I’m finally a ski instructor!!!

Cody qualifies on his ski instructor course in Canada!!

So I’m in a bar, I’m talking to a girl, she asks about what I do, and I reply “welllll I just happen to be a qualified ski instructor and I do a lot of private lessons (hinty hinty hint)”. Now I feel less guilty when I say that since it’s actually true! I think that was the motivation that drove me through the draining exam process over the last week.
Over four days we were assessed on both our skiing and teaching ability. For the first two we were assessed purely on our skiing and for the second two our teaching.  The night before the first day I could barely sleep through the nerves, and the long trip up the Whistler gondola was a tense one. For me that is. Most people were pretty chilled, but I naturally get nervous about these things, but after my first run I was absolutely fine. Skiing does that for me; it calms me and gives me a “what the heck?” attitude. From then on I just let my skiing do the talking, or at least until Wednesday when it became a matter of teaching. Then my nerves came back…. teaching is a whole new ballgame. You could be the best skier in the world and still fail on your teaching. I even remember listening to “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley the night before to calm me down. I’d done a lot of practise teaching before this, but when you have to do it for real the pressure starts to come down on you.

Me as a fully fledged ski instructor

In the end I taught a good lesson though, without being interrupted by the examiner, a huge relief, since he would only do so if you slipped up. On Thursday, we finished at midday, and I retired to my flat (an excellent piece of ski property) before heading back into town to get my results at 3.30pm. Waiting for the envelope that held my fate seemed even more important than waiting for my A-level results, and I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw inside. A strong pass, and that night everyone within Alltracks Academy went out to celebrate and got absolutely car-parked (drunk).  Sadly I can’t really describe that (I think there was a club………I know there was alcohol).
Now I’m living the dream, I remember sitting at home planning this almost three years ago, and for it to have finally happened is the most rewarding feeling I’ve ever had (forget school). Now I have a new qualification, a new achievement and a new chat-up line.