Starting off today’s session I looked at everyone’s skiing. Dan and Charlie had some natural dynamics but Josh was static. Josh was dependent on stemming his uphill ski (into a plough) to get on the inside edge to start a turn. Raising Josh’s level in a matter of hours depended on three things – his attention to following my line accurately, his ability to learn and feel basic dynamics (pushing and moving the centre of mass out of “balance”) and his ability to pivot (use his skis sideways). Josh proved to be a very competent and fast learner with great attitude and aptitude.
Nearly all my attention was focused on Josh and steadily ramping up the difficulty of terrain and technical demands – without putting him in danger of any sort. Just a small amount of conscious technical change can generate a huge amount of confidence and this is what happened with Josh. The final clip in the video shows Josh extending his outside leg and using it to drive his centre of mass into each turn – which is why he is so stable and his timing looks great. He extends his leg but simultaneously and naturally inclines and overall this lowers his centre of mass. Looks great! Like most kids Josh is in the back of his ski boots – but skating exercises and continually improved dynamics are the tools that self-regulate this issue naturally. Charlie and Dan are also way too far back – but only advanced technical work can properly sort this out – and today wasn’t the day for that.
