Results don't win races.

Results don't win races.

Postby h.harb » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:16 pm

http://skiracing.com/stories/results-matter-but-to-get-them-ignore-them/

I've known Jim since he was a ski racer at Burke Academy, in Vermont. This is one of his best pieces over the years. But to me it doesn't go far enough. It begs the question. Yes, but what is the question? If it's about process then the athlete needs to know what in the process works and what doesn't. Too many times athletes are asked, how did you ski so well? They don't know. Even when an athlete as accomplished as Ted Ligety describes his own skiing he has it wrong. He's not doing what he's describing. It's clear that these athletes constantly watch video, yet they see what they want or they see what the coaches want. However, skiing is deeper than what you see. Skiing is created by movements that are the least obvious and the least forceful. "To get forceful you must come to the forces with a relaxed body and relaxed movements, to make the forces come to you, and then you will be ready to deal with the forces because your body is prepared. This sounds very ZEn-like. But it's not far off the eastern thinking of Martial arts as well.

We always hear the commentators saying, "He needs to bring it, he needs more aggression, he needs more energy" To me these comments are so much horse dung. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of what brings energy and how do you attack. It certainly isn't working for Svindal in GS, who attacks more than anyone. If you go back to watching Michael von GrĂ¼nigen in GS; you didn't see aggression, in an obvious way. He was fluid, balanced and developed angles, and bent the ski like no one else.

So what is the formula? Some the highly exceptional talents develop it on their own and get a feeling and then get on a roll.. This unfortunately is fleeting. there can be great up days accompanied by down days, side by side. This is prevalent with US skiers especially. So how does Hirscher maintain his victory and podium count? He looks aggressive outwardly? This is a topic of another post.

As an athlete you have to figure out what works, and what movements make you ski well. If you have a great coach this can happen very fast, but there aren't many great coaches. The Austrians retain theirs and keep them in Austria. And they are not about, get on your outside ski or punch it harder. It's more subtle and deeper, great ski coaching is at a deeper level. It's a level beyond normal coaching you hear on the slopes. A great coach develops these connections with the athlete and with a single word can reverse a bad run or bad day. This is where PMTS can be at it's most powerful. I have it first hand, as current as last week, that the US Ski Team coaches don't understand what happens or should happen with the inside of the body in skiing. By this I mean they don't know how the inside foot, ski, leg or hip should be used and they don't coach any of this. They are completely outside ski focused. When all you have is a hammer all you see is nails. So keep on hammering!!!!!
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Re: Results don't win races.

Postby jclayton » Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:09 pm

I saw a while ago that Michael von Gruenigen is coaching . Has he written anything about his " processes " ?
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Re: Results don't win races.

Postby h.harb » Sat Dec 28, 2013 2:29 pm

Coaches, even former greats, don't write about what they know. Theoni coached Tomba, he never wrote anything. Tomba did change the world of ski technique, more than Stenmark. Stenmark was just far better than anyone but doing the same thing. Tomba changed skiing, he started going directly to a release (LTE) without a step. So is the question, did Tomba do it naturally or did Theoni teach him?
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Re: Results don't win races.

Postby jclayton » Sun Dec 29, 2013 3:22 pm

I guess the bottom line is that there is not much money in it for these guys , I guess they get paid plenty coaching . ( I saw on the web that he is coaching his son ) .
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