by Vailsteve » Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:02 am
Re: PSIA examiners/instructors....am not sure if it is willful ignorance or, in my opinion, more of just being in a giant echo chamber.
A month ago, Jonathan Ballou from the US Demo Team was here giving a clinic to the Cert 3 instructors and Trainers. I was working that that day and I had the opportunity to watch a couple of runs on the Swingsville skills arena with him and some of vail's instructors. Jonathan, as many would here say, is a VERY good, bad skier. He was fast,smooth, and really did seem to put on a great clinic. Like Paul Lorenz, the guy can ski. Not PMTS, but he can ski. The instructors later in the locker room were just swooning.
But, in typical PSIA teaching,there was a lot of up extension, foot twisting/steering, hard edge sets and never a very good carve in the high C part of the turn. There seemed to be minimal tipping, much less continuous tipping and almost no foot pullback.
Since I started with ALL of those bad movements, I have some sympathy for the instructors....that is what they are taught as being the epitome of skiing. Hence the giant echo chamber where such "bad" movements are reinforced. And, it hard for instructors to get outside this bubble, and go against the grain when your boss and boss's boss all dictate the same type of movements.
Still, congrats to skijim13 and Doug D for going along with the flow...my motto is to just let your skiing do the talking.
Vailsteve.