Tulie Budiselich, a 2014 Liberty Bell grad, was named to the PSIA-AASI national coaching team.
Liberty Bell High School graduate Tulie Budiselich (2014) was recently named to the PSIA-AASI national coaching team. The Professional Ski Instructors of America and American Association of Snowboard Instructors is a nonprofit organization that governs ski instruction, establishes certification for snow sports instructors, and develops curriculum.
Tulie, who has for seven years been instructing for the Sun Mountain Ski School, the Methow Valley Ski School and Methow Valley Nordic, went through a lengthy process to receive her assignment on the national team. First, she spent the past three years as a clinic leader for the PSIA’s Northwest division, teaching ski instructors throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. The Northwest division nominated Tulie for the national coaching team, so she submitted an application that included a short film of herself and a writing sample.
After she made the first cut, Tulie traveled to Breckenridge for week-long team tryouts. “It was long days, pretty intensive, with all disciplines — Nordic, alpine, telemark, snowboard and adaptive,” she says. “Then at the end of the week they announce the new team. I was one of two new people named to the national Nordic coaching team.”
What this four-year assignment means for Tulie is that during the winter season she travels nationally to work with other PSIA members to improve their instructional skills and during the off-season she works to develop curriculum.
“It’s pretty varied work,” Tulie says. “We focus on people skills, technical skills and teaching skills. The people skills and the technical skills span all the snow sports disciplines, and the technical skills are discipline-specific.”
Tulie and her team are also working on developing an accredited curriculum, so that instructors could earn college credit for their work with PSIA.
Tulie was born and raised in the Methow Valley and grew up skiing. “I raced on the alpine team and the Nordic team,” she says. “After a while I just focused on Nordic, I went to Junior National races, that whole thing. This is where I learned to ski and where I learned to love skiing.”
In the next few months (COVID-dependent), Tulie will be coaching other instructors in Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon, Sun Valley, Idaho, the Methow Valley, Steven’s Pass and the Midwest. Earlier this fall she coached in Keystone, Colorado, and West Yellowstone, Montana. “I’ve had to let go of a couple other commitments in order to fit in all this travel,” she says, “but I’m still coaching as much as I can here in the Methow.”
Congratulations on your acceptance to the national coaching team, Tulie; you’re an excellent example of turning a passion into a career.
