Teaching Children
Castleford Kids Camp
Having
obtained my BASI Alpine Level 1 qualification and licence I would need to
complete a further 35 hours of shadowing should I wish to go on and do my BASI
Alpine Level 2. With it now being March my choices of places to go for
shadowing were becoming limited; I was left with either Southern Hemisphere
resorts (not an option), or indoor slopes.
I had
already used the indoor slope at Manchester ChillFactor for shadowing and
wanting to gain the most from my shadowing I opted to choose a different slope;
Castleford near Leeds.
Castleford
is my nearest slope. At a journey time of 1 1/2 hours each way it’s still quite
a distance but depsite this I ski there regularly and know several of the team.
I approached the manager and was given shadowing on the Children’s School
Holiday Camp (kids camp) over Easter.
In the
holiday camps children aged 7-15 years not only get the opportunity to learn a
brand new sport and meet new friends they also get to learn brand new life
skills through mini-medics, an accredited first aid course for children! There
is also a keep fit Zumba session.
Each
day is packed full of fun. The children
learn to ski or snowboard followed by a hot lunch and then head back out onto
the slopes before taking part in off snow sessions such as the mini medics, a
keep fit Zumba session or sign language lessons. Sign language bingo is great
fun !
The
camps are available for beginners or experienced skiers and snowboarders.
NHS
commitments meant I was only able to join the camp Tuesday to Friday. I found
it was a large group of children; skiers, snowboarders, beginners and
intermediates. I was kitted out with Snozone ski instructor clothing and
allocated to the beginners on the practice slope. If you are a qualified
instructor reading this you will know how useful it can be having a helper in a
beginners class. Having me to help meant that the beginner group could be
pealed off to the main slope in groups of seven more easily. If there was someone
not quite ready to progress to the main slope I was there to stay with them on
the practice area for that little bit longer. I quickly developed a ‘cling-on’.
It started with an occasional tug at my clothing, then holding onto my
clothing, then me. Of course the inevitable also happened where at the end of
the day you find yourself not only carrying all the skis and sticks but a child
as well. Cling-ons ! I have decided that if you want to be a childrens ski
instructor it is either helpful to be an octopus or have the ability to grow at
least one extra arm !!
I
fitted in quickly, both with the instructors and with the children. I typically
stayed with the beginners and lower intermediates when out on the slope. After
lunch, those not wanting to ski from the top of the slope would ski with me
from the half-way point. Again, it was proving useful having me around.
By the
end of the week all my beginners were coming down from the top of the main
slope. Occasionally I could be heard shouting ‘Pizza’ as I chased down the
slope after a child who was only just in control. Children can be easily
distracted, especially when all they want to know is what their friends are
doing. When one of the children skiing with me decided they wanted to go over
the jump without either telling me first or waiting for me to be there they got
a real telling off from me. They promptly burst into tears. Oops !
As a
childrens ski instructor you learn to expect the unexpected. This was indeed
the case with one of my Snozone colleagues teaching on the kids camp. Feeling
the need to relieve herself she had gone to the toilet. Her group had other
ideas. Finding the instructor had locked the toilet door they simply picked the
lock.
‘What
are you doing ?’ (kids)
‘Having
a pee. How the … ?’ (instructor)
‘We
picked the lock !’ (kids)
‘Can
you go away ?’ (instructor)
‘Can we
watch ?’ (kids)
‘No you
can’t !’ (instructor)
I love
skiing with children and teaching them. You can progress them so quickly. It’s
also a good excuse to be a little bit silly.
BASI Teaching Children
Once a
year BASI run a Teaching Children CPD course (training course). As always,
nothing I do with BASI is ever straight forward. It runs only once a year and
so when BASI cancelled the previous one I had been booked onto I was not
impressed. This time, however, it would go ahead. In the run up to the training
day I had been injured whilst skiing with Disability Snowsports UK. Whilst
doing an uplift of a bucketed bi-ski my skis had pre-released, both of them,
forcing me to take the decision to put myself and my passenger backwards into
the wall for safety reasons. Unfortunately when people came to help they hadn’t
realised I was tethered to the bi-ski in a harness and as they pulled the bi-ski
off me my back was twisted. I was still in pain and unable to turn left when
skiing. It was going to make the day interesting to say the least.
I know
a lot of BASI trainers / examiners and had been trying to work out which one
was delivering the course. BASI are not allowed to tell you who your trainer is
but quite a lot of the time I can take an educated guess. It turned out to be
Gareth Shelbourne. I’d previously met Gareth whilst skiing at Manchester
ChillFactor earlier in the year but this was the first time with him on a BASI
course. If I kept moving my back was fine but standing still whilst Gareth
talked was giving me problems, especially in a cold environment. When he got me
to try tic-tac it was hopeless. I really can’t tic-tac, not even close to being
able to do it. My brain just gets confused.
The day
was really good. Full of useful tips on how to teach children and a chance to
be a bit silly. It’s quite funny skiing behind a BASI trainer / examiner as
they make mock farting noises whilst they ski down the slope. By lunchtime my
pain was really bad and unable to turn left when skiing I dropped out.
For
anyone who teaches children as a ski instructor I would recommend doing the
course. You can also download the Teaching Children to Ski booklet from the
BASI website.
Next:
Adaptive Level 1 or Alpine Level 2 ??
Previously:
Summer Training
Those 3 Things
Skiing With My Own Health Needs
DSUK
Disability Skiing - Jubilee Sailing Trust
Technical Resit
Saint Gervais - More Freedom Snowsports
Freedom Snowsports - Back to Will
Return to New Generation
December 2018
September 2018
March 2018
The Beginnings
Comments
Post a Comment