Wow, what a change in Derin! Her English is great – she is bigger – she speaks instead of being shy. However – she still wanted to ski on the Bollin and to play in the snow. We agreed to compromise on both issues – ski on the Fresse (bottom being the Bollin) and if she got to play in the snow the deal would be to also work hard on ski technique. We both kept our sides of the bargain.
Derin was filmed first of all before working on technique. She is on the backs of the ski boots and skis and rotating her body in the turns (following the skis too much). There is not much sign of dynamics or any clear awareness. The second skiing clip is after one session of work. The difference is obvious… Now that Derin communicates the gates to progress are truly open… (but she still gets to play!)
Supergirl Turns
We did a quick revision of the Magic Wall / Dynamics with various supporting exercises, then went indoors for a moment to work on the feet. Derin was able to understand how the foot rolls onto its inside edge and then how the adductor muscles of the leg (inside of the leg) are connected to this. It’s important to roll both feet onto their inside edges at the same time (Derin thought the inside foot went onto its outside edge). I placed my fist between her knees and asked her to roll both feet on their inside edges and then squeeze the legs together against my fist – so she could feel her adductor muscles. This feeling should be aimed for all the time when skiing – but the outside leg in the turn feels like the adductors are pulling inwards towards the centre of the turn.
The outside leg feels the foot rolling in (on edge) – the adductors pulling in – the centre of mass pulling in to the centre of the turn – all helping the ski work towards gripping and turning inwards. With the appropriate exercises Derin could understand this. The Supergirl exercise was to get pressure on the fronts of the skis – which works best when combined with the feet/legs/dynamics – so the final video clip was Derin successfully putting all of this together – Supergirl turns!
Supergirl stance – putting pressure on the ski fronts by leaning forward from the feet.
Rolling the right foot (inside the boot) onto its inside edge – pulling inwards with the adductors of the right leg and pushing the body against the table to the left (Magic Wall / Dynamcis)
