ProCoach

Gofishracing

CVR

Dr911

I thought that was the Dodge Challenger Hellcat student's job?

Gofishracing

NASA for the strong willed.

Manifold

dgrobs

Bump for those who missed it in 2019….

stownsen914

I'd never heard of it. Sounds impressive.

LWG

Wanted to chime in as I just completed PCA National training with Zone 1 a few weeks ago. The training was led by Dave Vaccaro with CVR. It was a 1 day program. They did work with a single candidate over the rest of the 3 day weekend to get them through the program, but that was not successful. The standards set are VERY high. The mentors were excellent. If you do not fit the minimum standards they will politely tell you that you aren't ready or aren't a good fit for the program. The downside of the program is that without some sort of previous instructing experience or pre-ITS mentoring, a single day is simply not enough time to fully train someone. The classroom sessions were a bit more casual. It was assumed we knew most of what was being taught. No material was handed out in advance.

To back up a moment, I completed the BMWCCA ITS with Del Val / NJ BMW CCA last summer. The program is two full days (8-6) with the 3rd day left to "wrap up" with candidates who needed more work. Another amazing program with truly first class mentors. Bar is set very high. These guys basically wrote the book on HPDE. Fantastic program. Very detailed. With a small amount of pre-ITS mentoring/previous instructing experience the BMW program offered a better learning experience in my opinion. Lots of reading material was provided leading up to the training program.

Why am I bringing up BMW and PCA? I am still considering doing the MSF training. HOD offers this program and I have worked with them a few times now. I do whole heartedly believe they run a great show. Their instructors are mainly from NASA, BMW, and PCA. Being I have experience instructing over the years and formally completed two national programs, I don't feel it would be as grueling and we can always learn more about this craft from people with much more experience. My experience is that most clubs will allow you to instruct with therm as long you can provide a reference from two separate CI's.

Overall, I feel we have excellent programs here in the North East.

ProCoach

Good information and great post. Thank you.

911ted

Some clubs have the "service points" requirement.
NO club championship award @ year end without enough service points.
Instructing gets lots of points.

NaroEscape

Our home PCA region Carolinas is a MSF Level 2 Certified HPDE Organization, We run at least one instructor certification training a year, usually in the spring....Nadine is Level 2 certified, I let mine laps because I don't instruct anymore.

matttheboatman

I did my MSF Level II training with Chin this winter at Sebring.

So I paid a fee, and had (2) very challenging instructors put me through the ringer on track, and some good classroom learning. I think my fee was like $600 and I ran my car inbetween tranining sessions so it was not an unreasonable fee.

The general format was similar to my intitial instructor training at my local track, but the MSF format up it notch for sure. Worth it - definately!

So, would it be better if there was a single, recognized standard in the HPDE business that all groups endorsed and supported? Absolutely.

The way I look at it is this: in case there is the inevitable incident in the future, I want rest assured that I took the time and effort to get 3rd party certified, take additional training, to know I've done my very best to keep the student (and instructor) safe.

sbelles

I'm all for continuing education and peer review is always good for people who are instructing other people in any activity but increased certification can also lead to increased presumption of responsibility should things go south. Just something to think about for amateur instructors.

Manifold

How are these issues addressed in other outdoor adventure sports? What is the extent of formal training and certification programs, and how is liability addressed?

dgrobs

As a (former?) ski instructor, we went through FIS training, and it is standardized I believe. Same program for all instructors.

That may have changed since I went through the program a gazillion years ago, but that's how it was done, One standardized standard. If you had an FIS certification, you could apply to any resort's instructor program, kind of like the PCA National instructor number. You have that, you can instruct with any region, correct? It was like that.