DEAN HILL

People of APSI

 

Certification/s and year achieved.

  • APSI Level 1/2/3/4/
  • Children's Certificate 1993-1997
  • CASI Level 1 1993

 
What was training with the APSI like when you achieved your certification and how would you compare it to current times?

The main difference was the size of the organization, number of certified instructors and number of levels available to snowboard instructors with the first Level 1 beginning in 1993, I believe with then Level 2 in
1995, Level 3 in 1997 and Level 4 and Children's Certificate after that. When I attended the Level 2 there was essentially only a handful of others training for it at the same time. We may have been the first group to go through. Organized training within your home resort was not yet really a thing so we would get together before and after the teaching day and work on riding skills demonstrations, perform practise teach scenarios and begin to create the framework for in house snowboard instructor exam preparation. Unlike today where I'm assuming many or most of the schools have structured certification preparation clinics available at all levels this was grass roots training where we were making it up as we went along and techniques and best practices were changing rapidly, almost daily.

 

Which Australian Snowsports School did/do you work with?

Perisher

 

Did/do you also teach in the Northern Hemisphere and where?

Yes Silver Star and Fernie B.C. Vail. Mammoth. Aspen where I currently live and teach

 

What position/s did/do you hold in the APSI (include years held)?

  • Snowboard Technical Director - 1998 - 2003
  • Snowboard Chief of Exams - 1999 - 2003
  • Interski Snowboard team Coach
  • Life Member - 2005

 

Approximately how many members did/do the APSI have during your involvement?

A couple hundred is my best guess.

 

What made/makes you most proud of the APSI at that time?

On the snowboard side it was the commitment to building a truly world class certification curriculum and level system that was of equal or challenged what the rest of the snowboard teaching world was doing at the time. A system that produced instructors who were prepared to work in every facet of the sport from teaching beginner riders all the way to working in high level freestyle and racing programs. The Level 2 certification and inclusion of the ISIA stamp allowed many of us to pursue the pathway to work overseas in other snowboard schools and in some of the top freestyle, race and boarder X programs internationally.

 

What important events happened during your time with the APSI?

  • Inclusion of the APSI Snowboard Level 3 and 4 certifications 1
  • ISIA stamp for Level 2 certified Instructors
  • Inclusion of the APSI Snowboard Children's Certificate

  

With regard to your work with the APSI, what accomplishment/s are you most proud of? (share all that apply)

My proudest accomplishment is spending hundreds of hours compiling the work of Matt Gilder, Selena Webber, Brett Leask, Mandy Wood, Tim Stuart, Jason Clauscen, the Snowboard Technical Committee and many others to include the Level 3 and eventually Level 4 certifications to the Snowboard Manual, examiner Redbook and pre course and examination roster.

This work I believe helped to shape the mechanics of the snowboard fundamentals that formed the basis for rider skill development through the APSI Snowboard certification process and carried over into the Snowboard coaching space and influenced the development of athletes who would go onto to win world championships, World Cup and Olympic and X Games medals. Athletes such as Andrew Burton, Chumpy Pullin Torah Bright and Scotty James. Also collaborating with Amy Louisa to include the APSI Snowboard Children's Certificate to the teaching manual and course and examination roster Assisting with multiple Snowboard Teaching Manual revisions arriving at the first bound edition in 2006.

 

  

Snowboard Fundamentals and early editions of APSI Snowboard Manuals

  

How did the above accomplishment/s change the APSI moving forward?
It allowed us to offer a truly world class training and certification program which met or exceeded the standard when it came to what the rest of the world was offering. I feel this opened doors for Australian Certified Instructors to work overseas and create careers around Snowsport Instruction.

 

Describe how the APSI compared/s to international instructor organisations at that time?
The APSI as a whole was much smaller in scale compared to many of the other international teaching organizations however, we were producing instructors of a very high caliber who were in demand around the globe.

 

How did/do international organisations view the APSI? Was/is there much communication/sharing of information between organisations?

APSI Snowboard instructors were very proud of who we were and our standard and were forthcoming with sharing knowledge and challenging ideas. This was a time when nobody had really cracked the code when it came to how snowboarding should be taught most effectively. Many of our Level 2 and above
instructors were landing in trainer positions overseas at other snowboard schools which facilitated the exchanging of knowledge. In true Aussie fashion though, there were instances where we were viewed as a touch too proud of what we represented and, in my experience, it took a minute for other nations to come to terms with our direct approach and how proud we are of our standard.

 

During your time with the APSI, who were some influential/inspiring people within the organisation?

Geoff Swayer, John Fahey, Ian Bruce, Matt Gilder, Selena Webber, Craig Mason, Mike Diver, Shannon O'brien, Brett Leask, Mandy Wood, Ashley Muller, Dan Monaghan, Jason Clauscen, Phil Tahmindjis, Dennis Cummings, Amy Louisa, Adman Webster, Jeremy Handley, Christian Newman, Dan Wilcock, Ben Wordsworth, Andrew Burton, Trent Milton, Freddy Miguel.

Kerry Lee Dodd, Robyn Bowen
Bruce Hawkins from Perisher Ski School

 

Please share a funny or interesting APSI story from your time with the APSI.

Two stories:

 
1. The first was at the first Level 2 in 1995. Matt Gilder was the trainer and chief of exams and I was in attendance with maybe 8-10 others. Matt at the time was a real legend in the world of snowboarding with riding skills that were unmatched and right around the time where he had finished maybe top 3 at the Mt Baker banked slalom, one of the most prestigious free ride competitions at the time. Matt turned up with no laces in his snowboard boots pretty much every day if I remember and proceeded to simply ride rings around everyone in the group. He was an absolute savant on the snow, and we were all just so in awe and inspired by what we saw. For me personally I knew I had to capture the brilliance of what was in his mind and how he applied it to the snow. It was these early years that formed the foundation for the Aussie riding style that became so iconic in Australia Instructors.

 
2. John Fahey, who was skiing Technical Director at the same time as my tenure as Snowboard Technical Director, turned up to an APSI snowboard trainer clinic at Perisher around 1995. "The Professor" as we called him was always intimidating as you knew he was going to challenge your thinking and
understanding of physics and biomechanics. John rolls into the group and asks one simple question, " HOW DO YOU TURN A SNOWBOARD"? At first, we look at each other and think to ourselves not being a snowboarder he's looking for insight into our "vast knowledge" of snowboard mechanics and teaching progressions. We proceed as a group to share freely on how we think it occurs and quickly realize none of us really agree on the same idea on how a snowboard works which escalates pretty quickly into a shouting match amongst snowboard trainers. We proceed to spend the next hour or so scratching our heads, getting frustrated until I think most of us discovered how little we actually knew. This was a really significant moment in the development of the APSI trainer team and our true understanding of the mechanics and physics of, what was at the time, a sport still in its infancy. John presented the idea in such a non-threatening way and with such grace that rather than feeling threatened we took it as a challenge to really work this stuff out which we attempted to do over the next decade or so.