Page 42 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

Exercise NEUSTIFT NOVICE
Ex NEUSTIFT NOVICE took place over eight days in April and made novice Officer Cadets competent enough to tackle Black Slopes.
This article will outline how this happened; the instructors’ role, the OCdt’s approach, and finally what this newfound competence will mean for the Officer Cadets and their skiing in the future.
Ex NEUSTIFT NOVICE benefitted from having the expertise of an incredibly competent ski instructor who had also been an OCdt at Sand- hurst, therefore understanding the mindset of the group. Lieutenant Roma Coates from the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was inventive with her lessons and encouraged peer appraisals and feedback. She would often ski ahead of the group and settle further down the moun- tain, allowing the OCdts to ski towards her. All the while, she would be judging their technique and analysing why they were making faults. Fur- thermore, she would often have OCdts following closely behind each other down the mountain, so they could discuss each other’s stances and postures in more detail, therefore learning from each other constantly. A few days into the trip, and once the OCdts had built a good base of confidence and skill, Roma often let the group tackle an entire slope independently, allowing us to gain momentum and confidence.
Competitiveness is not rare amongst Officer Cadets. The same can be said for the Officer Cadets who took part on Ex NEUSTIFT NOVICE. They were always pushing each other to improve,
and often encouraged each other to try slopes they were unsure about or hadn’t had any expe- rience of doing. This resulted in quick improve- ments within the group as a whole. Despite being competitive, the OCdts encouraged each other throughout, stressing the need to be patient, especially on the first day of skiing, when many slips and falls were involved on the baby slopes.
The quality of the instructors and the determina- tion to improve on behalf of the Officer Cadets resulted in the group tackling the toughest red routes on the glacier and, for some of them, a black slope which had been daunting them all week. Now the OCdts will be able to fit in seam- lessly to future Army skiing trips, or even into trips organised outside the Army sphere, with their civilian friends or families, all thanks to Ex NEUSTIFT NOVICE.
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