Takao Maruyama

[go_large_or_go_home]

Anyone heard of this guy?





Looks like he competes in Japan - guessing Reilly might know him...

[noobSkier]

been following him for a few years, this guy is a beast but I don't think he's a "perfect" representation of PMTS in the same way that Reilly is. Insanely skilled though.

[B.Mulligan]

He can ski.

And the boys down under seem to think the world of him.

[Max_501]

IMO Takao is one of the best technical free skiers in the world. He's one of the skiers in "4ce cut the wind":

[HeluvaSkier]

For short turns and bumps he is among the best models you'll find anywhere.

[Max_501]

For longer turns it is important to acknowledge that they are demonstrating the standard for the tech comps in Japan. Less CB and CA then we like to see in PMTS. That doesn't mean they can't crank up CB/CA if that is their goal. I've skied with some of these guys. They rip around off piste at speeds that are phenomenal and far beyond anything I'd ever attempt.

[go_large_or_go_home]

Found this little gem....masterful movements from Takao..

[HighAngles]

Found this little gem....masterful movements from Takao..

Nice find. More fantastic skiing from Takao. The part at about 6:30 when the instructors attempt to "copy" his skiing is pretty funny. They're all using extension and yet they don't realize this glaring difference is why they cannot duplicate the skiing performance.

[h.harb]

Takao has the right idea about not extending on the inside uphill leg at release. However as is completely typical of National system teaching in any country; he doesn't tell anyone how to correct or fix this issue. He points it out but never gives instruction about how to change. We have addressed this issue since the beginning of PMTS. We have corrections and movement advice for all of these movement needs, plus coaching and exercises. This is so typical of the top free skiers, they know how to do it, but they don't know how to fix it in others.

As far as his skiing, I'm not a fan of his upper body. I have seen him do less upper body with his arms and poles in other videos, but in this video he is really rotating his arms and shoulders. The hips and lower body are fine. He does use his ankle and feet descriptions for tipping, however he never approaches the "relax and flexing movement" teaching required to achieve the transitions.

I go back to what I posted in my other thread, these guys ski one way and rarely teach how they ski. Here at least he is closer to how we approach transitions in PMTS than Reilly or Berger do. Takao has figured out some good things but he doesn't convey the "HOW". The reason is he's stumbled upon what works that isn't taught in his national system, he's freelancing.

My evaluation as an examiner of teaching is, he has good MA, but his approach to teaching toward the right results isn't developed. That part requires years of experience with the right corrections. I'm sure he doesn't teach many intermediate and lower level students. You have to pay your dues at all levels to understand human movement development. This is what we have in PMTS that others do not. In addition many of the instructors in this video don't have boot set up that allow them to ski better. That component isn't in his MA understanding or he doesn't address.

[HighAngles]

Thanks for the assessment of Takao's skiing in that video. The upper body rotation certainly surfaces a lot in his longer turns and I have seen other videos where he has more upper body discipline in his shorter turns.

I have attempted to watch some of his instruction using the auto-translate feature in YouTube, but it's pretty futile. Translating Japanese on-the-fly is not a strength of that function. It does OK with other languages, but for Japanese it's just hilarious.

[noobSkier]

IMO there are only 3 free-skiers who can carve at an elite level and produce phenomenal short turns. HH, DR and Reilly (if we are being very charitable we can also put Lorenz on this list). In the case of Reilly, we all know how that happened. To me, this is far more impressive than strictly carving or short turn specialists...IMO Takao is the latter.

[Max_501]

I've skied with several winners of the Japanese tech competitions. These guys can make any turn they want from DH to zipperline. The upper body rotation is part of the long turn style in Japan so that is what they typically demonstrate and they are darn good at it. It's difficult to tell from video but these guy are ripping at Mach+ and in some of the most challenging terrain you can imagine yet they rarely miss a beat. It's incredible to see up close.

[noobSkier]

in fairness to the Japanese skiers, they have different performance goals from us and there is consistency among their best (unlike PSIA/csia). With that said, as students of PMTS most of us aren't interested in skiing at mach10, and we should choose our models carefully. I'd be more convinced if I saw at least one of them carve like helluva (I will grant that this may not be their goal).

It's also telling that Reilly and Paul can put up good scores against their top, most of whom have been skiing that way all their lives.

[Max_501]

I'd be more convinced if I saw at least one of them carve like helluva (I will grant that this may not be their goal).

As I said, they can make any type of turn they desire. I know because I've seen it.

[h.harb]

Yet they teach the same old crap PSIA does in their clinics! Takao tells the guy to not stand up on his uphill leg to transition, the best advice I've heard outside PMTS. Yet every student in the clinic extends, has an up movement. They are CSIA Whistler ski school instructors in that video.

In his demo for a release, he doesn't show balance transfer or CA. He actually uses rotation to make the ski turn with lots of lower body twisting, no balance. He actually over rotates every demo. I've taught this to very gifted skiers and getting it right isn't easy, but this teaching isn't even close. This approach will never work for these instructors because they already rotate in their skiing. This is exactly what I'm referring to in my other posts about celebrity skiers trying to teach skiing to what some call, "already experts". These celebrity skiers like Takao, Berger, etc. don't have a methodology, it's all random stuff they find in their skiing or in their national systems which are all old school wedge progressions with rotation.

If he taught this lesson in a PMTS accreditation he would fail, badly!. He would fail on poor demos, talking about pressure in the Apex rather than creating angles and also for never once mentioning how to release. Anyone here at PMTS Blue level knows more about teaching than Takeo about teaching.

He would even fail his freeskiing at the blue level, due to the excessive arm movements and upper body rotation. I don't like his skiing in this video.