Aspen Academy News Vol 2 Issue 1

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It SNOWED!But remember, it’s still early season conditions out there. All kinds of things are right under the surface. Ski with your brain turned ON and have FUN!

WELCOME BACK, COTTERAnother year is upon us, early season training is finished and we are jumping into the thick of it. Good luck!

About the Academy News 2013Welcome to the 2012 -13 ski season at Aspen Snowmass! This is your training newsletter, a place where we work together to talk about how we as pros get better at our jobs.

This will be a bi-weekly publication, and we apologize for the delay in getting it going this year! We have big things in store and hope you are as excited as we are.

We use the S3 Standards for Success as our template, and we aim to highlight pros who are excelling in each one of these areas. If you catch someone doing it right, email us at [email protected] and we’ll feature that person!

So what are the S3 Standards? They are:

Business DevelopmentTeaching/Technical

On Snow PerformanceProfessionalism

Additions to the Academy News TeamAspen Academy Training News would like to welcome to its staff the talented Emilie Lantelme as our Assistant Editor. Her main focus is to track you guys down to contribute to the newsletter. If she ends up sitting next to you on the chair, watch out, you just may end up in the Academy News!

From the Training ManagerThank you all for your hard work through some challenging early season conditions.   Thanks for your participation in early season training, and we welcome your feedback!  

Keep up the great work, stay safe and have fun in the new snow.

Remember, Clinic Reviews can now be done on line at:

https://s.zoomerang.com/s/s3trainingHave a productive and safe holiday season!

- Jonathan Ballou, Training Manager

Welcome to Winter!

ASPEN ACADEMYDecember 21, 2012 Volume 2, Issue 1

Training NewsTraining Manager: Jonathan Ballou

Editor: Kate Howe Asst. Ed.: Emilie Lantelme Submissions, letters and inquiries with subject: EDITOR to [email protected]

THE S3 STANDARDS FOR SUCCESS

Volume 2, Issue 1December 21, 2012

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This season, Aspen Academy rolled out global training across all four mountains for our adult and private lesson pros. This enabled pros in these divisions to train on any mountain with a diverse group of peers. The feedback we’ve gotten has been very positive!

Knowing that all the returning pros are starting on the same page was exciting to the pro body. Pros were also excited to make new friends from other mountains, and start the season off feeling like they were really a team that reached further than your own locker room.

The global training had four possible pieces, pros received training in at least three of these areas:

Technical Skiing: Tipping/EdgingMovement Analysis

The Use of LanguageBuilding Trust for Repeat Business

The ski day was the first day of training, and trainers worked with their groups on foundational concepts of how and when we tip and untip the ski. Last year’s foundational skiing skill was Rotary. Where do you think we might be going next season?

The second day was a little less traditional for Aspen Academy, the training department decided to look to outside sources for experts in developing some of the very important “soft skills” that we all use every time we teach. We are all competent to some degree with these soft skills, we have to be, they are essential for success as a ski instructor.

Becoming consciously competent with these skills, using them with purpose and intent and developing them further was a real goal to start off this season. As Rick Vetromile says, “We

work hard on the skiing skills. We’ve gotten very good at focusing on those. What would happen if we were as purposeful and dedicated to developing these soft skills?”

Well, we tried it and it went over well! The majority of reports were excited that the Academy was looking outside the normal avenues of information, and you found it useful!

Movement Analysis was taught with the use of the Invisible Gorilla video, www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html which helps expose our selective attention and be more aware of what we are capable of seeing, and what we are likely to see. The book The Invisible Gorilla is a fascinating and easy read all about how perception works. We recommend reading it!

The trainers used this video to highlight the fact that many of us have biases in movement analysis, and we may miss one thing while looking for another.

The Use of Language was an RSA Animate Video about how the language choices that we make affect the relationships that we have. It is a heady piece, and worth watching four or five times. You can find the video, and many more fascinating videos that will help you as a pro here: http://www.thersa.org/events/rsaanimate/animate/rsa-animate-language-as-a-window-into-human-nature

Building Trust for Repeat Business was a talk that Kate Howe gave which delved into the ideas of Meeting People Where They Need to be Met and Leaving Space for the Other Person to be Right. These are some foundations for growing a long lasting deep trusting relationship with your client. We will have a link online soon for those of you who missed the presentation.

INNER COACH

Active Listening with Kate Howe Your client has just arrived. She’s harried and harassed, she’s not used to getting ready to ski, even though she skis every year. She’s not sure she’s dressed warmly enough, and she’s apologizing for being late over and over again.

You, on the other hand, have been through the soothing transition of the bustle of the locker room, going through the daily routine of putting on your boots and getting ready.

How can you understand quickly what she needs in order to be ready to learn, play and ski with you? Try the tool of Active Listening on your first chairlift or gondola ride.

Active listening happens when you "listen for meaning". The listener says very little but conveys empathy, acceptance and genuineness.

Active Listening is hard but rewarding work. It is so tempting to interrupt, so easy to be distracted.

Before the lesson starts, make sure your physical needs are taken care of (thirst, hunger, bathroom, stretching).

Look at the speaker. Take mental notes. Put mental masking tape across your mouth.

Encourage the speaker to continue with short, gentle comments like “uh-huh”, “really!?”, “tell me more”, etc.

If the person is not normally talkative, you may have to refer to your brief one or two word mental notes and ask an open question.

When your client feels like you are listening, they feel valued, heard, and they can relax and trust. Enjoy!

Check out our new training resources

online!

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TEACHING/TECHNICAL

GLOBAL TRAINING This year we tried something different for Adult and Private pros... the

same early season training across all four mountains.

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FEATURES AND ARTICLES

Aspen Academy Training News is a semi-psudo bi-weekly publication of your training department by and for the pros of Aspen Snowmass.

Our content is only as good as its contributors, please write and tell us what you want to read!

We did this last season, too! To read Volume 1, Issues 1-6, email [email protected] and we’ll send you the links!

Submissions, inquiries and letters to the editor with Subject: EDITOR to:

[email protected]

Training Manager: Jonathan Ballou

Founding Editor: Kate HoweAsst. Ed.: Emilie Lantelme

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES

HERE’S WHATS UPCOMING IN THE NEWS:

SPOTLIGHT ON TRAINING POSSEE:Do you know someone who is always out working

hard on getting better at skiing or riding? Let us know and we’ll feature them!

TASK OF THE WEEK:From Short Turns to Half Pipe to Snowboarding in

the Bumps, we’ll focus on a new task every issue, and get input from pros at every level of certification.

MENTAL PERFORMANCE:We train our bodies like crazy and then show up on

the day of our event hoping the thing that controls our body is in good working order. Why not just train the mind as well? Tips from Horst Abraham, Weems Westfeldt, and other great teachers in this area will show up in this column.

NUTRITION AND FITNESSTips from Riggs Klikka and a host of other experts

will weigh in on how to get your body strong and ready to keep you safe.

SAFETYSafety is the new black. Learn to love it. Help your

guests learn it, and live by it yourself. You’ll have a better, longer, less expensive, more fun season!

MOVEMENT ANALYSISWhat the heck is going on? How do we assess

accurate cause/affect relationships? How do I talk about it in an exam? How do I prescribe it to my clients? Don’t worry, we have some amazing trainers who will help you figure this out. In the mean time, sign up for one of their MA clinics and get a jump on it: Bijorn Sutton, Kipp Ertl and Josh Fogg are masters at this.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTWant more clients who come back more often? Tips

from our Diamond Pros will help you develop your own personal clientele, give them better customer service, and convert more assigned lessons into private requests.

KIDS CORNERSnot nosed booger face, we love you.

Tips from our most accomplished kids pros to spice up your lessons will be the focus of this article.

TRAINING CALENDAREasy access to upcoming training dates both in house and in PSIA can be found

in this newsletter starting in January. A quick glance will tell you what you need to sign up for before its too late!