Snowboarding course APUL A - FREESTYLE snowpark, coaching, judging

APUL Snowboarding A Freestyle course is a follow-up course to course B and is part of the license A, consisting of three different courses. This course lasts five days and is aimed at riding in the park, freestyle coaching and judging.

The course takes place within our "Kaprun Project" where more programs take place at the same time. You will meet Czech riders who represented or still represent the Czech Republic in freestyle snowboarding who coach a Freestyle Camp for public within Project Kaprun. You'll be assigned to this freestyle camp to follow the work of coaches and through shadowing gaining experience of teaching freestyle. You will analyze and discuss everything in real time with the coaches themselves, present APUL instructor and other participants of the Freestyle camp. At the same time you will be under the guidance of coaches training tricks required to pass the exam.

The evening program will focus on theoretical knowledge, analytical skills and judging. Emphasis is placed on understanding the work of freestyle instructor or trainer. We will focus on the specifics of freestyle techniques, sports preparation for this discipline and judging freestyle disciplines.

• Applicant must be at least 18 years old on the opening day of the course.
• Applicant must be APUL Snowboarding B licensee.
• Applicant must be APUL member (membership fee paid in the given period).
• Applicant must have advanced riding and teaching skills.

The course content is divided into practical part on the slope and the theoretical part in the form of lectures and workshops. The daily program will be adapted to local weather and snow conditions. Changes to the course program can be made by the course leader.  Participation in all parts of the program is a necessary requirement to the successful completion of the course.

• instructor and coach of advanced freestyle
• lead trainings for instructors
• sports clubs coach
• APUL Snowboarding lecturer

The final exam is divided into several parts.

1. Judging

Verification of tricks terminology knowledge and basic refereeing skills.

2. Analysis

The examinee leads videocoaching. In addition to the high demands on the terminology and understanding of snowboarding, the emphasis is also on overall impression of the presentation and videocoaching management.

3. Methodology

The methodology test takes the form of a written training plan for longer period of time.

4. Riding Skills

Examination of riding skills runs continuously. For the successful completion of the course you have to prove that you master the tricks and you are able to perform them under appropriate conditions. There are proportionately reduced demands for women (the difficulty of the obstacles).

jibbing

• FS 180 ° out grind on the rail
• BS grind on the rail
• BS & FS board slide on the rail
• Lipslide
• Tailslide / bluntslide
• Nosepress / tailpress
• Rotation on the box of at least 360 °

jumps

• Stylish grab in the big jump
• FS and BS 360 ° rotation in the middle jump
• All four rotations of 180 ° in a small to moderate jump.

halfpipe
FS & BS drop-in, controlled ride, one basic trick.

• Adequate equipment for freestyle snowboarding.
• We recommend protectors - helmet, spine protector etc.
• Waterproof and warm clothing. We will spend 5 and more hours a day outside in any weather.
• Goggles and sunglasses, gloves, sunscreen.
• Money for ski pass (a significant discount will be arranged).
• Money for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (or self-catering).
• Notepad and pen for making notes and information from workshops on and off the snow.

The basic source of information on the course is our methodology book which you will receive after arriving at the course.  Furthermore, you will benefit from lectures during the course.

You can make some home preparation in several categories (as shown below) before the course.

First, carefully read this entire page. Focus mainly on the information on examination requirements.

Freestyle terminology

The knowledge of freestyle terminology is a necessary basis without which you cannot communicate effectively. If you're not quite sure, watch this video. You can find other similar videos on YouTube. We recommend Snowboard Addiction channel because they do quality tutorial videos as well as trick-tips.

Another thing that worth mentioning is the grabs. In the picture you can find a selection of basic and other grabs. It is also important to indicate the places where the basic board grabs are not caught. For an explanation - GREEN front hand, YELLOW back hand, BLUE both hands, RED front hand threaded between the legs, PURPLE back hand threaded between the legs.

Judging

As for the judging, we recommend that you spend hours and hours tracking records of snowboarding competitions of various levels. This is simply about training your ability to identify the tricks and evaluate each ride correctly. Lately, the top world-class rides do very technical tricks (eg. 1620° rotations), which is quite difficult to identify and evaluate, so we recommend that you start with local races of lower level, or find records of races and events that took place more than 10 years ago.

The assessment of the racing rides is discussed in detail in this document which you should download and go through. It's an official manual for FIS referees. Simply said, the FIS races are evaluated on a point scale of 0-100 points for one whole ride. Individual parameters are discussed in the document. You can also practice this particular skill by watching snowboard races - watch how judges evaluate the rides and try to evaluate each single ride on your own and then compare it with the official score.

Methodology

How to prepare yourself for an examination of the methodology? The exam takes a form of a written training plan for which you will have plenty of time. Most important is experience - to know how to learn the trick and ideally have experience of teaching it - knowing the methodical procedure, typical mistakes, effective advice, etc. Basic tricks can be found in our old methodology book and advanced freestyle is analyzed in this document.

Last but not least, check these two successful elaboration of training plans from Simon and Martin.

This course is very challenging and therefore you should arrive fit and ready. To complete the course you have to master the medium line in the snow park. Most of the required tricks you should master by the time of arrival at the course.

All APUL course participants are - when moving on the ski slopes - obliged to comply with the so-called "Ten Rules of conduct on the slopes." and the rules of conduct in the snow park. If any participant of the course will be systematically violate the rules of conduct on the slopes by his behaviour, threatening other course participants or other skiers, he will be asked to quit and leave the course.

Since snowboarding is a risky sport, we recommend arranging the appropriate accident insurance in case of accident or injury. Participation in the course is voluntary and at your own risk. APUL does not bear any consequences for possible injuries.

Our goal is to prepare you for the work of snowboarding instructor, but also to give you some tips on how to develop your skills. To begin with, we recommend:

• Strong muscles protect the skeleton. Keep your body fit and avoid injury.
• Stretch at least few minutes a day to prevent injuries.
• Do sports. It will improve your results in snowboarding.
• Ride with and listen to more experienced riders and instructors, they can really help you.
• Do not overestimate your skills.