Beginning in December, I’ve been working with everyone going for PSIA Level I. We’ve had a number of meetings to train so far and they’ve gone really great. Here’s a summary of our sessions:
- Day One (12/5/18) – Introduction
- Went over requirements
- Started teaching 20 minute segments of the beginner lesson on the snow
- Everyone gives feedback (good and what to improve on)
- My feedback from the Examiner point of view (hopefully)
- Worked on adding in our “secret sauce” (the “setting the stage” part).
- Started going over some benchmarks
- Day Two (12/12/18) – Teaching and Benchmarks
- We finished teaching the beginner lesson in 20 minute segments
- Everyone gives feedback (good and what to improve on)
- My feedback from the Examiner point of view (hopefully)
- We finished teaching the beginner lesson in 20 minute segments
- Day Three (12/19/18) – Benchmarks
- We worked on benchmarks more
- What to watch out for
- Feedback and how to do them better
- Day Four (1/2/19) – Teaching and Benchmarks
- More teaching the beginner lesson in 20 minute segments
- Everyone gives feedback (good and what to improve on)
- My feedback from the Examiner point of view (hopefully)
- More working on benchmarks (Dave started skiing better!)
- More teaching the beginner lesson in 20 minute segments
- Day Five (1/9/19) – Review Level One Exam Sheet & Five Fundamentals
- We looked over the sheet Examiners will use to grade them
- We went out and went through all 5 Skiing Fundamentals to make sure they understood those and to cross that off the list.
I tried to give them feedback and run our sessions as if they were in the exam. This is crucial because the Level 1 Exam is… SO WEIRD!
It is. You’re teaching to your peers (other instructors) who can ski just fine – they’re not beginners. And then there are things like the Examiner saying “we did that” which can really throw you off your game if you’re not used to hearing that. It’s a good thing to hear that because the Examiner has seen what they want to see (you nailed it) and they want to save time but in your head, you have to pretend you did it and take a “pregnant pause” to move on to the next part (which is fine to do).
And then our “secret sauce” (our “setting the stage”) is something mentioned in my Level One guide book and it’s pretty crucial to your presentation / teaching. Without it, you could be way off track and not even know it.
Two Sessions Left!
We have just two more sessions left before they take the exam. I’ve been training Level One candidates for 3-4 years now and I have a 100% pass rate, which I’m pretty proud of. I think that will continue.
I’m blessed to be at a ski school that has amazing training. We get people from other ski areas from the local area and even from other states that come to train with us. It’s crazy. I’ve been trained well over these 13 seasons and I’m really happy I can pass my knowledge on to more people going for level one. In doing this, I know it’s getting me ready for level three.
[UPDATE:] They all passed!
I had 7 people I taught and they all passed their Level 1. I maintain my 100% pass rate as a coach but they put in the work. Congrats, you guys! Now go teach some awesome lessons!

Marie, Sara, Zella, Dave, Rosie, Jen, and the other Dave.
I’m not sure who the guy at the left in the back is… he just jumped in the picture I guess.
-Tony
- https://www skiwithtony com/training-for-psia-level-one/
Tony is the BEST to learn from because of his experience snd honesty for feedback! Appreciate you so much!