Why do I teach snowboarding?
by Don Meyer
Spring 1998

I was pretty happy going up to the mountain every Saturday and some Wednesday evenings when I could. My kids were young and were going to take lessons through the Bellevue Ski & Snowboard School. It was getting a little expensive going up often and I heard that they needed chaperones for the buses taking the kids to the mountain. And too my surprise, not only did you get a free bus ride but also a free ticket each week and a lesson if you wanted it. For a number of years, this seemed like a great deal, rest on the way up and back from the mountain, ride all day and all this for the privilege of having fun with the kids on the bus. The only downside was that I had to leave before the the mountain closed for the evening.

This went well for quite awhile until the head of the ski school said he needed some reliable snowboard instructors and thinking I would be reliable he urged me to come to preseason clinics and help out the program. This simple chain of events have lead me to much much pleasure and some work but mostly led to many extra days on the mountain and a continually growing set of skills on a snowboard.

Our school was just starting to teach snowboarding and had no senior snowboarding staff so I went to other schools for training and also to challenge my skills. I met a lot of people who were more than happy to help me learn to ride and to teach. They also quickly introduced me to the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA). The snowboard instructors later formed the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI) which provided me with many additional training materials and on snow training events.

I quickly learned that with more knowledge came more opportunity (and pay) and was offered the opportunity to run our elementary school program and then the elementary and middle school program and later our high school program. With this came trying to find and train other instructors as well as matching instructors with students and managing classes. I continue to take lesson myself so I can help others.

I worked a lot (50+ lessons) my first year (for a part time instructor) and also had the opportunity to take and pass both the PSIA Level 1 & 2 snowboard exams. Having barely passed the Level 2 exams gave me incentive that summer and into the next year to really study both riding and teaching to significantly improve both skills.

On the 3rd year, since I was trying to run a program I felt like I should try to get the Level 3 (Full) Certification so I took the end of the season exam. I knew my skills were marginal because I had already ridden with some of the best riders but I thought if everything went well I might get lucky. The more I rode with top instructors, the more I realized how much there was to learn about teaching people and about riding anywhere in any condition. I didn't pass the exam but I learned a lot again and vowed to continue working on my skills.

Last year was again a great season for the school. The many differences in our students showed again how much there is to learn about helping people, motivating them to learn while having fun, balancing fun, safety and learning. I didn't attempt the exams because I felt I had much yet to learn and also because I was remodeling my house and had other distractions like fabulous conditions week after week which made it hard to practice some specific types of riding.

I believe next year will be the year for me to achieve full certification but I can continue working and then take the exams. I feel after another season of learning, I will be ready to try again. It still won't be easy. There will still be lots of riding to prepare myself for that part of the exam and also lots of instruction and instructional training to prepare myself for the other part of the exam. But all of it will be fun because it really is exciting to better understand myself and others. Learning to ride is a lot more than just physical skills, the mountain is very challenging and scary. Learning to relax and let go of one's fears is the biggest effort in snowboarding. Learning what is possible with proper technique goes a long ways towards alleviating those fears. Learning how, where, and when to provide the learning opportunities all the while providing lots of opportunities for fun is perhaps the biggest challenge to the instructor.

After all that, you might still ask, "Why be a snowboard instructor?" In some ways it slows you down, it takes up valuable slope time and it also puts you on slopes and lifts you would rather avoid, the big mountain waiting, beckoning. For some people, instruction isn't the right answer but for me it provides a great deal of pleasure for the following reasons:

1) Teaching provides a focus on having fun by continuing to add skills which allow you to ride more and more terrain. Instructors are often among the top riders on the mountain without needing to be gifted athletes because they know more and practice more the average rider.

2) Teaching provides the opportunity to help a lot of people in short period of time. Many people have the basic emotional and physical ability to be good but they lack the knowledge of the sport and themselves and also the process to quickly learn the basic skills. After 4 years of teaching, it still amazes me at times what little help one needs to provide for some people to make amazing leaps in skill level.

3) Teaching gets you on the mountain several weekends in December, (I snowboarded 12 times before Christmas) and sometimes in October or November for instructor training and keeps you on the slopes every weekend until mid-March. Being an instructor also means you are always a student and looking for the time for learn more. It often means training sessions at Bachelor, Hood or Whistler off-season late March through November which also means more months and days on the snow, riding with some of the best riders in your area. That always translates to more fun and learning.

4) You work and play with some fabulous people who like the same things you do. With a group, together you can advance your skills much more quickly because each will bring diversity of skills and interest.

Have fun on the slopes and if you do have an interest in helping people slide and have fun, send me an email.

By Don Meyer,
Sliding Enthusiast