tarnaby wrote:(I'm thinking of my kids, who are not big on receiving instruction but love get their mileage in.)
One of the big reasons kids don't like drills is "History", tying the drill or exercise to how it will improve their speed in the race course and how the drill is relevant to what the best world cup skiers are doing, "in their skiing". You have to know how to use one underlying fundamental in all ski coaching and that is knowing how to develop motivation.
I can motivate any young racer for an exercise if, the racer knows why he is doing the exercise, how it builds into their skiing, how it will make them faster in the race course, and where the world cup skiers is already using that movement in his racing. Drills should be tied to movement you want to encourage. I see so many coaches on the slopes doing silly drills with no reasonable outcome. A coach also needs to be very precise about the quality in which the drill is performed. I know few (almost none) coaches who are skilled in all of these areas.