Both Andrea and Paul had already experienced a couple of hours learning snowplough and were able to make very wobbly and insecure long turns on the nursery slope. They were both able to use the plough and stem their skis – but clearly this standard method of skiing was also leading towards imposing some serious limitations. Rather than continue this process I decided to move them in another direction and teach skating and dynamics – the true fundamental principles of skiing. As luck would have it Andrea turned out to have been a keen skater in her childhood so her skills could be immediately put to good use. Paul in comparison was put at a great disadvantage but could use Andrea as a clear reference for the coordination and skills he needed to develop.
The first video shows Andrea progressing from skating turns to parallel turns and doing so with a clear understanding of how it works – by using grip from the ski through the inside edge of the foot and use of the muscles on the inside of the leg to move the centre of mass out of balance – to accelerate it into the turn. We did both basic skating exercises and dynamics exercises to get there… There are two fixed pages can be accessed from the menu the top of the page that show the details of the skating and dynamics in more depth Skating: http://skiinstruction.blogspot.fr/p/beginners.html Dynamics: http://skiinstruction.blogspot.fr/p/dynamics.html Paul was struggling with the coordination needed through the feet, legs and upper body to stay in control of things so it was better for him just to get used to sliding straight and then when secure and slowing towards the end attempt a turn to finish. Plenty of practice at this would build both confidence and competence rapidly – the key is getting used to accelerations and being able to relax and feel the body and then the effects that movements bring from the skis.