Best Ski Instructor Courses
Best Ski Instructor Courses
If you are looking for the blunt truth on what the best ski instructor courses consist of, here is our opinion. In 10 very short points.
The latest version has a bonus 11th point! Find out why!
1- Commitment
You will waste your money paying for a course made to make cash. The sole purpose should be you and your success on the course. Nothing else. And everyone in the company should be caring about you and your success. Success on both, the course and in the ski industry. If they don’t know you, they will not care. You can’t get hold of the coach before the start of the course? he/she doesn’t care. If no one takes personal responsibility for your success on the course, no one cares. Your success will be limited and you will waste money.
2- Ski Instructor or Ski Coach?
You brake your leg tomorrow. Will you go to a nurse or a doctor to get it fixed? The doctor. Because the nurse might have seen plenty of broken legs, but is the doctor that tells what to do. The nurse’s job is to follow instructions given by the doctor. The only one in the room qualified to do so.
Same thing applies to the “best ski instructors courses“. They are not run by ski instructors. They are run by ski coaches. Those are two different titles for two different jobs. Be clear on this and make sure you know names, surnames and work experience of the trainers involved in your course. If they are a bunch of nurses drop them. You are looking for doctors.
3- Business model
Sounds grand but it’s simple really. When you get in touch with the company, with who do you talk to?
Often is: an office in a city that will then divert you into a ski resort where you will be put in the hands of a ski school that will put a guy in charge of running the training. Sounds like the national health system. Demand to talk to the people that will take direct charge of you. You can’t? Drop them.
There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to talk (and ask questions) to the coach and the company ultimately responsible of the running of your course.
You should be able to talk directly to the one who’s taking on himself/herself the responsibility of your success. No intermediaries.
4- Expertise and Experience
Drop the amateurs. When you go to the physio you don’t want second guesses on what to do in your rehab. You want straight answers. And they better be correct too. Everyone can give themselves the “trainer” title, not everyone can come up with the correct solutions. So find out who these people are, ask for their name and CV. Expertise is how many courses they have attended themself, in order to learn more. Are these courses just on single topic, or do they spand in the immense world that sport coaching is? Experience is what they have done (and do) in their professional life. Have they been working at high level sport coaching for 1 year or 10 years? What do they do in the summer?
You have the choice, which one will you pick?
5- International Background
Tank or ocean? If you are looking for the best you are looking for people with international backgrounds. In a number of fields, for a number of years, in a number of places. Below this bar is the rest. Which might be good, but not the best.
6- Internal Development
A good course provider is the one that motivates coaches to deliver the best training. The only way of doing so is continuous development. Meaning continuous attendance to new courses for every single coach involved in the deliver of your training. Every year, with no exception. Being top of the chain in your sport doesn’t matter. They’ll have to go find another course, in another sport and learn something new. There are always general coaching courses, anatomy and bio-mechanics course etc. The best coaches know learning can’t stop. When you open a bio you should see these courses lined up.
7- Business expertise and Work Opportunties
You should get a little more than just a piece of paper stating your level. By the end of the course you should know more about the ski industry and how it works. Whether you’ll stay in the industry or not, you should be able to understand what surrounds you with new eyes. To pass this on, you need people in your course provider that
- are committed in guiding you through this world
- have direct business experience
Finding a job is often difficult at the beginning. So a good help should be guaranteed in order for you to make it happen. Teaching you how to get a job, rather than “guarantee” you one today, is more useful for your future.
Where you are based matters. A big resort, with guaranteed snow, with an international clientele and a pool of professionals colleagues with give you a better chance to learn and make a career. And have good fun at the bar.
8- Further Training
A professional development provider should be able to take care of you all the way up to the top. You should be able to have the option of going all the way to the Level 4 with the same company. A coaching team that commits to that, putting its face and name, shows a little more professional commitment than the rest.
9- Broad Sport Experience and Expertise
Being specialized in skiing is essential for ski instructor course. Having a broad sport coaching experience and experise is essential to run the best ski instructor courses. Knowledge is the key. Knowing more about more topics will just help the coach finding better solutions for you and maximizing your training time. As well, it will help you avoiding injuries and becoming an all-round expert, rather than just a mere sport technician. Hopefully also a better conversation in the bar.
10- Past History
Ask to get in touch with people who attended courses in the past. Look for them. Find out if they are still in the ski business. If they are not, ask yourself questions. And ask them too.
Goes with it that, we match these criterias. Since we set up our coaching company with just one aim: be better. Better than the mediocre courses we had to pay ourselves in order to qualify. And yes, we did attend training courses ourselves. We still do. Because we do what we do striving to be the best. And you can’t be the best if you stop learning.
11- Valid Qualification
It is a point worth investigating. Since 2019 the European Union has legislated over the ski instructor’s qualification. Since then, in order to be recognized your association must belong to the nations listed in the “Annex I” document for the Common Training Test (CTT).
One of the minimum requirement to be allowed on the automatic recognition is being part of the EU in the first place. So all associations from countries outside the EU cannot be listed on the Annex I and cannot receive automatic recognition.
Since January 2021, following Brexit, IASI is the only English speaking association recognized by the EU.
We were at the European Commission in September 2019 as part of the Technical Commission. Following the link here you can find our report from the conference and all details about the Common Training Test (CTT).
What we do: is why we do it.
We run ski instructor courses because we’ve been through them first, as students.
We love the sport and love coaching. Running courses fulfills our professional life. Knowing we aren’t trying to copy others, but setting our own path.
It happens that also means we run great ski instructor courses.
The Subzero Coaching Team
Best Ski Instructor Courses in the World – Best Ski Instructor Courses Europe
If you are looking to become a ski instructor we have courses tailored to give you an ahead start in the ski industry.
The Autumn and Winter courses finishing either before the start of the season or just before February Half Term allow participants to work within the same year of the training.
If you already are an instructor and you are looking to finish your qualifications we run the ISIA Level 3 and the Level 4 courses. To take all the way to the top.
For specific needs we also run Full Focus weeks (one to one tailored packages) and Race Training Weeks, geared towards the CTT and the ISIA Test.
Check the Ski Instructor Courses main page to find out more about all the instructors exams, first aid certificates and all the other courses we run in Zermatt and other parts of the world.
Best Ski Instructor Courses Europe – Subzero Coaching