by BigE » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:17 am
But mechanics are not banal. They are real. As people are asking questions on bulletin boards, you don't have the luxury to see them to make them "discover". They want to know about mechanics.
Many ski "better" to an outside observer after making their "discoveries". Yet the student may remain quite unconscious of why they are skiing better. Ahh, they think: "I've brought a different attitude to the hill -- that's the whole thing".
Incapable of reducing the turn into component parts, they will eventually fall back into the same bad habits. Why? Because they were not told which habits they should be adopting, and why they are better.
As my father says: "You really only know it when you can teach it."
Here's a statement which is true, requires a major attitude adjustment from most intermediate skiers, but teaches them nothing:
"If you are locked in position through the turn and not constantly adjusting your balance then you are probably not in balance at all."
It does make them think, and think about moving to adjust balance, but it does not tell them what movements may be appropriate. Exactly where should they balance? Are the movements with hip, knee, ankle, arms, all? Just how does it all work? How does each movement contribute to the overall balanced turn? Which is why I asked the question in the first place.
Every system has "rudiments". Moving your body down the hill along with the skiis not a rudimentary act -- it is the net effect of doing a bunch of rudimentary actions correctly. Whether these rudiments are found within the PMTS box or the PSIA box or the CSIA box or the European/Asian boxes it doesn't matter. They are all still boxes.
Having knowledge of the rudiments, and being able to describe them and get others to do them is actual teaching. HH's rudiments just happen to be a bit different from the others. But I think they all take you to the same end. PMTS may be more efficient or not, or it may help break bad habits, whatever. It's just nice to see a new way of approaching the activity...
Cheers!