The Skills Concept

From Alpine Technical Manual
PSIA, ©2002

Skiing has a simple formula (9)
Stay in balance while moving
Tip certain body parts to edge the skis
Rotate the back, hips, legs, and/or feet to help turn the skis
Control pressure along the skis to shape the turn and handle changes in terrain and snow conditions
*Simple, my ass

Blending skills enables the skier to link technique with tactical choices
Here it is in a baseball metaphor
Movements - Learning to swing the ball
Ski performance - Hitting the ball
Demands of Terrain or Task - Playing the game

Skiing Skills
Balancing Movements - Maintaining balance while in motion
Edging Movements - Aiding in adjusting the edge angel of the skis in relation to the snow
Rotary Movements - Turning and guiding the skis
Pressure Control Movements - Managing and manipulating pressure variations between the skis and snow

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Learning Styles – Doers, Feelers, Thinkers, Watchers

A learning style is the way a person’s sensory, perceptual, memorial, decision-making, and feedback mechanisms operate. Or more simply, the preferred technique to approach learning. Some students have a dominant style and others are comfortable in more than one. PSIA references different theories on learning styles, this is a classic one. Doers Values active experimentation Pragmatic, practical, functional Good problem solvers, work well with others Constantly active, doesn’t like being idle and gets frustrated with too much talking Learn by experimenting, trial and error Instructor should provide experiences that will guide the child Experiential learning is an effective method for all students

VAK - Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic

Visual learners These students learn best by watching and imitating others. The following guidelines are helpful when teaching visual learners. • Ski well-executed demonstrations that illustrate the point. Be careful not to exaggerate and destroy the picture of good skiing. • Target the students’ attention to a certain part of your body or to particular movements.

Creativity with kids

Sometimes, I see instructors preparing for exams and getting bogged down in all of the terminology, studying kids development literature, and others' progressions or ideas. That stuff is important, for sure. But in order to have a ton of fun teaching kids, we have to apply all of that professional knowledge while looking at the world through kid-colored glasses. Yeah, the big fluorescent ones. Like these: A few of the Liberty gang were clinic'ing with me this weekend - a kids' teaching clinic. One of the required clinics everyone has to take each year. Usually I make everyone sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" loudly while skiing at some point during these clinics. But we never got to it. I gave each of the three groups a description of children we often see come through our programs and asked them to develop a program to share with the group. Once they got started thinking about movements and their ideas, I bugged them to get more...

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