How to Lose a Group in 10 Minutes
and How Not To!

by Amy Ohran, Junior Education Team-NW Member

It’s lesson start time and simultaneously needing your attention are ‘meet and greet’ duties, communication of lesson details to anxious parents, your young and possibly nervous student, other guests waiting to sign in, ... The first ten minutes of a children’s lesson can be chaotic at best and determines the tone of the experience. The parent needs to see that their child is in good care and engaged in the lesson before they feel comfortable leaving. The child needs to feel secure and welcome. As a coach you need to begin building a child profile, assessing Cognitive, Affective and Physical states. The following are common missteps that have proven to achieve NONE of those tasks. By using different approaches, we can turn these into strategies for success.

How to lose ‘em: Start your lesson late. We inevitably will find ourselves needing to sign in late arriving guests and take care of necessary details like scraping snow off of boots and addressing parental concerns.

How not to lose ‘em: Engage your group in some kind of activity while you are quickly addressing those details: Stretching, warming up, playing a game of catch, or doing balancing drills. “Who can stand on one foot while I find Joey a Kleenex?” Engaging them in a simple task will make them feel part of the lesson, give you a moment to address the need at hand, and give the parents the security that the lesson has commenced. Also, it’s hard to bail on the group on one foot.

How to lose ‘em: Spend 45 minutes sorting out the group. Accurate student placement is important, but so is efficiency. Ski-offs with large groups are time consuming, put unnecessary performance pressure on a child and are an effective way to lose track of someone.

How not to lose ‘em: Instead, be accurate in your initial verbal assessment with the parent, asking specific questions such as “does your child stop and turn independently, what chairlifts are they comfortable riding, what skills are they working on, when was the last time they skied/snowboarded?” Make an entire run with a simple task such as, “show me how you would ski around a circle in the snow.” Observe their skills and speed and communicate necessary switches with other coaches at the end of the run.

How to lose ‘em: Make a lot of assumptions. Children are undoubtedly full of surprises. Be careful not to underestimate or overestimate their abilities. Avoid the trap of stereotyping! “She’s too short to learn to snowboard.” “He can’t be in this level if he doesn’t use ski poles.” “She’s too young to join this level.” “He looks fast.” “Kid’s with skis like those are ready for the terrain park.” While placement guidelines and level structure are helpful, they are not hard and fast rules. There will be exceptions to all of our rules. Never argue with a parent about the abilities of their child. Accept that child into your group and ensure the parent proper placement will be made.

How to lose ‘em: Do your headcount after switches have been made. It’s been my experience that the majority of ‘temporary misplacements’ of children occur during warm up and sort out.

How not to lose ‘em: As soon as a child is checked into your group, update your head count. When multiple groups leave the staging area together there can be a false sense of ease; “We’ve got this herd handled.” Know who YOU have and make sure they know that you are THEIR coach. Likewise, when making reassignments make sure that the child and other coach know that the change is being made. “See that guy in a coat like mine? Follow him for the rest of the day,” isn’t the safest practice. Introduce the child to the new coach, make eye contact and ensure all parties are aware of and comfortable with the switch.

How to lose ‘em: Make statements that will ensure dissatisfaction. Be careful not to discredit your abilities and efforts under less than perfect conditions. Statements to parents like; “We probably won’t make it to the chair because I have a big group.” Or “We didn’t work on much because it was crowded/windy/ rainy,” invite criticism.

How not to lose ‘em: Let them know what you were able to do! “We made the most of the runs that we took by trying to cover every inch of the hill with tracks.” Or “We focused on balance and stopping skills to work up to chairlift ability.” Parents will appreciate your positive efforts and feedback when conditions and crowds aren’t ideal. You and your group worked hard! Make sure to communicate that! Often parents only see the first ten minutes of a lesson which unfortunately can be the most unproductive. Make the most of the short time you have with each student and each group. It can feel like a juggling act with three objects in the air; the child, the parent, and your desired outcomes as the coach. With energy, efficiency and the right communication, you CAN keep all three in the air and begin a successful lesson.

In the winter Amy Ohran is the Mt. Bachelor Snowsports School Director. In the summer she is a climbing guide.