Basil j wrote: I watched for season after season of coaches with minimal game plans favoring the strong racers and leaving the middle and lower skiers with minimal coaching and feedback.
This disgusts me to no end, Basil j. That's one of the hallmarks of a lousy coach, and I see it often.
Our groups of 6 kids per coach were assigned this season by the Team Coordinator/Parent Club Secretary, who has been involved with the program for years. She knows most of the kids by name, and certainly by race results. She tried to vary the abilities within each U12 and U14 group as much as she could, something I wholeheartedly agreed with given the circumstances of this season. It gave me a great opportunity to develop my ability for organizing/teaching 6 separate private lessons in one group -- something I've only seen done by Harb coaches -- as well as pairing up kids and have them teach/follow/critique each other.
The "head coach" of the U12s this season (a race program alumnus and college racer now in his mid 20's, very mediocre skier and horrible coach, I have no idea why anyone would put him in a head coach position) was complaining at the beginning of the season because he didn't/couldn't have the top 6 racers in his group. He wanted my son and another one of my kids in his group, so I explained to him:
1. For COVID reasons (exposure, contact tracing, etc.) it's better for parent coaches to have their own kids in their groups this year, whenever possible, to limit possible quarantines within the program and such.
2. Lower kids benefit tremendously from skiing and training alongside the stronger racers... especially from a social perspective and confidence-building perspective at this age. It's also an opportunity to enhance the empathy of the stronger kids, in understanding how the lower kids look up to them.
3. An effective race coach, at U12 or any age group level, is able to teach all ability and experience levels, particularly when the group is so friggin small. So put on your big boy pants and BE A BETTER COACH.
About the third weekend of training, this head coach asked to talk to me in private (over the radio). So I waited at the top of the hill, where we stepped away from my kids. He told me one girl in his class is stuck in a wedge and he can't get her out of it... he's never had to coach lower level kids before. And since, in his words, "I have the PSIA thing and everything," (LOL, I'm the only coach on staff who is a previous PSIA instructor from 25 years ago), could I help him get her out of her wedge.
"Well, what have you done with her so far?"
"I keep telling her she's got to bring her feet together. But she just won't."
"That's it? "Bring your feet together?""
"Well what else am I supposed to do? I coach racers, not beginners."
"Hey C! (the kid I mentioned in my last post who was my weakest)... come here for a sec.......
..... C, tell Coach E why most skiers are skiing in a wedge."
"Because they're standing on it too much."
"Standing on what?"
"Ummmm, their inside ski."
"So, what do we have to do if we're standing on that inside ski too much?"
"We gotta get balance standing on the downhill ski. I mean, outside ski."
"How do we do that?"
"We lift the inside ski. Like this."
"You're awesome. Now... what do you do after you lift that inside ski a little bit?"
"I Phantom that Bad Boy like THIS!!!" :::almost falls over trying to demo, arms all over the place::: That's exactly how he said it, because that's how I usually say things with my kids.
"Tell Coach E what's the Phantom thing you just did."
"You lift your inside ski like this, with the tail higher, and then I pull my foot back like this, and then I angle it like this to the outside. I mean, the inside. I mean, that way."
"And what's that called?"
"Ummmmmmmm........ little toe edge!"
"Why do we call it a Phantom Move?"
"Because when you're doing it when you're skiing, you can't really see it but you're still doing it."
"You rock. Give me a fist bump. Tell the group I'll be there in a minute."
---------------------------------
Two years ago, I would have happily and politely explained what I do to help kids get out of a wedge... or how I teach or demonstrate anything. But I lost my tolerance for typical race coaches since then. Now? I'll make it a point to *demonstrate* to them just how incompetent they are, using my own students whenever possible.
The Director jumped into my group a few times this season while I was teaching. And while I'm happy to see him floating around and monitoring, he has this nasty habit of trying to take over the class and change the entire focus... that's completely disrespectful to the coach. After he did it twice, and he witnessed how I had to re-explain his confusing coaching to my class so that they could understand, I decided I wouldn't let him do it again. When he tried the third time, our daily lesson plan was based on developing balance on the LTE (traverses, garlands, J-turns, etc.) so that we could bring that into early weight transfer. He decided to scrap that, and wanted to get a couple of my kids to get their hips farther inside the turn -- by pushing on the outside leg, of course.
Now I'm going to NAIL HIM.
After confusing my kids with vague talk about "separation" and "getting that inside leg out of the way," I jumped in and said, "Let's try something to see if it will help with this focus on the hips. You guys remember doing our J-turns a few weeks ago, where we lift the inside ski and tip it in the air to the LTE to start our turn? Here's what we are going to try this time: Let's start in a glide, lift the inside ski, pull it back, really tip it STRONG to the LTE..... and try to keep your stance ski flat and going straight!"
Each one tried, each one couldn't do it... BTE engaged.
Director says, "This doesn't do anything."
"It actually does A LOT."
"No it doesn't. I can ski all day long with my inside ski lifted and tilted, and it won't do anything to make the other ski turn."
"OK. Show me."
"Here. Look........."
Glides, lifts inside ski high, halfway up his shin, tilts it way over....... stance ski engages and veers on the BTE.
"Looks like it works, huh?"
"NO, it doesn't work. I know what you're trying to do, but this doesn't move their hips."
"You just demonstrated that it absolutely does."
"That's because I'm used to it. But I can still hold the ski flat if I want."
"THEN? DO! IT!"
He can't do it.
He never bothered me again.