Ski drills disguised as games...

[orsonab]

I'm trying to get both sons (9 and 7) to parallel turn but even after several lessons they still seem to like to snowplow as they traverse the slopes. I really have no more money for lessons and the boys have the memories of goldfish and cannot recall anything they did in those expensive lessons. Are there any drills cleverly disguised as games I can play with the kids on the slopes that can get them out of the wedge? All the books I've seen are aimed at adults and their drills are, to quote my laconic son: "Boring."

 

[jack97]

All the books I've seen are aimed at adults and their drills are, to quote my laconic son: "Boring."

Have them dual each other on race gates, loser gets sold for medical experiments.

 

[hiroto]

the boys have the memories of goldfish and cannot recall anything they did in those expensive lessons.

My son went through 4 years of dev team lessons at Wawa. His muscle remembers what he learned but his brain cannot remember a single drill to show to his younger sister :blink: I was planning to get double deal out of his investement so quite disappointed. Oh well, I learned quite a bit what not to do from him so his sister is much bettter skier than he was at the same age.

 

[hiroto]

BTW, here are some threads I found at EPIC (and one I started) I read intensively while considering what to do with my daughter's skiing.

• Stance and Alignment of little kids

• 
  What's 1000 steps

• 
  Children and balance

• 
  Introduction to slowing and stopping, what is your first introduction and why?

• 
  Teaching Real Little Kids to Turn/Stop

• 
  How do you teach a little child to hockey stop?

 

[jack97]

OK..... all kidding aside. We never tired those programs for our daughter. We went with private lessons, I was able to tag along to see and the instructor was telling me what she was doing and how to get her to ski more parallel.

I think some resorts has a family ski program that does something similar to that.

 

[tjf67]

Not so sound silly but whats wrong with snowplowing. If they can keep there speed in check and under control who cares they are having fun. They will switch it up when they get better. Seems you got the hardest part cracked and that is getting them to like going out in the cold.
PS I snowplow every time I am out.

 

[dl]

Stuck in a wedge is as much a comfort thing as anything else. In other words, they know they can control their speed, make their turns and not fall while staying in the wedge. Mileage (more skiing) will help this as much as any game or trick. The more they ski, the more confidence they'll gain.


It's not clear how long the boys have been skiing or how often they have been skiing so it's tough to figure out what to offer.

The first thing I would concentrate on is getting out of the wedge after the turn. You can have them imagine their skis have to be parallel in order to pass through an imaginary door before they begin the next turn. Try working on crossing the fall line with skis parallel without a turn. Have them step up the hill while crossing the fall line - forces them to put some weight on the downhill ski in order to move the uphill ski higher on the hill. Have them try to do a hop on their skis inbetween turns (almost impossible to do in a wedge).

With anything you do, make it fun (essentially get them to forget they are trying to do something different - give them a challenge or a contest). And, set your expectations accordingly. They may start doing good things tomorrow or it may take two weeks.

Use the chairlift ride to find "good" skiers - let them point out who is a good skier and who isn't and ask them why. Then ask them to copy something from the good skier. If there's a Nastar-like course, go through it and then ask them to do it again but try to figure out ways to go a little faster.

Have fun.

 

[Paul]

If you can find a slope where your tracks remain visible, ski down with your feet relatively wide apart. Have your kid ski behind you trying to stay completely inside your track (there's lava on the outside etc...) They'll realize that they can't stay within your track if their tails are spread out wide. Start on a really gentle trail so as not to frustrate them.