The US system tries to set students up to continue learning through self guidance and assessment rather than always having the need for an instructor to be there to tell them if they are doing it or not. Leaving the progression in the hands of the students by setting out goals they can go off to practice on their own and have a good idea how to achieve their own personal goals.
One of the simple tactics that was used was a follow the leader and copy exercise using Ollie’s. Some examples of the hidden details that came out were how to explore the difference between varying heights and how the follower needed to technically adjust their movements to match the leader. Just by trying to copy the exact height and moments, it was apparent that a lot of the technical details were discovered through trial rather than explanations.
The next part of the session highlighted another interesting tool that was used as a way to gauge a candidates knowledge base on exams at all levels. The premise was to create exercise based scenarios and get the students talking about some of the details that needed to happen to become successful or not. The goal wasn’t that the exercise needed to be completed perfectly, but talked out by the candidates to gauge their technical understanding by the course conductor. The chosen tasks were not relevant to any course standards but mainly designed to get the group talking technically. Jumping downhill on the toe edge, carving while nose pressing were some examples of some of the tasks used to spark conversations to gauge the technical understanding while having some safe contained fun.
Thanks team USA
Adam Gardner
