Movement Analysis - Skills-based observation

Quick, what are the four basic movements and skills of skiing? Balance, rotary, edging and pressure control. If you didn’t know these, you’re going to make me roll my eyes or toss the Alpine Technical Manual at you.

The skills give us a good framework to analyze a skier’s movements. They’re used in a snazzy flipbook of effective and ineffective movements courtesy of our distinguished national demonstration team. I would certainly encourage everyone read it, but whipping it out during a lesson and looking back and forth at the card and the student doesn’t exactly put the ‘P’ in PSIA.

Instead, you can you ask yourself these skills-based questions and hopefully yield a skill-based idea of what to do with at skill-desiring skier.

Balance

• Does the skier move forward with the skis throughout the turn?
• Are the hips behind, over, or in front of the feet?
• Are the joints, beginning with the ankle, flexed evenly? Do some joints flex too much or too little?
• Are some joints bending more than others, does this happen more during one part of the turn?
• Are they breaking at the waist? Or drooping in the rear?
• Are the hands in front of the feet? Or behind?
• Is the skier stiff? Or being bounced around by the terrain?
• Are their turns flowing naturally? Or do they have to make corrective movements?
• Does the skier have to make a gross movement to turn? Gross, as in large, such as picking up a ski, excessive tipping or rotation?
• Does the inside hand, shoulder and hip lead through the turn? Or is the upper body tipped inside the turn?

Rotary

• Where does the rotation start? The head, chest, hips, legs, feet, or everything together?
• Does the turn come from the upper body or the lower body?
• Do both skis and legs turn together?
• Do the femurs turn in the hip sockets? Or does the entire hip come around?
• Does one ski stem or step to begin the turn?
• Do the skis change direction more rapidly at one spot in the turn? Where and why?
• What is the turn shape?
• C-shaped, banana shaped, z-shaped or something else?
• Do rotary movements happen progressively or all at once?
• Is the skier able to maintain a consistent speed? Or are the accelerating?

Edging

• Does the skier release the old edges and re-engage the new edges with one smooth movement? If not, how are they releasing the old edge and engaging the new one?
• Are the skis tipped on edge smoothly and progressively?
• Do the skis tip onto an edge late in the turn (in or after the fall line)? Creating a fast and heavy edge set at the end of the turn?
• Do the shins make forward and lateral contact with the boots as the skier rolls on to the new edges? Does the skier extend in the direction of the new turn to change edges?
• Does the body tip to the inside of the turn as a whole unit or does the skier create angles through joints of the body to manage the edge angles?
• Does the skier need to stand up before moving into the new turn?
• Does the skier uses extra movements, such as lifting the inside ski, stemming, or pushing out to change edges?

Pressure Control

• Does skier maintain contact with the snow? Or are they bounced around?
• Is the skier mostly on the back, front or center of the skis?
• Do they flex and extend in response to terrain or forces in the turn?
• Does the inside leg shorten as the outside leg lengthens?
• Does the skier’s upper body remain quiet? Or is it flailing?
• Does the pole touch or plant complement the turn?
• Does it block the skier from turning?
• Does it swing smoothly in the direction of travel?