Snowboard Freestyle/Freeride Professional Development

Oscar Alston - Snowboard Examiner and Technical Committee Member

The 2021 professional development days were a two-day freestyle/freeride focused program ran at Perisher. Our objective for this event was first and foremost directed at helping career instructors develop skills and processes to implement into their teaching and own riding.

Some of the focuses were:

1. Breaking down progressions and how to work from the final product to make a step by step for each skill

2. Working on a growth mindset and then using a range of techniques such a visualization, triggers, and positive self-talk to increase the likelihood of successful training

3. Creating a positive group environment to train and work in no matter the difficulty or level of training that is being attempted

A combination of these skills and mindset changes resulted in a very positive, collaborative, supportive and quite frankly fun group atmosphere. Every member of the group had more self-confidence going into trying new things, was willing to help each other with tips and skills and pushed themselves more than they would have without the framework.

Running this course without a definitive end goal, other than improving self-awareness and bringing more knowledge into the psychological side of the sport proved very important in development. This more open format allowed the attendees to learn in the way they prefer and drew out gems of knowledge to ingrain in their own teaching and riding, rather than just having a specific skill to try and master.

For 2022, we are proud to announce two locations and additional dates for the program:

3rd - 4th August – Perisher

17th - 18th August – Falls Creek