A tech talk webinar series for ski and ride instructors featuring experts from around the Vail Resorts and PSIA-AASI network.


Next Talk: Tuesday, February 25th @ 7:00 PM EST

The Challenge of Picking an Activity

Featuring: Quinn Ferguson
(PSIA-E Alpine Development Team Member)

Alpine-Focused
Have you ever struggled to pick the “right” activity when teaching a lesson? In this tech talk, Quinn explores how to build trust with students, collaborate with them, and highlight particular fundamentals in a way that allows the ideal activity to practically pick itself.

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Join Us on Zoom

Meeting ID: 899 6456 5969
Passcode: snowsports


Upcoming Schedule

  • March 11th @ 7:00 PM EST
    Topic TBD
    Katie Brinton
    PSIA-E Alpine Examiner, Eastern Region Board of Directors Vice Chair
    Add to Calendar: Google | Outlook

  • March 25th @ 7:00 PM EST
    Topic & Speaker TBD
    Add to Calendar: Google | Outlook


Past WebinarS & Recordings

#15: Fun(damental)-Based Bag of Tricks

Featuring: Mark Aiken

Alpine-Focused
Add tools to your teaching bag of tricks! Join Teaching Children Snowsports co-author Mark Aiken as he walks us through tasks rooted in the fundamentals. Practice your movement analysis skills while discussing situations where we can apply our new tricks.

#14: Teaching (Almost) Everyone

Featuring: Brandon Bock

Cross-Discipline
While traditionally associated with children, the CAP model can be a powerful tool that can also help us better cater to adults, seniors, and even adaptive students. Join Brandon as he explores a new perspective on this model to help snowsports instructors adapt to students’ individual and changing needs. (Originally broadcast January 14, 2025)

Brandon’s CAP Model for Everyone Infographic


#13: Group Movement Analysis

Featuring: Brandon Bock

Alpine-Focused
Addressing the multitude of student goals and needs that can come with a group lesson can be a daunting challenge. In this tech talk, Brandon Bock dives into the technical aspects of this scenario and shares insights on his movement analysis process when handling group lessons, instructor clinics, or teaching assessments. (Originally broadcast November 19, 2024)


#12: Skiing Through Transition

Featuring: Dave Raybould

Alpine-Focused
Dave Raybould (PSIA-E Alpine Examiner and Stowe Manager) joins us to break down different types of turn transitions in skiing, including cross-over, cross-under, and everything in between. Learn how these different transitions affect ski performance and gain insights into when and where each type might benefit you or your students the most. (Originally broadcast October 29, 2024)


#11: Finding Your True North: Why Your “Why” Matters

Featuring: Philip Schwartz

Cross-Discipline
Philip Schwartz (Gore Mountain, Maple Ski Ridge) delves into how discovering and embracing your personal core values can sustain your passion for snowsports amidst the challenges of injuries, blows to morale, and balancing life's demands. Join us to hear stories of perseverance and learn strategies to ensure you stay committed, curious and energized in the best job in the world. (Originally broadcast September 24, 2024)


#10: How To Plan a Lesson

Featuring: Peter Novom

Cross-Discipline
What is the process of building a killer lesson? Peter Novom joins us for a discussion on strategies for designing impactful lessons no matter if you’re working with a group, preparing for an assessment, or going for a tryout. Gain insight on when to plan in detail or when to modify, and how we make decisions around lesson content. (Originally broadcast August 27, 2024)

Pete’s Fundamental/Outcome Prioritization Tool


#9: Self-Talk For Performance 101

Featuring: Quinn Ferguson

Cross-Discipline
Self-talk is an accessible and direct skill applicable to all snowsports professionals and students. Join Quinn Ferguson, a mental performance consultant, as we delve into the nuances of language and its potential to facilitate greater autonomy not only in one's internal dialogue, but also while communicating with others. (Originally broadcast July 30, 2024)


#8: Practical Biomechanics and Physics

Featuring: Brandon Bock

Alpine-Focused
We get it, trying to read about biomechanics and physics can be a powerful cure for even the worst insomnia. Join us as Brandon explores a fun and unique perspective on some of the most important concepts of biomechanics and physics as they apply to skiing with practical applications to apply to your own lessons and movement analysis. (Originally broadcast June 25, 2024)


#7: Off-Season Training For Snowsports

Featuring: Brandon Bock, Doug Stewart, and Myles Cotter-Sparrow

Cross-Discipline
A discussion on the importance of training your body for snowsports during the off-season, ideas on how to approach off-season training, and how your everyday movements can carry into your on-snow performance. (Originally broadcast May 23, 2024)


#6: Cross-Discipline Movement Analysis

Featuring: Mike Ma

Cross-Discipline
A discussion with PSIA-AASI National Team Member Mike Ma on how and why to train your eye to see other equipment sliding. Mike covers some of the benefits you can get for your primary discipline as well as discusses a structure and limits of growing a more diverse eye. (Originally broadcast March 20, 2024)


#5: Understanding & Influencing Motivation

Featuring: Nate Gardner

Cross-Discipline
PSIA-E Alpine Examiner and Eastern Team member Nate Gardner discusses strategies and factors that can help us understand and influence the motivations of our students. (Originally broadcast March 7, 2024)


#4: Express Yourself

Featuring: Angelo Ross

Cross-Discipline
Join PSIA-AASI Education Development Manager and The Fall Line: With Chaos and Co. co-host, Angelo Ross, for a conversation about leveraging curriculum standards to express yourself as a professional snowsports educator. (Originally broadcast February 21, 2024)


#3: Alpine Movement Analysis

Featuring: Brandon Bock

Alpine-Focused
By popular request, an alpine movement analysis session focused on gaining experience with observing and evaluating higher-end skiers and relating observations from those skiers to a level 2 candidate. Brandon also shares some tips on how he’s developed his own movement analysis skills over his career as well as some insights on how our evaluation and prescription processes relate to the Learning Connection model and finding success in our assessments. (Originally broadcast February 7, 2024)


#2: Mental Performance In Snowsports

Featuring: Quinn Ferguson

Cross-Discipline
Discover the motivational orientations behind your goals to better understand yourself and develop mental skills and strategies to help increase performance under pressure. (Originally broadcast January 24, 2024)


#1: Learning From Other Disciplines

Featuring: Brandon Bock and Austin Moody

Cross-Discipline
Whether you have one plank or two, your heels are attached or not, or you’re using outriggers or a sit ski, the mechanics that dictate how our planks perform are all the same. Yet, different disciplines tend to think about how we get our skis and boards to perform in vastly different ways. Join us as we take a look through the perspectives of other disciplines for lessons we can use to make us better at our own skiing, riding, and teaching. (Originally broadcast January 10, 2024)