Journalist Adám Franczia is watching with anticipation. Photo: Andreas Hustad

Student instructors give alpine skiing classes for children

With the help of a few HiMolde students, the local ski-school at Tusten offers ski lessons for young children starting from this week. They kicked off with a successful trial run last weekend, where the local kids were introduced to the program.

By ADÁM FRANCZIA and ANDREAS HUSTAD (photo)

Raphaela Oßberger is showing the kids how to use the ski lift. Photo: Andreas Hustad

On Saturday morning, the 21st of January, a group of quite many (30 or more) young children gathered around at the bottom of the Tusten ski-slopes full of excitement with the upcoming ski lesson. After the introductory briefings, the younglings were already on their way to the slope to get the first ski-steps done. Even though the recent weather was not in favor of winter sport lovers, the bottom two slopes were still useable, and it was enough for the time being for the involved children. At the end of the day, many tired, but satisfied and happy future ski-enthusiasts left the ski center with probable determination of coming back regularly.

Márk Medovarszky during one of the lessons. Photo: Andreas Hustad

The idea of being involved in a beginner skiing and snowboarding course for children at Tusten arose during an interview process with the well-known local free-ride skier, and star of the movie «Supervention» Asbjørn Eggebø Næss, made by fellow HiMolde MSc in Sport Management student and Panorama member Benjamin Moeyersons from Belgium.

He would teach snowboarding, while other two classmates, Raphaela Oßberger from Austria (also Panorama member), and Hungarian-Polish Márk Medovarszky are responsible for conducting the skiing lessons. Sondre Jeremiassen, one of the employees at Tusten, will also help out with translations and other technical issues. Raphaela and Márk both agrees on that it is a great opportunity for them to practice the Norwegian language, get in touch with the local community, and in general, share the passion for winter sports and make the children comfortable and happy on the skis. The quality seems to be guaranteed, since all the three instructors have professional instructor certificates, and years of experience.

Journalist Adám Franczia is having a hard time figuring out how to use the ski lift. Photo: Andreas Hustad

The course will take place in the following four weeks, every Tuesday and separately on Saturday. These four lessons, (each ninety-minute-long) cost 1000 NOK, registration is possible through booking@tusten.no. According to the manager of Tusten Skiskole, Bjørn Jarle Kleppen, they offer skiing lessons for every age, both in groups and individually. Tusten is popular not just among locals, but also outside Molde (for example skiers from Kristiansund tend to come as well). For more information, check either their website (www.tusten.no), or their more active Facebook page.

(The author of this article had the chance to try out skiing for the very first time, and thus would like to thank for the opportunity. It was a great and fun challenge, getting a bit more known to the winter sport world.)

Journalist Adám Franczia finally figured how to stop. Photo: Andreas Hustad