Part 2 - Becoming A Certified AASI Snowboard Instructor

A true snowboard instructor becomes one in order pass on not only a sport, but a lifestyle...

In Part 1, you discovered your motives for wanting to teach snowports and were introduced to some of the ins-and-outs of joining the AASI. Hopefully you went out and found a job teaching or shadowing at your local resort, and in the meantime have been studying and practicing diligently in preparation for your Level I examination.

So what do you need in order to pass the Level I test?

• Knowledge - You should have read through at least Chapter 6 of the AASI Snowboard Instructor's Handbook. Visit TheSnowPros.org, or your regional AASI website, to find study guides and other useful documents to help you pass your written test.
• Skills - While AASI is working to come to a national standard, the skills you will need to demonstrate in your riding test can vary from region to region; usually the likes of basic skidded turns, basic carved turns, bumps, fakie and some freestyle (noserolls, flatland 180s). Again, your regional AASI website should have a document that lists the skills they look for in a Level I instructor.
• Experience - In order to receive your certification you need to have at least 20 hours of teaching/shadowing under your belt, which you can easily crank out working as an non-certified instructor.

Most importantly, you need to show up to your exam with a smile on your face and a positive attitude...

The Level I exam is really more of a clinic then anything. Mistakes at this level are often tolerated and used to further your understanding of teaching. Just keep an open mind, show a willingness to learn, and you will likely do okay.

If this all sounds like a piece of cake, then head over to TheSnowPros.org or your AASI regional website and see when the next Level I exam is happening near you.

Most regions accept online registrations, and with a few clicks you will be set to earn your Level I certification, enjoy a larger paycheck, and unlock opportunities to further your career as a professional snowboard instructor.

Part 1 - Becoming A Certified AASI Snowboard Instructor

Most of us were once-upon-a-time taught by a snowboard instructor. At the time we were struggling to grasp the fundamentals of riding, not entirely sure how much fun this sport called snowboarding really was. While the instructor glided down the hill, often with one foot unstrapped, we were slamming to the ground every five yards. Back then, I would have given anything just to be able to ride like my instructor.

Many of us still relish that dream, but as our riding has advanced so has our definition. As an instructor, you get to be the first "hero" of snowboarding your students will ever meet. You have the answers to their questions; you are the catalyst of their success and progression. To top things off, instructors get to reap the greatest benefit a job could ever offer: guaranteed riding time daily--whether you are teaching or not.

Aspiring instructors need not fear, the steps to make your dream a reality are not as daunting as they seem. Here are some tips to start you on the path towards an incredibly rewarding career...

What's in the Job Description?

But first, let's see how badly you want to do it? It isn't free to become a snowboard instructor. Instructing is a career, and like any career you will have to pay some money to receive the information and training you need.

Learning the skills takes time, so won't be paying everything all at once, but be prepared. You will need to buy educational materials, pay an annual registration fee to be a member of PSIA/AASI, pay for your certification courses, and last but not least pay your way to a resort before any of this can be possible.

Once you are certified you will enjoy an increased pay rate and numerous discounts including lift tickets, hotels, and snowboard gear. Getting there, however, takes a bit of personal sacrifice.

Even when you are certified, this does not guarantee tons of money. Every resort position requires guest attendance. If nobody shows up to the hill that day then you aren't getting paid.

Don't anticipate spending most of your working days coaching up-and-coming Olympians in the halfpipe either. Especially at lower certifications, you can expect to work with lots and lots of children.

Bottom line, the most successful instructors became instructors to teach. It's not about being the star of the show; it's not about raking in cash-money; it's about actually wanting to help other people learn to ride a snowboard.

Still want to give it a go?

Knowledge is Power

One thing you can't, or at least shouldn't want to do, is jump into a certification course without a little prep work. To get started, you need to invest a little bit of study and practice into this endeavor.

There are the three things you need to master in order to successfully gain your certification:

1. Riding concepts - The riding part. You must be able to demonstrate the skills you teach and some advanced riding techniques.
   
2. Teaching concepts - This is a measure of your ability to manage a class as well as relay technical information to your students in a simple manner.
   
3. Movement analysis - You must be able to identify what your students are doing right and wrong, and be able to adapt your lesson plan accordingly.
   

While you can't learn everything there is to know about these concepts in any book, there is one book you will absolutely need to purchase if you are serious about becoming a snowboarding instructor; the AASI Snowboard Instructors Guide. This single piece of literature contains everything you need to know in order to pass the written tests, as well as a breakdown of the teaching system, illustrations of proper riding techniques, and even a full gear guide.

Some other materials to consider in preparation for your exam include Core Concepts for Snowsports Instructors, the AASI Snowboard Movement Analysis Handbook and the Rocky Mountain AASI 04-05 Snowboard Standards DVD, which will give you a visual reference of the movements you need to be able to perform and explain.

Now, we've established your motivation for getting mixed up in this certification business, and given you some tools to help open your mind to the world of an AASI certified snowboard instructor.

Be sure to study up, because in Part 2 it all comes together when you sign up for your *gulp* Level 1 Exam!

Rookie Academy Snowboard Instructor Courses

Any longtime readers of the site may remember the snowboard instructor training course I attended in Colorado this Winter. One of my classmates there recently told me that the owner, Dean, is looking for reviews of the course...

They won't be approaching me for a review as things ended badly and I was pretty much kicked out of the course. I want to take this moment to say that what happened at Rookie Academy was entirely my fault, and I don't hold being kicked out personally; at the time I was more than willing to leave. This review is not going to be nice, and I want to eliminate any personal bias right now.

Being kicked out of Rookie Academy was almost like a gift. There were things that happened outside of my own troubles that were just completely ignorant of good business practice. This illustrates the gist of it:

Classmate: Dean just sent me a message asking for a review and some good things about Rookie Academy.

Me: So are you going to write anything?

Classmate: Fuck no!

Classmate: They lied to me.

That's all they seemed to do. Lie. So where to begin? Well let's start with the cost of the program!

Cost

The website says that for an 18 week intensive course where you will get certified for level 1 or level 2 it costs you about 15k. Yup, fifteen-thousand-dollars! It's worth it too, at first. I mean you get to live in a mansion in Colorado for months and snowboard every day... a mansion that's got more than 10 people living it, and don't expect to have your own room.

Yes, if you want your own room in the house you will have to pay even more--a good thousand or so more. They got me for a shitty room in a walk-in closet, in other words I had to walk through someone else' room to take a piss. The doors creaked loud as fuck and I don't know how many times I slammed into the guy's shit trying to walk in darkness. It probably sucked as much for him as it did for me, getting woken up all the damn time.

I had a friend living in a "room" separated with those Japanese paper panels. There were no walls and the poor kid had to wake up and go to sleep on everyone else' schedule. He had to pay extra for this.

I'd have to say that with all of the extra crap that was NOT included in the cost from their website, the program was a good $5,000 more. Lie #1, and not exactly a "little white lie" either.

The website says you will have the option to work, which I took to mean that Rookie Academy had a deal with some ski schools in the area to keep a few positions open. Dean told me to expect to make around $3,000 working. There was no work though, and not because of the recession. Dean failed to mention that you had to find your own job, which any one who has worked a resort before knows is virtually impossible if you don't apply early on. Thanks Rookie Academy.

Training

Training was alright... when we had it. The whole thing was pretty hard to take seriously. We trained for two weeks in December than went off on a two break. So that's 16 weeks of training, not 18. Oh, wait! The last 5 weeks of the 18--err--16 week course are not for training, just accomodations. You can get training, but it'll cost you (surprise, surprise). So that's only 11 weeks of training? Hmm.

Now factor in the crazy training schedule. I never knew what group was practicing where, when. Sometimes we had Wednesdays off, other times we had Thursdays off, still other times we had Monday through Wednesday off but were practicing through Sunday... wait hold on, I'm confused.

Everyone passed their level 1 exams, but sorry to report that the level 1 exams are about as hard walking. Only two snowboarders managed to pass their level 2, and one of those two had his level 1 for a few years. Here's a good time to mention that the skiers had to take their level 2 after everyone had moved. The instructors and owner pretty much bailed, so no help for those poor bastards.

Another thing about training worth noting, on their website they tell you there is an optional freestyle intro course. I figured that would fill up the last 5 weeks of the course, but no. I asked about the intro course over and over and all I got was garbled sentence fragments in a New Zealand accent. Alas, there is no "freestyle intro course", they are fucking with you.

The Lift Pass Debacle

One thing I came to learn about Rookie Academy is that they absolutely love making money. They had a spare Epic Pass that some poor bastard purchased but was unable to attend the camp, and when one of the late arrivals to the school decided to buy a pass last minute they told him he could buy the extra for cheap.

Well the brilliant sleuths of Vail Resorts eventually noticed that "Bill Baxter" looked remarkably foreign and had a pretty thick Peruvian accent. A few questions revealed that my friend was not in fact "Bill Baxter", so Vail quickly shut down all passes purchased by Rookie Academy. For a little while they told us we were shit out of luck, bouncing us from referral to referral within Rookie Academy.

They finally sorted it out, but I'm sure they were trying their hardest to get everyone to forget about it. Either way, legit businesses don't knowingly commit federal crimes and jeapordize their customer's integrity like that.

Final Thoughts

The training at Rookie Academy was semi-useful. There are things I would have had trouble understanding without the visual aid, but I think there was a much better way to get the experience that I was looking for.

I'm going to point anyone who wants to become a snowboarding instructor to an alternative that I sure as shit wish I could have pursued:

Every thing Rookie Academy is going to teach you is verbatim from the literature found at the Rocky Mountain PSIA website. Buy all the books and videos, study them and go to SkiJob1 to apply for a job; you don't need to be certified to get a job at a ski/snowboard school!

For 15k, you can live at least 3 full snow seasons in Colorado. You can either get your own place or save even more cash by opting for employee housing. Start by working at a ski school and getting comfortable with how things work while practicing the techniques found at the PSIA website and literature during your time off. Your job will reinforce your practice and you will have the same experienced instructors to give you tips on passing your exam.

You can schedule your own clinics and exam dates through the PSIA website and before you know it you will be level 1 certified. This is the best way to do it, especially if you had the $15k ready to give to Rookie Academy. Save it and use it for an adventure while achieving the same results.

Sorry Rookie Academy, but you get two thumbs and two big toes down...