NRM Progression Session a Success

By Ben Roberts

The PSIA-NRM Progression Session took place last spring on April 12-14, 2005 at Snowbird and Alta in Utah. The philosophy behind the Progression Session was to bring high level ski pros together with top caliber guest coaches. The hope was that those attending would be able to learn both from one another as well as from the coaches. The event had a great vibe with participants sharing feedback with one another and learning a great deal from the on snow clinics.

The guest coaches represented the highest levels of alpine teaching and coaching from both PSIA and USSA (The United States Ski and Snowboard Association). On the event's first day Rob Sogard, coach of the PSIA Alpine Demo Team, and Adam Chadbourne, head coach of the US Ski Team Men's B Team, led on-snow clinics at Snowbird. Rob and Adam's clinics focused on the outcome different movement patterns had on the behavior of the skis in the turn. Finn Gunderson, USSA's Head of Alpine Education, gave a presentation that evening. Finn discussed the underlying philosophies behind USSA's coaching education system. Finn also showed video of both World Cup and developing athletes and discussed their strengths and weaknesses.

The second day was the freestyle day with a clinic from Rick Shaner. Rick is a veteran freestyle coach from Utah who has worked with many athletes who have had success at events like the Gravity Games, US Freeski Open, and World Freestyle Championships. Rick brought two of his athletes, Doug and Ian, who were able to offer demos, feedback, and insight into contemporary freestyle skiing. The day got off to a rough start with much of Snowbird's freestyle terrain unexpectedly closed for the day. Rick made the most of what he had and before long the whole group was skiing switch, taking air, and sliding boxes and rails. Chalet Sports in Bozeman provided twin tip demo skis so the group was able to experiment on the rails and boxes without worrying about damaging their own skis. Everyone in the group took air and all but one person slid the rails and boxes. Link Neimark from Big Mountain had some of the best crashes of the day on the rails, earning the full respect of Doug and Ian who agreed that "We haven't seen anyone take a beating like that in a long time."

The banquet took place on the evening of the second day. The group had a tasty meal and watched video of the day in the park so everyone could relive their crashes. Rob Sogard led a lively discussion about leadership within our organization, and it was evident by this point that the group had formed a strong bond. The banquet was more like a group of friends having dinner together than a formal banquet.

The third day found the group at Alta, where John Ethan and Scott Mathers led the day's clinics. John has worked for six years as a US Ski Team women's development and World Cup coach. John showed World Cup video and described the movements that separated the very successful athletes from the respectable ones. He then worked to apply the same movements and ideas within the group on snow. Scott Mathers is the ski school director at Alta and spent a number of years on the Demo Team. Scott led a clinic which gave the group new ideas on how to modify movement patterns in their own skiing and their student's skiing.

The Progression Session had 16 participants from around the country including Karin Kirk, Dave Oliver, Kurt Blunck, and Link Neimark from NRM. Everyone who attended had a great time and the overall vibe during the session was very positive. There was a lot of collaboration between members of the group and the guest speakers. Ben Roberts and Karin Harjo, who created the event plan to hold it again next spring. Stay tuned for more news about future versions of the NRM Progression Session.