Get ready and stay ready with our top educational episodes. Shows feature quick tips on everything from maintaining your health and fitness to improving your professional skills as a snowsports instructor. Each episode is about 15 minutes; give them a listen on your way to the mountain.

Boots on Snow: Continuing Education

First Chair catches up with PSIA Alpine Assistant and Development Coach Matt Boyd about people skills, which are one of the three tenants of the Learning Connection framework. People skills are about communicating in effective ways to develop trust and achieve good relationships with your students and your peers. Check out the entire The Learning Connection & Discipline-Specific Fundamentals here: http://tiny.cc/fundamentalsapril7

04.04.22:  Matt Boyd Shares Why Enhancing Your People Skills Helps Your Students

First Chair catches up with AASI Snowboard Team member Brian Donovan about his riding, teaching, and personal goals for his season, including enhancing his people skills such as verbal communication and building relationships. Brian shares how he focuses on having fun to help him achieve his goals. Learn from his insight and find takeaways for your own approach. Read more about Brian’s goals here: http://tiny.cc/BriansGoals

04.12.22: Brian Donovan Talks About How to Use Fun to Accomplish Your Goals

First Chair catches up with Horst Abraham and PSIA Alpine Team member, Josh Fogg, about OPTIMAL Leaning, (Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016). This is a theory that explains the well-established effects of motivational (enhanced expectancies, autonomy support) and attentional (external focus) factors on performance and learning. Learn how this has practical implications for teaching and coaching your students.

06.14.22: Horst Abraham and Josh Fogg Chat About OPTIMAL Learning

First Chair catches up with PSIA-AASI National Team members Chris Rogers, Josh Fogg, and Zoe Mavis, who share some tips on managing burnout while working as a full-time instructor. They also share suggestions on how supervisors can help their staff care for themselves during a busy lesson season.

02.23.23: Tips for How to Deal with Burnout

In this podcast, First Chair connects with PSIA Alpine Team member Josh Fogg. Listen to learn how to build your people skills and what to look for when assessing people skills. Held four years, the Interski Congress brings instructors together worldwide to share educational innovations and top teaching techniques.

Learn more: www.thesnowpros.org/events/interski/

Follow: #interski2023 @thesnowpros #snowpros

03.29.23: Josh Fogg on People Skills from #interski2023

03.29.23: Emily Lovett on People Skills and Teaching Skills #interski2023
First Chair catches up with PISA Cross Country Team Coach Emily Lovett at Interski 2023. Listen as Emily chats about the difference between people skills and teaching skills. She also shares how the Cross Country Fundamentals facilitate learning. Held every four years, the Interski Congress brings instructors together worldwide to share educational innovations and top teaching techniques.

Learn more: www.thesnowpros.org/events/interski/

Follow: #interski2023 @thesnowpros #snowpros

03.29.23: Emily Lovett on People Skills and Teaching Skills #interski2023

First Chair catches up with PSIA Alpine Team Stephen Helfenbein about his #interski presentations on the instructor decisions and behavior component of the Learning Connection Model. Listen to learn how to structure your lessons around your students. Held every four years, the Interski Congress brings instructors together worldwide to share educational innovations and top teaching techniques.

Learn more: www.thesnowpros.org/events/interski/

Follow: #interski2023 @thesnowpros #snowpros

03.30.23: Stephen Helfenbein Chats Instructor Decisions from #interski2023

In this podcast, First Chair connects with PSIA Alpine Team member Dusty Dyar about his people skills presentation at #interski2023. Dusty shares how to develop people skills to help you build trust with your students. People skills play a role in every lesson. Learn how the emotional impact of a lesson can be as significant as the physical impact. Held every four years, the Interski Congress brings instructors together worldwide to share educational innovations and top teaching techniques.

Learn more: www.thesnowpros.org/events/interski/

Follow: #interski2023 @thesnowpros #snowpros

03.30.23: Dusty Dyar on People Skills from #interski2023

In this podcast, PSIA Alpine Team member Brian Smith chats about the instructor decisions and behavior part of the Learning Connection Model. Learn why every decision you make in your lesson is important and impacts the lesson outcome. Held every four years, the Interski Congress brings instructors together worldwide to share educational innovations and top teaching techniques.

Learn more: www.thesnowpros.org/events/interski/

Follow: #interski2023 @thesnowpros #snowpros

03.30.23: Brian Smith on Instructor Decisions and Behavior from #interski2023

First Chair catches up with Makayla Meixner, an AASI-certified Level I snowboard instructor, about nutrition. Makayla holds a master’s in nutrition and is a registered sports dietitian who works primarily with winter sports athletes. Listen in for tips on how to fuel yourself to sustain your energy AND perform your best. Eating well, and snacking throughout the day, will help you keep your energy levels high so you can perform and help your students excel. 

PSIA-AASI members: Access special members-only pricing from PSIA-AASI Official Supplier on PowerBar products on the Pro Offers page to get a great deal on bars: https://members.thesnowpros.org/products/pro-offers

07.11.23: Nutrition Tips: Fuel Your Energy for a Healthy Life

First Chair Podcast Host George Thomas catches up with Dr. Leslie Desrosiers. Learn how to elevate your fitness routine with sport-specific preventative exercises that take performance and longevity to new heights. Find out how simple it can be to add game-changing neuromuscular control strategies to your workout and keep your knees stronger and healthier. Hear more about how keeping your ACL strong in the off-season will help you avoid injury while you're on the snow next season.

Learn more: bit.ly/3Pd3ZJm

08.23.23: Dr. Leslie Desrosiers on Keeping Your ACL Strong in the Off Season

First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with Makayla Meixner on why being nutrient-conscious during recovery is important. Keeping up with your calorie intake and eating three meals a day plus a snack help your body recover quicker. Makayla is a health nutritionist and has been a guest on the First Chair pod before. Makayla details how to correctly

09.20.23: Keeping up With Good Nutrition During Recovery with Makayla Meixner

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with Ryan Latham and Kevin Jordan from the Aspen Snowmass Snowsports Schools. Kevin and Ryan will be hosting the Inclusive Snowsports Group Facilitation webinar. Scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, 2023, from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. MT, this clinic will focus on creating functional knowledge of how to assess a student with a diagnosed or undiagnosed disability using the CAP (Cognitive, Affective, Physical) model and provide tools and strategies to help this student integrate into a group lesson.

Register here: https://thesnowpros.org/2023/08/30/register-now-inclusive-snowsport-group-facilitation-webinar/

9.14.2023: Inclusive Snowsports Group Facilitation with Ryan Latham and Kevin Jordan

First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with Sue Kramer. Sue has created and hosts a webinar that is available to PSIA-AASI members. (see link that you can copy and paste below ) Participants will learn multiple exercises for developing core stability, agility, balance, and strength specific to skiing. These exercises can be practiced throughout the fall to develop ski-specific movement patterns. Sue and George chat about how in-season training is just as important as off-season training. Restorative training is an great way to stay loose and relaxed during the on-snow season. 

Webinar link: 
https://thesnowpros.org/events/event-calendar/?cal-month=10&cal-year=2023&divisions=11&event=9766#psia-calendar

10.16.2023: Sue Kramer On Injury Prevention - Webinar Available

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with PSIA-AASI National Team member Chris Rogers. George is beginning a "boots on the snow" type series that covers a range of topics including class management. All classes aren't related equally and sometimes there are 'trouble students'. Chris speaks on how to overcome some of these situations and how the Learning Connection Model comes into play. Chris talks about some fundamentals in the snowboard handbook and emphasizes the importance of the SCARF model. George questions Chris on how to avoid spending too much time with certain students and losing the interest of other students and how to avoid this.

1.9.2024: Boots on the Snow | Class Management With National Team member Chris Rogers

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with Northwest examiner Melodie Buell, the Education and Training manager for Oregon Adaptive Sports and a Lead Trainer for Mt. Bachelor Ski and Ride School. George and Melodie chat about Effective Feedback and the importance of delivering it in a way that students can enjoy. Geroge kicks off the pod with some personal experiences of poor feedback and how reactions were. Melodie then goes into the people and teaching skills fundamentals including; adapting to the needs of the learner, managing emotional and physical risk, and understanding and managing our own reactions. The main point is that the instructor should be the one to morph into the student rather than the student adapting to the way the instructor gives feedback. Melodie then dives into the ways and how to provide feedback. Initially, you'll want to build trust. Be timely. Be thoughtful. Be respectful.

1.23.2024: Boots on the Snow | Providing Effective Feedback With Melodie Buell | Part 1

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with PSIA-AASI National Team member Brenna Kelleher on managing class splits when giving lessons. Brenna describes what a class split is and how to overcome working with students in a lesson who want to do different things and have different abilities. Brenna goes on to talk about lap coaching and how it provides a good mid-way point to handling group lessons with different ability levels. Lap coaching works for group lessons but also private group lessons with families. Splits aren't just ability-based. They can be age-based, too. Brenna talks about managing lessons with groups of varying abilities and ages and how to pair people together in lessons as accountability partners who encourage and push each other. George questions Brenna on how to handle groups that are progressing so well that the entire group moves to higher terrain and all of a sudden, the group splits with ability levels.

2.1.2024: Boots On The Snow | Managing Class Splits With Brenna Kelleher

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with PSIA-AASI Adaptive Coach Geoff Krill. George and Geoff chat about psychological splits among groups in a lesson. Geoff explains the difference in mentality among some students when taking a lesson. Some are there to learn and get better and others are sometimes just there to experience the thrill of sliding on snow. He goes on to talk about overcoming a negative mentality some students may have coming into the lesson. George details an experience where his mentality going into a lesson was negative due to weather conditions but his attitude and the way he approached the students made the lesson much nicer and enjoyable. Geoff mentions that instructors should focus on the motivation of the students and finding out exactly why a student is there and what they're hoping to leave the lesson knowing.

2.2.2024: Boots on the Snow | Psychological Splits During Lessons with Geoff Krill

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with National Team member Brian Donovan and chats about handling and working with high-need students. We've all had students who have never been on snow or who don't understand the sport, or have issues with gear from the get-go. Brian and George talk about working with these students and how to address the attention needed. Brian talks about ways that people skills come into play with this. Use two-way communication and try to understand what hurdle they're facing in their personal experience at that moment. George talks about overcoming the anxieties students may feel during lessons and how to help them through those thoughts and feelings. Brian goes on to talk about how these students present an opportunity to become private lessons or students who learn to love the sport even more and become lifelong enthusiasts or even better, future instructors.

2.19.2024: Boots On The Snow | Working With High-Need Students With Brian Donovan

PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast host George Thomas catches up with Melodie Buell again and in this pod, they continue the chat about providing effective feedback to your students. George kicks off the pod with his own experiences with getting feedback from bosses and coworkers. Melodie goes on to explain how building a relationship with whomever you're working with or collaborating with is essential to building trust within the relationship. Melodie talks about how providing feedback on things your student did right is equally as important as critiquing something they did wrong. Error-focused feedback can be phenomenal if you have a good relationship with the student but if you're growing and connection with your student, being vulnerable and providing feedback on the good things, automatically creates a better connection. George questions Melodie on what instructors can do to improve the way feedback is given which Melodie answers by saying that you should have an understanding of how the teaching and people skills play a role. Utilizing and comprehending the Learning Connection Model (LCM) and focusing on bettering yourself is a sure way to improve the quality of the experience in a lesson.

2.28.2024 | Boots on the Snow | Providing Effective Feedback With Melodie Buell | Part 2

The First Chair Podcast brings you inspirational stories and educational tips from the country's best ski, snowboard, Nordic, and adaptive instructors. 

More than 34,000 individuals belong to PSIA-AASI (Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors), making it the world’s largest organization dedicated to snowsports. We are lifelong learners committed to changing lives through great experiences on snow. 

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