Ian Bruce

IAN BRUCE

People of APSI

Certification/s and year achieved.

1983 Level I
1983 Level II
1984 Level III
1987 Austrian Landeslehrer
1989 Austrian Staatliche

What was training with the APSI like when you achieved your certification and how would you compare it to current times?

Back in the dark ages of the early 1980's the training and examining was exclusively conducted by the Austrian instructors, quite a few of whom, came from the Bundessportheim Obergurgl and St. Christoph. We literally had some of the very best ski instructors in the world teaching, free skiing and training all of us during those early years. Looking back, we were fortunate to have the very best Austrian instructors and the Austrian instructing curriculum to help us establish such a strong foundation for the APSI. The precision, accuracy and discipline of all the teaching (demo's) maneuvers on display from the top Austrian instructors certainly helped us develop an understanding of the level of professionalism we wanted to achieve in our own system. It was the same with the high-end free skiing from these top instructors, a level of skiing that embodied powerful, dynamic, exciting and still disciplined skiing.

The Austrian Bundessportheim instructors were often handpicked because they not only possessed the high-end skiing ability but also (not all) the people/teaching skills which the European instructors were not always famous for in the early days (70's, 80's).

Back then the head of the Austrian Ski Instructors Association, Professor Franz Hoppichler, used to invite the US Demo team members to come to St. Christoph to spend time skiing with his Austrian Bundessportheim instructors. As Hoppichler whispered in my ear when I finished the Staatliche Pruefung: "I invite the American team, not because we want to watch them ski, but because they can help us improve our "people skills" and "student centered" teaching skills.

So, while it was exciting and hugely beneficial to watch and copy the Austrian skiing, it was also crucial that we had the opportunity to learn from the Northern American, English and fellow Aussie instructors in the whole teaching department.

It would be interesting to research how many Full Cert Aussie instructors there were in the country back then, but if I'm not mistaken, there were not many Aussie instructors who could conduct training or run the exams. This changed very quickly. The year I completed my Full Cert we suddenly had a whole crew of Full Cert Aussie instructors and very soon after that the APSI was able to conduct training and examining using our own instructors.

You have to realize that I'm writing this using a VOF (very old fart) memory and trying to describe the events way back when I was a YCWS (young clueless whipper snapper). Studly instructors like Bradley Spalding, who did the Full Cert with me, was much more experienced and, I remember, already had the vision of where the APSI was heading. He was determined to develop the expertise and experience within our own Aussie instructor body to run the APSI.

Which Australian Snowsports School did/do you work with?

I was a Falls Creek instructor.

Did/do you also teach in the Northern Hemisphere and where?

I started my career teaching in Mayerhofen, Austria in 1982. I enjoyed the skiing and teaching and thought I ought to give it a go in Oz. I managed to convince the Austrian Director of Falls Creek to hire me after the "hiring clinic" and so the year-round ski instructor career started. In 1989, when I completed the Austrian Staatliche pruefung, I headed to Beaver Creek, Colorado for the Northern Winters while continuing to instruct in Falls for the Southern winters.

What position/s did/do you hold in the APSI (include year's held)?

From 1999 to 2002 I was the Technical Director for the APSI. I attended two Interski Congresses, Nozawa Onzen, Japan, 1995. And Beitostolen, Norway, 1999.

1995 Interski, Japan

1999 Interski, Norway

What made/makes you most proud of the APSI at that time?

In 1951 the first Interski Congress took place in Zuers Austria. Representatives of the European Alpine nations decided it was high time to get together to study and share ideas on ski and teaching technique. The Austrians were ahead of their time because they realized it was more efficient and healthier (less lower leg spiral fractures) to ski with "bein spiel" (leg action) and keep the upper body quieter. The rest of the skiing nations (led by the French) were still convinced that the upper body should provide the main turning force.

Initially the Interski Congresses took place every two years and then moved to every four years. The teaching and skiing philosophies varied hugely amongst the skiing nations and then, in the late 1960's, when the Americans invented the grooming machine, the skiing community slowly began to realize that there is one unified skiing technique. In the late 70's people came to the conclusion that if it's bumpy you use this technique, if the snow is groomed you use that technique, if it's steep you need this technique and if the snow is deep you're best to use that technique.

The reason I mention a little history of skiing and teaching is that to this day each nation, while demonstrating a pretty unified skiing technique, has their own distinct style of skiing and unique emphasis on teaching. Most experienced Aussie instructors and spend their career teaching in the Northern Hemisphere in Europe and Northern America. We can all instantly recognize a Canadian, US, Austrian, Swedish, French etc instructor by their unique skiing style.

What I'm most proud of with our own system is that we, right from the beginning of the APSI, decided it would be most beneficial if we didn't reinvent the wheel but instead, unashamedly, take all the best attributes from the top skiing nations and blend them to create our own skiing and teaching philosophy.

What important events happened during your time with the APSI?

We developed our skiing and teaching skills quickly through the 80's and had the confidence to take part in the Interski Congress for the first time in 1991 in St. Anton, Austria.

With regard to your work with the APSI, what accomplishment/s are you most proud of? (share all that apply)

In 2000, with the help of Kerry Lee (president of the APSI and Robin (chief administrator of the APSI) and the crew of trainers and examiners (skiing, snowboarding, nordic, adaptive), we put out our first respectable teaching manual.

Describe how the APSI compared/s to international instructor organisations at that time?

The Aussie Demo team performed very strongly in the early Interski events. We skied well and contributed some high-quality ideas towards teaching philosophy.

How did/do international organisations view the APSI? Was/is there much communication/sharing of information between organisations?

The international community quickly came to the conclusion that the APSI has a high level of ski and snowboard accreditation. Both the skiing and boarding standard was high, and the teaching standard was very strong.

During your time with the APSI, who were some influential/inspiring people within the organisation?

Brad Spalding, Kerry Lee, Don McGinnis, Robin, a whole team of instructors from all the resorts were very instrumental in getting the APSI established.

Please share a funny or interesting APSI story from your time with the APSI.
It's best to make fun of someone else if there's a joke to be had. Indeed, watch me roast this one instructor, bloody idiot!!

My first year in Falls was not a good snow year. It was the year after a record-breaking year and we had to cancel the exams at the end of the season because the white stuff had melted. I, however, enjoyed the season immensely, practiced skiing as much as possible and taught skiing as little as possible. The lessons I did do, however, were to the best of my ability and I made sure the guest experience was very favorable. So I thought to myself: "excellent, I've killed it, I've improved my skiing and gave some good lessons. Missed out on certification, but no wozzas, I can do that next season.

Unbeknownst to me, that's not what our Austrian Director required from all of his instructors. The more the instructors worked (as long as we didn't take work from his fellow Austrian boys and girls, in fact it wasn't uncommon for an Aussie instructor to be underway with a group lesson only to be told: "get lost, Hans is taking over the lesson") the more money he squirreled away and took home. Back then the exchange rate was very favorable for the Austrian instructors.

So, our fearless Director of the ski school really wanted all of us to be working the full 8 hours a day, every day, with a day off? Ah,..... NO!!! I clearly didn't meet these expectations and he and his Gestapo wifey poo (large wifey poo) no doubt said to each other: "lets get rid of this clown, we ain't hiring him back next season. So, I went back to Mayerhofen and taught there for another season and then I made the best business/career decision of my entire life time!!

You'd think, being the astute professional that I was back then, I would've reached out to the Director (well, actually his wifey poo because she ran the place) some time is April to announce that I would be back and rearing to go for another season of improving my skiing with some lessons thrown in. Nope!! I showed up at the front door of the ski school building with my bags and skis right before school holidays and said: "Hi
guys, I'm back."

Well, ..... the wifey poo, mouth wide open, was dumbfounded and thought to herself: "oh shit, I guess we better give him a bed, it's going to get busy."

It was a few days later, still oblivious to my situation, (I was still convinced I was killing it) our good old Rudi pulled me aside in the famous Frying pan establishment and told me: "Ah, dude, you nearly lost your job because you didn't work hard enough, you better step it up."

Wow, what an eyeopener!!! It was such a shock to me that I instantly got my shit together and not only skied as hard as possible but lessoned as hard as possible as well.

So now, I always give this valuable life lesson to any new employee that I work with!!

1998 Team Training, Perisher

Ian Bruce Interview, 2003 APSI SnowPro