Thank you for your interest in VASS! WE NEED YOU!
If you are NEW to volunteering with VASS please click here on this link to meet one our students. Please don’t focus just on his ability, as many students and many instructors have different ability, but do focus on his smile. The mountain is just a place where we all get to explore, learn and laugh together.
NOW that you are all the way committed… keep reading about the training and at the end you will find a new volunteer registration .
Thank you for your interest in becoming a valued volunteer with Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports! If you are a skier or snowboarder, please keep reading and if you are not and are still wanting to learn more about how you can help please find a button at the bottom of this page for you.
More children are being diagnosed with ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, it is now estimated at 1 in 34 kids. And here is the sad thing… many of these kids never get the same opportunities as other kids growing up in amazing British Columbia. At VASS, we are making a HUGE IMPACT in this gap and we need your help as an instructor to teach SKI and SNOWBOARD lessons. Combine this with all of the other disability diagnosis that affect so many student and in Vancouver, when is comes to delivering ski and snowboard lesson, we are the solution.
Your first season would look like this….
First we need to teach you how to teach basic skiing or snowboarding. I am talking like helping a student make their very first turn. So to do that, we have partnered with the Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance and the Canadian Association of Snowboard instructors. You will need to attend a 4-hour session that will focus on improving your ability on snow and your knowledge of teaching the sport.
YOU MUST ATTEND ONEOF THESE DATES:
December 16th , December 18th or January 2nd
Next, you need to attend a weekend training session. This will consist of a 4 hour Friday night session, 6pm-10pm, combined with a 2 day, Saturday & Sunday, 730am-430pm, on-snow session. This is the CADS, Canadian Adaptive Snowsports, portion of your learning. This is where you would learn how to take what you now know about teaching snowsports and adapting your teaching plan based on the student that you get the privilege of hanging out with. We will look at techniques for motivation, communication and pure kinesthetic teaching….it will blow your mind. And you will have lots of opportunity to practice and get feedback from CADS Course conductors.
MUST ATTEND ONE OF THESE WEEKENDS:
Friday January 3rg evening with January 5th&6th all day session
or
Friday January 10th evening with January 11th & 12th all day session
At this point you are certified to teach all types adaptive lessons including cognitive, visually impared, outriggers and sitskis. The price for all of this training is only $55. There is also a $48 fee to gain your CADS membership, which includes insurance, pro deals on some gear and access to more training opportunities. Your total cost for the first year ends up at $103. I may have forgotten to mention as well that you will be getting the chance to ski and ride at no cost.
Now on to the fun stuff…
Our programs run for 7 weeks starting in the middle of January and each program runs at the same time weekly for 3-4 hours. The first week is an orientation with your Program Coordinators and this is where you will get a written profile about your student. We strive to always have first year instructors paired with a more experienced returning instructor and all of our lessons have at least 2 instructors. So you are never alone in this adventure. This first night you will be paired with your partner instructor and have a chance to get to know each other, go over some points of safety, local mountain protocols and review best practices for teaching.
The next 6 weeks…
Once a week you arrive early to the lesson and wait for you student to arrive. And then go and do your best in collaboration with your other instructors to help some awesome person learn how to play on the snow. And I say that with purpose because at VASS a good ski lesson might be learning how to walk on snow in ski boots, and that could be the entire lesson. Or maybe you are learning how to be a better teacher because your student is advancing so quickly you have had to call in a CADS trainer to come and hang out on your lesson and do some jump training. You never know and that is all part of the fun and excitement. Check out the student section of our website to see which program seems interesting to you. You are welcome to volunteer for more than one program if you wish, but please be 100% committed to the times and dates of the program you select.
End of season stuff….
The end of season is an exciting time. It can be time for more training to further your certification and explore of disciplines in sitskiing, using outriggers and learning about working with visually impaired students. This is also the time of the year when we have the VASS cup, a fundraising/ awareness-raising event that features a fun race for many of our ski athletes from the season. And to finish off the season right, we throw a party in your honour… maybe for all volunteers, but I am sure you get the drift.
I look forward to sharing the magic with you that is volunteering with VASS. So stop thinking about it and just click the green button below below to register.
Best Wishes,
James Peters
Executive Director
NEW SKIER VOLUNTEER NEW SNOWBOARDER VOLUNTEER
PS…. If you really have some dying questions please check out our FAQ’s or drop a line to info@vass.ca.
NOW, If you are not a skier nor snowboarder and want to help VASS we need you too….
Thank you for your heart and time. You are some of our most import volunteers as you often have the ability to help the VASS machine run smoothly. Here are some of the roles that we recognize we need help in:
ON THE MOUNTAIN
- Program Assistant – helping the Program Coordinators organize lessons, on and off the snow
Most of the programs begin mid-January and run for 6 weeks.
OFF THE MOUNTAIN
- Fundraising
- Donations
- Sponsorship
- Marketing
- Volunteer Coordination
- Website
- Newsletter
- Equipment
- Special Events
- Presentations
If you are interested in volunteering off the mountain, please indicate areas you are interested in on your registration form.
Thank you so much for helping out. I look forward to meeting you and thanking you personally for your dedication to supporting you community and adaptive sport. Please click on green button below to register.
Sincerely,
James Peters