BASI Level 2 Snowboard Course in Zermatt

December 2, 2009 by The Learning Curve Institute 3 Comments

I’m writing this from the beautifully picturesque mountain village of Zermatt in Switzerland where the snow is falling heavily and I’ve just finished up a very successful British Association of Snowsports Instructors (BASI) Level 2 Snowboard Course. It was my first time doing a BASI course as all my previous certificates are from either New Zealand or Canada and I have to say that I was very impressed by the overall standard of training and the course in general. I found the trainer, Lyndon Boddey, to be very helpful and clear in his explanations and I genuinely feel like my riding improved a lot over the two weeks especially when attacking the bumps and moguls.

It started on November 16^th and ran for 2 weeks until November 27^th with a two day break for the weekend for us all to put some of the trainer’s feedback back into our personal riding. Something that was very new to me though was the evening lectures for an hour or so everyday where video footage was used for technical analysis and different discussions took place regarding teaching models, methods of feedback, learning styles among other topics. My only qualm was with the length of the course; I think 4 teaching days was a bit too much and if the course was 6 or 7 days straight it would have been a lot more effective and also a bit cheaper.

Having done my Level 1 and Level 2 in New Zealand I had to adapt my snowboarding quite a bit to fit in more with the BASI style but overall they are very similar with just some minor differences in terminology and names. The fact that I already had lots of teaching experience meant that I was frequently used as a source of information from the others and it was also good just to share opinions on the way snowboarding is taught around the world.

In my group 7 out of the 10 passed (including yours truly) with most people who were unsuccessful not reaching the required standard in relation to steeps or bumps. It was a great group overall though and I hope they all keep at it and pass it next time round. For me personally, now I can get to work on my ISIA (International Stamp Level 3) which is the highest qualification in snowboarding while I work as an instructor with ES-Ride here in Zermatt. There are about 8 different modules to it so it may take me a few seasons but for now its time to put my newly learnt skills into practice out on the mountain among all this fresh snow.

Blog by Liam Printer, head of Languages and Snowsports Departments at The Learning Curve Institute. He is currently working with ES-Ride Snowboard School in Zermatt, Switzerland. For more information on Snowsports Courses with The Learning Curve Institute please click Here.

Photos courtesy of Jon Belt.

www.basi.org.uk www.zermatt.ch www.es-ride.com www.thelearningcurve.ie