Amazing lesson!

[newskiaddict]

Hi divas,
I had such an incredible lesson on Wednesday, I had to write about it. I arrived at my local hill on Wednesday evening with the hopes of getting a group lesson. Lucky me, I was the only one who showed up, so I got a private lesson for $30. Even more importantly, the instructor and I really clicked. Interestingly, this is the first lesson I've had with a female instructor and I'm wondering if that had something to do with it. She was able to communicate ways I could improve in a way I could immediately put to practice. I improved dramatically in just one hour, and felt immensely more confident in my ability! We worked on pole plants, and with just one lesson, I went from not knowing how to use poles at all (despite other teachers trying to show me) to feeling like I could not only use them the right way, but they actually improved my turns!
Such a great feeling!

 

[gardenmary]

That is FANTASTIC!! It's great when you find an instructor that you really connect with; request her by name in the future and I think you'll be thrilled at your progress. And yes, proper pole plants will improve your turns.

I tend to reserve judgment as to gender when it comes to instructors; I've had great and mediocre of both genders. I think clicking with an instructor has more to do with other things including communication styles.

 

[Moonrocket]

Yay! Sounds like a great lesson!

 

[contesstant]

Is that not the BEST feeling?

 

[Ashleigh Lawrence]

Awesome. Well done you!

 

[Scrapula]

I had two lessons with men and didn't progress at all. My third lesson, I got a female instructor with only my husband and I in the class. She made everything click for me. My husband got worse, so it might be a male/female thing.

 

[bounceswoosh]

It might be, for you =)

The one thing I do love about a female instructor who is also a really aggressive skier is that it feels more like it's within my reach. I can see a guy jump a cliff or take some aggressive line, and I may not believe that I can do it. But when I see a woman doing it, I do start believing. It's not really fair to that woman, who has put plenty of effort into it - it's not like we're on the same level - but somehow it still helps.

 

[naskis]

So awesome! Congratulations!

 

[abc]

I had two lessons with men and didn't progress at all. My third lesson, I got a female instructor with only my husband and I in the class. She made everything click for me. My husband got worse, so it might be a male/female thing.

I confess I hate it when I'm in a group lesson and there're people who kept on asking questions instead of just "try it" and see how it works out.

Sadly, it's almost always women who ask endless questions. (not saying that's your & your hubby's case)

Or it could be I have a male brain?

 

[newskiaddict]

I also get frustrated with too much talking. I've learned to ski basically by trial and error and having instructors demonstrate what I should be doing. I'm much better following an instructor and trying to imitate what they are doing than listening to their instructions.

 

[mustski]

Either way, you found someone you click with. Keep requesting her. It's awesome when that happens.

 

[abc]

It might be, for you =)

The one thing I do love about a female instructor who is also a really aggressive skier is that it feels more like it's within my reach. I can see a guy jump a cliff or take some aggressive line, and I may not believe that I can do it. But when I see a woman doing it, I do start believing. It's not really fair to that woman, who has put plenty of effort into it - it's not like we're on the same level - but somehow it still helps.

It may also be just body shape and movement too.

When I see a chic rip, she often LOOK effortless. When I see a guy rip, he often "look" powerful!

I just don't see myself ripping it up "powerfully" (even though I'm pretty strong for my size). So I have this little subconcious doubt in my head when I'm following a male instructor, that I might not have the "power" to do what he does.

But when I'm following a female instructor, yes, I feel like you... "it doesn't look too difficult, I think I might just be able to do what she does if I practice diligently"

 

[litterbug]

My current theory is that because I need to feel what I need to do and with something like skiing have to experiment until I know where it fits, I need someone who can keep a cool head while I appear to ski worse and worse, not try to fix me, and keep answering questions and demonstrating things until it clicks. Hopefully at some point I won't have to go through all of that. But although the two instructors who've worked have been male, I think it has more to do with their confidence and detachment than gender.

 

[bounceswoosh]

This is counter-intuitive, but a lot of my best breakthroughs (not in terms of technique, but terrain) have been with instructors who just skied off and left the class to follow them. Not on stuff that is impossibly difficult, of course, but on stuff that is just a wee bit outside of the comfort zone. They ski and assume you'll follow. And you do.

I later found out that in one of these instructors' cases, and I'm sure others as well, it is 100% on purpose.

Then again, I had an instructor do that on terrain that three of us were in no way ready to handle. Lots of back and forth and even tears ensued. Yes, we got down, but I don't think we learned anything. It's a delicate balance.

 

[TeleChica]

So glad for you! I don't know if it's a male/female thing, but when you really click with an instructor, it's a wonderful feeling.

As an instructor, I'd love to know what she had you do that helped you learn to pole tap better? (I'm trying to start saying tap, because that's really what it is.) Always looking for tips!

 

[newskiaddict]

So glad for you! I don't know if it's a male/female thing, but when you really click with an instructor, it's a wonderful feeling.

As an instructor, I'd love to know what she had you do that helped you learn to pole tap better? (I'm trying to start saying tap, because that's really what it is.) Always looking for tips!

TelaChica- She had me follow her while she skied slowly and pole planted (or tapped) so I could figure out the right timing. Other instructors had drawn s's in the snow with their pole, and tried to show me where in the turn I was supposed to plant, but I couldn't get the feel of it. I learn better by doing.

 

[litterbug]

This is counter-intuitive, but a lot of my best breakthroughs (not in terms of technique, but terrain) have been with instructors who just skied off and left the class to follow them. Not on stuff that is impossibly difficult, of course, but on stuff that is just a wee bit outside of the comfort zone. They ski and assume you'll follow. And you do.

I later found out that in one of these instructors' cases, and I'm sure others as well, it is 100% on purpose.

Then again, I had an instructor do that on terrain that three of us were in no way ready to handle. Lots of back and forth and even tears ensued. Yes, we got down, but I don't think we learned anything. It's a delicate balance.

Hmm, I guess that explains the awful group lesson where the other two women, who had good parallel turns, just needed to get over their fear of steeper terrain, while I wasn't afraid but had no more than a desperate wedge and stemmed turn and a million bruising falls trying to keep up. The lesson really was amazing for the other women, but I got no instruction other than having things like "stop leaning into the hill" shouted at me from far away as the other three regrouped and then moved on as soon as I got there, and even if she'd tried I couldn't possibly have absorbed it because I really couldn't handle that soft snow in big dense piles on steep hills.

So yes, it's a balance, but not necessarily a delicate one.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Hmm, I guess that explains the awful group lesson where the other two women, who had good parallel turns, just needed to get over their fear of steeper terrain, while I wasn't afraid but had no more than a desperate wedge and stemmed turn and a million bruising falls trying to keep up. The lesson really was amazing for the other women, but I got no instruction other than having things like "stop leaning into the hill" shouted at me from far away as the other three regrouped and then moved on as soon as I got there, and even if she'd tried I couldn't possibly have absorbed it because I really couldn't handle that soft snow in big dense piles on steep hills.

So yes, it's a balance, but not necessarily a delicate one.

Ugh.

 

[Skier31]

Hmm, I guess that explains the awful group lesson where the other two women, who had good parallel turns, just needed to get over their fear of steeper terrain, while I wasn't afraid but had no more than a desperate wedge and stemmed turn and a million bruising falls trying to keep up. The lesson really was amazing for the other women, but I got no instruction other than having things like "stop leaning into the hill" shouted at me from far away as the other three regrouped and then moved on as soon as I got there, and even if she'd tried I couldn't possibly have absorbed it because I really couldn't handle that soft snow in big dense piles on steep hills.

So yes, it's a balance, but not necessarily a delicate one.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. It sounds like the group you were in should have been split into two different groups, each with a different focus.

 

[bounceswoosh]

In my experience at Breck - and this may depend on a lot of things - ski schools will combine lesson groups across up to three levels - like, if they have one student lined up at 5 and one at 7 they'll put you together. They don't want to "waste" ski instructors. So I'm not surprised that with only three students, they didn't split the class.

In retrospect, if I pay for a lesson again and they try to do this, I hope I'll be strong enough to simply refuse and say that I want an appropriate level lesson, or I want a refund. I absolutely *can* learn from any level lesson, but I don't want to pay full price for it.