Max_501 wrote:Let me give some context here... there are only three people that I've seen that have the touch-tilt drill mastered - HH, Diana, and Jay.
I'm actually aware that I'll never ski quite as masterfully as HH, Diana or Jay.
Fortunately, mastering a drill to their level is a goal, not a prerequisite. If it were, no PMTS student would ever advance. We'd all be stuck in ACBAES1, Chapter 1, trying to walk an S-line as masterfully as HH, Diana or Jay.
Max501 wrote:A new movement pattern as complex as the touch-tilt isn't easy for any developing skier I've ever met. However, I've coached many that say a movement (or drill) is easy when, in fact, they are doing something else based on their default and ingrained old patterns. Rewiring the neural pathways takes time, lots of time, and its never easy.
Absolutely correct, but what is a "developing skier". Which movements are new? Which neural pathways need retraining? As an experienced coach you know that each student's devil is in his/her particular details. So, as a case study and in no sense an argument, here are mine:
ONE-FOOTED BALANCE
This is the core element of the drill. Without it, the rest of the drill is impossible. In my case, balancing on the outside ski with an unweighted inside ski is not new. I began skiing that way in 1985. Harald (at Winter Park in 1995) and other WC racers and US National teamers (before and since) have commented on my tendency to ski with ~100:0 weight distribution. One-footed balance does indeed take time to develop and I've worked at it. This element was "easy" because I've been rehearsing those neural pathways for 30 years.
TOUCH
Another element of the drill is pressing the lifted free ski against the stance boot or leg. Like Geoffda, I've practiced standing this way for 30 years while brushing my teeth, putting on my socks, etc. As it happens, I'm also skinny with narrow hips. Pretty close to HH's model for a SL skier (probably too skinny, lol). This element was "easy" because I've rehearsed it and also because my physique makes it a natural movement.
TILT
I began replacing BTE dominance with LTE tipping in 2012. I've worked to ski exclusively with tipping since then but 3 years is indeed insufficient time to undo decades of other movements. Proof? The stemming I exhibited in SkiFastDDS's video taken early last season. I can offer all sorts of excuses (it was ski day #1, I was fighting a terrible cold, my boots had not yet been aligned by HHS, blah, blah) but the fact remains that before attempting the SPwTT I sometimes defaulted to a stem. Doing lots of SPwTT should help undo those old movements and train new ones. I worked toward the SPwTT all last season and will continue to do them.
As a refinement, Phantom Javelins will help assure that my tilting/tipping movements are trained in the correct direction: not 90 degrees sideways but ~45 degrees forward/sideways.
FLEXING
Replacing extension with flexion is newer, just one full season of working on that. I "think" I achieved that but it certainly needs more work and objective verification, as you, JBotti and Heluva all recommended.
CA, CB, NSPP
The upper body Essentials are just being explored, starting with Slantboard training. Their use on snow definitely needs good coaching eyes.
Camp will tell all... think snow!