Contact:
303-987-9390
EMAIL: info@psia-c.org
Office Hours:
M-F: 9am- 5pm EST
Please send webinar ideas/requests to info@psia-c.org.
Welcome to the opportunity to enhance your teaching skills with older adults. Teaching older adults, from novice to expert level, provides a unique challenge; requiring both strong foundations in the fundamentals of skiing/riding as well as a solid grasp of the way older adults move, learn and engage in the sport. The purpose of the Senior Specialist program is to provide educational training for instructors of all ages and various abilities to gain the tools and knowledge necessary to provide high-quality teaching and performance enhancement outcomes for the senior skier seeking lessons. To this end, PSIA-AASI-C has partnered with other divisions to create a curriculum to meet the unique needs of teaching to the senior population.
PSIA AASI-C is offering a Senior Specialist credential program based on and adapted from the PSIA-AASI-NW Senior Specialist Standard referenced in its entirety in the appendix of the Senior Specialist Manual and on the Senior Specialist PSIA-AASI-NW website. The Senior Specialist Standard is derived upon existing National Standards including Alpine, Children, Telemark and Snowboard. (Note, this is not a PSIA-AASI National recognized certification. It is a divisional specialization credential.)
The premise of the Senior Specialist Standards is based upon the concepts of “levels of understanding” that define stages of learning within degrees of understanding. Just as certification is a measure of understanding, levels of certification represent stages of understanding. Although not a certification, Senior Specialist participants will be expected to meet levels of competency as defined by SrS 1. Participants will be held to the knowledge and performance standards of the level at which they are participating as well as the criteria for all preceding levels. Levels of participant expectations are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Remembering, Understanding and Applying. The SrS2 focuses on the beginner through advanced skier/rider and will include Bloom’s Taxonomy of Analysis, Evaluating and Creating a lesson for a senior profile skier/rider.
The Senior Specialist program is multidisciplinary. Alpine, Telemark, Snowboard, Cross Country, and Adaptive members will use the same manual, workbook and quiz materials. The manual covers Alpine Fundamentals. Specific Fundamentals for Alpine, Cross Country, Snowboard, Telemark and Adaptive members are provided in the resource links below. These disciplines will be included in the same, on-snow group.
What: Two 2-hour virtual sessions and one on-snow day course (12 CEU) course open to any Level I or higher PSIA-AASI Central member. The Senior Specialist program will present instructors with educational training to gain the tools and knowledge necessary to deliver high-quality lessons for the senior snowsports enthusiast — of all disciplines.
***Note: Assessments will be available in either downhill or cross country venues. Please look for specifics in event registration locations.
How: The Central Senior Specialist 1 course encourages participants to apply the information included in the PSIA-NW Senior Specialist Manual, their professional knowledge, as well as an understanding of the fundamentals- both in the completion of the virtual sessions and during the on-snow portion. The On-Snow portion will further explore the senior CAP/VAK models introduced in the virtual sessions, and lesson modifications in both approach and execution relative to the senior student.
Participants will demonstrate and discuss the principles of senior-specific models, the teaching cycle, theoretical and applied professional knowledge.
A quiz will be part of the virtual sessions. An SrS 1 certificate is awarded based upon the degree of participation and understanding including the synthesis and evaluation of course material.
Prerequisites:
Resources for discovering the answers to the questions and tasks found in the online workbook and on-hill quiz are listed in the Education Resources below.
Join the Senior Specialist Educational staff on your pathway to Senior Specialist 2. Come prepared to this one 2-hour virtual, one day on-snow event with a topic of your choice to share with your peers to develop and test your material. This is a deep dive into a topic that you have researched and started to develop material related to the Senior Model. Topics could include common chronic conditions, approaches to teaching seniors, or other topics related to CAP or VAK.
This event is an educational opportunity to dive into numerous topics and work with your peers to complete your Senior Specialist 2 presentation. You are encouraged to develop your topic with research materials and answer the Who/What/When/Why/How questions, however you are not presenting the “final version” of your presentation. You will have a willing group to be your test peers and provide feedback to complete your topic presentation.
Upon completing this educational event you will have 2 years to submit your final presentation for approval and at that time be promoted to Senior Specialist 2.
Example: 31% of seniors have a form of Arthritis, either osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Develop a presentation on what this condition is and how to modify your lesson content to teach a senior who still enjoys sliding and wants to continue to learn new skills. Specifically, they want to learn how to slide through bumps to keep up with their grandkids.
Prerequisites for the Central Senior Specialist 2:
PSIA-AASI National Certification Standards
(**Note: There are no Senior Specialist national standards, as it is a divisional specialization credential.)
SENIOR SPECIALIST OUTCOMES (Alpine, Telemark, and Snowboard)
Senior Specific SKIING Performance on all Green and Blue Groomed
Terrain Balancing Movements and Stance:
Pressuring Movements:
Rotary Movements:
Edging Movements:
Senior Specific RIDING Performance on all Green and Blue Groomed Terrain
Fundamental Movements in Snowboarding:
Board Performance in Snowboarding:
Balancing Movements and Stance:
Pressuring Movements:
Pivot (Steering, Spin & Rotational movements):
Tilt (Edging Movements):
Twist (Torsional):
Performance on All Green and Blue Groomed Terrain
Lead Change Skills:
Edging Skills:
Rotational Skills:
Pressure Control Skills:
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