Ott Gangl wrote:They are not the same, the instructor tries to bring a beginner up to intermediate and teach the intermediate how to get better and only then, maybe, he will think about gate bashing. First you have to keep him safe.
This is not to say that sound principles should not be taught from the get-go, but students have to be eased in, demanding they do maneuvers or ski on terrain over their heads spells trouble.
Most skier who take lesson ,by far, never ever have the same instructor twice. In your race coaching, have you ever been coached by the same coach twice, or more times? If so, there is a continuity which is a rare occurrence in the normal day of ski instructing. It is a shame that the ski week is out of favor, but as an instructor, having the same students for four hours a day for five days makes me salivate.
....Ott
wrt Ott's and Bolter's comments:
I'm active as a trainer/coach for kids doing sail racing at national & international level, and I see several common points with this activity and ski instruction.
In addition to regular all year (yes, even at lat 60 N!) weekly training sessions for the "already hooked" kids, who really want to race, compete and ultimately win national & international races, and are fully committed to perfect their sailing skills and putting in the effort needed, we also arrange sailing camps for beginners (mostly kids, but also some adults) every summer. Does the instruction differ between the sessions for the "regular" racers vs. the "5 sailing days/year campers ? You bet it does! As soon as you've moved past the very basics (fundamentals), the instruction and the contents of the sessions become very different: you simply can't teach complete beginners, often scared beyond imagination of the sea, falling overboard, drowning, the risk of capsizing, getting the boom in the head etc, in the same way as you do for those who are willing to do whatever it takes to master sail racing. Sure, we try to avoid teaching the campers any dead end skills, if possible, but sometimes, in order to even get them into a boat in the first place, you have to trade off your desire to teach them the "best" way to do things in favor for something that will allow them to enjoy the sport at all.
IMO, the real divider is to focus on the objectives of the students: are they in class to become as technically skilled as possible (racers, or very interested recreational's, and are they willing to pay the prize for that, in terms of the time, work and effort it takes), or are they there just to learn enough in a minimum of time for being able to enjoy a handful of days per season on the slopes or at the sea ? My guess is that most of those taking a few ski lessons belong to the second category.