The trip out to Jegersburg was the first real trip we had done on skis and as such it took us quite a while to get used to the snow and skiing. The area itself is made up of undulating forest with a few lakes and well defined paths. These paths provided a good mix of gradients for us to practice on and get used to the skis. It also meant that there were enough different sections so that even the better skiers in the group were challenged. However the terrain was not so unmanageable that it put people off skiing forever. The open area used after lunch was really good for the beginners to get to grips with the basic of skiing on because it was open and also had a variety of gradients and terrain for them to practice on. The final and key point which made Jegersburg such a good place to take the group for basic skiing lessons was that it was right on the doorstep of the university and so accessible to everyone.

The role that the veileader took for the day was more of a guide and instructor. He took us on a route around the forest and made sure that we were all safe and that we could all keep up. One of the ways that the veileader helps the group to improve their skiing was to watch the group go by and then offer coaching points to individuals as they passed by.

There was no formal structure of coaching; the way in which the group learned was through the first generation of facilitation (Priest and Gass 2005) which is learning by doing. For example people learnt very quickly that when you face downhill the skis tend to start moving very fast. They then learnt to stay sideways on the slope to stop them sliding down. The veileader adopted a laissez faire approach which allowed the group to learn in this method. It was also transformational as there weren’t any specific goals for the day and the veileader didn’t try to change the people in the group too much.

The veileader had a depth of knowledge about the equipment which he passed on to the group. The ranged from a short lesson on how to apply wax and what sort of wax is best for certain conditions to telling the group for to fix their equipment if it was broken and also why it had broken in the first place. This was especially important as it helped the group to maintain and take care of their equipment by themselves.

The role of the students was to firstly take part and put as much effort in as possible so that they could get as much from the day as possible. The free play and the independence allowed the group to learn through the first generation of facilitation. They went off by themselves and gained more experience as skiing.

My motivation for trying hard at the skiing was that I want to learn a new skill and become good at it. There are also external factors that greatly influence the motivation to do it. The main one is that the rest of the group wants to do it you will put maximum effort in to conform to them.

Having feet that are six feet longer than normal is obviously going to affect your motor skills. It affects your gross motor skills because big movements have to become more refined and precise to cope.

In summary the sessions was very successful simply because it showed to the participants and the veileader what needs to be improved and where we can go.