id suggest a new avitar...that one just made my dog have an epileptic fit..

lol...

Hey Tobes thanks for the English lesson..........
And the kid's dancing, I taught him that! I would never have ago at someone with downs syndrome....

Shark Bait your cert 4 will be such a big help mate. I to have my cert 4 and I will be doing similar to you in a few years.

The benefits of a cert 4, that no kiting instructor could tell you is that you know how to plan a session using the tools and knowledge you gained from extensive training. e.g plans, adult learning principles, feedback, reward the list goes on. The main thing is, to do your cert4 means you enjoy teaching and would not be doing it solely for money. Only partially.

In regards to having experience, well if your at the level you state, that's better than the our local instructor since I've learnt I've never seen him out. Hang on, yes I did he was running back up the foreshore footpath with all his gear in his arms because he f###ed up some lines and ended 2ks down the beach.

I say do the IKO and go for it you know all the safety, flying and getting them to stand up instructions so why not. If anyone ever tells me that you have to be able to do a back mob to be an instructor I will smack them fair square in the head.

Instructing does take knowledge but only of what you are teach. Most importantly it takes patience, persistence understanding and a safety conscience person. Reason being they are new and may not aware of the hazards

My 10c worth

quote:

---

Hey Tobes thanks for the English lesson..........
And the kid's dancing, I taught him that! I would never have ago at someone with downs syndrome....

---

Hey sharkbait,

How many hours did you spend teaching the kid to dance?

I think we have one of your I.T. graduates looking after our computer system too.

there's a little Michael Jackson in him?
back to iko, maybe it would help to work with some one like Darren Marshal before teaching on your own.

Good on ya sharkbait. I hope you get into it and it all goes well. A lot of these clowns are just cashing in on the money to be made teaching Noobs like myself how to kite without having a genuine love of the sport. I don't know how they justify charging $190- just to fly a training kite for two hours while at the same time teaching another person how to body drag for $250- and another person how to take off on a board for $250-. Thats $690- for two hours work.

I have learnt a lot over the last couple of months from the friendly kiters at my local spot without jeopardising my own safety or the safety of others. If you are willing to listen a lot can be learnt from these guys even if they don't have an IKO card. Its not exactly rocket science.

It will be good to see guys like yourself and Blaster getting into the teaching side. Good Luck

Go for it Sharkbait you have the passion.

As a newbie my observations of instructors has been an eye opener. There are some great guys around my area that are only too happy to help and advise newbies free and give full lessons to paying customers. Knowing a number of kiters in the area, I did it the hard way and learnt slowly, very slowly. In the end I received some great free tips from a local instructor (thanks aaron) and was up and riding. One on one with an instructor is definately best and in hindsight I should have done this, I now recommend all newbies to do so.


In the same period of time I have seen other instructors doing some pretty weird ****. Its one thing to do an IKO course and another to be able to teach and not grab the money and run.

Like you I've also stepped in to help some people who have had lessons with lesser instructors only to be struggling to set the kite up and get the lines right. On one occassion, an instructor just kited away after i asked him to give a guy (with a new kite and no idea how to set up) a hand before something went wrong. The reply was "I only help paying customers." Like you I helped him out and he was very grateful, but most importantly safe.


Do the IKO course and use your other skills, be yourself and dont become an instructor chasing the dollar.

baitshark are all there??? Do you want talk about it!!!!