Sweden’s Snowboard Clinic

Fanta and Ben went to check out the Swedish snowboard workshop on Friday. Here’s their review of it…

Clinic title: Passion and Wi-S-H analysis

Clinic synopsis: This workshop highlighted the importance and inter-dependency of the WILL of the student, the SKILL of the student, and the HILL they are riding on. The WILL, or the passion, of the student is essential in the learning process and that is the area the workshop mainly focused on.

Our summary: We began by detailing Wi-S-H analysis before we took it on snow. This is as follows…

WILL
Expectations – what does the rider expect to do?
Preferences – what does the rider want to do?
Objectives – what is the rider’s objective/aim?

SKILL
Technical skills – rotary movements, edge control movements, pressure control movements, balancing movements
Physical skills – strength, coordination, fitness, mobility

HILL
Conditions – weather, terrain, equipment
Context – static; set up (group, private, recreational, competitive)
Context – dynamic; personalised progression

When we began on snow our workshop leader Kristoffer asked us to find a partner and ask them the following three questions;
1. What do you dream about in snowboarding?
2. What are your strengths in snowboarding?
3. What will you contribute to this clinic?

I was partnered with Greg from the USA, I told everyone Greg’s responses and he shared mine. We then discussed how it felt to hear someone else speak your dreams and how it felt to hear about other people’s. It was a great way to break the ice, get to know each other, find things in common, or find things that you wanted to ask the others about.

We discussed how your dreams/goals are just like your WILL in a lesson. By sharing your WILL it helps to build a positive group atmosphere that leads to everyone supporting each other, motivating, cheering, contributing, etc and it drives PASSION.

After this we rode to the terrain park and took a lap to check out all the jumps and boxes. Then at the top we had to plan a run and tell our partner the following; what trick we would attempt on each feature, what’s one thing we want to think about or feel during the trick, and at the end of the run tell them if we achieved it.

We split up to try our tricks but at the end of the run each of us was really excited to see how the other went, and we automatically began talking about it and what went well and what didn’t. Our instructor didn’t have to prompt us at all because we were so involved in each others goals and wanted to help them to achieve them. It was a really great example of how to get the group bonding and motivating each other, and the instructor becomes more of a facilitator rather than a motivator himself. Keeping a group motivated can be hard work when you do it all on your own and you have a large group. This technique was extremely useful and yet very simple.

Kristoffer then asked us to rate (out of 10) our WILL to do the tasks and our SKILL during the tasks. Some people’s WILL was quite high and others a bit low, and the SKILL levels often matched the WILL levels. On the next run our partners followed right behind us so they could give feedback at the end, and the following run we swapped around. When asked about our WILL and SKILL levels everyone said their WILL was higher when their partner was watching and following, and as a result we tried harder and our SKILL levels increased too. Kristoffer explained how the WILL level needs to be high for students to improve faster and increase their SKILL level, so it is our job to make sure their WILL levels are high. One thing that will affect the WILL level is if the student finds the lesson meaningful, so we must be sure to find out the student’s goals and wants and then tailor the lesson accordingly. We also need to find ways to motivate the student if their WILL level is low, and using the group to help is a fantastic idea.

On our next run Kristoffer pulled us aside from our partners and said that we needed to KILL the WILL of our partners! He said there are a few ways this can easily happen – either by using tasks that are too simple or too difficult for the SKILL level. But he also said that if you do use a very simple task in a lesson you can keep the students motivated if they find it meaningful, so be sure to explain and demonstrate how the task will lead them to their main goal.

We talked about how students generally come to a lesson with a high WILL because they were motivated to take a lesson, so they are excited and full of anticipation. It is then our job to keep the WILL level high and monitor it by watching their body language, asking them how they are going, etc. It can be very easy to drop the WILL of a student but much harder to build it back up again, so we need to pay close attention.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 10:14 am and is filed under Lectures/clinics/workshops, Snowboard Division. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.