I am one of two coaches in the inaugural PMTS Tech Camp to be held in W/B from Dec. 20 to 23. The other coach, the head coach, is Wendell Moore, who was recently named as a PMTS contributor. The camp is somewhat different from the Nov. PMTS camp at A-Basin in set up. In our camp the lower age limit is 50, the sessions are only 3 hours, there are only 3 days on the snow, one dry land day and the campers must go through a physical assessment prior to the camp. Wendell arranged for a Structural Alignment and Functional Movement Screening to be conduct by a local Whistler Doctor who is duly trained and who works in a local clinic. Wendell is using the results to initially divide the campers.
The camp is advertised on the W/B web site as being a camp conducted on the teaching principles from PMTS. We became sold out on Wednesday. Some of the late sign ups are very good skiers who have been coached by Wendell and me and want to learn the very basics of PMTS, which is what the camp is advertised as being ie. a camp in which basic PMTS movements are taught. There has been interest created in the SS by this camp. We had 3 coaches at the PMTS camp in November and word has been spreading since we got back. Wendell told me today that there are going to be between 3 and 6 SS observers watching us conduct the camp. Some are coaches that I know who are keenly interested in PMTS. Some of the others that I don't know are level 4 CSIA. It is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate what the PMTS movements can do to the campers skiing.
Wendell and I met on the slopes today to go over various things. We picked our slopes and ran through our ideas to teach the very basic movements. We will likely be within eyesight of each other most of the time, so that we can talk to each other if need be. We discussed various coaching methods and both of us have recently been influenced by the "Talent Code". Each of us has campers who have specifically requested one of us. Each of those will get us the first day but then we are going to switch groups for day 2 and then back to the original group for day 3.
In our first day, which is not on the snow, we are going to have each skier's alignment checked by boot fitters chosen by Wendell, and while that is going on we are going to do dryland coaching with incline boards, walk S turns, etc. I understand that we will also have a special guest on that day.
This is not the first PMTS camp conducted in Canada but I think it is the first one to be conducted by the local ski instructors on the home mountain. I am pretty pumped to be part of it. I will be doing lots of reading of PMTS materials over the next few days and watching HH do his thing on the DVD's. I am not nervous about doing the camp although I may get a few butterflies the first time on the snow, especially if I have a couple of observers. I am confident that the basic movements will be picked up by the campers so quickly that their skiing will take over the show.
I wasn't sure if this topic was "worthy" of this forum, because it is a local news item in our SS and may not have wide spread interest. This is the best ski forum in the world, thanks to the contributors, and we are all keenly interested in PMTS, so I thought I would try it. I am relatively new to the forum and I have noticed how you help each other. I would appreciate any coaching help that you can give me. There isn't a PMTS community here in Whistler, but this forum is a great community. If there is interest I will submit a day by day report, and reveal the identity of the special guest. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you have.