National Academy Day 1: Bringing It All Back Home from Interski 2019

If Interski is the never-ending gift of snowsports education, then National Academy 2019 attendees opened a great big box of instructional insight in Big Sky, Montana, this morning.

In what is easily the quickest turnaround between an Interski event and the ensuing National Academy, the PSIA-AASI National Team hit the snow with PSIA-AASI members from across the country today, just a little over three weeks after wowing the international snow pro community gathered in Pamporovo, Bulgaria, with the latest evolution of the Learning Connection.

“It is so exciting to have had such a successful interski leading into National Academy,” said PSIA-AASI Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Herrin. “Our National Team did an exceptional job sharing our educational direction as an organization and highlighting how we continue to explore and expand the way we teach snowsports – and how we identify priorities for our guests, resorts and instructors.”

Interski 2015 in Ushuaia, Argentina, took place in September of that year, which meant that PSIA-AASI members got the initial scoops through website posts and 32 Degrees, but waited until April 2016 for a full on-snow event rundown.

The result of this year’s academy occurring so soon after Interski, Herrin said, is that “Attendees at National Academy have the opportunity to hear firsthand from team members on leading trends in the industry around the world. They can also sit in on presentations on where PSIA-AASI is taking educational content into the future, and how it is going to enhance the snowsports industry.”

That means that at Big Sky right now, U.S. instructors are getting an exclusive look at the teaching techniques and educational initiatives that will drive the association for years to come.

“Academy attendees are seeing a very fresh focus on what we brought to the stage in Bulgaria,” said PSIA-AASI Team Manager Jeb Boyd. He added that while the team will be sharing some of the fresh ideas they gathered from other participating countries at Interski, much of the week will focus on the PSIA-AASI National Team’s presentations.

“What our team brought to the stage in Bulgaria was really impressive,” Boyd said. “A big part of Interski is really checking your message to validate the ideas and initiatives you have been working on. The reaction we got reinforced all our hard work, and now we get to share and celebrate those ideas with our members here at home.”

Along with all the new information, Academy attendees will receive The Learning Connection & Teaching Snowsports Presentation Supplement that U.S. Delegation shared with the rest of the world, which Herrin said provides a synopsis of PSIA-AASI’s priorities now, and in the years to come.

“The world is drastically changing, and our guests are choosing to engage in alternative ways,” Herrin said. “This team and the association’s other educational leaders are headed in a direction that is going to make PSIA-AASI even more exciting to be a part of over the next few years. It’s exciting that the team has the opportunity to share this with our members at National Academy.”

For more news, images, and insights from National Academy as it unfolds, be sure to look for daily webposts and follow #NationalAcademy2019 on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – as well as First Chair podcasts to come.

– Peter Kray