Halfway to our first exam (August 3rd, 2006)

We just finished our second day of training, we've only got two more days of training before we start our first set of exams. As our trainers so affectionately put it, we'll be the least prepared group of potential instructors taking the exam. All other classes will have had between two to four weeks of training. It shouldn't be too bad though because although the exam takes four full days, it covers fairly basic stuff. Obviously we have to know the material well, but we won't be stretching our technical skills.

The training has been great so far. We started off the first day by videotaping all of our current riding styles. We then went inside and our two trainers dissected our stance and board setup. We made quite a few changes to my gear: widened my feet by a good inch, opened my back foot out (the preferred stance is a "duck stance", both feet pointing out), and added more angle to my calf support. The changes (especially widening the feet) immediately helped me get lower and into a more stable base stance.

I would have loved to have gone out and tried riding around a bit with my new stance, but after making the changes we immediately headed to the bunny slope, where we've spent the last two days. We've been learning how to teach the absolute beginners, i.e. someone who is holding a board in their hands for the first time. There's a pretty good progression of moves to go through to get them from board in hand to ready to tackle their first run. As an instructor we need to be able to demo all parts of the progression flawlessly and while the moves aren't hard, we've been getting grilled on getting all aspects of the demos. They need to be technically flawless. It's amazing how much time you can spend on the bunny slope (with just one foot strapped in, even). I had forgot how many out of control riders there on on the bunny slope, it can be a scary place. But it reminds you what it feels like to be a first time rider; keeping the students feeling safe is the #1 priority.

Anyway, I suppose most of our work so far hasn't been that exciting, but I've been having a lot of fun. And the stuff we're working on can definitely be applied to my riding (and it has been), which will make me a stronger technical rider. Tonight we watched the video from original rides and it made everyone cringe. Fortunately we're going to keep taping ourselves each week so we should see some progression next week. We've come a long way in two days, I can't wait to see where we'll end up after six weeks!