TEd talks TEd

[h.harb]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/ted-ligety-dissects-carving-perfect-turn

Amazing how little real information about skiing is in these answers. Even his perception of what he does is his feeling about what he does, is not actually what is happening. This is why many world cup skiers don't make good coaches.

[NoCleverName]

Even his perception of what he does is his feeling about what he does, is not actually what is happening.

I've heard that somewhere before ... but where?

[jclayton]

Not good advice for up and coming youngsters who see him as an idol !

[HighAngles]

I just had to pull these quotes from the article:

"You have to line up your body so you're facing the direction of your skis basically the entire time. You're pushing really hard on the ski before it actually enters the fall line, which is straight down the hill. So you're trying to bend the ski basically, just full manual pressure, and then taking the huge g-force and creating the rest of the radius of the turn in the fall line into the bottom of the turn and trying to slingshot yourself out of the neck of that turn into the next turn."

"Slalom, it's a lot more manual as far as how you're starting the turn. Also, you kind of skip part of the turn."

This forum really needs the "shake your head" smiley emoticon.

All of this reminds me of Harald's comment from the PFS DVD: "Even most experts don't really know how they ski!"

[skifastDDS]

This forum really needs the "shake your head" smiley emoticon.

You can post it as an image.

They seemed to choose the worst possible stills of Ted for that article. He is either on the inside ski or scissoring apart in many of them. I'm betting they were chosen by an "olympics" writer who doesn't know what they are looking at.




Again,

[HighAngles]

After some additional thought, I'm wondering if Ted isn't "gaming" the press and the rest of the skiing world. The quotes I included above are so blatantly wrong that you have to wonder if he's not laughing hysterically somewhere deep inside. I mean he may not want to fully share how he's achieving his success.

< then again maybe he really just has no clue about how he skis >

[h.harb]

If Ted really does know what he's doing, he sure is keeping it well hidden. He has nothing to gain telling the world how he really skis. Unfortunately US coaches are going to take it like the gospel either way, because they don't think for themselves..

[Max_501]

If you were Ted would you consider misleading your opponents? I would.

[h.harb]

If I were Ted, I'd tell the world how I skied, just to see if they could beat me, with my own movements. You never know, it just might screw them up, like Bode, no one can ski like Bode. It took even some of the best coaches, 3 years to figure out they were on the wrong coaching track, teaching their kids for 3 years Bode Movements, no one could do it. And a generation of kids was lost.

[Max_501]

If I were Ted, I'd tell the world how I skied, just to see if they could beat me, with my own movements.

Not me. I'd do everything in my power to protect those $$$.

[jclayton]

Mystification has been the main cause of limitation in ski technique over the years ( pre-PMTS ) .

It was always " you can't ski like pros because 1. they stated at 2 years old
2.they ski all winter
3.they race and have access to race coaches
4.they are superior athletes
5. you weren't born in Austria
6. etc etc ............ "

How many of us accepted the plateaued intermediate " status quo " .. until PMTS .

How many of us now have the satisfaction of watching the " pros " extend , wedge ( however subtly ) , rotate etc and feel and see in ourselves the effects , even if in a limited capacity , of solid , logical technique progressions .

Skiing has to be almost unique in this respect , look at the literature on golf , tennis , piano playing etc .

Again , hats off to Harald for single handedly initiating the rectification of this situation !

[NoCleverName]

Gravity knows no favorites. If you pointed your skis downhill on any of those courses you'd quickly reach exactly the same speed as a pro. Now comes the question of turning around those gates.

The biggest factor which facilitates the technique to get around at those speeds in strength and endurance...with endurance being key. You can work on that but it's likely that will always be your largest gulf.

Next is technique. It's obvious you can match technique with PMTS. So there's hope there.

Shear athletic ability is what pulls it all together. The means to combine strength, endurance, and technique with course tactics.

Finally, confidence. You can either get that from either ego, or better yet, results.

PMTS can give the average slob technique and confidence...which is really enough to have fun skiing.