What makes for a GOOD kiteboarding instructor or school?

[RickI]

This is an important thread and one that will presented in the near future in a better resolved form. The idea is to provide the consumer with some ideas about what to look for in a good instructional operation.

Kiteboarding NEEDs good instructors and schools and in fairness kiteboarders DESERVE to obtain the best competitve product for their money that is available. It is likely that without more, effective GOOD instruction kiteboarding access will suffer. Of course there is always free will to do stupid things despite instruction but that is yet another problem for another thread.

I have lots of ideas about what traits make for a good instructor or school but I am looking for ideas and experiences from others out there. Particularly students that were impressed by a given school or instructor or even instructors themselves.

NOTE: It would be good to leave the identities of schools and instructors out of this to avoid introducing possible bias and conflict.

So, what things impressed you about your instructor or school? Things like:

1. Certified staff that not only can kiteboard but critically can effectively teach it.

2. A fixed lesson plan with reachable goals that is discussed in ADVANCE of the lessons and is adhered to.

3. Low instructor to student ratios.

4. A chase boat, if appropriate for the area.

5. Insurance

What else? Passing along tips to new riders on what to look for should accomplish a few things. It will provide a competitive incentive for schools and instructors to deliver an even better product. More riders will be drawn to kiteboarding instruction because of widely accepted worth and value. Threats to access should ideally be reduced from at least this one source.


For the responses checkout:
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