Common Instructor Mistakes

[gator1]

I find it incredible how little important things are taught in lessons like launching and landing.

So many new kiters on the beach who have had lessons just cant launch.

I wasn't taught launching in the 4 hours of beginner lessons from IKO instructors. Instead I was given rides downwind by holding the instructors harness as he swooped the kite through the wind window. I believe anyone who does this at a beach should be shot. It teaches nothing about kiting except being reckless.

[taabsr]

I find it incredible how little important things are taught in lessons like launching and landing.

So many new kiters on the beach who have had lessons just cant launch.

I wasn't taught launching in the 4 hours of beginner lessons from IKO instructors. Instead I was given rides downwind by holding the instructors harness as he swooped the kite through the wind window. I believe anyone who does this at a beach should be shot. It teaches nothing about kiting except being reckless.

I completely agree with your points. Remember that some might not be iko or be guys who lost the iko license. If you see that you can actually anonymously report it.

[windmaker]

Don't mean to change the topic but as an ex instructor (1999 to 2012) I consider that IKO has destroyed the value of the profession by flooding the market with low level instructors working for peanuts. Can't think of any other high risk profession where you can qualify in barely 5 days.

Kitesurfing does not need IKO to improve that would give credit to all the wannabes already out there. It needs IKO to disappear and be replaced by a truly professional organization with higher standards.

It used to be like that in the start. I guess in the beginning the need for some qualification made it easy as it was better to get some tips that none at all. Now things have been changing, you need to do a 5-day training as an assistant and then take another five days for the instructor. Meaning you only get certified once you have done two pieces of instruction. Things take time, but I think it's going in the right direction. They have feedback visible now from school and instructor, so they are a lot of steps ahead of any other. The accumulated experience also outweighs anything else out there.

Fair enough, improvement is good, but I think that you are analysing the situation from an instructor point of view. What about the potential student situation who knows nothing about IKO and might think that he is getting lessons from a genuinely qualified instructor ?

[taabsr]

Fair enough, improvement is good, but I think that you are analysing the situation from an instructor point of view. What about the potential student situation who knows nothing about IKO and might think that he is getting lessons from a genuinely qualified instructor ?

Let's consider all options and situations.

We can get taught by friends but as we know they never got any training to teach and most likely will not deliver the content in a structured way, they might also want to go kite and leave you to test on your own.

An instructor without any training will be the same.

So if a person took the time and money to try to get the teaching concepts and understand how to teach, or get some insight before teaching is already better in my opinion. There are several pieces of training besides IKO; you have BKSA, VDWS, FVVL etc...

Why do people turn to iko and also why it's so abused?

Because it's recognized as the leading teaching platform, it was one of the first ones, so it has accumulated a lot of experience over the years, and being present all over the work has a grasp of all the different conditions. There is however still a problem in passing the new technics to the instructors as they still only get one live training and are never renewed. I think this is about to change.

Iko has been evolving, and now it's already way ahead of the other ones as a potential student you can check online the reviews of the school and of the instructor giving you an insight of the dedication of that person. This also goes for recruiting instructors. I always check how long he has been teaching and how many feedbacks he has. If he is a level 1 for 5 years that also gives me feedback especially if he doesn't have a lot of feedbacks, in the other hand if he has a lot of feedback I can see how stoked his students are so I can get an idea of the quality of the instructor.

As in anything you have good and bad instructors, iko now allows you to check them. Same goes for when you go to a hotel, and you verify the reviews. Only iko is doing that.

I'm doing a series of 6 videos with 6 points on how to choose your kite school.

Regarding iko, use the web and check the instructor is one of the things I recommend.

[windmaker]

Thanks for the insight, but there must be a problem somewhere. Checked out some of the IKO instructors in my area, some of which can barely kite and others which are known to have frequent problems/accidents with students. They are all rated 5 stars ...

[dejavu]

I found the IKO Instructor course to be very thorough. The class, field activities and more importantly the manuals cover all crucial information. It's up to the new instructor to then take the responsibility seriously. It's then how you deliver that content to a student and then more importantly how the student takes ownership of their progression by actively reading, practising asking questions, seeking assistance from fellow kiters.

[taabsr]

Thanks for the insight, but there must be a problem somewhere. Checked out some of the IKO instructors in my area, some of which can barely kite and others which are known to have frequent problems/accidents with students. They are all rated 5 stars ...

Not saying it's perfect but for them to have a lot of good feedback there must be something there. If they have 5star and 1 rating then it's not trustworthy.

[taabsr]

I found the IKO Instructor course to be very thorough. The class, field activities and more importantly the manuals cover all crucial information. It's up to the new instructor to then take the responsibility seriously. It's then how you deliver that content to a student and then more importantly how the student takes ownership of their progression by actively reading, practising asking questions, seeking assistance from fellow kiters.

Exactly. I agree 100%

[gator1]

I find it incredible how little important things are taught in lessons like launching and landing.

So many new kiters on the beach who have had lessons just cant launch.

I wasn't taught launching in the 4 hours of beginner lessons from IKO instructors. Instead I was given rides downwind by holding the instructors harness as he swooped the kite through the wind window. I believe anyone who does this at a beach should be shot. It teaches nothing about kiting except being reckless.

I completely agree with your points. Remember that some might not be iko or be guys who lost the iko license. If you see that you can actually anonymously report it.

Where to report it?

[longwhitecloud]

An early IKO instructor (instructors course) sent to NZ couldnt actually kite (windsurfer).

Before half way through the course we knew we had been fully scammed for $500 each.

They had trouble getting their head around making sure the kite would flag safety while self rescuing if it powered up. " Good idea" was their reply! lol funny comment but on the other hand they would get people killed. They got laughed at so much I think they thought it was a kiwi humour thing. Left in shame.

Give me my $ back IKO. Scam artists from the very start.


The IKO ad - become a kitesurfing instructor - no kitesurfing experience necessary" This was for real - yep maybe that was 2012. I probably have it in my large stack of old kite mags.

A proactive point is I have helped a lot of people that look like they are going to get themselves killed. They had lessons, they don't know how to activate their quick release, and even if they had been shown they don't have the right reflex trained into them.

I know a few overseas IKO instructors advertising in NZ (eg on holiday/working holiday) have been told not to return to the beach.

i see these days you have a few businesses doing kiteboarding instruction training. UK BKSA, They help KA Australia run their own scheme too now it seems. IKO burnt their bridges for many people, something very hard to come back from in business.