SBDA and Qualifications

[northernmonkey]

that's cool if you learnt all that sh$t but seriousley i mean come on my cats know more about wakeboarding than kieth knox-if you are going to learn to coach wakeboarding then learn from someone who has at least stood on one in the water. if you go around telling people that knox taught you to be a wakeboard coach then anyone that knows more than a carrot will laugh at you. anyways if you started riding last year why do you think that you should start coaching? ever heard of the word experience? most people like a bit of that when they're paying you.

[onemorepint]

Wow interesting opinions...
well i'm a student and have my entire summer to work on a boat in the Med, ride for free and get that experience... how does that sound....
Not only that but there are clubs at over 15 universities inc mine That try and develop the sport we love and most unis need to have someone from the club as a qualified instructor for both sports and qualified boat driver...now that thats me i almost HAVE to go riding twice a week for 5/6 hrs...shame! I'm thinking that may build up the experience hours too possibly? lol

I get the point about some of these examiners but when someone else who knows more about wakeboarding becomes an examiner then i'm sure people will go to whoever that person is... in the meantime if you want to coach begginers @ a mediteranean watersports club then you have to have the qualies anyway you can ... which i now have...

As far as cramming the stuff into three days it was very intense, it's not a guarenteed pass and nor should it be, there is both written and practical assesment and we we on the water from 9am through to 6pm. There were three different courses through the three days, SBDA, Waterski instructor and Wakeboard instructor. The idea from these is to get more people into a basic instructors position and then build them up over the years, and i have heard that the requirements on entry level instucting have changed from years ago. From that basic level you get more experience and skills until you can start thinking about becoming wakeboard Coach which is a lot harder.

I'll be back on here in the autumn with that whirly 7 after an entire summer living on a boat 10hrs a day in the sun.... maybe!

[northernmonkey]

i humbly apologise i didn't realise you were a student going to work in a med resort with holiday makers/beginners.
is it the kind of experience i meant? er no not exactly but have fun anyway

"I get the point about some of these examiners but when someone else who knows more about wakeboarding becomes an examiner then i'm sure people will go to whoever that person is..."

like Matt C or Stew Mackie you mean?
what you are saying is that you have been deemed qualified to teach wakeboarding by someone who doesnt know anything about it or the techniques involved, so basically you now have the right to tell beginners where they are going wrong regardless of whether you actually know whats going on or not. do i think this progresses wakeboarding? no i don't, the last thing wakeboarding needs is someone teaching people the wrong techniques in the wrong way leading to people not progressing, leading to them thinking that wakeboarding is not for them, guess what? leading to them not continuing to wakeboard.......
go and look up progression in your dictionary, it doesn't have anything to do with giving people crap advice

[Nick.C.]

Pat is right . I did my S.B.D.A. with Keith knox last year, he's a decent fella but his roots are in water ski ing. On the same corse was a guy from Croatia or somewhere in Eastern Europe doing the instructors course and he had to do a wake to wake and some surface stuff, although he did it , he didn't have a clue how to do it properly and worked on the principal that if you charged at the wake hard enough you might get to the other side. THis method seems acceptable to a water ski-er... so good luck if you-ve booked a wakeboard holiday in Croatia this year!

[onemorepint]

Hey look, simply put neither Stew or Matt were avaliable when i needed to do the multiple courses and given i was trying to do Waterski instructor too it made more sense to get them all done at the same time with a registered and qualified BWSF Coach/Examiner, and obviously if anyone wanted indepth analysis of advanced WAKEBOARD tricks then its a no brainer who you go to....
problem is everyone has to start somewhere and i'm sure that taking a complete novice and getting them to the stage where they can W2W is called progression. All the basic body and handle stuff on the course with KK was no different to Stew and Will in Destruction Manual and also The Book so actually just cos hes a skier makes no difference to his coaching at basic level...

In any case the courses have put me on a boat for the summer which i'm stoked about so i get to come back this autumn with cash in my pocket, riding time (maybe some personal progression), awesome tan, and experience of Instructing people how to enjoy themselves on whatever they ride.

I would still reccomend people to get it done, with whoever they choose for basic level and then a true wakeboarder when they want the next stage....

Later

[DaveD]

By the sounds of it, the coaching qualifiaction nowdays is a 'tick box' thing.

You need it to coach in a school or private operation and it all seems fairly simple, thus making a bit of money for the examiner and BWSF, but at the end of the day it wont make you a better coach than an experienced boarder with years of riding under thier belt.


Still goodluck for your summer in the MED -