Technical  Teaching Progression for Beginners

Presented by Mark, Luca, David

In the Czech system, a Basic Turn is anything before parallel.
The presentation was going to look at the different ways that the Czech system teaches Basic Turns.

The core process that was stressed was that there is not just one way to teach and they have developed a system where they offer the instructors different pathways or lines to teach.
The Instructor has to make a Decision do they take the “Turning The-Ski Line” or the “Pressure Initiation Line”?

Which ever path is taken you still get to the same point.

This was talked about as the “egg” (two rounded lines either side) and in the middle of the egg, there is always Balance.

Two approaches
1 – rotary point toes (maybe this is better on a gentle slope?)
2 – pressure (when it gets steeper?)

The different decisions need to be made based on the many different factors in a ski lesson, the student, the terrain etc.
Czech presenters suggested as an example – If a student is not in good dynamic balance, maybe the Pressure line is better!

As a teacher gets more experienced they can start to use all the different elements in each “line” to create the best learning outcome for the student.

The Czech team then started to give us lots of examples of how they introduce different technical elements.
Lots of focus about the feet – work from the ground up!

Some different was to explore both the rotary and pressure paths were presented.
– lift outside toe
– pedalling
– feel leg muscles
– turn only outside leg
– boot arcs
– bow ties in the snow

There was some time taken to really emphasise the rotary movement from the legs.

It was stressed that it was important to blend rotary and pressure.

Summary

The instructor can take any path on the “egg”.
The end result is the turn which ever path you take.

On questioning at the end of the clinic, the use of vertical movement was raised by a member of the group – this had not been mentioned during the clinic.
The Czech team feel that there is very little vertical movement required. If it is required vertical happens naturally.