I have never met Martin Olsen but I have read his articles for over 25 years. What I liked about his writing was that he takes a holistic approach to coaching not just a tip. He must be open minded and very brave. I was as much interested in his ability to show how the present CSIA teaching method is simply wrong as I was in his coaching comments. He is walking a fine line. The CSIA tech committees would be hard on his case if he went much further and called for a complete revamping of the system but my interpretation is that is what he is calling for. I think he tried to even up his article by posting pictures of level 4 coaches, none of whom are as good as the pmts coaches and many campers. Who else could he post pictures of, HH? Olsen has been a top level CSIA coach for at least 40 years so he has some stature but you never know, the knives are long.
After HH was in Whistler a senior coach came up to me and he was upset that we invited HH, Diana and Jay up for a week of coaching. He said we have the best skiers in the world here why go outside. I said we don't have the best skiers in the world here, Marcel Herscher is the best skier in the world followed by the other WC racers. He looked at me and said " you'll never ski like Herscher does". I was dumbfounded. It isn't like I was a kid and he told me there isn't a Santa Claus. I was 65 years old and quite aware that I wasn't going to ski in the WC. This coach approached a friend and claimed that HH had Herscher pose for HHs blog. How do you respond to such utterly stupid inward looking comments? I think Olsen is taking a shot at it so kudos to him.
The Whistler Cup is on this week. It's a big race for kids under 20. Last year the Austrians cleaned up. I watched them practice. To me they look as good as their national team. Their skiing is pure pmts. The Canadians use a wide stance and keep both skis on the snow. I overheard one of our former national team members coaching the coaches to use a wide stance both skis on the snow. Olsen writes about how incorrect that approach is.
Jbotti commented about stealing pmts terminology. Watch this CSIA video on inside foot management, they don't get it. I had forgotten the bit at the end about skiing like an Austrian. Olsen has a lot of work to do.
http://youtu.be/Kpl3KeUi7wA