Team Selection 2021 Candidates Begin Online Presentations
PSIA-AASI Team Selection 2021 is underway as candidates give online presentations about snowsports education topics. The on-snow portion of selection will take place at Breckenridge, Colorado April 18-22, with 78 of the top snowsports instructors in America vying for a spot on the PSIA-AASI National Team.
The PSIA-AASI National Team
The PSIA-AASI National Team is selected on a “best in the nation” concept, with the vision to “Create lifelong adventures through education.”
The team mission is to support association members and member schools to:
- Develop personally and professionally
- Create and nurture positive learning experiences
- Grow enthusiasm and excitement for our profession
While each of the invited candidates for the Adaptive, Alpine, Cross Country, Snowboard and Telemark Team will have the opportunity to demonstrate their technical, teaching, and people skills at Breckenridge, the presentation component of Team Selection is now taking place online.
Online Presentations Underway
As a result of COVID-19 social distancing precautions – which resulted in PSIA-AASI postponing Team Selection last year – PSIA-AASI Director of Education Dave Schuiling said, “We’re doing virtual indoor presentations for selection since we’re not doing any indoor gathering in Breck.”
Dave said the online presentations started March 5 and will continue through the first week of April. Each evening, three to five candidates provide 15–20-minute presentations on a snowsports industry topic of their choice. Attendees watching the presentations include Dave, Team Coach Jeb Boyd, discipline specific coaches, selectors, and other selection candidates.
“It has been a really great shift and people have stepped up to the challenge,” said Dave. “There have been some phenomenal presentations.”
How Members Benefit from the Team
Jeb explains the process and importance of selection to PSIA-AASI members in a weekly series of First Chair podcasts discussing how, “This event will help PSIA-AASI to select the nation’s best instructors to represent the organization at its highest educational level.”
Listen to Jeb talk about:
“The purpose of the team is to always have series of goals in place for professional development for you to be able to drive to be the best you can be. The team embodies that,” Jeb said.
The ability to “climb the ladder” as a snowsports instructor, through the levels of certification, then onto your divisional education staff, and even to the point where you can impact things on the national level as a member of the team, Jeb said, means members can always set goals that are relevant to them.
“Which why everything the team does has to be relevant to the overall membership,” Jeb said. “We have to be focused on things that matter to us in each school, which is where the Learning Connection model came from. A lot of being on the team is about content development, inspiration, and motivation.”
Team Selection Focuses on ONEteam Approach
A key contribution benefiting members courtesy of the current team is the renewed emphasis on teaching skills and people skills, which apply to all snowsports disciplines and will continue to drive PSIA-AASI into the future of teaching.
“As we build a stronger ONEteam that represents our association, this selection process looks to find a well-rounded, versatile, and diverse team that balances the Learning Connection. This balance is essential to the association’s future success,” said Dave.
ONEteam is the PSIA-AASI National Team’s approach that focuses on communication, collaboration, and consolidation to support greater consistency across all disciplines and inspire snowsports education.
“It’s great to be back focused on our future and hiring a team that will take us forward,” Dave said.
