pmts.org library

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The PMTS.org library contains a variety of articles and items for you to read. Do you have an article or link that you think would be of interest to PMTS.org members and viditors? Please submit it!

The information on this page is an overview of each article: the title, author, date posted, and brief description of contents (or an excerpt). Please click on the title to read the whole article. Articles are listed in order of their appearance, either on the site, in newsletters, etc.

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13 Sept 00	*Wants & Needs*	Kim Peterson
As an instructor, your success is a result of how accurately you determine and fulfill students' desires. How can you find out what they want? What needs should you, the ski instructor, expect to fulfill?
11 June 01	Reducing the Leap of Faith	Diana Rogers
An important factor in your success as an instructor is your ability to determine what the students desire from their ski lesson, and how to get them to their goals. However, equally important in your success as an instructor is your ability to reduce the "leap of faith" that your students must take. Students are more likely to participate enthusiastically in your lesson if they know how the activities relate to their wishes for the lesson. The following workshop should help you learn to relate your lesson activities to student desires in a concise and informative manner.
June 01	The Accuracy of What You Say	Diana Rogers
In your ski lessons, the majority of what you present to students is what you say - your words. How you speak and the words you use create your lesson presentation. Therefore, it's critical to your lesson's success to be accurate in what you say.
December 01	*What We Share - Words*	Kim Peterson
Part 1/3 What a great job. We get paid to share the very things that make us happy. People come to us asking for us to explain the things we love to talk about, to show them how to do the things we love to do, and to be excited about the things we enjoy doing. We choose how we will share those things. In some cases, we may opt to share new vocabulary words.The balanced sharing of words, meanings, excitement, and experiences may hold an essential key to unlock successful interactions with guests.
February 02	*What We Share - Meaning*	Kim Peterson
Part 2/3 At first glance, it may appear that sharing words and sharing meaning are the same thing. The two are certainly related. Both words and meaning are individual and symbolic. In their fundamental state, words are ink on paper or sound waves that vibrate your eardrum. Meaning is only communicated in symbols. You can't really transmit or impose meaning on another person. Sharing meaning may encompass sharing words…but not always. When we share words, we share understanding (at least our understandings overlap); when we share meaning, we share experience. Meaning isn't found in words; it's found in people.
May 02	*What We Share - Experience*	Kim Peterson
Part 3/3 Shared experiences allow all those who participate to establish common ground. Unlike relating an experience, speaking from experience, or even being experienced, sharing experiences puts participants in the same venue. The balance of a shared experience depends on the difference between what I experience and what they experience.
December 01	*To Reach for the Gold, Go for the Green*	Peter Stone
Green accreditation and the expectation of excellence: an insider's tips on "being excellent" during a PMTS Green-level accreditation.
February 02	*Realities of the Wedge*	Harald Harb
In an attempt to combat the blatant misrepresentation of "PMTS Direct Parallel", I offer these comments. The "System", PMTS Direct Parallel does not teach the wedge. The reasons are clear and important. The wedge keeps skiers from learning rapidly. The wedge and its progressions used by traditional systems worldwide are flawed and create flaws that continue to limit skiing progress in beginning and intermediate skiers. We call them "Dead-end Skills". In fact, the wedge progressions are what keep skiers at intermediate levels.
March 03	Improve Your Skiing: Structure Your Practice for Success	Diana Rogers
Do you ever get frustrated in your skiing that you seem to master a new move on easier slopes, but then lose it when the terrain becomes more difficult? With the right plan for practice, you’ll be able to take your improvements into more difficult terrain and keep them working. What you need to do is make your practice on the easy slopes more rigorous before you take the original task to more difficult terrain.
March 03	*Go Beyond Talking in Creating Understanding*	Diana Rogers
The novice instructor often tries to fulfill the need for understanding by providing information verbally - “Find out what they need to know and then tell them.” Though the information provided may be accurate, there are drawbacks to simply talking: first, the student might not truly understand the relevance of the information; second, standing around and listening might not be what skiers want from their lesson. There are clearly times when providing information verbally is valid and effective, but let’s see what can be done to increase skiing time for your students, create the understanding that they need, and expand your capabilities as an instructor.
March 03	Improve Your Skiing: Dealing with Fear and Apprehension	Harald Harb
Fear can be very debilitating to a skier. It can lock up the legs and make them stiff or it can make the legs rubbery and unresponsive. There are many tactics and methods to deal with this phenomenon. In this article I will address some of these issues and demonstrate a few options on how to control fear.
June 03	*Releasing: Methods to Start a Turn*	Harald Harb
Sometimes it’s necessary to be more detailed about how the turn transition is made. It’s important to realize there is more than one way to effect the transition. The challenge, then, is to determine how many ways are there to change edges and to describe them without becoming complicated and overly technical. Can we use regular language, avoiding jargon, so that any skier can understand and learn the required actions?

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