First Chair: PSIA-AASI Podcast

First Chair catches up with current Team Manager Jeb Boyd, who will serve as the Head Coach of the 2020-24 PSIA-AASI National Team. Jeb shares an update about the new National Team selection process, who are individuals that are selected on a “best in the nation” concept. Every four years, men and women are chosen to represent the association following a rigorous selection process and will serve a...

First Chair catches up with PSIA Adaptive National Team members Geoff Krill and Josh Spoelstra about the 32nd annual Hartford Ski Spectacular that took place Dec. 9 - 15, 2019, in Breckenridge, Colorado. This event, hosted by Disabled Sports USA and held in conjunction with PSIA-AASI’s National Adaptive Academy, is the nation’s premier adaptive winter sports festival. Check out PSIA-AASI's top sto...

First Chair catches up with Jeff Brier to chat boardercross. Learn how it combines speed, jumps, and drops and how the feeling of the sport can help you become more connected to the performance of their snowboard or skis. Learn how moguls and banked turns in the trees directly relates to boardercross and advancing your fundamental skills as you maneuver through changing terrain.

First Chair catches up with Jim Shaw, about his new role as PSIA-AASI Rocky Mountain division’s Telemark Committee chair. Learn what Shaw is doing in this role to apply consistency across the board for PSIA telemark national standards, as well as apply all skills found in The Learning Connection to education experiences. Check out PSIA-AASI National Standards: thesnowpros.org/education/national-st...

First Chair catches up with Rodney Williams, who shares his stories about becoming involved in teaching others to ski. Learn how he was able to introduce 48 children to skiing for an eight-week program at the now defunct Geneva Basin Ski Area. Rodney also shares how he was part of the Slippers-N-Sliders Club of Denver, a non-profit corporation organized and chartered in 1972 for the purpose of pro...

First Chair catches up with Gates Lloyd, about his new role as PSIA-AASI Rocky Mountain division’s Alpine Committee chair. Learn what Gates is doing in this role to apply The Learning Connection to education experiences. Gates also chats about his current role serving as snowsports director for Arapahoe Basin. Learn more about The Learning Connection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wzlTX6W2M

Get the scoop about what’s happening on the education front, including the snowboard and people skills fundamentals, from AASI Snowboard Team member Chris Rogers.

Get some tips about how to introduce and use freestyle progressions and movements into your lesson from AASI Snowboard Team Coach Scott Anfang and PSIA-AASI member David Oliver.

PSIA Alpine Team Member Dusty Dyar discusses the best techniques for skiing steeps. Get the hang of choosing your line, making skid turns and learning advanced tips to conquer the steeps. Want more tips? Check out this online course created with the help of SKI Magazine. https://www.thesnowpros.org/ski-magazine-courses

Meet the first-ever telemark specific coach for the 2020 PSIA-AASI National Team, Greg Dixon. Learn why the organization made the decision to separate cross-country and telemark within the nordic discipline, working with a tight-knit telemark team, telemark tryouts, and more. Photo credit: Grant Nakamura Follow PSIA-AASI: • https://thesnowpros.org • https://facebook.com/thesnowpros • https://insta...

We all know how frustrating it is to have your phone die on the hill due to cold. In this episode, George Thomas meets the creators of the Phoozy, a thermal capsule that protects your phone from the cold. Follow PSIA-AASI: • thesnowpros.org • facebook.com/thesnowpros • instagram.com/thesnowpros • twitter.com/thesnowpros

To continue our Supplier Series, George Thomas talks with Drew Eakins and Josh Jacobson from Hestra. George gets the scoop on the durability of one of his favorite ski products, the future of the brand, caring for your gloves, and more. Follow PSIA-AASI: • thesnowpros.org • facebook.com/thesnowpros • instagram.com/thesnowpros • twitter.com/thesnowpros

On this fun episode of First Chair, George talks with PSIA-AASI National Team member Ryan Christofferson. Ryan discusses the pressure of his third National Team tryout before diving into the five fundamentals and how they apply to freestyle lessons. Follow PSIA-AASI: • thesnowpros.org • facebook.com/thesnowpros • instagram.com/thesnowpros • twitter.com/thesnowpros

The next company in our Supplier Series is Denver-based Phunkshun Wear. In this episode, George Thomas chats with Lanny Goldwasser and Kelly Proudley to discuss the ski school origins of the company, finding success, teaching instructors to sew, and more. Follow PSIA-AASI: • thesnowpros.org • facebook.com/thesnowpros • instagram.com/thesnowpros • twitter.com/thesnowpros

George Thomas met up with Henrik Lampert and Blake Peterson from Faction Skis at Team Training to learn about the history of the brand, why they teamed up with PSIA-AASI, and why they think their product aligns perfectly with the needs of professional instructors. Check out Faction's latest skis: https://us.factionskis.com/ Take advantage of PSIA-AASI Pro Deals: https://www.thesnowpros.org/ProOffe...

Listen to the authors of the new Fitness for Skiing and Snowboarding book, Chris Fellows and Dr. Doug Kechijian, talk about their latest project. The new manual, which combines Chris’ experience as a professional ski instructor with Doug’s experience as a physical therapist to create a cohesive training program for skiers and snowboarders, is available now. Learn more: https://bit.ly/33PVUQi Follo...

On this episode of First Chair, PSIA-AASI Alpine Level III AJ Oliver provides a behind-the-scenes look into what it is like to star in the new Warren Miller Entertainment film, “Timeless.” The upcoming segment features Oliver alongside ski legend Glen Plake and PSIA-AASI National Team member Brenna Kelleher skiing steep powder in the Monashee Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. Watch AJ’s WME A...

In this episode of First Chair, host George Thomas and PSIA-AASI National Team member Matt Boyd respond to a comment on a previous episode about "controlling" chaos. Tune in to hear Matt's take on controlling vs. managing the inevitable chaos that comes with snowsports instruction. Listen to Part 1: https://soundcloud.com/snowpros/first-chair-how-to-control-chaos Follow PSIA-AASI: • thesnowpros.or...

PSIA-AASI Northwest Executive Director, Kirsten Huotte chimes in to let members know how they can get move involved at a divisional level with PSIA-AASI. She also gives a brief rundown of the organizational structure and how that structure facilitates participation through various committees and task forces. The education foundation is another important topic of discussion. Kirsten explains the pu...

In this episode, PSIA-AASI National Team member Scott Anfang chats with Eleanor “Elle” Tresidder in the middle of the ski day at The Remarks (aka The Remarkables Ski Area) in New Zealand. Elle is a snowboard instructor at Coronet Peaks and Sierra at Tahoe with a background in sports exercise science, coaching, and education. Learn about her transition into snowsports instruction, her opinions on i...

On this very fun episode of First Chair, Olympian skier and writer Libby Ludlow and illustrator and instructor Nathan Jarvis (Alpine Level II and Children’s Specialist 2) chat about their new children’s book, A-B-Skis. Find out how they met and how they came to collaborate on the project. Find out more about A-B-Skis and purchase at https://www.abskis.com/ Learn more about Nathan Jarvis in his Mem...

On this episode of First Chair, host George Thomas checks in with Tony Bullings (aka Tony-Man) from the I & I Caribbean Cafe in Nederland, Colorado. Tony is originally from Jamaica and has lived and worked in Nederland for 17 years. He is an avid skier, but more than that, he is an expert at creating an experience for the customer. Find out how Tony's experiences in the kitchen relate to life on t...

Working as a snowsports instructor provides the opportunity to meet the most amazing people, and PSIA-AASI National Team Member Scott Anfang is using his time in New Zealand to connect with instructors from all over the world. In this episode of First Chair, our host George Thomas hands the reins over to Scott as he talks with Andy (Shiliang) Su. Andy has a very interesting story. He is a native o...

On today’s episode of First Chair, host George Thomas shares a few words with PSIA Alpine team members Jonathan Ballou, Matt Boyd, and Brenna Kelleher to discuss the importance of simplicity in ski instruction. Topics include how instructors can better read body language, why you don’t want to overwhelm beginner skiers, and how to best utilize your time during short lessons. Follow PSIA-AASI: • ht...

On this episode of First Chair, George Thomas chats with the crew at Eric Lipton Ski Camps at Ski Portillo Chile. The cast includes Eric Lipton, Julia Johnson, Chris Ohman, Emily Absalom, Wade Kotula, Christine Gibbons, Dean Gibbons, and Kaylin Richardson. Tune in to find out why expert skiers (even two-time Olympians) and instructors can benefit from a summer on the snow, what all experts and beg...