OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE LEVEL ONE INSTRUCTOR COURSE WITH THE NSSA

OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE LEVEL ONE SCHOOLS INSTRUCTOR COURSE

The NSSA, in the last year, have been instrumental in launching the initiative for young skiers to access the Snowsports Instructor pathway from 15 years old, with 25 new instructors qualified this way, two of those who have been through this course give their experience here.

Having been skiing since we were 3 years old its fair to say that we have plenty of experience and have given most things a try. For 12 years now we have considered skiing as our main sport and pastime, whether it be racing for our school, enjoying weekly freestyle at The Snow Centre in Hemel or simple cruising around having fun on the white stuff. Now that we are coming up on sixteen thoughts start to turn towards weekend jobs and to some extent the future. This is where our luck really kicks in as we can now look to utilise our love of skiing to our financial advantage and hence the start of our next stage in our skiing story.

And so to the IASI (Irish Association of Snowsports Instructors) Level One Ski Instructors Course.

While all IASI level 1 courses are the same structure and require the same level of skill this particular course, run by Impulse Racing for the National Schools Snowsports Association, is designed with younger experienced skiers in mind and in our case allowed us to get our qualifications prior to our sixteenth birthday. This was great as it also meant we could get the additional requirements sorted and be licenced on our birthday. So to be clear it is not only the successful completion of the course that is required for licencing, you will also need to get outdoor first aid and child awareness certification along with being police checked and completing 20 hours of shadowing ski instruction.

Getting that all out of the way let’s talk about the week with IASI at the Snow Centre in Hemel organised by Impulse. The course was based over 5 days and started on Monday morning at 9.30am with a group meeting with our instructor for the week. Our instructor was Ali Smith, more about him to follow, who made the introductions. We were a group of 4 which, obviously included ourselves along with Tallulah, 16, who is part of a skiing family surrounded by instructors, all of the highest level, and was doing her exam to be able to start at the Snow Centre as an instructor asap and finally Angelo, 15, who like us all has been skiing for as long as he can remember and was driven by wanting to share his love and passion for the sport meeting new people along the way. If we are honest the money ain’t bad either! Anyway the discussions centred around the lesson plan for the week setting out the on snow training and the off snow lessons we would be doing as well as what should be our goals for the end of the week regarding the final appraisal.

The course itself was excellent, well planned and really made us think about our technique as well as how to help others with theirs, whether they be total beginners or skiing for years. It was surprising to us all just how much the course gave to us, even as extremely experienced skiers. Now having said all that, down to the nitty gritty IT WAS GREAT FUN. The week flew by and while it was a serious endeavour, we could still have a great laugh along the way, enjoying our time on and off the snow immensely. We definitely all bonded and all the feedback was very positive indeed.

Special mention must go to Ali. While our group clicked we cannot overstate the influence Ali had on this. He created a learning environment that was fun and educational. Imagine your favourite class at school, being taught by the best teacher and allowing you to both enjoy and succeed at your favourite subject, having a great time all the way through. Hopefully the best comparison we can give.

Would we recommend this as the next level to aspire to, a resounding yes, without question. All that we need now is for the next couple of months to pass and we can get started (and earning) passing on our knowledge. Then onto Level 2!

See you on the slopes, Danni & Nikki Bateman.