Becoming a French Ski Instructor
The french ski schools are seen as some of the best places to learn skiing. You've all seen them before, bright red jackets, they skip all the queues. Well I'm now one step closer to becoming one !
A little history lesson doesn’t hurt
The process dates back to the 19th century when the French Capitaine François Clerc went to Norway and brought back with him 20 pairs of skis which he presented to the French military back at his base in Briançon. He believes learning how to ski will help them win fights during the war, especially in the high mountains. It was quite a gamble but this new sport attracted quite some attention and a couple of years later the Capitaine Bernard created l’école normal du ski also in the alpine town of Briançon.
It wasn’t until after the first world war and a lot of development that we saw the birth of the first French ski school in 1933, that same year the French Ski Federation was founded in Annecy. Fast forward 10 years and in 1945 after the end of the second world war the Syndicat National des Motineur du Ski Français was born in the French town of Aix-Les-Bains. This new union was aimed to bring together French ski instructors teaching in France or abroad, to structure ski schools in a corporate manner, to organise the profession and to ensure its defence, both from the point of view of its general interests and its specificities and ethics. To help this the ESF (École du ski Français) is created to help structure the union's projects at a more local level. The ESF remained the only ski school in France until 1977 when three ex-esf instructors united to build the École de Ski International. There are now multiple ski schools in France but the ESF and ESI remain the two main competitors.
Now that the history is out of the way, let’s talk about the actual course you have to go on to become a French ski instructor. I’m going to be talking about the Nordic skiing diploma, mainly because it’s the one I’m in the process of taking and know more about.
It’s long, tiring and costs a lot of money
7 years, that’s how long it takes someone on average to become a fully-fledged French ski instructor. Sounds scary, does it? Now what if I tell you it costs 4600€ and you have to pay extra for accommodation and food every time you are on a course! But still, every year, 50 odd students graduate from the course, choose their preferred ski school and earn their ski instructors badge. 7 years is long but when you break it down the course is focused on around 12 weeks of learning, split into three blocks. The good part is you can start teaching as soon as you finish the first block as a stagiaire, this gives you the opportunity to earn some money and pay for the rest of the program.
There are a couple of reasons why the process is so long, the first one is because it’s French. It’s pretty stereotypical but it’s also true, the French love their long and very bureaucratic courses and we all just live with it. But the main reason is to protect the diploma we get delivered at the end. If they start making the program shorter it will lose value and the French ski instructors are seen as some of the best in the world and don’t want that to change. We are taught la technique du ski à la française, a technique founded years ago by French skier Emile Allais who is recognised as the first ever person to have received the renowned French ski instructor badge.
So why have I been taking this course? You may be thinking to yourself it’s a little silly of me to take a 7 year course even though I’m a professional Nordic skiing athlete. I’m lucky because I have the opportunity to follow a reduced course due to my status as an elite athlete. This gives me the opportunity to take the course in 5 weeks instead and be able to teach straight after my first week, the first part called the cycle initial is what I did last week.
Let’s push 5 weeks and 3 exams into 1
During this first week of lessons we have so many things to learn, ranging from how to teach, because I know how to ski fast but as my sister would say I have no idea how to actually teach. So that’s one thing, kind of a big part, but I also have to learn the history, the legal, the economic environment surrounding the ski schools, my obligations as a ski instructor and finally how to read a map. It’s a lot, especially when you think that you generally do all this in 5 weeks but if you’re surrounded by the right people you can make it work.
The course is held at the CNSNMM also known as the Centre National de Ski Nordic et de Moyenne Montagne. It’s where I spend most of my summer because it’s the same building as our national training centre, but as the name says it’s also where people learn the jobs of the mountain. You can learn how to become an MTB instructor, a ski instructor or a mid-mountain guide. With me were 10 other athletes all in the same situations as I’m in, so we all knew ourselves quite well and were very determined to learn.
As the week now comes to an end I have a couple of things to talk about, the first is as I said above, teaching is hard and tiring. At the beginning of the week, we are given a big book filled with all the loads of drills we can give our students so they can progress. The book is divided into 4 sections: Découverte, Apprentissage, Perfectionnement, and Expert. During our week we are taught how to teach the first two categories because those are the two groups of students we can teach once our week is finished. I found it hard, I’m used to hearing my trainers give me loads of tips as to how to make my technique but those are tips for someone in the Expert+ group, teaching students who are only just getting started is a completely different thing which took some time getting used to and I’m going to have to read through the book of exercises a couple more times until I’m properly ready.
When you turn up and pick up your new group who are eager to turn there are a lot of things to look out for. The first is you have to make sure everybody is actually capable of actually skiing and putting on their skis, then you have to think of what to work on during that lesson and find the correct terrain and environment to teach. A multitude of factors will all lead to a successful lesson.
So what’s next for me
Now I’ve finished this first week of lessons, I’m legally allowed to teach as a stagiaire, I also have to teach at least 70h before I can start the second part of my training. For this, I have to find a ski school that will let me teach beginner-level students. I have the choice between the esf and esi where I live because they are the only two ski schools that will accept stagiaire. I’ll probably end up with the esf because they are the ski school I grew up in a know the best.
I’m a little behind on my release schedule for the newsletter but bear with me. It’s only the beginning and getting in the rhythm is a little hard at first. Also, the new training season is now in full swing and the free time I have for myself is much shorter than before. But I have some really interesting things to talk about. Stay tuned for the next edition where we talk about VO2 max test and how we will implement it into my training.