nz ski instructor course - a typical day
Your training days with the Cardrona Instructor Training Center (ITC) will run on a similar timetable to those instructors already employed in the industry. There are some reassuring similarities when you start teaching within a Snowsports school.
A typical day will start with your journey from Wanaka to Cardrona Alpine Resort. The sunrises in July are spectacular and as you are on the mountain early, you will get a chance to get out and warm up on snow before your training sessions start. We recommend that you use this time to focus on the areas that your trainer has been working on with you.
Our training days will usually have two rest/snack breaks so that we can have three, two hour sessions. Each session will have a main focus from our curriculum and may include; demonstration tasks, personal technique or teaching topics.
We will also compliment your training with video sessions, directed at both your performance and observing the general public. Detecting inefficiencies and prescribing remedies of the general public is also a major component for your Level 1 and 2 exams.
When it comes to working directly with you to develop your technique we have several options. Your trainer may set specific tasks for you that are designed to help you gain a firmer kinaesthetic awareness of your performance. These might be similar to some "drills" you may have done in regular Snowsports lessons, but with either more intensity or finesse.
Your trainer will also set up lap coaching sessions. In these sessions your trainer remains in the same location while you lap on the same lift. This ensures that each and every person receives a private lesson and individual focus.
We will also use video so that you can see just how well you are improving.
On some days your training does not finish when the lifts stop loading. Your trainers will also schedule training for you in Wanaka either on an occasional evening (more often as your exams get closer) or when the mountain is unable to open due to weather restraints. As the International Academy get together for meals most nights, it is also possible to chat with your trainers about your progress in an informal situation. This is a great opportunity to get clarification to any unanswered questions.
The weekends are yours to either come up and attack the mountain at your pace or to have a day in town unwinding. There are also the possibilities of training towards another activity, such as racing, park and pipe, or even crossing over to another discipline. This will of course depend upon numbers. We do recommend that you take at least one day off the mountain on a weekend to recharge your batteries.
The mid week day is your chance to do something that no other New Zealand training programme can offer you. The chance to join a real on snow lesson as a shadow instructor. While you will just be a silent observer, you will see how a seasoned professional delivers the same material that you have been learning. This is invaluable for your practical teaching exam and only Cardrona ITC trainees get this opportunity.
As you can see our training programme at the Cardrona Instructor Training Center is very detailed and pretty full on. We are very proud of our training programme and the product that we offer and we like to think that this is reflected in our pass rates at the NZSIA/SBINZ exams.
Wanaka and Cardrona are wonderful places and we would love to have you come and join us as instructors of the future.
Bob Irwin
Cardrona Instructor Training Center
NZSIA Trainer and Examiner
Click the link to the ski instructor course in NZ page.
