PARK CITY, UT (April 28, 2015) – When Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) embarked on the first-ever U.S. Ski Team/Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) collaborative clinic last spring, he never imagined it would create a solid foundation for what would be his most successful season with the U.S. Ski Team to date. But it did. This year, more athletes participated in the educational clinic to learn about what PSIA is about and how its approach to teaching can impact the ski racing world.
The Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI) is a nonprofit education association dedicated to promoting the sports of skiing and snowboarding through instruction. With more than 32,000 members, PSIA-AASI establishes certification standards for snowsports instructors and develops education materials to be used as the core components of instructor training. The U.S. Ski Team and PSIA-AASI’s collaboration focuses on improving the fundamental skills of national team athletes and improving the teaching skills of coaches.
April 2015 marked the second year of the collaborative project, when coaches and athletes learned side-by-side at Snowbird resort in Utah. This unique learning environment has allowed for knowledge acquisition and has been a great bonding experience for team. Alongside Nyman, Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO), Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY), Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) and a group of U.S. Ski Team development team and National Training Group (NTG) team members participated and echoed Nyman’s sentiments about the importance of creating a solid foundation for self-assessment and self-coaching. Each participant also walked away as a Level III certified instructor.
PSIA instructors start at the beginning - teaching fundamentals to the elite ski racers.
This clinic was not only specific to alpine athletes and coaches—this year the group was cross-disciplines. “We had a really strong group, not only of alpine athletes, but also we had some freestyle coaches mixed in,” noted McKennis. “It was really cool to talk to them and get their viewpoint on skiing, because it really is quite a bit different when you’re thinking about moguls versus alpine. In the end we found that there are a lot of similarities—more than you’d think.”
The PSIA are experts at ski teaching: the methodology, how to build progressions and how to start from very, very basic levels. For the athletes of the U.S. Ski Team, who have been coached at an elite level for so long, this was a different way to learn. And this new perspective turned gears in the athletes’ heads.
Teaching athletes like Nyman and McKennis were PSIA Alpine Team members—the finest of the PSIA—including Eric Lipton of Pennsylvania, Robin Barnes of California and Dave Lyon of Washington. USSA's own Michael Rogan, a 20-year member of the PSIA Alpine Team, was also in attendance. Each Alpine Team member was in charge of engaging the athletes and coaches throughout the clinic in order to get them to learn more about skiing, not ski racing.
Steven Nyman, Mark Engel and Drew Duffy work on drills at Snowbird
As a veteran on the U.S. Ski Team, Nyman—who had his career-best season, finishing sixth overall in the men’s downhill standings—said that the clinic gave him a fresh perspective on his skiing, and one that he was able to apply immediately during the prep period leading into the season. “When you think PSIA, you think technique and you think analysis, and that it’s going to be complex. But they just simplified everything,” said Nyman. “Skiing is super simple. To be able to do a lot of self-analysis and really step back after each run and think, ‘Oh, that’s why I was doing that,’ was awesome. I didn’t have to say, ‘Help me out, coach!’ It was like I already knew what was going on.”
After participating last year, Nyman made a point to pay his dues with a visit to this year’s PSIA clinic. He hoped that his coming back showed the participants this year that it was worthwhile and there is value to it. He encourages others to participate in the clinic to solidify their knowledge base on their own skiing. “If you rely on everyone else, it’s going to be really tough,” said Nyman. “The more knowledge you have about skiing technique and self-assessment, the better it should be. You are your best coach.”
As for McKennis, not only is she looking forward to applying her newfound knowledge to her own skiing, but she’s also looking forward to paying it forward to young athletes she works with this summer at former U.S. Ski Team member Keely Kelleher’s Keely’s Ski Camp for Girls. “I’m really excited to take a lot of the skills that I learned and use them with a group of girls and go through that process with them,” said McKennis. “I’ll try to help them learn a little more about themselves and how they can be a little more self-analytical.”
Learn more about PSIA and how you can get involved.
