2005 Senior Tour Event Recap

Despite the fact that 2005 was pretty much a non-ski/ride year in the NW I got quite a bit of valuable feedback relative to the Senior Tour and desired curriculum content. The predominant comment from the Fall Seminar sessions was that the indoor sessions should be devoted to teaching seniors of all abilities. As a result, I have begun to compile useful information that will be presented at this coming season’s sessions. It is my hope to try to make these sessions as interactive as possible so that those attending should bring some of their experiences to share with the rest of the attendees. In addition, one two day on snow session was given at the symposium at Bachelor. It was a great group of enthusiastic folks that really enjoyed the company, the area and the snow conditions. The feedback from that session was that approaches to “Adventure Skiing for Seniors” would be an additional good topic for future on- snow sessions.

Based on feedback received after both the indoor and on-snow sessions, it appears that the focus for the coming year should be shifted a bit to include some additional coverage of teaching skills with an emphasis on the needs of senior students. As a result of these inputs the on snow curriculum will consist of 4 choices of skiing and teaching improvement. These will include: Work on the Basics; Approach to Adventure Skiing; Polishing Exam Skiing Tasks; and Approaches to Teaching Seniors of all Abilities.

The same number of opportunities will be offered in the 2005/ 2006 season but the content will be expanded to include more on Teaching Skill Development. The emphasis will be on the basics that are important to all age levels with some specific information on the needs of “seniors” (who are defined as anyone who has passed the bullet proof age or state of mind). Since there appears to be a demand for more Teaching Skill specific information, I committed last year to develop a series of short articles for the Newsletter. The series has been titled “Senior Moments”. A couple of these have been published which contained tips and advice to aid the teaching effectiveness of our membership. I am hoping that these writings will encourage our membership to contribute their knowledge which I will include depending on space available and value of content. Hopefully, this will increase the involvement of our membership in the educational process. The proposed 2006 Senior Tour events and the potential locations are posted online and are availble through the office.. The program is very flexible and can accommodate special events such as Member Ski School events and events at other locations than the ones identified below if the interest is sufficient to support the hiring of a clinician. These special events can be scheduled through the office or by contacting your Board Representative in your region.