PSIA-AASI Membership and studies

In my last post I spoke of changes in life and in general. I quickly ran through some of how my art is changing and posted a few shots of recent works. So, what else is up? Well, I joined the PSIA-AASI. I can feel some of you even wondering what in the hell that even is. It's the Professional Ski Instructors Association or the American Association of Snowboard Instructors. Even at the tender age of 48 I'm STILL trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. My parents put me on a pair of skis when I was just about three years old. The year was around 78' or 79' and I've been hooked ever since. The feeling of the skidding down the hill consumed me and as I grew more comfortable on skis my ability to control my movements on snow grew. I will never forget my first class, nor will I forget my first instructor(s). My parents had originally placed me in a beginners class, but when they came to pick me up later that afternoon I had already been moved to the intermediate/advanced class at three years of age...no joke. We spent a lot of time driving to and from Mt. Reba (Bear Valley) during the weekends from the central valley. None of the other kids in my school skied much. My parents had me waking up at four or five a.m. to drive the two hours to the 'resort' so I could train slalom for at least the first eight years of my ski schooling every other weekend. It was an odd place for me, my friends in town didnt get why I left every other weekend to train and race in the cold snow and my mountain ski friends didn't understand why we didn't just move to the mountain. I felt like I could never really make any strong connections with either crowd and only intensified when we moved from the central valley of California to the mountains I leaned to ski on. I thought being on the mountain full time would help me to make that friendship connection with my ski buddies. But by the time I moved I was 15 and at that age the friend 'circles' are pretty set in stone. A few months ago I signed up online and took a couple of pre-requisite course/exams to pass my first two instruction modules to become a ski instructor. Once I mentally gobbled up all of the free info I could, I joined the PSIA-AASI. This gives me access to more courses and allows me to attain my level 1 and 2 'exam' portion of my instruction certifications. Am I going to be a good instructor? Can I ski? I think so, and yes. As I stated before, I've been skiing a long time (40 + years) It was hard not having those connections with my peers, the mountain kids always saw me as a 'flatlander' even after we moved to the mountain. I feel like I always tried harder because of that, skiied faster, sharper, tried the mogul run when others were scared. If I couldn't be friends with the mountain kids then I would at least show them that even a valley kid could be reckoned with on a set of sticks. Exhilaration, that's what controlling your body as it skids down a steep snowy incline feels like. Another seed that sits in my brain was my first instructor...Eric.I was three so my memory may not be what it was. I just remember how cool he was and how cool his outfit was, and how awesome it was to be paid to have fun. I think the oldest kid in our class was about eight. Eric was able to connect with all of us and work with our individual style and levels all day long. Because of Eric I developed a hunger for skiing. This fairly new sport from Europe that everyone is talking about. I want that to be my drive in all of this; gifting someone that feeling. Here's something that you won't be that good at, at first but as you progress you will learn new things about how your body works and how it reacts to forces encountered on the mountain. I'm going though the anatomy part of my tech manual currently and learning the primary muscles used when controlling the body part that controls the equipment. It really is cool studying something I have spent my life enjoying. Learning the exact terms used when descibing movement is cool. Knowing the difference between unweighting and down unweighting may seem trivial, but to a skier...it's cool. Cool as a surfer 'shooting curls' or a skater grinding a 'five-oh' on a handrail. So now I just have to make my way though the alpine skiiers manual and take my exams. Then all that is left is my 'on-the-snow-portion' of the certifications. What follows are a few sketches from my studies on muscles that primarily affect how you ski. As usual thanks for taking the time to read my spillings, I do appreciate it.