How do you find the RIGHT School?

[NickBJr]

As someone who's new to Kiteboarding I've been looking around for the right instructor and the right school.

How do you find it?

What defines a lesson?
Does the instructor work with you one-on-one?
Are there materials you study?
What consitutes Certification?
Are instructors rated?

Seems like pretty logical questions for someone willing to invest time and money into a fun sport.

There is probably a sticky with a list of references to those questions on here.
Good luck!

[kiwiar2000]

Well, let me start off by saying that your doing the right stuff in order to start in the sport. Some don't give 3 shits about "safety" and risk their lives anyway.
So, a good kiteboarding school consists of a good reputation. The instructor HAS to be certified, either IKO or PASA. Ask him.
If you want to work one-on-one, it is up to you. Its more expensive that way. (if you have doubts during the training, ALWAYS ask).
A lesson is somewhere between 1-4 hours, and you will start on land(i.e.pumping, connecting the lines, etc), then after a couple of lessons, you will do kite maneuvers out in the water, body dragging, and board-starts.
90% of the times the instructor will lend you his/her equipment, with the supervision of him at all times.
After you are consistently riding and confortable on your own, he/she will tell you when its time to move on and buy eqiupment. Dont worry about this, just focus on training. Just ask him how your doing.
Just do some basic research online, and feedback, testimonials, pricing, and your off kitesurfing!
Hope this helps.
-Danny

I hesitated to say squat about it because there are several philosophies. Really glad you are looking for a good instructor. Smart choice.
I knew the links were on here ........somewhere!
Rick has a really good list of instructors on here as well and these ideas (Danny's points were really good, too) ---
(scroll down, don't attempt to read the scanned magazine pages)

http://www.fksa.org/showthread.php?t=656

Good luck.

[NickBJr]

I am impressed! Thank you guys for answering me!

I'm a 42yo professional with a background in Adult Education, I.T. Professional, Computers, you name it..... so my questions are the same as my fortune 500 customers. Thanks so much!

I took my first "lesson" with a local guy. I had to prepay him. I was kinda dismayed. he showed me a plywood board with the graphic of the Wind Window and a replica of a kite. he explained up and down wind. then put me on the 2m trainer kite showed me what i needed to do. then went back to the 'main' area. he came back later to tell me he was going out for an upwind (or downwind) ride. being well educated, it took a few tries, but i got it.

After about an hour and a half of practicing with the 2m , i had to ask some girl who was sleeping on the desk (she was curled up in the fetal position) if there was an instructor available. they (she and some other student) pointed out some guy with a saftey helmet. I asked if they could send him my way.

when he came up he said if i was done i could power down the kite and leave. i said i had prepaid for 2 hrs. 'oh' he says. you need to practice the 'neutral' position and be able to do it with one hand.when i asked if this was included in the lesson time, he told me this was 'free time' and i could 'practice.' I said ok. He then told me that i needed to be able to hold the kite at the 10 and 2 postion. so I launched the 2m kite and boom,it was in a neutral (10 o'clock or 2 o'clock) postion with one hand. easy enough......

later the original instuctor comes back and tells me to get on the 3m kite. so powered down the kite and went to the 3m kite. easy enough.... sure it dragged me around some more. but i got the idea. Finally after 4 hours i was tired and had to go. afterwards, there was no "read this" or 'study that..."

I felt wierd... it was like "ok i paid for '2' lessons. but i was there for 4 hours and the total instructor time was less than or equal to <= 30 minutes. (thats total face time). As someone that works in a training environment for a living it was nothing like i'd give my customers or expect.

when i called back to schedule the next lesson i didn't get the 'we appreciate you as a customer' feeling. more or less i felt like i was getting an attitude of 'why r u bothering me?'

so with some poking around the internet i've been finding more and more instructors and schools. I'm willing and able to front the money for a 'package' but i have to say i really felt left out in the dark.

am i asking questions from left field?

That sounds like a pretty lame "lesson". I too just wrapped up teaching for ten years in Adult Education myself, so I understand you must be very perplexed from the lack of instruction.
(Much) better instructors do exist.

Maybe ask for references from several instructors and go with the guy/gal who ends up getting the best testimonials from phone calls you make? It might take a few hours, but it's probably worth it.

[robertovillate]

Ask a few questions:

Are they certified? and by whom..you can verify their status on-line with PASA or IKO if they are affiliated

How long have they been teaching and how many lessons completed?

Where have they done instruction in the past?

Some names and references, people they have taught?

Do they do this full time or part time?

What type of gear do they use?

Any accident or injury history?

No-wind policy?

Course syllabus?

How many students per class?