Memo from Tom

Tom Gray, Western Region Director

Thanksgiving has come and gone and there was no snow!  We’ve all finished our refreshers and have prepared ourselves for the coming season, now we’re sitting around waiting for Mother-Nature to cooperate.   That’s the case for some of us anyway. 

On November 16 and 17, there was a Central Division Ski/Toboggan Trainers Workshop.  It was supposed to be on-snow, but when there wasn’t any, the agenda changed, and we spent the time indoors.  As much as we all wanted to be on the snow, we were able to accomplish a lot more because it wasn’t there.  Friday night, we met folks we hadn’t seen before, and got reacquainted with some that we had.   Then we started working.

We went over old NSP programs that have had changes, and have been renamed.  It all started with the program ‘Introduction to Patrolling’, or as we have known it for the last couple of years --‘Patroller 101’.  The content is about the same and it is something that all new candidates must take, and will be a great refresher for those of us that have been around awhile.  It explains what the NSP is about and goes over the changes that have taken place in the last several years.

Saturday started with discussions on ‘Mentoring’ -- what it is, and how it applies to us and our programs.  We went through the course descriptions for the old ‘Phase I’ and ‘Phase II’ courses.  ‘Phase I’ has a new name, ‘Instructor Development’, and ‘Phase II’ is now Mentoring for the specific discipline, e.g. ‘Mentoring for Toboggan Handling’.  After this discussion we broke into groups to hear more specifics on ‘Instructor Development’, ‘Mentoring for Toboggan’ and ‘NSP-C Ski School’.

The Western Region was well represented at the weekend events, and I think everyone who attended came away enthused and ready to bring these programs and the information back to the Region and to their Patrols.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those that participated. 

Ski Patrolling  and ski patrollers are a great group.  The more patrollers I meet, the more this feeling is reinforced.  If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, talk with your Patrol Representative, Program Advisor, Section Chief, Assistant Region Director or me and see about becoming more involved.  There is a need for Instructors and Instructor Trainers in all programs, and you’ll have a chance to meet some wonderful people and learn or improve some of your skills.  Another plus is you’ll have a chance to ski with some great folks.