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L2 Snowboard Unlocked

echo_VT

Angel Diva
Hi ski divas,
Celebrating that I attained my Snowboard L2. Please join me in celebrating :smile: :party:

In Nov 2022, a fellow snowboard instructor from Hunter said he'd go for L2 snowboard. We met up over Google Meet and Zoom in order to do MA early in the season. We then attended L2 Prep in Dec 2022 at Killington. Unfortunately we weren't in the same group. But there, we practiced riding tasks and taught lessons. It was valuable and helpful. Two people in my prep stayed in touch and said let's do L2 together and keep each other accountable. I agreed. It's easier to do when you have people who are working together toward the same goal.

I started training lots after the holiday season. The group I attended L2 snowboard prep were all going for Hunter Mtn in late Jan and rallied around those dates. I didn't feel it was enough time for me to train adequately but I said yes b/c Hunter is my home mtn and I knew the people I'd go with based on our time together at L2 prep.

The fellow snowboard instructor from Hunter had signed up... then dropped out last minute as did another person from the L2 prep group I was in. That left me and one other guy from the L2 prep, he was from Killington. He brought two other people he worked with to the exam.

We worked together for those 3 days, and 2 walked away with pins (2 Killington coaches, 1 of whom was the friend from the L2 prep), and another 2 of us (myself and a coach from Stratton) attained our MA and teaching but would have to do a ride retake.

I worked on my riding a lot with the trainers at my hill. On Friday, the two of us from the Hunter exam (me from Stowe, the coach from Stratton) -- we showed up for the riding retake as did 2 others, one from Mt Snow (a fellow mom! but to two young little ones) and one from Windham (a dad to 3 older kids). All four of us passed.

So I now have a silver pin for snowboard to match the silver pin for alpine skiing!

What's next? Enjoy skiing and enjoy snowboarding. Maybe think about CS 2 for next season. Help my spouse attain L3 (his skiing has improved a lot). But continue to work on skiing and snowboarding, enjoying the moment for now!
 
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snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Congrats! That much more of an achievement as you had to work at it twice. Go for the CS2. I have been toying with the 3 which would make me a trainer, which I am not sure makes sense as I only teach about 10 per cent children.

You would earn a lot of money in Jackson Hole as pay is directly correlated with how many certs and the levels of each one. I focused more on Nordic as we once had a nordic center. My snowboarding is below par and it has now been years. I stopped teleing as we rarely teach those lessons and the bulk of the work is Alpine based.

Enjoy your new skills and knowledge and thanks for sharing your stoke!
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Good for you - 2 certs!! Snowboarding to me is a painful sport, so I haven't succeed even getting down a slope. But I did take a lesson years ago and can appreciate a great carved turn.

I wish the CSIA had Children's Specialist. It's considered part of the L1 course. My L1 was so long ago, it wasn't thought of.
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
That's great to know as I'm such a fan of visiting Jackson Hole :clap: I haven't been back in awhile. Have been watching all the corbet's couloir events (kings and queens).

I didn't realize there's a CS3? and that makes sense to not keep pursuing the children's specialist at Jackson Hole. At Stowe, we are always teaching kids so it would make sense. I would totally love to get Nordic / XC ski level 1. I so enjoy XC skiing!

At our hill we have a dual practitioner, Level 3 in both Snowboard and Alpine! I had a nice conversation with him in the locker room on Saturday. He was the first patroller on a snowboard in 1986. That's kinda awesome!

Ah, tele is kinda big here, at least at Jay Peak and similar hills, I have a few friends who tele and I attended CS 1 with a tele-skier. At Stowe, it sounds very similar to Jackson Hole in that the concentration is in Alpine Skiing.

I see that you have FS1! I do as well, but in snowboard. I just did a 360 during my L2 snowboard on blue terrain, just off a roller. I had done a few before, but I was like oh okay, I guess I'm doing the full rotation (we were demo'ing 180s for the riding retake). I do want to do more park. I have not thought about it for skis as I don't have a park set up, but I have had twin tips up until recently when the local shop couldn't resize the bindings to my new boots. I would totally be interested in learning freestyle on skis...
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
Thank you @Jilly ! Ah that's interesting that Canada doesn't have them. I have had conversations with instructors that it might make sense to have a fully developed children's path as it's very different than adults. that said, both freestyle and children's specialists focus heavily on children (freestyle, we see a lot of teenage boys, sometimes teenage girls) and building a student profile and development specific/appropriate teaching, in addition to progressions appropriate to the age and development. It's pretty interesting!
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Exactly my thoughts. We have some new, younger, professionals now on at the top tier and some things are changing. It's been everyman/organization for themselves. CSIA, CSCF, CASI and I don't know if we have a Nordic/Tele one! The only extra certification that CSIA has is freestyle coach.

But I will admit that I was happy when they took out the L1 CSCF (race coach) out of the L3 requirements. I'm not interested in race coaching, so never looked to do the L3. But I do agree that a L3 should know something about it, to guide a student into racing if they want it. Also freestyle.

Maybe the new guns will have some ideas when they get back from Levi.
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
I am unfamiliar with casi and the other organizations in Canada! But interesting. For US race there’s USSA I believe and FIS. Everyone has to register with the organization(s) racers and coaches and the coaches have to take a safe sport test it seems? There will be interski later this month… it will be interesting to see what changes come about
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I am unfamiliar with casi and the other organizations in Canada! But interesting. For US race there’s USSA I believe and FIS. Everyone has to register with the organization(s) racers and coaches and the coaches have to take a safe sport test it seems? There will be interski later this month… it will be interesting to see what changes come about
When I was a registered USSA I did have to take and pass the safe sport class. As I understand it USSA is the national snow competitive sport association while FIS is the international organization that orgs like USSA belong to. I can find racer friends in both only if the US based races are sanctioned by FIS otherwise it is a USSA level race only. Way above my pay grade honestly as I never coached competitive skiers. That said I follow a lot of local racers from the regional theough the world cup level.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
CSCF - Canadian Ski Coach Federation
CASI - Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors

Any coach that is coaching FIS also has ACA accreditation and NCCP too. NCCP is national and applies to all sports, whether it be baseball or skiing. Actually anyone beyond club level needs it.

We have safe sport now too. Just came in this fall. Locally I have to do a "vunderable persons report". This a police report that you haven't been in trouble with kids in particular.
 

echo_VT

Angel Diva
That makes sense why we have a USSA ID number for our racer but no FIS! I guess there’s a space for it as there are US racers who do have FIS ID numbers!

coaching snow sports worldwide has been interesting to observe from the sidelines. Kind of awesome how universal things are and yet also dependent on regions in the world.
 

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