Back on the 'horse'

I took a year off completely from teaching skiing.  I took a year before that and mostly didn't teach either.  I stopped stretching myself too thin and doing PSIA events and teaching and free skiing and working and, and, and... well, I skied a lot more.

Just as my relationship with ski teaching has changed, so has that of some of the other Divas - relationships, jobs, kids, and other life changes mean we no longer rip around as a posse of L2s and L3 ladies on a little hill in PA together.

But I'm back on the horse - at least a bit - at a new mountain.  I guess you could say that it's hard to imagine not being involved in ski instruction after 20 years. I'm excited to be part of a school that reminds me of that hill in PA:

• Many part time (and fewer full time!) instructors who are passionate about teaching, skiing, and have a thirst to learn
• Folks who are accomplished in their 'other' careers
• Snowsports school leadership committed to training - and building a culture of continuous learning among our instructors

It's also quite a bit different.  We are restarting the training program.  We don't have a base of 40 instructors who show up 2x a weekend for clinics or a long-standing culture of success in the certification pathways.  

It's fresh for me.  I'm excited to see our training director kicking off indoor sessions, publish a training schedule, rally the trainers.  I had a blast skiing with the other trainers in the early season and have been welcomed with open arms.

But for those who read this as I refresh my thinking about skiing teaching, I'm asking for some input:

• What brings you back each year to ski teaching? 
• What brings you to clinics? 
• What are your goals this season? What steps do you plan to take to get there?
• If I were to do just one thing this season as a staff trainer, what should it be?

Look here for more thoughts as the season goes on and potentially some updates to some of the other content we have here.