Skip to main content

Sensory balance drill

By
I like to use the zones of the foot as a way to get students to feel where they are balanced and play with different movements to keep them in balance.

The credit for this goes to a certain terrific teacher from Elk Mountain.



Introduce the zones
I draw a foot in the snow and explain:
Zone 1 is the toes
Zone 2 is the arch
Zone 3 is the heel
I ask students what they feel in each zone and what it looks like.

Ski it, what zone are you in?
Often students will tell you they are in zone 1.  When most will be in zone 3.  To match perception and reality pair students up and ask the follower what the zone their partner is in or give feedback directly.

Explore zones to feel and see different outcomes
If you have some time, you can try skiing in zone 1 then zone 3 to see and feel how it affects what you can and can’t do. Then try zone 2. In zone 2 you are centered over the skis and able to move fore/aft to make necessary corrections.

How do we get to zone 2?
What parts of the body do we have to move to get to zone 2?  How do we stay in zone 2 instead of slipping back to zone 3?

Hitting the zone 3 button
Pair up students and ask the follower to call out everytime they see the leader slip into zone 3.

What we want to:
SEE – Flexing activity originates from ankles and is supported by knees, hips and lower back, Hips over feet
FEEL – Weight balanced over arch of the foot, hips over feet, shins in contact with the tongue of the boot
UNDERSTAND – The whole body participates in balancing, balance is dynamic, flex joints evenly
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Styles – Doers, Feelers, Thinkers, Watchers

By
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
3 comments
Read more

VAK - Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic

By
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.
1 comment
Read more

Creativity with kids

By
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...
3 comments
Read more