their continued support of PSIA-E. Jeffrey W “Jake” Jacobsen PSIA-E Children’s Committee Chair ACE Team Member ■
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with loose heels
A Family Affair by Julie West PSIA-E Nordic Track/Skate Dev Team School Director, Garnet Hill XC Ski Center North River, NY
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K, picture this scenario: Family of four comes from the city. At home, both parents work all day, kids are in school with after-school activities. They all get home about dinnertime, give or take, possibly get to eat together, but usually not, and then there’s homework and everyone’s exhausted. To get out of their rut and change the pace, the family schedules a ski vacation so they can get a break and spend some time together. They walk up to the ski school desk, enthusiastically announcing that they would like a lesson. They are told, “The kid lessons meet here, and the adult lessons meet over there.” They start squirming, “But we want to stay together.” The response: “Kids learn best one way, and adults have a different way of learning, so we feel you’ll get more out of the lesson if you separate.” Really wanting to be together, they get uncomfortable with this notion, and reply “But we came here to be together, and we’d like a
PSIA-E / AASI SnowPro • Winter 2006
lesson together.” Now it’s the ski school’s turn to get uncomfortable, as they reluctantly say, “Well, OK - it could be challenging, but we’ll do it.” We all know that kids and adults often learn in different ways. We all know the developmental stages, experiential learning through games vs. cognitive learning, etc.... But, it’s good to remember that we are here to provide a service, and our service is: #1 - FUN. If the family wants to spend time together and chooses their ski lesson as their first activity - why not? We now have the challenge of starting off their vacation with a bang, and making a big difference in one family’s life. These families don’t come along very often, in my experience. But they do happen. I admit I’ve been terrified with the prospect of teaching a family together. I explain the reasons we usually separate them, and if they still want to stay together, I’ll say OK, let’s do it. At that point it’s up to me to turn my head around. As I’m getting my clothing and gear ready, my mind is nervously spinning with all the possibilities of activities to do and different approaches so that everyone has a fun and worthwhile experience. My own excitement grows as the possibilities and unknowns swirl through my head. By the time I head out the door I’ve usually gone through an entire transformation, and am in a state of relaxed awareness, having talked myself into the fact that I really do have the skills to handle this easily. These lessons have been some of the most challenging and rewarding lessons I’ve ever taught! Generally, I gear it toward the play side of the equation because most adults could use a little more child-like play time anyway. Usually (and thankfully), the parents, when it’s their choice to be with the kids, are happy to be kids themselves. If the adults get a little uneasy that they are not “learning” anything, I explain to them the skills that we are covering, and they relax. In fact, they are usually amazed. I have two favorite lessons that stick in my memory. One was a beginner telemark lesson. The parents were preparing to go on a hut-to-hut backcountry ski vacation in the Rockies. The child, who was about 10, said, “Sorry, but you’re not leaving me behind this time. You’ve done it before and it’s not happening again!” Now, I’m mostly a track/skate instructor; I teach maybe three tele lessons a year. I thought - ooooh boy, how am I gonna do this? What sticks in my mind is not how I did it, but the fact that I did. The amazed parents watched their son catch on to this - much quicker than they did, of course. That was one happy family, and one hooked child! The other lesson was a beginner skate ski lesson - two parents and two kids who were about 9 and 11. A typical adult skate ski lesson, with all its drills and necessary repetitions, can quickly get boring for a child, even though the adult usually