Here are some comments about skiing improvement or advice generated from MA on the forum. It is logical that anyone who posts video is asking for help or at least an evaluation. Before you post video you might ask yourself what your motivation is for posting. Is it for validation of what you are already doing, encouragement, true analysis, or a plan for improvement?
Some skiers have a certain amout of ego wrapped around their skiing, so posting can be a risk, as it could dent the ego and self image. Others may have a higher self perception of their skiing then is realistic and therefore getting real feedback will bruise the self esteem. Here is how you can deal with a self esteem issue, if you are vulnerable.
"Set no expectations of how good you are, set only expectations about how good you can become."
Look around and ask yourself, ?Who skis better and how would I like to ski?? If you are at the WC level, you might think you don?t need to worry, if you are satisfied by just getting there, you?re fine, but it doesn?t mean you won?t get advice.
When not to post:If you are posting your skiing and you are already satisfied with your level, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. Don?t post if you are satisfied, as there is always someone better and you can always be better. If you are an advanced intermediate and you think you have arrived, you might find there is still a thing or two you can do to change and improve. If you are sensitive, don?t post video here, as I?m sure no one is perfect.
I critique my own skiing all the time.
I am my own worst critic of my skiing. But I know what I can do, I know what is possible for me to do and I know whether or not the feedback I?m getting from others makes sense. Few skiers are that objective and have that much experience to be stone cold realistic about their skiing. When I find my skiing diminishing due to technical faults, I?ll work on those and improve. When it?s due to physical limitations, I?ll do everything possible to train harder, prepare better, but at some point with age, the body doesn?t respond, no matter how hard you work. I still think to myself, ? I?d hate to have anyone say, ?He stills skis well for a sixty year old or seventy year old. As I get older I?ll have fewer days where I think my skiing is up to my standards, but I intend to be able to ?bring it? for a few days every season, even when I?m in my seventies.
What you should expect
I think anyone who wants to post video on the PMTS Forum should be ready to receive solid, non emotional, specific movement information and that information should be directly tied to turn quality, turn design, ski performance and their skiing goals. I think by-en-large the feedback here has followed this direction. Encouragement based on improvement is valid, as long as it isn?t just fluff, cheerleader type adulation without substance.
What you won't get here:
Here is an example of what doesn't work.
I received a link to video clip and post of someone the other day.
http://video.epicski.com/ma/dc032407.wmv
I think it?s a PSIA skier, either level 1 or possibly level 2. The skiing was bad, I can't believe this was an instructor, with a pin or a skier who had any lessons, let alone training.
All the bad movements you could possibly think of were built into this guy. I felt sorry for him because, I?m sure he makes a real effort to ski well, but his level of skiing will never go anywhere with the movements he has already built in.
This would be a total rebuilding project. It could be done, but he is receiving great reviews about his improvement, from the posters that followed his video, which I also found devastating. As it just puts this guy into the wrong learning mode. He now thinks he made real progress and might possibly be improving. This is typical in PSIA circles, cheerleading, when you only get cheerleading, don?t you figure it out after awhile? I do, I know immediately when someone is blowing smoke.
If this skier posted his skiing here, he would get valuable improvement information. That information would have to be well thought out, as there are so many things going wrong with this skier, that the dartboard approach would actually be valid, you couldn?t miss. It would have to be a PMTS dart board though, as I?m sure the PSIA dart board has been exhausted on this poor guy.
How to evaluate a skier:
It sometimes becomes overwhelming to give skiers feedback, as you have to know where to start. In PMTS as many of you know, we have SMIM. (single most important movement) This directive of movement called SMIM has to be the one movement that will make the biggest difference for skiing change. Finding it is not always easy, as it is not the most obvious, " effect" that is causing the problem. The bases for many gross movements, by gross, I mean ugly, not large, do not originate where you see them or where they are most obvious.
Easy answers not always right:
Some one just told me they were working with a ski school and the instructors in that school were throwing their upper bodies around, rotating and leaning. After some exercises and training with a PMTS approach, it became obvious that they absolutely had no boot, ski tipping skills. So trying to stop wrong upper body movements for example, should not begin with counter balancing exercises. It starts with foot, ankle and ski tipping exercises.
Most PSIA instructors don?t know how to and have never tipped a ski, in fact, they are discouraged from practicing this in many ski schools. They may have an idea about tipping that is different from what we understand and teach in PMTS. But whatever their idea is, it?s not working. I have always said, PSIA can talk tipping, but it doesn?t mean they know how to teach tipping.
I digress, but back to this poor guy, he doesn?t know how to tip, let alone begin to counter balance or counter act. But he is getting great reviews about his improvement there.
Now let me point out where possibly there might be the slightest justification for encouragement in this case, especially if someone still looks like they ski poorly. We have to consoder, and it is possible they may have skied worst, prior to the latest video example. I will grant that, as I never saw the before and after in this case.
The skier might be skiing better then what he was showing before. My response to that is, no way with this skier!! He is on the wrong track, if he was worst before this video, he was done no favors, by bringing him to the next level of worst. He has just deepened his predicament. He is now a better bad skier, strengthening the dead-end movements, that just doesn?t make sense.
Why make someone a better, bad skier. Why follow "A dead end road", when good skiing is available and it isn?t hard to access, if you are dedicated.
How to take lessons:
My warning is don?t take lessons, unless you really know where they are taking you. At least read ?Essentials of Expert Skiing?, it will give you the guidelines, so you won't get sucked down the wrong path. After you read ?Essentials? you?ll be able to identify a fraudulent, misdirected lesson.
Ask, what the instructor has in mind:
Every skier should at least enter a lesson requesting specifically what they want to learn. If the instructor doesn?t ask you what you want to learn , tell him. Actually do more than tell him, ask him how and what, it is, he will teach you. Ask him how this is supposed to get you where you want to go. Without this kind of set up of a lesson, you are likely to be fooled. Ask how many lessons it will take to learn what you want to learn. If the instructor has no logical plan, bail.
Getting to the point:
I?m taking the long way around getting to my point, by providing all these examples. What I want to say is, these things won?t happen here on the PMTS forum. You can expect the best coaching available in skiing, right here. Also, coming soon will be "Essentails" lessons on video from our web site and on DVD. We are filming now.
My favorite attitude about ski learning is one that MAx501 displays. He checks his ego at the door, tells me to rip on him (of course I don?t) about anything I see and put him through the grinder. This approach will yield very fast improvement and success. Most great athletes I?ve worked with have this attitude and if they didn?t have it, I told them they better get it or they were setting their won limitations and lower levels of success..