Whoa - people are talking about me.

So, I just logged into Google analytics for the first time, and saw that I was getting a bunch of hits from this forum. Kind of funny. It referred to the post before the video. There were two things that someone was questioning.

The first being my statement about no weight on the shovel of the ski. The forum poster is arguing that there needs to be some movement from the front of the ski to the back - I tend to disagree. The best racers in the world are not working on rocking the ski through the turn, they're working on keeping ankle flexion throughout the turn. Ankle flexion puts weight on the shovel of the ski, so in essence they are working on keeping their weight on the shovels of their skis. Try it - you'll like it - a lot.

The second problem he had with my previous post was that I generalized

"The two major problem areas almost all racers"

He argues

"So he(I) thinks all the coaches that coached all these WC racers are wrong?"

No, I don't. In the grand scheme of things, World Cup racers are a very small percentage of racers. That's why I stated ALMOST all. They so good because of their ability to ski correctly - with their weight on the shovels of their skis and with their weight on the outside ski. Yes they do occasionally sit back, or lean in, and yes they can pull off amazing turns even in these positions, but for the majority of the time, they maintain the correct body position.

I guess I'll have to start posting more often.

Skiing: The Fundamental Of Carving

Someone put this together, it's oversimplified at certain points, but still interesting.

The two major technical flaws I see in ski racers

Looking at some pictures on Snowtime from the first world cup race in Soelden, I began to contemplate what my focus for coaching my racers was going to be for the season. And I started thinking about the major afflictions most racers have. The two major problem areas almost all racers have boil down to:

1. Not having enough weight on the shovels of the skis
2. Leaning into the turn

These things affect all sorts of other technical aspects of racing - for example, the line. A fast line cannot be maintained without enough pressure on the skis' shovel, or while all of the racer's weight is inside the skis. The skis just will not bend enough to maintain the fast line without skidding. Think about it - no weight on the ski, how will it bend?

What are you planning on focusing on improving, or teaching this year?

Start the Show.

I'm doing this.
Look for posts soon about:

Competing
Dryland
Preparation
Strategery
Tuning
Technology
Technique