Little Darcy Had to regain confidence today (after a fall in her group class yesterday) so I had the pleasure of her company for the morning.
What I wanted was to provide Darcy with an appropriate skill base for real confidence. It was clear from the outset that her previous “confidence” was the sort that a little puppy has as it bolts gleefully across the highway!
The principles we were working on and the exercises are explained at the link… “Beginners” (demo videos are provided)
Due to the possibility of Darcy returning to the group lessons I was obliged to make sure she could use a snowplough. Although the plough is terrible in every respect regarding progressing with skiing – it is an essential platform when you have to survive in a large group of beginners with zero individual assistance. The only difference employed here was that we used a form of snowplough that respects the motion of the centre of mass in the correct direction (according to dynamics). Later on the skating exercises reinforced the “magic belly button” (dynamics) and by the end of the session Darcy was experiencing real control and a certain understanding of the safety requirements… ie – turning controls speed!
