Two good students – great positive attitude, competent and willing to learn. We had 4 hours to go from the start to competent “autonomy” on green runs and I had no doubt that we would manage that.
Margarida’s boots were however not ideal – the picture below shows that when the legs are locked out straight when sitting, feet hip width apart, the soles are not flat as they should be – making it hard for Margarida to grip with the inside edges of the skis. More advanced boots are necessary – some models being more aggressively tilted to provide edge grip and some with “canting” adjusters to change the angle of the boot cuff to match the leg morphology.
Beginners SKATING
My teaching is so different from standard ski school dogma that we had to start from the very beginning. It was great to see that both Margarida and Amanda were able to apply everything we worked on. The fundamental difference here is that we work always focused on the movement of the centre of mass – and disequilibrium. This “Beginners” link goes to a full page where all the beginner exercises are documented…
Dynamics CENTRE OF MASS
This “Dynamics” link covers the exercises we used to explain the “Magic Wall” – the invisible wall that holds you up when you accelerate your Centre of Mass against it.
Braking Snowplough (Modified Plough)
We had to use a plough to be able to have autonomy in such a short period of time. The difference here is that it’s not important what ski the weight or pressure is on – what’s important is that the centre of mass moves in the same direction as with dynamics. In this case the inside ski of the turn acts as a brake for the first half of the turn and keeps your speed under control. Gradually the plough is narrowed and higher speed enables the skis to provide stable turning – with the turn shape/completion providing all the control.
Notes:
- Gravity provides propulsion even on the flat when walking, running, skating
- Plough and skating are both done from the hips not the knees
- When turning stand on the balls of the feet and put some weight on the front of the ski boots – so that you feel the ski fronts pulling you into the turn
- Finish each turn to get control before starting the next turn
- Push against the magic wall even harder in the second half of the turn – until speed is under full control
- Focus internally on your body – feet (pressure), hips, centre of mass (movement). Make it into a moving meditation – all about the forces you feel in shaping and completing turns – being in control and relaxed. Control gives you freedom – even though that sounds like a contradiction