The week has been busy for me. Not hectic, just filled with lots to do. The daytime temps have been very cold. It has been taking alot out of me when I get home. So now finally, after some technical difficulties which included a computer crash, I am able to post some of the pictures and movies together.
I have been able to ski with a number of great families this week. Some had never skied before, some had never seen snow before, and other were accomplished skiers looking to improve their tactics and techniques. Either way, they were all great. No complaining about the cold, in fact, most didn’t want to go in to warm up. Now that is passion for the sport.
In some of the video you may be able to see the wind whipping the snow in the background.
In the learning process is it important that we gain comfort in balancING as we slide over the snow.
I purposefully capitalized the “ING”, as skiING is an ING sport. As we move across the snow it is important that we continually stay in motion. FlexING, ExtendING, TurnING, TippING. When we gain comfort with movING to be adjusting our balance, we learn to enjoy what skiing can offer.
I usually like to do an brief exercise of lifting a ski off the ground and lifting the forefoot to flex the ankle. This movement lightly presses the shin onto the tongue of the boot. I like to think of this as “Homebase”. While it may seem like a static position at first glance, the only way to maintain this contact is by continually adjusting movements in the ankle, knee, hip socket, and spine. So, while the exercise seems simple there is alot going on. And a simple move with complex underpinnings are what I like to teach.