Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Re: Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Postby h.harb » Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:16 am

He is PSIA trained and has no racing background, a degree in kinesiology doesn't preclude the fact that he is looking at skiing through PSIA glasses. A kinesiology degree only teaches you to measure human body movements around joints, leverages and ranges of resistance for muscles around joints, basically. It doesn't teach how to create a complex combination of movements with your body to perform a certain sport. Teaching movements and understanding how movement origins affect outcome with a tool, like a ski or a racket is biomechanics. And even biomechanics doesn't give you ability to do movement analysis. One thing that becomes evident when you train ski instructors and coaches is that they don't know where to look, to get MA correct. They have no idea about effectively balancing and releasing, which are two of the most important aspects of skiing.

I worked with many different PhDs from different countries who specialize in skiing and they don't do MA well. They do research, but not MA. That skill doesn't come with a PhD or a PSIA level, it comes with many years of coaching and figuring out what works. Most ski coaches can't do MA correctly. Kipp is another academic like Ron LeMaster, can't ski, but runs education for USSA, amazingly bad choice. I am not surprised with this level of information by Kipp. I'm more surprised by the level of praise for it, by coaches, that tells me more about the ability and knowledge of US coaches then the presentation itself.

What most people in ski racing don't know is that I see their coaching results at my door every day. I have ever racer that comes through my door show me their video. I have them tell me what they are working on and what their coaches are telling them. I had a girl recently who will begin FIS racing, she isn't ready, and she has no idea of what to do in her skiing. She skied on both skis spread and weighted, extended up in every turn, and could not get her inside ski back or tipped, and no balance on the outside ski. She comes from a major program with coaches that have been coaching for over 20 years. This is not unusual it is normal.
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Re: Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Postby skijim13 » Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:41 am

Our mountain will take a PSIA ski instructor and let them coach the racers. One of our ski instructors who is a very weak skier moved over to the work with young childen racers because he could fit the time slot. I can tell you the only thing he does is ski with them he can't not even get his skis on edges and had no real training except how to teach the wedge. Another top race instructor was teaching the students a wide stance and was telling them to point your outside knee in the direction you want to go to start a turn. I agree about Haralds statement on movement analysis, I find that the movement analysis of a skier takes a highly trained eye, because without it you can easily be fooled into seeing the wrong. I know I this is the hardest thing for me to learn to do correctly. The PSIA version of movement analysis teaches you nothing of value. I laugh we I hear other instructors say their students have a rotary problem, no one really knows what it means but is is part of the movement matrix cards you can buy for $ 5.00
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Re: Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Postby Max_501 » Fri Oct 17, 2014 9:02 am

skijim13 wrote:I agree about Haralds statement on movement analysis, I find that the movement analysis of a skier takes a highly trained eye, because without it you can easily be fooled into seeing the wrong. I know I this is the hardest thing for me to learn to do correctly.


IMO most won't learn how to properly MA higher level skiers until they've embarked on the PMTS accreditation journey. We can learn a lot from the books and videos but there is no substitute for working directly with Harald and Diana when it comes to MA.
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Re: Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Postby skijim13 » Fri Oct 17, 2014 9:23 am

Max, I agree something I hope to do it one day, but living in the Northeast and working a demanding full time job it is not easy to do. If we could only get a Northeast program, like at Killington it would be much more easy to do. My goal is to work another five years retire early and live part time out there. I have say learning PMTS in detail is more demanding then many of the advanced graduate classed I had to take to obtain my advanced degree. A certified PMTS instructor is light years ahead in knowledge compared to a level III ski instructor.
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Re: Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Postby geoffda » Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:16 pm

A coach is watching their racer run gates and notices that the racer is sliding their turns whenever it is slick. The problem is that the racer is rotating into the turn with their upper body, causing the skis to break loose. The coach doesn't really understand this, but does recognize that there is some problem with the upper body. He remembers the article in Ski Racing Magazine...

Coach: "You know, I think you could ski that cleaner if you used your upper body as an anchor."
Racer: (after a significant pause) "I have no idea what you are saying..."
Coach: "You know what an anchor is, right?"
Racer: "Yes..."
Coach: "Well just be like that. I mean an anchor, umm with your upper body. Just anchor it."
Racer: (thinking) "WTF?!" (says) "Okaaay...."

Weeks pass with no progress. Finally, the racer figures out counteracting and holding it in transition on his own.

Coach: "Great run! You got it! Your upper body was totally anchored!"
Racer: "Thanks!" (thinks) "Oh so THAT'S what you were trying to tell me..."

Racer goes on to have a modestly successful FIS career and time passes. Racer becomes a coach...

Racer (now coach to young racer). "I used to have this exact same problem in my own skiing. Here's what my coach told me. You need to start using your upper body as an anchor..."

With due deference to Scott Adams, I've just demonstrated the Dilbert Principle of ski coaching and how it works to ensure that bullshit manages to survive across entire generations of skiers.
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Re: Have you seen this? US Ski Team SL technique manifesto.

Postby h.harb » Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:24 pm

That's how it's done pass the crap down to the next generation.
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