One of the things I like about skiing is that there is always room for improvement no matter how good you get or how long you’ve done it. I still have things that I keep in mind to correct and improve from my instructor training two years ago.
For reference, here are the skiing skills I need to work on:
Rotary movement. I usually do not twist my ankles enough during my turns, especially at the end of the turns. I rely too much on pressure control and the edge or side-cut of the ski to shape my turns. This is probably a result of having shin splints during my training. Rotary movement was the hardest skill for me with those muscles injured. The result of low rotation is that I normally do very “edgy” carving turns, or long “lock and cruise” turns with little leg movement, where I don’t get full performance out of my skis and the slope.
Keep both feet working together. I have a hard time moving both my legs in the same way at the same time. Often this means the width between my skis changes slightly during my turns, as I work the outside leg harder. This always impacts my skiing form, but will become a very visible problem in powder.
Collapsing at the waist. I have a pair of chipped incisors from kneeing myself in the chin last year to remind me that I do this. I need to keep my lower back (and the rest of my upper body) locked and strong when I absorb pressure or brace for impacts. This is most visible in moguls.
2 comments:
This is a very nice self observation. Knowing what is wrong and need improvement, is the key for actual improvement. It sounds like you video taped yourself and analyzed your skiing.
Will be very interesting to see what you are going to write about your skiing at the end of the season.
I try to always be as honestly self-observant as I can. Richard Feynman famously said, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool."
I did look at some of this on video two years ago but most of it is from other feedback systems, like what I feel on the snow. If I collapse from above the waist, I can definitely feel it. If I tilt my legs to the edges but don't rotate the skis, I can know that too. Moving both legs from one edge to the other with the same pressure feels to me like hopping from side to side. It's an unfamiliar feeling, so I know I'm doing something different.
Tracks in the snow are also a very good indicator of what your skis are doing, like how much your edges are digging in. In deep snow I can see that my tracks do not stay the same width throughout the turn.
I can see that I have trouble making short-radius turns and keeping them round, but I don't have the same problem with longer-radius turns. Chris, my coach in the training here, said that I don't rotate enough at the end of the turn and that is visible in the shape of the tracks as well.
So video analysis is a very useful tool but there are others almost as good. What's nice about the video is that most people (myself included) are visual learners and find it easier to understand what they're doing when they can be shown it. But I have had kids who can only learn how to form a wedge if you hold their skis in that position until they know what it should feel like.
At the end of the season I might say that I'm the best skier ever and have perfected the sport beyond all possibility of improvement. Then I'll take up snowboarding, or golf. :-)
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