GAP SKI INSTRUCTOR PROGRAM

2008 GAP Ski Instructor Course Review

Juliet Tate, 19 Student, Leeds I decided to do the Warren Smith Gap course because I wanted to ski during my gap year but at the same time wanted to improve my skiing more than I would have done as, for example, a chalet maid. I had been to Verbier before and loved it as a ski area because of the great areas of off-piste and the steepness of the mountain. I had also had a lesson with Warren when I was with my family and was excited by the different techniques of skiing which he offered.

There was a wide variety of skiing ability on the course, some people had skied all their life and others had been skiing for a number of weeks. One thing that was good about the course was that everyone accepted everyone else’s level and didn’t try to compete against each other. Everyone was set on the same goal and went out of their way to help others achieve it too.

We met the coaches at 10:15 to do our warm-up routine which involved stretches and lying down on the piste with one leg in the air (activating our core apparently…). We then got into our groups (there were four groups for the different levels) and were told what we would be working on that day e.g. Short Radius turns, Long Radius turns, Moguls or variables. We would then spend the rest of the day skiing, practising new techniques and getting feedback on how we were doing. At around 12:30 we would stop for lunch and then continue with the coaching until 3pm. After this we were free to do a few more runs to practise what we’d learnt that day or meet at the bar on the slopes for a beer.

Every day was different, some days we would be doing different exercises which would help us to feel new sensations in our skiing and other days we would put all these ideas together and concentrate on our skiing as a whole. It was enjoyable just to have a focus for the day and to follow a coach around the mountain. We had teaching on Central Theme (snowplough etc.) which was a lot harder than I thought it would be! We also had to teach our peers to prepare us for Ski Instructing; this was really useful for me as I am naturally quite nervous in a teaching situation, it helped me to gain confidence in what I know and explain this to others.

	The coaching from the boys was fantastic. They all had very individual styles of teaching but were linked by their enthusiasm and passion for skiing and for teaching us how to ski. The fact that they’re all such good skiers encouraged me to change my way of skiing and adapt to different techniques in the hope of skiing more like them. Everyone had times when they were frustrated or feeling down but there was such a team spirit that everyone would try to cheer up and help out one another. There were loads of opportunities for laughter and everyone was having fun aswell as trying to improve their skiing. One of the things I found most useful was the Video Analysis sessions which we had twice a week. This helped as you could actually see for yourself what you were doing wrong and the coaches gave us specific feedback to help us change. One of my biggest problems was my arm carriage; at the start of the course I tended to let my arms fall by my side which meant  my weight was back and I couldn’t project my hip fully. After lots of exercises to solve this and shouts of ‘ARMS!’ from the coaches, I think I significantly changed my arm carriage and am now a lot happier with the way I ski.

We shadowed the Swiss Ski School for a week which was useful for picking up teaching tools and seeing how the Ski school operated. I really appreciated the Warren Smith course because of the fact that we shadowed the local ‘Ecole de Suisse’ ski school as it is the largest ski school in Verbier and very professional. The instructors were highly qualified and many had been teaching for years. And we all got offered jobs at the end of the week!

There was a big mixture of ages in the group, from school leavers like me to people who were taking a break from work or retired. This is probably one of the major differences between the Warren Smith course and other gap courses and it was what made our course so unique. There were people from all walks of life but that didn’t stop us from connecting and having a good time together. Things that are important back home such as professions didn’t really matter in Verbier, I feel that I know all the people on the course pretty well but have no idea what they do back at home or where they live!

I stayed in the Bouton D’Or chalet; it accommodated 12 people and was the largest chalet to stay in. You would think that 12 people staying under the same roof, close together with lots of big personalities and different ages would be a recipe for disaster but in fact we all got along really well and didn’t even have any arguments. We got to know everyone’s individual habits and quirks, by the end we were like family.

Living in Verbier for three months was a huge plus. The resort was big enough to have lots of places to eat and go out but also small enough to bump into people you know on the street. There a wide variety of places to go on a night out including the Farinet lounge and Pub Mont Fort (assuming you could make it past Apres, which has the tendency to get you pretty wrecked by around 6pm and in bed by 9pm). Often the whole group went out together, this meant that bonding happened very quickly and there were many stories of drunken incidents that were recounted over the weeks.

The best thing about the course was meeting a great bunch of people and the bond we all shared between us. We also had a 100% pass rate on the BASI Two examination!! I made some really close friends on the course that I’m sure I’ll keep in contact with. My skiing improved massively over the nine weeks and I have never laughed so much every day as I did on the course. I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to have good coaching, improve their skiing and have fun at the same time.

In Association With :

Site Design & Photography:
www.melodysky.com