Derin made constant progress throughout the week. She has an impressive ability to really understand everything thrown at her. If she was skiing for another week right now she would really be flying by the end of it! She has a wonderful way of laughing at her own fears and then just getting on with things. In a very short while she was built up from a “back of the boots” child skier to a proficient all round developing skier with a real sense of movement and full understanding of everything that made it work. Her only run in a very much tougher than average slalom course with absolutely no race training – under difficult snow/ice conditions – saw her only 1 second off the “Flechette” calibration. Children Derin’s age don’t get much faster than that due to their size (their surface area is too great in proportion to body volume (mass) to push through the air).
The following is a list of the main subjects covered during the week. Much of the work involved the relationships (and combinations) of the different subjects to each other through common qualities – such as edge control, relaxation (physical and mental), coordination, accelerations, terrain, snow conditions, physical awareness, timing, mental focus, psychology, understanding and perception.
Mont Blanc 4810m (15780 ft)
Skating with gravity
Sideslip Forward diagonal sideslip Backward diagonal sideslip Skiing backwards Focusing Touching shin against boot Seated stance Pivoting- assisted Pivoting – oustide ski – adductors Carving – rolling feet and moving Centre of Mass for edge change Off Piste Pivoting – inside ski Bumps 306° spins Anticipation Perpendicularity Body sensing Listening to legs Compression turns Centre of Mass Foot forwards Front of ski pressure Slalom Dynamics
Defne 2012
Defne’s potential really did shine through this week. Until now Defne did not really know what she was capable of. One BIG lesson learned is that a good night’s sleep is essential! That’s the same for anything when you are pushing your limits and developing. Defne demonstrated that she could confront and beat her fears in a strong and positive way – once she knew A – that she had this choice B – that it was essential for her to confront her fears C- that nobody was going to force her to do so. That’s a BIG call for a 9 year old. Once her stance and timing were sorted out she was really flying already in carving – I mean FAST! She took that confidence into some very gnarly deep and steep snow (not on video) and picked her way down through it thoughtfully and in control of her body and mental processes. Although Defne skied less time than Derin she had to deal with some much trickier technical issues and did an excellent job of this. Sorting out “hip rotation” requires a serious amount of body awareness by any standards.
The following list of the main subjects covered during the week is slightly larger than Derin’s. As for Derin much of the work involved the relationships (and combinations) of the different subjects to each other through common qualities – such as edge control, relaxation (physical and mental), coordination, accelerations, terrain, snow conditions, physical awareness, timing, mental focus, psychology, understanding and perception.
Focus Touching shin against boot ChiWalking ChiSkiing alignment (hip/shoulder) Skating with gravity Posture – pelvic tilt – lower abdominal crunch Real skiing (values and priorities) Adductors Pivoting – uphill ski Bumps Carving (Adductors – correcting knee twist) Fear management Skating timing Pivot – inside leg Close stance Banked track Anticipation Listening to Legs Seated stance Compression turns Off Piste Centre of Mass Perpendicularity Foot Forwards Front of ski pressure One ski pivoting Carving – refining edge changes Compression turns – refining timing, dynamics, pivot and pole use
Skating with gravity
Sideslip
wow
i didnt know we were this well